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I nod, thankful she’s made the decision for me. I’ll walk her home, then call it a night. Simple.
Chapter Three
Sara
I could walk myself and Margo back to the resort. We’re only a hundred feet away, but after seeing Kemp, I’m shaken as hell and having a big, strong man at my side makes me feel safe.
“I’ll see you in the morning, Margo,” I say, as we drop her off at her room. She slips inside, a sly look on her face as though she thinks she knows what’s happening. For a second, I feel kind of bad. She was the one that wanted a fun night with a random stranger. Then, I remember I’m not having fun with a hot rando either. He’s just walking me to my room.
“This is me,” I say, standing near the door at the end of the hallway next to a grouping of plumeria bushes.
Brad leans against the side of the building, his tattoos moving as his biceps flex. “When do you two head home?”
“Tomorrow morning,” I say, sliding my key card into the door, my stomach a little nervous for what’s definitely not happening next. He’s lingering longer at my door than we did Margo’s and the same feelings I always have at this point come flooding back. My heart is pounding, my clit is throbbing, my hands are aching to reach out and touch him.
Why do I have to be like this? Why can’t I just let a nice guy drop me off and leave? I don’t need his validation. I can comfort myself tonight. Seeing Kemp doesn’t need to set me back. I’ve made so much progress in the last two weeks. I can keep going.
The reasoning to lock my door and go to bed sounds good, but it slides in one ear and out the other as my lips begin to move. “Do you want to come in? I mean, when do you take off, maybe you’re tired, or—”
“Technically, we leave here tomorrow morning, but we’re just going to a barrier island for a few weeks.”
I nod and slide one foot through the doorway. I’m an idiot. He obviously doesn’t want to come in. “You guys are living it up,” I say. “You must do well for yourselves.”
He shrugs. “We do okay, but this is differe—”
“Is this the thing I wouldn’t believe?”
He nods. “Sort of, but it looks like you’re letting all your air conditioning out. Do you want to talk inside?”
Even his slight acceptance of me has my muscles shivering.God, I’m a mess.
I push the door open and step inside, Brad following behind as excitement settles between my legs at the possibility of being touched, being held, being loved on, even if only for a few hours.
“This is a pretty nice place,” he says. “You girls must’ve paid top dollar. What did you say you do again?”
My face turns pink. There are a lot of things I’d do with a man on first blush, but telling him how broke I am and how I technically spent my last bit of money to come to Antigua, then spent thevery, very, last bit I had on a room upgrade, isn’t one of them.
“I’m a nurse,” I say, trying to avoid the subject all together. “Well, technically, I’m almost a college graduate. Well, I wasalmosta college graduate until… I was doing an internship for a clinic.” I turn away from him to sit on the edge of the bed and look out into the dark night, the truth sputtering from my lips like a girl I don’t know.Why am I telling him this?“I don’t think it’s going to work out, nursing I mean.”
“Why do you say that?” he asks, joining me at the edge of the mattress. For a second, I get a vibe that he actually cares. This isn’t all some dance to get me naked. I should tell him he doesn’t have to try this hard. “You seem like you’d be good at helping people.”
I’m tempted to tell him every dirty detail, spill my story for him to soak up and make me better. Another trait I blame my mother for. If a man couldn’t fix her problems, they weren’t meant to be fixed.It’s her motto, and one I always told myself I’d avoid at all costs. Yet here I am, repeating all her mistakes.
“I’m not as good at helping people as you think,” I say, forcing myself to keep the conversation light. “I’m actually really bad at it.”
“How so? It looks like Margo counts on you quite a bit.”
I smile, stand from the bed, and move in front of the window. “Margo and I have been friends forever. She doesn’t know any better. Believe me… I’m toxic.”
“Ah,” he says, standing from the bed, to meet me at my side. “What is it? Absent mother? Father? Are they on drugs or alcoholics? For me, it was my dad that was the deadbeat. He left when I was a kid.”
I turn towards him, sort of shocked that he’s guessed my situation before knowing more about me. And for a second, I feel my heart expand as though it wants me to open up. Brad has these big dark eyes that emit some kind of care I’ve never seen before.
“Go ahead,” he says again, his hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay.”
I look away, then back again, my breath catching before I speak. “My mom. Right now, it’s a new boyfriend. Whenever she gets a new one, the world changes. Everything becomes about him and what he wants. This one doesn’t give two fucks if I don’t have a job or a place to live. He wants me out. Which would be fine if I had more than a few hundred dollars in my bank account.” My stomach clenches with embarrassment. “I didn’t want to spend the last of my money on this trip, but I needed out of California fast and… I don’t know the whole thing is kind of humiliating.”
“Man, that’s tough,” Brad says, his eyes soft with concern. “You have a plan for when you get back?”
