Page 20 of Here You Are

Next, we arrived on the island and decided to roam around town to shop and take in the sights. We looked around a few of the shops and haggled over the prices of shirts and bracelets. We quickly realized the store owners were very interested in our money. We eventually wandered back to the beach to have a margarita and relax. The water surrounding the island was the brightest aqua blue my eyes had ever seen in real life. I was perfectly content to sit on the beach, relaxing, watching the water and the people around me.

When it was time to return to the boat, the catamaran workers had snacks and an obnoxious amount of drinks prepped for the ride back. We were scheduled to arrive back at the marina around sunset, so we had about an hour cruise back. Throughout the day, they had been taking pictures of all of our activities. Juan approached me and asked me to come below deck to see the pictures they had developed to sell. I began to tell him I wasn't interested in buying any, but he grabbed my hand and led me toward the stairs that go under the boat.

As I stepped off the last rung of the ladder into the area below, Juan grabbed my hand again and pulled me over to a room. It was an office set up for the pictures. The rest of the space below deck appeared to be storage.

“So, hermosa, look at the pictures of you and your sister. Here we have a great picture of you with Clark. And I grabbed this one of you and your sister sitting on the beach before we got back on board. The beauty of the water, and the beach, and you. I couldn’t resist.”

The pictures were pretty good, and depending on the price, I would buy them.

“How much are these?”

“They are $15 for each picture. Or, you can come on a date with me tonight, and then they are free,” he replied, oozing charm and sex appeal.

I laughed out loud, not taking him seriously at all. “That’s funny. I have my money upstairs: we can go grab it. I’ll take both of the pictures.”

Juan walked even closer toward me in the already cramped space. He reached out to my shoulder to touch me, then ran his hand down my arm with a whisper-light touch. When he got to my hand, he grabbed it and pulled me toward him.

“Hermosa, I really want to take you on a date tonight. How can I convince you?”

My heart was racing. This guy was hot and had what the kids called “swag.” I couldn’t possibly whore myself out on a date with this young guy for free pictures. My brain was turning mushy, and the only conclusion I could reach was that I was definitely paying for the pictures, regardless of the evening’s plans. I snapped back to reality as he pulled me even closer.

He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “Let me show you a good time.”

God, he smelled good. At this point, I was basically panting. My body hadn’t been this close to a man since Luke, and I was feeling it everywhere. I turned my head to where his mouth had been near my ear, which was all the invitation he needed to go in for the kill. His lips crashed into mine in a smoking hot kiss. His hands were running all over the exposed skin outside of my swimsuit top. I was melting into him, my brain and all of the anxiety that lives in it, completely turned off. I’m not sure if it was the drinks, the heat, the charisma coming from this hot young man, or maybe I was a new person in Mexico, but I did not care. This scenario was hot, and I was here for it. I reached for Juan, who hadn’t been wearing a shirt the whole day, and ran my hand up his abs. He had abs! I felt his hands come around the front of my swimsuit top and start pushing down on one of the cups of fabric. My skin erupted in goosebumps. His fingers grazed my skin as he slid the fabric down, and my whole body was standing at attention.

“Just go down the ladder and see Juan. He will help you with any pictures you want to purchase!” I heard someone yell from the deck of the boat.

And just like that, my stomach fell into my butt, my heart stopped beating, and I pushed Juan away. I stepped back and tried to take some calming breaths. I looked down and let out a small yelp as I adjusted my swimsuit top. Once I was put back together, I sneaked a peek at Juan, who had turned away slightly, and saw him make some adjustments to his swimsuit region. Before he could say anything else, I scurried over toward the ladder and switched places with the forty-something man who had come down to check out his pictures for purchase.

I scampered over to Cora and sat down, internally freaking out at what I had just done. Totally out of character. Totally sexy. Definitely wouldn't have stopped without that interruption. I tried to collect myself before Juan resurfaced from below the boat deck and started to rummage around for money to pay for the pictures. I tried to relax and enjoy the rest of the boat ride back to the marina.

When we got back, I handed Cora the money for the pictures and ran off the boat for the bathrooms. I really needed a bathroom break and was scared to go back below deck to use the bathroom on board, but I also wasn’t sure if I could face Juan or turn down his offer of “showing me a good time” again. Too tempting.

I took my sweet time in the bathroom, freshening up from our day out at sea. When I returned to Cora, she was standing by the street, looking bored and inconvenienced. She was also holding the pictures.

“Oh, you got the pictures!” I exclaimed, grabbing them to look again.

“Oh, yeah, I got the pictures,” she replied with a sly grin. “So, for some reason, they were free? He wouldn’t take the money for them. And on the back of this one, there is a 10-digit number that looks suspiciously like a phone number. Juan told me to be sure that you get it because he had to leave right away. Is there anything you want to tell me, Sissy?”

“Nope.”

“Did you take your clothes off for Juan when you were below deck for way longer than it should take to look at two pictures? Because if you did, hell yeah!”

“No, I did not.”

“Do you want to explain what exactly took so long down there? I wasn’t going to interrogate you on the boat because I'm not a cock blocker, but I had my suspicions."

“No, I do not.”

“CASSIE JOY!”

“Okay, sheesh. We made out a little bit. He touched a boob.”

“YOU WHAT?”

“Can you stop yelling at me? We are in Mexico. I don’t want you to get arrested. I wouldn’t know how to get you back.

“Easy remedy for that. Give me the details.”