“No…I really think it’s a big one this time.”
She said the same thing about her last catch, which ended up being a baby we had to throw back in, so until I see her pole bending, I don’t take her seriously.
“Aren’t you gonna help me?”
I connect my pole to the rod holder and cross the deck to see what she’s got going on. At this point I’m thinking I should just throw in the towel and make this a couple’s sport. Every time she casts, she hooks something. I have yet to get a bite.
“Looks like a big bull,” Manu says, setting his ukulele down to assist us. “Give it a tug to the right then reel slowly. Keep that up until he’s a few feet out from the boat.”
Manu has been really good about giving instruction and not taking over, not wanting to steal Nya’s glory.
When she really starts struggling, I reach around her back to help hold the pole, so she doesn’t lose it. It’s extremely hard to keep focused on the task at hand with her sunscreen-slicked, bikini-clad body pressed to mine.
“You keep it up with that filthy Spanish and we’re gonna lose this pole and get busy right here on the boat,” I murmur into her ear when she hisses a string of profanity. “Big hulking islander be damned.”
She grins back at me over her shoulder, shimmying her ass into my crotch like the tease that she is before returning her attention to wrestling with the pole.
“Oh, that’s a big one. Thirty pounds at least.”
“That’s what she said,” I whisper.
All of a sudden, the fish flings itself into the air, bucking like an enraged bull, and I can clearly see how it’s earned its name. He’s varying shades of blue and green fading into a yellow belly. His head is huge and bulging. I’m beyond impressed that Nya’s been able to hold him for as long as she has.
“What kind is it?” She wobbles before bracing her feet on the wall of the boat and leaning further into me.
“Mahi Mahi.” I wrap a hand around the one she’s got white-knuckled on the reel when it starts slipping and help her bring it in. She’s vibrating with anticipation.
“Just hold it right there.” Manu comes back with a spear and harpoons the fish. “Easily a thirty pounder,” he says as he hauls it over the side of the boat. “Maybe thirty-five.”
Nya morphs from excited to horrified as quickly as that. “Manu! What did you do? He’s bleeding!” My bronze-skinned princess starts turning a little green.
“This is how you bring them in. A fish this size’ll snap the pole in half.” The poor guy looks like he just hit a puppy, obviously upset to have freaked my wife out this way.
“You know they’re gonna behead, skin, and gut this thing before cooking it when we get back tonight, right?” I ask, gripping her shoulders to turn her away from the blood bath.
She shudders.
“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” Nya’s eyes comb the scene awaiting us, drinking it all in: A private table mere feet from the water. The ripples that barely qualify as waves rolling onto the shore. Tiki torches casting a warm, romantic glow over our little slice of heaven. There’s a heart drawn in the sand with flowers, and a clear night sky with an endless view of twinkling stars.
This place knows how to do romance.
It’s undeniably beautiful, but my wife sheathed in a red floral wrap dress with her hair a cascade of beach waves down her back is what’s stealing my breath away. Her natural beauty is a thing to behold. I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that she’s really mine—that I’m being given this second chance.
While we wait for our server to bring out our meal, I program my phone to play traditional Tahitian tunes and set it on the wood tabletop. “Dance with me?”
Nya
Foodgasm
“Si.” Yes. I place my hand in his, and he pulls me closer, dipping his nose into the bend of my neck. His breath is warm and wet. I shiver at the intimate touch before my body comes alive with the music, my hips swaying to the beat and my blood pumping as the melody takes over.
“You are so sexy.” His voice is thick and raspy as he nibbles a trail along the column of my throat until he reaches my eager lips. “So beautiful.” His mouth closes in on mine, capturing my lips in a ravenous kiss. With his hands on my hips, he matches my rhythm effortlessly. The only conscious thought in my head as our bodies move in perfect harmony with each other is how right this feels. We were made for loving each other. Everything else is secondary.
I gasp audibly when Liam’s hand clutches the back of my neck. It makes me wild when he takes control like this—when I can just let go and feel, trusting that he knows exactly what I need and will not fail to deliver. Instinctively my face turns up, and I watch his Adam’s apple bob with a hard swallow. The subtle movement has me clenching my thighs together.
Liam’s eyes appear crystal clear in the light of the full moon. I could never tire of the way he looks at me—like I’m the most delicate and precious thing in his life. Like he’d endure all the bullshit we’ve been through a dozen times over to arrive at this moment.
“Te amo.” I love you. I slip my hands under the tails of his white button down, dancing my fingers along his defined abs, while his hands splay across my bare back. “Te amo mucho mi amor.” I love you so much, my love.
Goosebumps break out over my skin as he trails a knuckle along my spine. “I love you too. More than you’ll ever know.”
Beneath the dark, star-filled sky, he again seizes my lips. He takes his time gently grazing my face before weaving his fingers into my hair, his thumbs brushing tenderly along my jaw. This kiss is soft and unhurried and utterly perfect. It’s the kind of kiss you lose yourself in. Where time stops and the only sound to be heard is the beating of your hearts.
“Maybe we should break for dinner?” Liam laughs against my lips. “Looks like our food has been here for a while now.”
Jeez. Sneaky little ninjas. They were so quiet we never even heard them arrive. Or maybe, we were just so absorbed in each other that a volcano could have erupted beside us and we wouldn’t have noticed that either.
I want to say screw the food and beg him to take me back to our room and make love to me, but he spent so much time planning this day and this meal. So instead, I clear my throat and roll my tongue over my kiss-swollen lips. “Let’s eat.”
Our chef prepared an island special of seared mahi-mahi with vanilla sauce, coconut jasmine rice, and a side of steamed vegetables. There’s a little card on the table informing us that the vanilla he used in this dish was produced right here on the island. Pretty cool.
It might not sound appetizing, the idea of vanilla and fish… I was apprehensive for sure when Manu suggested it. But I am here to tell you it is by far the best fish I’ve eaten. I will dream of this meal for years to come.
“You all right, darlin’?” Liam takes a long pull from his beer, his amused eyes finding mine over the bottle as he makes a spectator sport of watching me eat.
“Mm-hmm.” I nod, dabbing at my lips with a napkin. “Don’t mind me… I’m just over here having a foodgasm.”