Chapter 15
Rubbing my eyes I rolled onto my back. We’d been out in the sun for hours and settled on a siesta before dinner.
I hadn’t even climbed into the bed, just collapsed on the duvet.
Sitting up I gave my body a stretch, dinner service was in thirty minutes.
The sun had already dipped beneath the horizon.
In the shower I resisted the urge to jack off.
Images of Nessa’s curves in that swimsuit, the way the triangles of her bikini top barely covered her nipples that turned to high beams when she came in contact with the cool pool water.
I didn’t bring her here with any preconceived notions.
The goal was for her to feel special and valued.
Swear for God sex wasn’t a part of the equation when I hastily planned this trip.
Hopefully I’d successfully assuaged her fears that I was expecting us to fuck.
I’d never been that guy, if I invited you somewhere or treated you to something it never came with strings.
After my shower I moisturized liberally because no one liked an ashy brother and spritzed on some cologne.
A gentle knock on my door was followed by a steward appearing in the doorway of the bathroom with a mocktail on a tray. “Ms. Irwin is enjoying a drink on the deck.”
“Thank you, I’ll be out shortly.”
I loved this place, they took pride in catering to you.
When booking my first visit, Nori provided the instruction of zero alcohol or drugs on the premises.
And they’d honored that with delicious mocktails and smoothies.
Not only was this a private resort, but the place was focused on wellness, with spa treatments, hiking trails, and holistic practices like sound therapy and breath work.
Danessa was on the veranda in a dress that dusted her curves with an open back. When she spotted me, her face lit up and my heartbeat stuttered. The candles scattered on the table illuminated her skin, making her appear ethereal.
“Hi.” I leaned in offering up a respectable hug before claiming a seat next to her
“Did you get enough rest?”
“I slept like a baby. Opened the sliding door and listened to the ocean.”
“I woke up drooling, that’s how hard I slept.”
“Well, you can’t tell, you look beautiful.”
“Thank you, you look really nice too.”
“Are you hungry? Cause I’m starving.”
“Yeah, let’s eat.”
Dinner was red snapper with rice pilaf and an assortment of sides.
For the first twenty minutes or so the only words uttered were to compliment the food.
With Danessa I didn’t feel the need to fill the silence.
We could say multitudes with little to no words.
And right now, I was giving full and content.
“Tell me what you’ve been up to these past few years,” Danessa asked, setting her fork down, her stomach finally catching up to her eyes.
“Basketball, all day every day.”
“You had to be doing more than that.”
“I’ve been working on Hoop Legacy, my active and loungewear company. It really took off in the past few years, so a lot of my energy is focused on that. And then there’s the businesses, I have a few laundromats in Philly. And that shit is mostly passive cash for me.”
“Smart to have secondary streams of income.”
“I’m not going to end up a fucking cautionary tale. This money I make today is going to send my great, great, great grandchildren to college. This isn’t just about me. It’s so much more.”
“It’s something to be proud of, not many people succeed as loudly as you have. Positive press, your own shoe, sold-out jerseys before your first Ramblers game.”
“You heard about that?” I beamed with pride.
“Yeah.”
“The Ramblers have definitely crowned a new king.”
Danessa squinted. “Ouch, I think I got something in my eye.”
Leaning forward, I was ready to investigate. “You okay?”
“Yep, it’s just your ego. A bit flew in my eye, but I got it … here you go.” She pretended to hand me back a chunk.
“Motherfucker, I was about to blow the hell out of your eye socket.” Danessa, indulged in an extended giggle. Picking up a dinner roll, I threatened to throw it at her.
“Don’t you dare.”
Ripping the bread in half, I said, “Tell me about this law school?”
Her eyes flickered, excited to talk about the news.
“It’s local, which is a major plus. Boyd is the seventy-ninth best law school overall.
I know that doesn’t sound like much but being in the top one hundred is impressive.
It has a respectable criminal law program.
But I’m still torn between criminal law and property law.
“Did you apply to any other schools?”
“Yeah, like a dozen but Boyd was my top choice. I’d love to go to Stanford or Yale, but I’m not fresh out of college and my priorities are different. So, Boyd just makes the most sense.”
“Have you told your mom or Anika yet?”
“Nope, only you and I know.”
I put my hand over my heart. “That makes me feel special.”
“If I told Anika she wouldn’t have taken me to Mexico, maybe the Jalisco Grill for half-priced drinks. She probably would’ve even splurged for guacamole made at the table.”
“I love when they prepare it fresh in front of you. It’s like dinner and a show.”
Danessa looked off toward the pool and I took a moment to admire her. I loved how relaxed she was in this space and with me. She had demanding clients and a ton of responsibility, so being able to get away even for twenty-four hours was important.
“What should we do now?’ she asked.
“I think we need music.”
Back inside, Danessa acting as DJ selected a song by a popular female rapper from the south.
She gyrated and rolled her hips while singing word for word about being a bad bitch, with pussy wetter than Niagara Falls, and how she was prepared to ride dick like a BMX bike.
I would’ve joined in, but her hips had me in a trance.
However, when Alicia Keys’s “If I Ain’t Got You” came on we both sang horribly off-key in homage.
If we were left in an empty room, she and I would find a way to have fun.
We didn’t take ourselves too seriously, and Danessa would never make a snide remark about me acting my age.
“You need to stay hydrated.” I handed her a bottle of water.
Opening it, she downed the water in one long chug. “Have I told you I’m happy you’re here?”
“You may have mentioned it.”
Danessa paused the music. “No seriously, I’m happy you’re in Vegas. At first, I wasn’t, but now I am.”
“You weren’t happy to see me?” I half joked.
“Were you? There’s just so much stuff between us. You know.”
“Yeah.”
“And I was worried that being confronted with the past would ruin my memories of you. Cause I really value the time we spent together. So I feared seeing you again would somehow corrupt how I remembered us. Does that make sense?”
“Yes. There’s what happened and then there’s how you process what happened. And maybe my presence would reshape how you felt about the relationship.”
“Yeah, exactly that.” Other than the end, our relationship was amazing.
Don’t get me wrong, we had fights, but we preferred to talk things through.
Danessa was too important to me to allow hurt feelings to fester.
So, when I did something that upset her, she’d tell me and vice versa.
She continued, “I think we’re placed in the spaces we need to be.
We could be anywhere tonight with anyone but we’re here together, and I think that’s kind of special. ”
“Agreed. I know I feel lucky to have your attention.”
“You make it hard to ignore you.”
I stepped back instinctually, just enough to feel the pull between us stretch tight like a wire.
Her eyes locked onto mine, soft and unreadable, then dropped to my mouth with such focus it made my breath hitch.
The space between us sizzled, thick with the weight of every unsaid thing.
We just stood there, close enough I could feel the heat radiate from her skin, close enough the scent of her perfume vanilla, coconut and something spicy wrapped around me like a dare.
Danessa tilted her head up, lips parted slightly, and my pulse hammered in my throat.
My hand was near her waist, fingers twitching as I resisted the urge to pull her in and end any doubt that it was her, then, now, and always.
Instead, I leaned in slowly, deliberately, until our noses brushed and she could sense my lips ready to devour hers. “Danessa—”
“We should go for a swim.”
It felt like I’d just been kicked in the face by a horse. “What?”
“A night swim it’ll be nice.”
I know I said I wasn’t interested in sex, but a kiss … I was kind of hopeful. “Okay, I’ll go change.”
Danessa reached for my hand stopping me. “Can you unzip me?”
“Of course.” Grabbing her waist, I spun her around. With a tap on her hip, I let her know I was done.
Danessa backed up toward the sliding doors and shrugged out of her dress. “I think we should swim au naturale.”
“Get the fuck out of here.” The silhouette of her curves caused my blood to race downward.
“Okay.” She pulled off the pasties covering her nipples and stepped out of her panties before jumping into the pool with a cannonball. “Come on in the water’s fine!” she yelled.
Outside Danessa was swimming laps. I walked to the shallow end because I never jumped into pools.
You could sprain an ankle or break your neck.
Tossing my clothes into a pile, I descended the steps with Danessa’s eyes all over me.
I wasn’t shy and relished the attention.
Yes, this is the dick you walked away from as thick as ever and it’s not even hard. “Someone is feeling naughty.”
“I just wanted to swim.”
“Naked?”
“Clothes are overrated.”
I extended my hand. “Hi, I’m Aldridge. Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m the same Danessa from dinner.”
“Nope you can’t be, because my Danessa would never do this.”
“I’m not your Danessa.”
“Fair enough. So what are we doing?”
She piled her curly hair into a messy bun. “I hadn’t really thought further than this.”
“Why are we naked in the pool?”
“Because earlier Anika implied, I was boring. And she’s right. I don’t take chances. My instinct is always to say no. But saying no to every new or strange thing has gotten me nowhere.”
“Wait a second. Hold up, hold up, hold up. Are you looking to get turned out? Because I will fucking decimate that pussy.”
“No, we’re friends,” said the woman whose nipples were playing peekaboo in the water. You know it’s to a point where I just have to ask. Am I reading this all wrong? We were naked in a pool, for what reason, what purpose?
I scooped up a wave of water and splashed her with it. “What the fuck, Danessa?”
“I just wanted to have a fun story to share. I’m always the one listening to the stories and I never have any of my own.”
“You don’t need crazy stories.”
“If Anika were here, she’d fuck Marisol. Or have a three way with a guy and his father. And all I have to share is how delicious the snapper was.”
“It was really good. Best I’ve had.”
“Nobody wants to hear that shit.”
“Just lie. Tell her I fucked you on the beach, and you squirted all over the place.”
“Eww.”
“Excuse the fuck outta me for offering solutions.”
“Lying is pathetic because it’s not real.
Life is passing me by with no significant meaning.
Every day is exactly like the last. Wash, rinse, repeat.
The highlight of my day is going home and scrolling social media to watch other people live their lives, go on trips, graduate, get engaged, or married, and start a fucking family.
And I’m so far removed from any of those things ever happening for me. ”
“You’re not boring?”
“I’m like lactose-free vanilla ice cream topped with the little ball shaped sprinkles everyone hates.”
“You got me to ditch my clothes and join you in the pool.”
“I never said I was ugly, I said I was boring.”
“Let me think.” Danessa wasn’t dull, she was cautious.
She didn’t need to experience shit firsthand to know it wasn’t beneficial.
After watching her mother and the revolving door of men, she learned to guard her heart and avoid unnecessary risk.
Her life was “boring” by design. But playing it safe could only carry you so far.
“Okay, come with me.” I climbed out of the pool.
“Where are we going?” She reached for my hand, and I helped her out. I tried my best not to let my eyes dip below the top of her head.
“To the beach. It’s semiprivate, which means there are homes spread out to the left and the right of us. We’re going to head down to the beach butt booty naked and run in a few circles and head back up. And you can tell your sister you went naked on a public beach.”
“Is that sexy enough?”
I snapped my fingers in front of her face. Since we’d exited the pool, she’d been affixed to my dick. “Hey, eyes up top, pervert.”
“Where exactly do you expect me to look? Your dick is out.”
I covered my junk with my hand.
“I can still see. Like I can see it.”
“Tilt your head up. Do you see my head … up so I can’t see anything. Be respectful.”
“It hurts my neck,” she shouted.
“Do you want to do this or not?”
“Okay.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. On the count of three, one, two …” I slapped her ass right before three and she squealed. We both made a mad dash to the shoreline and in the sand, we frolicked and skipped with Danessa laughing the entire time.
“This is damn near scandalous. I bet you someone can see us.” She gasped in delight. “We could get arrested for public indecency.”
There weren’t any other homes on this stretch of the beach, this villa was one hundred percent secluded. But if the possibility of getting caught made Danessa feel like she was living then it was worth it.