"The one with brunette hair. Kristen Dwyer."
"So what? It's your bachelor party. Make her dreams come too. She's hot."
"I feel like I need to say this one more time, to nail it into your head," James said. "I will never, ever cheat on Penny. Ever."
"Fine. I totally get it. If she was my girl I wouldn't cheat on her either. She is so fucking sexy. And I promise, if you ever die in some terrible, fiery accident, I will totally make sure she stays sexually satisfied for you. Best man code."
"I'm going to kill you in your sleep tonight." James picked up his book again. "And then I'm going to make Mason my best man."
Mason laughed. "You should have just made me your best man to begin with. I never say anything inappropriate about Penny."
"Ever since you started dating Bee. But before that, you had your fair share of comments too."
"All I ever said is that I could hook her up with a great job and an amazing salary. No benefits, but still."
"You wanted her to be a hooker."
"Oh, shit," I said. "Mason, did I ever tell you that when I first met Penny, I thought she was a prostitute that James had hired for me?"
Mason laughed. "Tell me that isn't true?"
"No, seriously. It was hilarious."
"I'm going to go get a drink," James said. He tossed his book on his chair and walked away from us.
"He's going to the front desk to call Penny, right?" I asked
"I'll give him one minute and then I'll run after him." Mason turned to me. "Lighten up on him a bit, though, will you? You know how he gets."
"You mean you think he is addicted to her?" I had been through a lot with James. I had sat with him during withdrawal. I knew him better than anyone else did. Well, maybe not Penny. She had me beat.
"I don't know." Mason dropped his magazine and stood up. "I just meant that he's in love and he misses her." He stared after James. "He seems different, you know? With her."
"You mean he's fun again?"
"And not obliterated, yes."
"You always were the one that was a bad influence on him," I said.
"Me? I'm pretty sure that was you."
I laughed. "Maybe he was the one that was a bad influence on us." I watched James as he walked around the pool. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't seen him like this before. That wasn't seriously the problem, was it? Withdrawal? He had been clean for years. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as the realization slowly dawned on me. I wasn't sure why I had never realized it before. He had been clean since he started dating Penny.
Before Mason could go after him, I stood up. "I'll go talk to him."
Chapter 13
Daphne
I tried to casually glance over at Rob again, hoping he wouldn't notice. I had misjudged him. That wasn't something I usually did. There was so much more to him than the handsome, funny man front. Why was he hiding that?
When he started talking about his time living in Costa Rica, I had been completely absorbed. Hopefully he had been too, because when I realized I was running my hands through the contours of his six pack while I listened, I couldn't seem to stop. I had never felt a body as hard as his before. It was like my hand was the opposite end of a magnet. It just wanted to be pressed against him. And I liked the way his muscles felt under my fingers. I liked the way he looked at me even more. It was as though he desired me. No one had ever desired me like that before.
The story he had told me wasn't sexy at all. But he was so passionate about what he was saying. I could hear it in his voice. Which somehow resulted in his story sounding sexy. Everything that came out of his mouth somehow exuded sex. I was scared of my own reaction to him. I had never been this physically attracted to anyone in my life. I needed to calm down.
When Rob stood up from his chair, I immediately closed my eyes. I shouldn't have been thinking about him anyway. It wasn't like I was just going to jump in bed with him. That wasn't me. I didn't have vacation flings, or any flings for that matter. He was right about me too. I was a serial monogamist. I believed in deep connections and long relationships.
I jumped when I felt a large hand fall on my shoulder. My eyelids flew open. Rob was standing above me with a smile on his face.
"You're not used to being touched, huh?" His thumb dropped slightly, stopping dangerously close to my breast.
I shrugged away from his hand before I could let his touch effect me even more. "I'm perfectly used to being touched. It's not like I'm some prude virgin." Why the hell did I just said that?
His smile got even broader. "Good to know. I just wanted to tell you that I'll be back in a few minutes. Did any of you ladies want something to drink?"
Kristen rolled over onto her back and pushed her sunglasses on top of her head. "No thanks. We're leaving for a tour of the rainforest in a few minutes. But maybe we could all meet up for drinks later?"
I pressed my lips together as I stared at her. She was basically setting me up on a date. Kristen always thought she knew what was best for me. But if she knew at all the way I was feeling right now, she'd know that I couldn't hang out with Rob anymore. Really, I should be avoiding him at all costs. Whatever this electricity was between us was only going to end badly. For me. Besides, I never just went out for drinks with a guy. It was always dinner. Drinks was basically just code for let's fuck. It didn't imply getting to know each other at all.
"I think my friends and I would be up for that. Have fun in the rainforest, ladies. There's a beautiful waterfall near here. You should tell your tour guide to take you there."
"Thanks for the tip," Kristen said. "I guess we'll see you later?"
"Absolutely." He bent down and grabbed my wrist.
For some reason I thought he was going to kiss my hand. The thought sent goose bumps up my arms.
"I almost forgot." He pulled out a card from his pocket and swiped it across one of my bracelets. "That one was for the snuggling." He pulled out two more cards and removed my other two bracelets. "And that's because I don't like to share."
His words combined with the way he was looking at me made me even wetter than I already was. I tried to cross my legs discreetly. Despite how sexy what he just said was, though, I couldn't help but wonder what was on the two cards he hadn't shown me. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that he'd make me do whatever was on them whenever we ran into each other next.
"What was on the other cards?" I asked.
He looked down at them and smiled before putting them in his pocket. "I guess you'll find out later."
"Aren't the rules that I have to do the action on the card before you take off my bracelet?"
"I just did you a favor. Now you don't have to worry about a bunch of guys on your tour trying to hit on you."
"But I have to worry about you instead."
He smiled. "Just me." He lightly touched the bottom of my chin. "That's the whole point, beautiful." He stopped touching me just as quickly as he had started and he turned around without another word. I watched his perfect male form run past the pool to catch up with his brother who had walked away awhile ago.