Provocative Paradise: A Secret Stranger Romance Read online

  His stamina was incredible, and finally I said, “Come. Come for me now.”

  His pace increased, along with his breathing. He was pounding the bed so hard, I was sure that the neighbors would hear. As he climaxed, he threw his head back and let out a guttural, primal yell. He clearly had a lot pent up.

  He stayed inside of me for several minutes, standing at the end of the bed, holding my legs, with his eyes closed.

  When he finally opened his eyes, I saw tears. He was crying!!

  Well, that’s a first.

  Looking around the room, he pulled out, grabbed a tissue from the night stand, his clothes and shoes, and said, “I have to go.”

  “Now?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry. I have to go now.”

  The next thing I knew he raced from my bedroom, and I could hear him putting clothes on and leaving through the front door. I was literally still in the same position on the end of the bed.

  My first instinct was to be offended. The guy didn’t even pretend to care or cuddle or anything.

  Then, on the other hand, I realized that it was for the best. What, was he going to hang around, swap childhood stories? This wasn’t a love match. It was a holiday hookup. And that was just fine with me.

  I got up to use the bathroom and get ready for bed, looking forward to a great night’s sleep and the hike with Julie tomorrow. My heart sunk a little bit, knowing that at some point I was going to have to talk with her about what I’d discovered. But that was for another night. I’d just had incredible sex and wanted to enjoy the feelings for awhile.

  Chapter Ten Liam: Into the Light

  I thought I was going to throw up as I slipped my clothes on in the living room of her suite before slipping out the front door. What did I just do? I hadn’t been with anyone since the accident and I was disgusted with myself for how easily I violated my marriage vows.

  You’re not married anymore, Liam.

  The party was still going on as I made my way downstairs and out to the parking lot where I’d left the golf cart. It was well after midnight, and while most of the folks had gone back to their rooms, a few die-hard partygoers were left.

  I didn’t want to see or talk to anyone, and so I kept my head down and headed straight for the door.

  The alcohol had worn off, and for a moment I considered trying to find a store and getting a bottle of something to help me sleep. The last thing I wanted tonight was to live through that damn nightmare again. But, it was late, I was tired, and honestly had no idea where to go to get any liquor. Plus, I had no desire to sit at the bar, so I figured I’d just deal with it.

  The breeze was warm as the golf cart sped along the path to the bungalow. The moon was right above me in the sky, and the outline of palm trees dotted the horizon. In another mood, I might have thought it was a lovely setting. But, not tonight. Tonight I just wanted the comfort of blackness.

  Pulling up next to the bungalow, I was grateful for the privacy. The only sounds I could hear were the crashing of the waves, the rustling of the trees, and my heart pounding in my ears.

  What did I just do? Dropping my keys on the counter, I numbly stripped off my clothes and headed straight for the shower. I cheated on my wife, that’s what I did.

  As I stepped into the stinging hot spray, my logical side took over. “She’s not your wife anymore, Liam. You can’t cheat on someone who is dead.” My voice echoed in the shower.

  I closed my eyes and felt the sting of hot water washing down my body. The battle between my head and my heart only quieted when I heard Helen’s voice in my mind. “You need to find a way to live again, Liam. You can’t blame yourself forever.”

  I don’t want to find a way to live again. Loud, racking sobs echoed in the shower. I want my wife and child back.

  “They aren’t coming back.” My logical mind was so...logical.

  “There’s a reason you’re still alive,” Helen had said right after the accident. “You still have something to live for.”

  Images of Jenny flashed in my mind. Her breasts. Her ass. She felt incredible. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, it was true. It was amazing sex.

  Drained from the experiences of the night, I turned off the water and grabbed the towel that was on the rack. My plan was to dry off, fall in bed, and stay there for as long as I could. I needed to not think, not feel, and not worry.

  After drying off, I wrapped the towel around my waist and went to the kitchen to get some water. I really ought to get some food in this place.

  I turned on the light and grabbed a cup from the cabinet, and then drank two huge glasses of water. Still wishing for some Chevas to go with it, I was about to head back to the bedroom when I heard some strange noises outside. They sounded like voices shouting and something being dragged.

  What on earth is that?

  The bungalow was far away from the main house and the East Wing. It was... 2:06 am according to my phone.

  My curiosity got the best of me and so I pulled some shorts on and opened the sliding glass door that led to the deck off the back of the cottage. The cool ocean breeze felt really good to my overheated skin. The waves were crashing on some sharp rocks that lined a jetty below. It was a little hard to tell because it was so dark, but was that a boat offshore?

  The voices were louder now, and I could hear them in the distance. I wasn’t sure what language it was, but from the cadence of it, it didn’t sound like English.

  I wonder if there are any binoculars?

  I went inside and rummaged around inside the kitchen cabinets. Sure enough, I found some binoculars inside one of them and headed back out to the deck and looked in them, focusing the lenses for my eyes.

  It was a boat. Actually, it was a dinghy that was going back and forth from what appeared to be a personal yacht. That’s weird. Even the running lights are off. Both boats sat there in the dark, floating silently, save for the voices of the men. It looked to me like they were unloading something from the yacht, and then taking the dinghy ashore and bringing whatever it was to the beach. They were rowing the dinghy instead of using the engine, probably to keep quiet.

  Despite my fatigue, I stood there watching for a good ten minutes, moving the glasses back and forth, trying to get a good look at what was going on. It reminded me of when I was a kid and was obsessed with video games that were about finding hidden treasure. My childhood best friend Eric and I spent hours and hours looking at maps and taking our metal detectors places trying to find treasure. Sadly, the coolest thing we ever found was a quarter from 1937.

  Hmmm. Strange. Maybe I’ll head down there tomorrow and check it out. Maybe that legend of the hidden treasure is a real thing!

  After they finished and went back to the yacht, I set the binoculars down on the patio table and headed to bed. One more drink of water, and then I’d try and get some sleep.

  What were they doing out there under cover of darkness? Why did they need to keep quiet? What were they taking off the boat? The whole thing was really weird.

  Eventually, as I began to doze off, my mind wandered to something else altogether. It was Jenny. She had a natural beauty, like “ the girl next door.” She had a perky little nose that had the lightest dusting of freckles across it. Her eyes were blue, and her lips were full but not fake looking. When she smiled, it radiated through her whole face.

  She was nothing like those floozies at the bar.

  Falling closer to sleep, the thought of all of this started getting me hard again. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep with a raging hard-on. So, I reached between my legs and started to stroke myself. But, my mind had other ideas and started yelling at me.

  Stop it. That part of your life died. You don’t deserve pleasure.

  Frustrated, I rolled over, wedged my head between two pillows, and cried myself to sleep.

  Chapter Eleven Jenny: Pirate’s Chest

  “Come on Jenny! Hurry up. We are going to be late!”

  How could Julie have so much
energy so early in the morning? I felt like I was the one who’d taken the sleeping pill instead of her. Rolling over in bed, I put a pillow over my head. “Mmmrrpph.”

  “Fine then. I’ll go hiking in the cave and look for hidden treasure without you.”

  I stretched my arms and legs. “Mmmm....” I rubbed my eyes.

  Julie then sat at the end of the bed and started bouncing on it, as she’d done a million times when we were growing up. She started singing our childhood song, too.

  “Jenny, Jenny, bo-benny

  Banana-fana fo-fenny

  Fee-fi-mo-menny

  Jenny!”

  “Oh my god, stop!” I sat up in the bed, and playfully threw a pillow at her. “Fine. I’m up. Are you happy now?”

  “I’ll be happy when I find a pirate’s booty full of gems and gold coins.”

  “Julie, the only pirate’s booty you’re going to see today is going to be attached to the tour guide. They’re not going to take us to a cave with treasure that no one’s discovered.” Not that it wouldn’t be great to discover some treasure. That would solve my money problems for good.

  Julie made an exaggerated frown. “Fine. You’ll see. I’ll bet you one gold dubloon that at least one of those caves has booty in it.” She started bouncing on the bed again.

  “Imma booty you out of here if you don’t stop bouncing on this bed.” I had to laugh. It was going to be a fun day hanging out with Julie. I knew I needed to talk to her about what I found in the closet, but frankly I was in a good mood, too. Last night had been spectacular. We were in paradise. And I wanted to squeeze every drop of fun out of this trip before getting back to reality.

  ***

  As soon as we got to the meetup place, I realized that I was wrong. Last night, I’d suspected that the two Mean Girls were not going to make it on the hike because they’d be too hungover. But, there they were, slurping giant coffees wearing oversized white sunglasses, expensive Adidas tracksuits, and talking loudly about how much fun it was at the bar last night.

  Unlike the fancy twins, Julie and I were dressed simply, with cutoff jeans, t-shirts, and good shoes for hiking. Plus, sunscreen. Ever since Mom died, I was obsessive about sunscreen.

  “Okay everyone, gather ‘round. Let’s go over a few safety items before we leave.” The young man had introduced himself as Mateo earlier.

  “You all signed de waivers, yes?” Everyone nodded and murmured yes.

  “Good. If any of you got kerpunkled up last night, make sure you stay up with the group. We don wan to lose anyone.”

  “Kerpunkled up?” Julie whispered.

  “That means to get really drunk. Like those two over there apparently did.”

  “We are goin’ to be hiking into real caves. This isn’t no Disneyland. Which means that there are real dangers. You got your sharp rocks and slippery tings. I know dat most of ya probably heard about the legend of hidden treasure. I don’ know if it’s real or no, but stay wit de group, don’ go looking for de treasure, and we have some fun. Okay?”

  I blushed a little at the “treasure” comment and then elbowed Julie and whispered, “See?”

  ***

  For the next 90 minutes, Mateo guided us down to the beach area and through a series of small caves. He explained that the Bahamas were actually an archipelago, or a group of some 700 islands. The area was famous for its caves, blue holes, and dramatic coral formations.

  Everyone had their phones out, taking pictures in an attempt to capture the stunning beauty of the caves. Green moss covered the jagged walls, as sunlight separated into rays as it entered from an irregular opening at the top. The smell was a combination of minerals and salt water. Even the slightest sound echoed off the walls.

  The only drawback was that there were so many tourists. Just as our group was leaving a cave, there was invariably another one coming in.

  Mateo led us to a small clearing, and everyone sat on some rocks to drink some water or have a light snack. Julie was still brimming with energy, though, and didn’t want to sit. “Let’s walk over there.”

  “Jules, I don’t think we should leave the group.”

  “We’re not leaving the group. We are walking ten feet over there. We can still see everyone from there, and when they start to leave, we’ll come back. I just want to see what’s around that corner.”

  “Fine. But we aren’t going far.”

  Julie practically ran ahead. When I turned my head back to check, our group was still there, but had been joined by another group from a different resort. It was evidently a popular place to take a break.

  “Jen! You have to see this! Seriously. Come here!”

  Reluctantly, I ventured further away from the group, looking back to make sure everyone was still there. Julie was standing perfectly still, and when I caught up with her, I understood why. The beach that stretched ahead of us was pristine. There was not a footprint to be found, and the water that was gently lapping up to it was like something out of a movie. It was so clear blue that it almost looked neon.

  “Oh wow.”

  “This is really amazing, isn’t it?”

  We just stood in reverent silence. How could Mother Nature have created someplace so beautiful?

  “Mom would have loved it here,” Julie said.

  “I feel her with us, don’t you?”

  “Yeah. I can almost hear her voice. She’d be saying, ‘It’s a big world out there. Life is an adventure. Live it while you can.”

  We hugged and cried a little, remembering her...

  “What’s that?” I put my hand over my eyes so I could get a better view of a cave off in the distance, just below the bluffs. Unlike the rest of the beach, this one appeared to have tire tracks in the sand. “Look at how weird that is. The whole beach is perfectly smooth, and then there are tracks going in that cave.”

  “So?” Julie squinted to see. “Maybe they store stuff in the cave. Why is it weird?”

  “How would the tracks get there without crossing the beach?”

  “Maybe that’s where the hidden treasure is kept!” Julie’s blue eyes were huge.

  “Jules. I think you’ve been reading too many mystery novels. We better head back.” I was sorry I’d said anything because I knew that I’d be hearing about it for the rest of the night.

  Fortunately, we could still see our group over by the rocks. Break time should be almost over. Maybe I’ll come back and explore on my own later. Even though I had dismissed the idea to Julie, it was too intriguing to pass up. Why were there tire tracks going into the ocean?

  ***

  Even though I’m in pretty decent shape, I was a little out of breath by the time we got back to the crowd of people at the picnic area. As we approached the people, something felt a little off. No one looked familiar at all. Then it hit me. “Julie. Look around. This isn’t our group!”

  “What do you mean?” She squinted at the people mingling about.

  Looking around, I was trying to find Mateo, or the Mean Girls. Or even that man with the bad combover. I wanted to find anyone that I recognized. “Where’s our group?”

  Neither of us recognized one single person in the group! It appeared that everyone else had left. Not only that, but no one was even speaking English. It sounded like French or something.

  “Do you speak English?” I asked several people nearby, but they just shook their heads no.

  Panicked, I started to feel scared. Where were we? I only vaguely remembered the way back to the retreat.

  “What do we do?”

  “Maybe our phones’ GPS will work.” We each tried, but got the dreaded “No Signal” symbol. “We should save our batteries.”

  “Let’s retrace our steps,” I suggested. Luckily it was still late morning, so we didn’t have to worry about getting stuck in the dark.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later we were standing on a busy street. It wasn’t where the group had gone, but at least we might be able to find someone who spoke English. Or
get cell reception.

  “I have service!” Julie was holding her phone up to the sky.

  “What, from the space station?”

  “Very funny.” Julie was looking in her phone for the number to the retreat. “Uh, hi, yeah. This is Julie Wilson. My sister and I got separated from our tour, and...” she paused. “Yeah, that’s us... Oh he was? No, there’s no need to worry like that. We’re fine. We’re just at...” Julie looked around and whispered, “Where are we?” “Yes, we’re still on Paradise Island. There’s a Starbucks... yes, we’re across the street from the Starbucks. Okay. Ten minutes? Thank you.”

  “Mateo is on the way,” Julie said as she headed across the street. “I could sure use a Frappuccino about now.”

  I just marveled at Julie. Half the time she seemed like the immature little sister that she’d been growing up. The other half the time she was this responsible woman. The problem was, I never knew which half was going to show up. “Hey, wait for me.”

  “I am. You’re buying.”

  Chapter Twelve Liam: On the Rocks

  I was cold. So, very cold. From far away, a woman’s voice spoke. It sounded as if she were talking through cotton. “His blood pressure is coming back up. His pulse is stabilizing. I think he’s going to make it.”

  There was some kind of mask on my face. The air blowing in from it was dry and smelled like chemicals. Like an airbag that’s deployed after a car accident.

  Oh my god! The accident! I had to get to Grace and Nora. I started to struggle, but I couldn’t move my arms and legs.

  Another voice, this one a man, said, “Good. Good work.”

  “What’s the status of the other two?” the female voice asked.

  “The woman was DOA. The child still had a pulse when the divers got her out of the car, but they lost her.”

  Grace! Nora! My eyes opened, but everything was blurred.

  “That’s a shame. Any word from the police on what happened?”

  “Nothing definitive. Witnesses say they saw a car in the wrong lane, and this guy swerved to avoid him and lost control of the car. Went into the river. We’re running some toxicology labs, but it looked like our guy was sober. The other car took off. Probably never even knew what happened.”