Chapter 23
Calvin
“Bolas de Berlim!”
I wake to the sound of shouting in the distance. I readjust to my reality and snap up, glancing from side to side to find that I’m still on the beach. The last remnants of fatigue hangs over me as a yawn escapes, but I feel oddly refreshed.
I extend my body, stretching it, before feeling a burning sensation coming from my stomach. Looking down, I find the lower half of my torso to be in the sun and the burning sensation is the relentless scorching rays against my skin.
The same skin that has no sunscreen on, or any form of protection. I had no intention of actually lying in the sun. My intention was to nap for half an hour max, until Nikita’s timer went off.
I reach for my bag, leaning forward to rummage through it and find my phone, revealing two hours have passed since I last checked it.
“Fuck!” The realization that my alarm wasn’t set has me slapping my palm against my forehead.
A snort from my side has me jumping, my gaze landing on a sleeping Nikita. She is sleeping on her stomach, her back on display for the sun to - fuck.
Nikita’s back is cooking - at least only half of it.
Oh, she is going to kill me.
I lean across, poking her arm, “Nikita, wake up.”
She mumbles something but remains asleep. I try again, this time her eyes fly open, and she jerks up, giving both of us a fright.
“Calvin, what the hell are you doing?” She snaps at me, but I can’t focus on her words when her breasts are on full display. When she jerked backward, she had clearly forgotten that her bikini top wasn’t tied to her body.
“Cover up,” I instruct, knowing that I need her to do that. I averted my eyes, reaching for my towel and tossing it to her.
“Have you never seen boobs before?”
That is the most Nikita response ever. She has a knack for knowing exactly what to say in these situations to make sure she isn’t the one looking like a fool.
“This is a public place, Nikita.”
She half-laughs, half-yawns as she ties her bikini top around her neck. I turned back to her, not being able to miss the way her cleavage is on display and the memory of what is beneath burned fresh in my mind.
“People tan topless here all the time,” she says, eyeing me before shifting the conversation as she yawns again, extending her arms up as she stretches. “Did I sleep through the ala- ow!” She turns, the skin on her back stretching and making her aware of what I was afraid of. “What the hell?” She tries to look over her shoulder.
“You fell asleep in the sun.”
“How long was I out for?” She whips her head back to me, her eyes filled with confusion. “I asked you to set an alarm.”
“I thought I did, but it turned out that it didn’t actually save.”
“Oh my fucking god.” She whips back, trying to get a good look at her back. “I didn’t have any sunblock on, you fool! How bad is it?” She twists her body so her back faces me as she continues to try to look over her shoulder, but it is just out of her eye line.
My eyes drop down her back, trying not to get distracted by how alluring she is to look at. There is a strip of bright red on her back going upwards in a diagonal direction. It isn’t difficult to tell what part of her skin was in the sun and what had remained in the shade.
It looks bad.
Like bad bad.
“Uh…” I try to find words that wouldn’t end with her murdering me, but apparently I have forgotten how to speak.
“God dammit, Calvin.” She turns to face me, moving her back out of sight. “This is all your fault!”
“Hey, hold on there - you’re not the only one who got burnt.” I lift my shirt, revealing the ridiculous half-burn that is now across my stomach. “If you want something to blame, why don’t you blame - oh, I don’t know- thesun?”
“Was the sun supposed to set an alarm?” she exclaims, her mimicking tone tinged with disbelief.
I roll my eyes and scoff. “Okay, fine, I’m sorry that the alarm didn’t set - I honestly thought it had.” I lift my hands in surrender. “It’s called human error.”
“Oh, that makes it all better.” Sarcasm drips from her words as she grabs her towel, shoving it back into her bag before bringing her dress over her body, moving so quickly that her face pulls in discomfort. “I hate being sunburnt.”
“It’s just on your back, Nikita, it’s not that big of a deal.”
She pauses, flicking her eyes to glare at me.
Whoops, shouldn’t have said that.
“I’ll decide what’s a big deal to me, thank you very much.” She shakes her head and I know that I shouldn’t find this amusing, but there is something about the way Nikita is when she is angry that I can’t take seriously. She reminds me of a short animated character stomping around with smoke shooting from her ears.
Tugging at the inside of my bottom lip to keep from laughing, her gaze lands on me. “Are you… smiling right now?”
I straighten my lips. “No.”
“You are! I saw a smile.” She points at me. “Those things are rare on you which makes them incredibly noticeable.”
I sigh, swinging my bag over my shoulder. “I find the way you are acting right now rather amusing.”
Her eyes narrow, “I’m pissed off with you and you find that amusing?”
“Pretty much.”
“You’re the worst.” She bends down to grab her flip-flops before turning to storm off the beach. Again.
“Wait up!” I shout, grabbing my towel and tossing it over my shoulder, catching up with Nikita fairly quickly. “It’s a good thing you’re up anyway because we’re going to have to start getting ready for dinner.”
“Remind me again why we’re going to that? It’s not on the itinerary.”
“We were invited.”
She tosses a look my way that asks me, without words, if I’m an idiot.
“What?” I retort, “We were.”
Her eyes narrow on me. “Violet invited you.”
“Sure, the invite came from her, but everyone is going and…” I am trying to find a way to justify why, a small part of me, wants to see Violet again. “I really love good chicken.”
She burst out laughing, but there is a sense of disbelief there rather than humor. “You love good chicken?” She repeats as we walk towards the parking bay where the taxi had dropped us off earlier. “No, honey, I think you love being around your ex. The chicken has nothing to do with this.”
She’s right, but I will not be admitting that.
“Violet has nothing to do with this,” I lie, hearing how unconvincing I sound, “Everyone’s going - apparently this place has the best chicken in town.”
“Is it in Guia?”
Her question confuses me. “What?”
“Is the place we are eating at tonight in Guia? Because if not, then I can tell you right now that it’s not the best chicken in town.”
“I don’t know where it is.”
Rolling her eyes, she turns to continue walking. “I’m not going anywhere until I’ve gotten myself something to stop this burning.”
“Fine, let me make it up to you.” I quicken my pace again and step in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. “I’ll get some after sun if you come to dinner.”
She glares at me for a moment before speaking. “Of course, I’m going to dinner. I freaking love chicken.”
Out of all the things I expected her to say, that was not it and I can’t hold back my laughter. “So, we’ve got ourselves a deal?”
* * *
As agreed upon,I got Nikita after sun.
I would have gotten it for myself regardless because I had done a number on my stomach too. There was no protection over it and the sun spent almost two hours beating on the same patch of skin. We had also gone at the worst time of the day and are now paying the price for it.
I am in pain.
The soothing feeling is almost instant as I spread the cold gel across my stomach, the smell of menthol and mint surrounding me. I stand by the door to the balcony with my shirt off, allowing the wind to brush against the gel, helping prompt further soothing.
The sound of the door opening has me turning back, revealing a freshly showered Nikita stepping out of the room. She has a towel up against the front of her body, her long curly hair, now wet and hanging over her shoulders.
“That was a painful experience,” she mutters, walking over to me, keeping the towel against her body. “I hate to have to ask you this, but I can’t exactly reach so would you mind?” She stops in front of me, not giving me a choice in the matter as she turns around, her bare back on display for me. She pulls her hair forward, out of the way. I swallow, my mouth going dry at the sight of her bare skin… and then the red patch.
Fuck, that looks painful.
I’ll admit that I feel bad for my part in this.
My eyes drop further down to the pair of booty shorts she has on. The dark blue material is a second skin on her and I have to fight back the urge to run my hand over her, giving that ass of hers a squeeze.
I had no idea she had such a spankable ass.
“Is there a problem?” She mutters, glancing back at me and snapping me back to reality.
“Huh? Sorry.” I straighten up and pop the lid up, tipping it over and dropping some gel onto the palm of my other hand. Nikita looks forward again, taking me out of her view which means that I can use a moment to gather my bearings.
I hand the bottle to her and clasp my hands together, spreading some gel onto both. I step closer and rest my hands against her warm skin, just above her burnt area. As gently as I can, I bring my hands over her, hearing her suck in a breath as I slowly start to spread the gel over the red patch.
“Am I hurting you?” I asked, softly.
“No. I just didn’t expect it to be that cold.”
I continue to move, making sure I remain as gentle as possible, but also careful not to leave out any piece of skin that has been burnt. I find myself watching the movement of my hands, enjoying the way they are exploring parts of Nikita that have never been on my radar before.
I slide my fingers around the sides of her waist, using my thumbs to gently apply pressure against her body, further up from the sensitive area, hearing her gasp in response.
I pull my hands from her. “Sorry.”
“No problem.”
I walk inside, washing the excess gel off my hands in the kitchen sink. Drying them off with a cloth, I then go to grab the shirt I have laid out over the top of the couch. Nikita stands by the door to the balcony, allowing her back the access it needs to the cooler air outside.
I pull on my recently ironed shirt and start buttoning it up. I feel her eyes on me, prompting me to send my gaze in her direction.
“You look good.”
My lips part in amusement. “Is that… is that a compliment?”
Her eyes widen, realization dawning on her, which satisfies me greatly. Nikita finds herself caught off-guard around me, something that intrigues me for two reasons.
One, because I find myself doing the same; and two, because she seems to be just as intrigued as I am.
It’s a brief flash of curiosity that keeps popping up around her, but nothing that can’t be shaken off. At least that’s what I keep trying to tell myself.
“Objectively, I can see that you clean up nicely,” she says, scrambling for a better response. Something that never happens to her. I often wish Nikita would become tongue-tied, because then at least she wouldn’t be talking. But now, I’m more lured in by curiosity and I want to hear what else she has to say.
“Thank you.” I flash her a smile across the room. “I’d love to tell you the same, but I’m not a fan of open-back towels.”
She rolls her eyes, a smile forming on her lips. “What makes you think you can make jokes about this already?”
“I’d say that the smile on your face is a good indicator that the coast is clear.”
Her tongue peeks out, running over her bottom lip before she pulls at her lips, attempting to stop a smile from forming.
“Go get ready,” I say softly as I cross the room, stopping in front of her. My eyes drop to her lips, briefly allowing myself to wonder what she would taste like…
“You don’t get to boss me around.” Her voice appears commanding, the way it always is, except now it’s laced with interest.
“I wouldn’t dare.” I lean forward, the fresh buzz of arousal in my veins prompting my movements as my lips move close to her ear. “But I’d bet you’d enjoy it.”
I pull back just in time to notice her one eyebrow raise, her eyes blazing with deep intrigue.
“And how do y-.” Her sentence is interrupted by a knocking at our door, making both of us jump back, quickly snapping us out of the thick tension that reappeared.
“Rhode-kill!” Paul’s voice booms through the door. “You there? Violet said this is your room.”
I sigh, closing my eyes, not having the patience to engage with Paul right now.
“Do you think if we’re quiet enough, he’ll go away?” I ask, bringing my voice to a whisper.
Nikita smiles as Paul bangs on our door again. Before I can say or do anything, Nikita shouts. “He’ll be right there!”
I glare at her. “What the hell did you do that for?”
“Payback for the sunburn.” She lifts her hand to my cheek, patting it. “Go speak to your bestie.”
She waltzes back into the room, shutting the door behind her, leaving me in disbelief.
That little minx. Luring me in with her raw sexual magnetism that has my brain caving to the one in my groin. We’ve barely made it forty-eight hours together, and I’ve already caved to her, my interest outweighing logic in every scenario.
I attempt to shake off the lingering arousal and move towards the door, yanking it open to Paul on the other side.
“Change of plans.”