Chapter 7
It was unbelievable to me that boredom struck me in this beautiful place. There was absolutely no reason for that, but here I was, sitting on the beach with my Kindle Colorsoft and my cocktail, looking crazy.
A whole day had gone by since I left Azari’s room. I had refrained from contacting him, which was no easy feat.
Ashley had called, but I rushed her off the phone and sent her vague texts.
I knew if I told her ass what was going on, she would encourage me to jump Azari’s bones again.
It wasn’t that simple for me. I never really considered myself a lover girl.
I was a worker girl. A wake the fuck up and go get the bag girl.
I didn’t have time for romance, so the fact that I had these feelings swirling around my heart gave me pause.
The wind picked up. It was warm and welcome as the sun beat down on me. My thoughts ran rampant in my head as my Kindle laid in my lap, completely forgotten. I watched the beautiful blue waves kiss the shore as my feet dug deeper into the sand.
Azari. I couldn’t get him out of my head. He had completely taken hold of me, and I didn’t know what to do about it. Flashes of our night together caused my middle to ache with need.
“Fuck,” I muttered as I glanced down at my phone on the pink beach towel I had brought from home.
I could call him. I knew that. I was actually sure he was probably waiting for me to call. But something inside me was afraid. I didn’t know how to date. I also didn’t want to look crazy. These feelings I had… were they normal?
I had half a mind to call Ashley and get her opinion, but I knew she would have me bent over and taking backshots before the night was out.
Would that be so damn bad?
I shook my head to try to clear it from my thoughts.
“This where you been hiding?”
His deep voice didn’t startle me. Instead, it wrapped around me like a secure blanket. I chose not to turn and look at him. It only took Azari a few seconds to sit next to me in the sand.
“You been looking for me?” I asked as I gazed out at the ocean.
He chuckled. “Something like that. When you left yesterday morning, I didn’t think you were running. What happened?”
I sighed before I finally allowed my eyes to land on him. Fuck, he’s so fine.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged.
“Try again,” he said as he reached out and pinched my chin, forcing me to look at him.
I blew out a breath of frustration. “I don’t know, Azari. I… I guess… I don’t know.”
“You have a hard time expressing your feelings. We gonna have to work on that.”
“What? Over the next few days we gonna work on me expressing my feelings? For what? What’s the point?” I didn’t mean to lash out at him, but I guess the sight of him brought all my newfound feelings to the surface.
“Why it only gotta be the next few days? Don’t we live in the same city?” he asked. “Wait, is that why you been ignoring me? You think we’re just a vacation fling?”
I blinked at him. “I… don’t know.”
He chuckled. “Man, I ain’t lookin’ at you as no fling, Indira. I like you more than I have liked a woman in a very long time. Ever, if I’m being honest. I know we don’t know each other much, but I was hoping we could get to that point, even beyond Port Isle.”
I was stunned, and now I felt a bit childish. He was right. I needed to get comfortable with expressing my feelings. Working a job where feelings took a back burner really hadn’t done me any favors in my social life, I guess.
Taking a stab at being honest, I said, “I haven’t really dated. Not in a long time, since college, so if that’s what we’re doing, I’m not really sure what I’m doing.”
“How about this? How about we enjoy the rest of our vacation, and when it’s over, we can decide what going back to the real world will look like. No strings, but lots of honesty. How that sound?”
“That sounds nice. I guess I got scared because I like you a lot, too, and I wasn’t really sure what to do with those feelings. I didn’t think you felt the same way.”
“Well, now you know.” He bumped his shoulder up against mine. “I need you to go back to your room and get ready. I’m taking you off the resort tonight.”
My eyes widened. “Off the resort?”
“Unless you had other plans?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Good. What’s your room number? Matter of fact, I need your phone number, too, so you can’t keep ghosting me.”
I giggled, relieved that he’d found me and lifted my spirits. It was a damn shame I was in paradise and moping like that when there was no need.
After I rattled off the numbers, he stood and held his hand out to me. I grabbed it, and he pulled me up. His hands on my waist had me ready to melt into the damn sand. He looked down at my blue bikini and licked his lips. “See you tonight, baby.”
He kissed my lips, and I licked them after he pulled away. I grabbed my Kindle, phone, and towel, and we walked hand in hand back into the hotel before we parted ways.
It seemed as though I didn’t need Ashley’s crazy ass to find my way back to Azari. Something told me that I would be bent over taking backshots without her help, and at this point, I completely surrendered to that idea.