BarefootParadise

J
L Taft

Gwen is looking for a fling in the Bahamas. She’s tired of
the bars at home and just wants to relax and get laid. A tropical vacation seems
like the perfect place to live in the moment. But when she meets a hunky
history professor at the pool she has no idea what she’s in for.

Steve is stuck chaperoning a group of college girls on a
trip to the Bahamas. When he meets Gwen, with her charm and sexy feet, he
forgets his vow to steer clear of women. She makes him hot in all the right
places and comes alive at his touch. But he fears his secret foot fetish will
push her away like all the others. Little does he know she’s had more than
enough of “normal” and is ready to explore.

A
Romantica®
contemporary erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

Gwen was horny. It wasn’t like a small itch that she could
sweep under the rug either. It was bad. Sex was all she could think about. Some
nameless, faceless man, sinking his sweet cock inside her and making her cream
all over him.

But that was the problem. All she ever did was work. Never
got out to meet anyone and she was too tired for the party scene. Endless bars
with the same people.

That was why she was taking this vacation. Five nights and
six days of blissful beach lying. All she had to do now was make it through
this god-awful plane stint. A baby screamed and a woman was busy bitching at
her husband about if he had turned the coffeepot off. A two-year-old behind her
was bouncing in his seat and kicking the back of hers.

A group of young women who were obviously part of some team
were wild and rowdy and she prayed they weren’t going to the same place she
was. One prissy blonde two seats over from her who kept flipping her perfect,
young hair was especially getting on her nerves.

If she made it to her destination without an assault charge
it would be a miracle.

Putting her earbuds in and sliding her frozen face mask that
was no longer frozen over her eyes, she tried to endure and prayed that the
plane would either crash and put her out of her misery or land early.

For once she got some luck and the weather cooperated and
they landed on time at least.

The heat as she stepped off the terminal hit her like a ton
of bricks while she hailed a cab to her hotel.

The hotel was relatively quiet and she was thrilled that she
had made the right choice to come in the off-season to the Bahamas.

Her room was open and airy and had a great view of the
crystal-clear water beyond the beach. It was home for the next six days.

Gwen unpacked slowly with help from the minibar. The day was
still young by the time she finished and she put her teeny bright-purple bikini
on and headed for the pool.

She was tired from traveling and getting caught up with work
over the last couple weeks so she could take the time off, but she refused to
spend her hard-earned vacation sleeping.

What she was after was a man. But not a permanent one. All
she wanted was a fling. A good one. A fling to put all other flings to shame,
even if she had only had two in her entire life.

She was pretty, in an average sort of way. She had no delusions
about her looks. Her hair had grown out over the last year and it hung down,
pin straight, to the middle of her back. The color was boring, a dark-brunette.
She had messed with it a couple times. Adding streaks and things like that. But
the color treatments made her hair frizzy and she had given up on them.

Her eyes were by far her best feature. They were a blue that
could look purple if she wore that color.

But her breasts were small and her ass was on the big side.
It was the way she was made and dieting and suffering through the gym left
little or no results.

So she had come to terms with the way she looked. Some
things could be changed and some things couldn’t.

The pool was packed. Of course. By some miracle she found an
empty lawn chair and laid her towel on it. But it was as hot as Hades and she
waited on the steps of the pool until there was a part in the people and she
could get in.

The water was cool and aqua-colored as she waded over to the
opposite side. The pool was huge and to her left there was a volleyball net set
up and a bunch of girls playing. Gwen swore that they were the same girls from
the plane.

It was all laid out to look like a lagoon with plants around
the back side and a little waterfall to the right. It was gorgeous.

She wasn’t a great swimmer so she was content to sit on the
handy seat that was built into the side.

There were a lot of people about, a few families with small
children and several women in bikinis who looked like swimsuit models.

But there were only a few men who were obviously unattached.
One who was watching the young girls playing volleyball caught her eye.

He had sandy-colored hair and a great body. What she could
see looked good anyway. He had wide shoulders and a narrow waist, a light
dusting of hair across his pecs and a well-defined stomach.

He was yummy and she watched him as he tossed the ball back
to the girls. He must have felt her gaze because he turned and zeroed in on
her. Her stomach flip-flopped and she wished that he didn’t have sunglasses on.

She held his gaze for a few intense seconds before he looked
away. Gwen continued to watch him and thought about swimming his way. But she
didn’t want to be too obvious and he was too far way for her to clock his ring
finger.

She might be hard up but not hard up enough to mess with a
married man. Some lines weren’t meant to be crossed.

Every few minutes she watched him out of the corner of her
eye, talking and playing with the girls.

Which now struck her as odd. He couldn’t be related to all
of them. Maybe he was one of those men who only liked those types of girls.

Suddenly she felt stupid. There was no way he was going to
be interested in her next to all those young, perfect bodies. Pushing him from
her mind, she glanced around her.

Figuring she would enjoy the pool for five more minutes
before she went back to her chair, she leaned her head back and closed her
eyes. She soaked up the feeling of the sun and the cool water. It was blissful.

“Hey.”

Gwen’s eyes popped open to see the man she had been watching
standing two feet in front of her, the water splashing up around his hips. He
smiled with even, white teeth.

“Hello,” she said and smiled back.

“Do you mind if I sit next to you for a few minutes?” he
asked.

“Not at all.”

He stuck his hand out and said, “I’m Steve.”

“Gwen,” she said as she took his hand and shook it. He had a
firm grip and the heat of his skin tingled up her arm.

He waded closer and she wanted to lick the water droplets
off his chest. She wanted a man who wasn’t afraid of some wild, no-strings-attached
sex and maybe he was just the right one. Maybe. Time would tell.

He sank in the water and sat next to her, close enough that
she could smell his cologne. Or maybe it was sunscreen, but whatever it was she
liked it.

Steve smiled again and gave her face, neck, shoulders and
the tops of her breasts a good once-over. His smile widened and she assumed
that he like what he saw.

“What brings you to the Bahamas?” he asked.

“Just taking a break. How about you?”

“I got stuck chaperoning,” he said with a grin and nodded
toward the girls.

“Chaperoning?” she inquired.

“Yeah, I’m an assistant volleyball coach at our local
college and the girls did a lot of car washes to save up for this trip. When
the head coach was going to have to postpone for a few days I offered to take
her place. She will be here tomorrow to relieve me from my duties. I never
thought that babysitting a bunch of almost-adults would be so tiring,” he said
with a yawn and Gwen let out a chuckle.

She was glad that he had a valid reason for hanging with the
girls and she was happy to see there wasn’t a ring on his finger.

“Where are you from?” she asked him.

“Pennsylvania. You?”

“Pennsylvania,” she replied with another chuckle. “It’s
rather ironic. I came all this way because it’s hard to meet people at home and
the first person I meet is from the same state as me.”

“You came all this way to meet someone?” he asked as he
pushed his sunglasses up on his forehead and she got the first good look at his
eyes.

They were dark and intelligent. But something about them
made her think he had a lot of secrets.

“I did. But it wasn’t my only reason for coming,” she told
him.

“I can’t imagine a beautiful woman like you having trouble
finding a man.”

He had read between the lines and she wondered if she was really
that obvious.

“It’s finding the right kind of man that’s the trouble.”

To her surprise he laughed and she loved the sound of it. It
was deep and wholehearted.

She started to say something to him when a volleyball came
sailing her way. She ducked her head at the last second and the ball hit the
edge of the pool behind her.

“What the fuck?” she shouted as she got out of the way.

Steve grabbed the ball and they both looked back toward the
net. The young blonde who had flipped her hair incessantly on the plane was
smiling her way. Little bitch.

Gwen knew the look she shot her way.
Back off.

Steve went to toss the ball back but a couple little boys
got in the way. The young girl swam over and stopped a foot from Steve.

“Sorry about that, Professor,” she said with a snotty smile.

“Your aim seems to be much worse than it was last week,
Marissa.” He handed her back the ball.

“Maybe you should come over and help me practice,” Marissa
said to Steve. It was an obvious come-on line if Gwen had ever heard one.

She looked back and forth between the two, wondering what
Steve would do.

“Go back to your game, Marissa, I’m fine here.”

Marissa pouted and swam in a little closer, giving Gwen a
dirty look that turned her pretty face into an ugly mask.

“Are you sure about that, Professor?”

Steve surprised the young girl and Gwen by splashing her in
the face. “Cool off, Marissa, and go back to your game.”

The shock on her face was priceless and Gwen had to smother
a chuckle. With one more dirty look sent Gwen’s way, Marissa swam back to the
other girls.

Steve heaved a sigh and turned his attention back to Gwen.

“I think you have a serious crush on your hands, Steve.”

“That girl tries my patience,” he told her.

She had to ask. “So, you’re not interested in her?”

His dark gaze held hers and she got caught up in it. He
reached his arm out and ran his fingers lightly up her thigh under the water.
It was a bold move and it made her shiver.

“I prefer a real woman to a spoiled little girl.”

“Do you now?”

“I do. But like you said, it’s not finding a woman that’s
the problem. It’s finding the right woman.”

They shared a smile and several of the girls hollered to him
from the pool steps.

He sighed and said, “I’m being paged. No rest for the
wicked.”

He stood to go and she watched the water run down his chest.

He took her hand and raised it to his lips, kissing her palm
instead of the back of her hand like she expected. “It was very nice to meet
you, Gwen.”

“Nice to meet you too, Steve.”

She watched him wade away and follow behind a dozen ponytailed
girls. When he was almost out of sight he stopped and turned her way. He blew
her a kiss and she smiled and waved to him.

Yep. He might be just what she needed.

Gwen went back to her room, giving herself plenty of time to
take a nap and slip into something sexy to go to dinner. She had found a great
little dress that was a dark purple and had an open back. The front showed just
the right amount of cleavage and the hem stopped just above her knees.

But it was her shoes that made her feel sexy. Black, shiny
stiletto heels. They had straps that came around her ankles and more lines that
followed down her foot. There were a dozen kinky little straps and she loved
the shoes even if they were a bitch to walk in.

She spent extra time on her hair, blow-drying it and curling
it into soft waves. She might be having dinner alone but that didn’t mean she
couldn’t look her best. Her eyes were looking very purple today and, blowing
herself a kiss in the mirror, she left her room.

A cute young waiter seated her at a table with a view of the
ocean. She planned to have a great dinner with lots of drinks and watch the sun
go down and maybe she would get lucky and run into Steve.

Steve was irritated beyond his degree of control. Marissa
had accosted him in the hallway outside his room and had tried to kiss him. She
was immature and annoying.

His only consolation was that the head coach Judy would be
here tomorrow and take over the wild bunch of girls. They were all confined to
their rooms at the moment and he needed a drink. He just hoped they stayed
there long enough for him to find one.

He made his way to the bar-restaurant attached to the hotel.
It was busy but he found a place at the bar with little trouble. He ordered a
scotch and drank it in two swallows.

Nope. Didn’t help his temper much, so he ordered another and
sipped it while he turned to look around.

He always watched the floor. Especially in a place like this
where there were plenty of women running around in all kinds of sexy shoes. It
was practically a rainbow with all the colors and the varying heights.

He had thought off and on all day about the woman who he had
met at the pool. His nasty divorce had turned him off from the whole lot of
them but something about Gwen had raised his interest.

Some people moved out of the way and he saw her, sitting at
a table alone. She was sipping a glass of red wine and before he could think it
over he headed in her direction.

She shifted as he walked closer and crossed her legs. One
dainty foot stuck out from under the table, encased in a strappy, shiny black
heel, and he felt his cock twitch and grow.

The shoes were the cherry on the sundae sitting at the
table.

“Gwen?” he said when he got close enough and when she turned
his way he gave her his best smile.

She blinked up at him and he realized she didn’t remember
him. “I’m Steve. We met earlier today at the pool?”

“Steve! Of course. Sit down.” She glanced behind him and he
knew that she was looking to see if he had a dozen girls in tow.

“No babysitting tonight?” she asked as he took the seat
across from her.

He chuckled and told her, “Not at the moment. The girls
decided to stay in tonight. Thank god for small favors. They are all holed up
in one room and when I checked on them they had green goop on their faces and
they were putting a serious dent in the hotel’s food supply.”

“Lucky you,” she said and smiled at him.

Her smile lit up her face and changed her from an ordinary
woman to a stunning one who made his breath catch. Her eyes were incredibly
violet and he wondered how he hadn’t noticed it before.

“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you but you look so
different,” she said as she ran her gaze over him.

He wasn’t surprised. He was wearing slacks and a dress
jacket and he had his wire-rimmed glasses on. He certainly looked the part of
the history professor.

“It’s all right. You’re not the first one.”

She nodded and took another sip of wine. “So, Steve, I
wanted to ask you earlier. Why do the girls call you Professor?”

“I’m a college history professor and most of them have taken
my class at one point or another.”

“A history professor? Really?”

“Yes, is it that hard to believe?” He was almost offended
until he realized that she had seen him in nothing but his swim trunks. Then he
was flattered. He must look decent in them.

“No, no of course not. I’m just surprised is all.”

He smiled to ease her distress. “Being a history type of
guy, I have to ask. Is your full name Guinevere?”

She laughed lightly. “It is. My mother was into history as
well, but just as a hobby.”

“Did you know it means ‘fair one’? And it was the name of
King Arthur’s Queen?” he asked.

“I knew about King Arthur but not the ‘fair one’ part. It
doesn’t seem very fitting to me.”

“I think it fits you just perfectly. You are very
beautiful.” He didn’t hand out compliments lightly.

“Thank you.”

“What do you do for a living?” he asked.

He imagined that she did something exciting and would be way
out of league for a boring history teacher.

“I’m an accountant,” she said with a dazzling smile.

“You’re kidding?”

“I’m not. I own a small office with my name on the window.
It took me years but I finally did it.”

“So a history teacher and an accountant meet in the Bahamas.
Sounds like a romance novel,” he quipped.

She laughed and it was a sweet sound that made him smile. He
suddenly wondered what kind of noises she would make as she came. Was she one
of those women who held her breath and didn’t make a sound? Or one of the ones
who screamed loud enough to wake the dead? He didn’t know but he wanted to find
out.

“It is rather funny. You’re not attached then?” she asked him
as she finished off her wine. He immediately signaled for a server. He wasn’t
ready for her to go yet.

“Not at all. You?” he asked. She shook her head and he
breathed a small sigh of relief.

“So tell me, Gwen the accountant, what would be the right
kind of man?”

He could tell by the look on her face that his question had
surprised her.

“Wow, talk about putting me on the spot,” she said with a
good-natured smile as she lifted her freshly filled glass.

He chuckled. Catching a woman off guard was the best way to
get to the truth.

“I guess I just want someone who lives up to their talk.
I’ve been fooled before and I just want a man to do what he says and not give
me a bunch of lines and promises that in the end are just empty air. I’m tired
of disappointments.”

Now it was his turn to be surprised. She was definitely not
what he expected. Gwen was upfront about what she wanted and he just didn’t
have the balls to be like her anymore. There might have been a time when he
would have jumped in feet first but those days were long gone.

But he liked her. She was smart and funny and sexy as hell.
He knew the feeling of disappointment, better than she would ever realize.

He already knew he wanted to see her again, although now was
not the time to discuss what he had in mind. But there was time.

They talked for a while longer and Gwen finished the wine he
had gotten her.

“I think I’ll head back to my room. It was nice to see you
again, Steve.”

She stood and teetered on her heels. He grabbed her arm and
helped her from the restaurant. He couldn’t help noticing how silky her skin
was under his hand.

When they got out into the night air she took a deep breath
and his eyes were drawn to her breasts. They looked damn near perfect from
where he was standing.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just not used to the heat. It’s a lot
different compared to April in PA,” she said as she took several more deep
breaths. Her color was coming back to her cheeks now and he stopped worrying
that she was going to faint.

Not that he wouldn’t mind catching her in his arms.

“Let me walk you to your room.”

She nodded her agreement and he laid his hand on her lower
back. The skin was warm and smooth and she smiled up at him. He began to think
that she might be worth the risk of jumping feet first again.

Gwen walked with Steve back to her room slowly. When he had
first walked up to her table she had no idea he was the same sexy man who she
had met earlier.

In the pool his hair had been slicked back off his forehead
and the way his body looked she never would have guessed that he was a history
teacher.

But when she had seen him this evening he had his hair
combed neatly and wire-rimmed glasses on his face that hid his eyes. His outfit
screamed that he was a respectable and reserved man.

It wasn’t what she was looking for. This was the type of man
who would make it sound good but then would never be able to live up to his
promises. He probably only liked the missionary position and finished quickly.

His hand on her back felt good and he rubbed back and forth
every few seconds with his fingers.

She decided she liked it.

They got to her door and she turned to face him. “This is
me. Thanks for walking me back.”

“Of course. Are you feeling all right now?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just stood up too fast is all,” she said
as she stared up at his eyes. He looked as if he wanted to say something more
but he hesitated and put the last nail in his coffin, so to speak.

He started to turn away and she dug out her keycard from her
purse.

But then he stopped and backed her against the wall in a
quick move. She dropped her purse and he didn’t give her any space to pick it
back up.

He took his glasses off and slipped them into his jacket
pocket while holding her startled gaze.

“I’m going to take a chance, Gwen,” he said and put his
hands flat on the wall on either side of her head.

He stared at her intently and seemed to be waiting
for…something. But she didn’t know what he wanted her to say.

But then she didn’t have to say anything because his lips
came down on hers. At first he just brushed them back and forth and she could
feel the heat. She wanted more.

She stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck.
She would wonder later if that was what he had been waiting for.

He gripped her hips and pulled her close while sinking his
tongue deep inside her mouth. The sudden intensity of it caught her off guard
and she moaned quietly.

His tongue swirled and demanded an answer and she was more
than willing to give it to him. Her hands tangled in his hair and he stuck one
of his legs between hers.

The kiss went on and she wondered if she could come from
kissing.

He pulled back abruptly, both of them breathing heavy.

“Can I see you tomorrow?” he asked as he trailed his fingers
down her face.

“I’d like that.”

He smiled and she watched him walk away, thinking that he
had a very nice ass.