Low Tide Bikini (A Pleasure Island Romance) (18 page)

Sam stabbed the omelet with her fork. Melted cheese, caramelized onions, red and green peppers, all in a pocket of fluffy egg. The perfect bite. She opened her mouth and savored the textures and tastes on her palate. He’d sprinkled some sort of spices in this mixture. A hint of smokiness like cumin and a slight twang of mild curry hit her tongue as warm, savory goodness filled her mouth. She closed her eyes and chewed, moaning in the process.

Brock coughed and reached for his juice. He took a big gulp.
 

She faced him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.” He shifted on the barstool.

She dipped her fork back into the omelet for another bite. From the corner of her eye, she saw Brock staring at her. She paused with her mouth wide open, the fork poised at her lips then slowly guided the fork into her moaning, appreciative mouth.
 

He groaned and picked his plate up. “I’m going to eat on the deck. You ladies enjoy.” When he stood, she noticed the bulge in his shorts. The man was far from tiny.

Mazy spoke up. “Hang on. I wanted to let you know that my brother has the same problem you do about...you know....
maintaining
. He takes some sort of testosterone supplement he gets from a health food store in Crystal Cove. Want me to have him pick you up some?”

“I don’t have any problem...maintaining. Thank you kindly.”

“Oh. Well, you did last night, but a lot of guys do. Satisfying two women at once requires a little extra. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

If Brock’s head had been a tea kettle, Sam swore his ears would have whistled, judging from the redness rimming his lobes.
 

He ground out, “Yes, keeping up with you two ladies does require extra. You are correct about that.”

“Yeah. We hear that a lot. But don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone about, you know, any of that stuff. Gossip gets around like lightning on the island. We wouldn’t want to hurt your chances with other women. Sam mentioned you had eyes for a nurse.” Mazy bit a sausage link in half and flashed a greasy smile.

Brock lifted an eyebrow and locked eyes with Sam. “I won’t breathe a word of what happened to anyone either. Thank you for being so compassionate about my...shortcomings as it were.” He stormed toward the deck.

Mazy waved her hand in a don’t-mention-it gesture. “No problem, dude. We see it all the time. By the way, awesome breakfast.”

When Brock closed the door behind him, Mazy said, “See? We don’t have anything to worry about. That worked better than I thought it would. I will say one thing though. The man can cook.”

BROCK LOWERED HIS irritation to a simmer and laughed to himself, realizing Mazy and Sam thought they’d had a threesome. If they were going to talk to him like he didn’t measure up to their expectations, he wasn’t going to correct them and let them know nothing happened. They deserved to sweat a while longer. It’d do them both some good. And a nice long run would do him good. After he’d let his breakfast settle, he would go for a run.

About an hour later, he put on his gym shorts and jogging shoes and walked out to the beach. Sam was spreading a towel in the shadow of the lifeguard stand. He ambled over to her.
 

“Hi, Sam. Do you happen to have any sunscreen?” He eyed her bum, barely covered by white, string-bikini bottoms.
 

She stood and faced him. Her hair covered her breasts.
 

Disappointment crept over his loins.
 

“Hi. I think I have some SPF 50 in my beach bag. Hang on.” She knelt and crawled across the towel on all fours.
 

What a view
.

She rummaged through her bag and pulled out an emerald green bottle shaped like a frog. “Here it is. You’re welcomed to it.”

He turned his back to her and said, “Do you mind putting some on my back for me. I have a hard time reaching.”

She stammered, “I guess I can do that.”

WITH BROCK’S ROCK-HARD body so close to her, Sam fought to think straight. She squirted a healthy dollop of sunscreen into her hands, rubbed her palms together then placed them on his broad shoulders. She smeared the white cream over his back and neck, applied more to his shoulders and massaged the lotion in until it left a clear sheen on his skin. She didn’t want to stop touching him. She put more sunscreen in her hands and went over his entire back again, stepping closer to his body, her eyes going from one muscular bulge to the next and across his freckled skin. She wanted to straddle his back and knead her fingers into those taut muscles, feel them soften beneath her touch, hear him murmur her name with appreciation.

He looked over his shoulder at her. “You have a nice touch.”

She picked up a towel and wiped her hands. “I think you’re good now. I’ll let you get the rest.” She handed him the bottle.

He looked down at the plastic green frog and grinned. “Thanks.”

She gulped as he slathered his chest and legs. He kept his eyes on hers the whole time. She was embarrassed to be gawking, but couldn’t help herself. Her eyes glued themselves to his body as he applied more lotion.
 

She said, “Don’t forget your face.”

He winked at her. “Both sides of my face too, right?”

“Yeah. You don’t want to go around looking like a dork. That wouldn’t be fun.” At that thought, the side of her face that was beginning to peel—itched. She gave her cheek a scratch.

He handed her back the sunscreen. “I’m going to go for a run, explore the island, any recommendations?”

A mischievous thought playfully skipped through her mind. “All the cool kids hang out at Bare Point on the north end. You might be interested in checking it out. Warning though, it can be quite crowded this time of day.”

He looked toward the north end. “I’ll check it out. Thanks.”

BROCK RAN A couple miles without seeing more than a handful of people, and he didn’t recognize any of them. As he approached the north end, he saw a bright fuchsia house and remembered Louise had mentioned she lived in such a home in that area. The memory of the feisty, red-haired woman that resembled his grandmother caused him to joyfully pick up his pace.
 

Two silhouettes approached him. One was tall, the other was short. Maybe a mother and child. The forms looked feminine. As he got closer, he could tell the taller silhouette was a redhead and the shorter one had pale-blue hair. He bet Louise and Myrtle headed his way.

Other figures were dotted around the two women. All of those people had gray hair. He couldn’t make out what any of them were wearing. In fact, they appeared to be wearing nothing at all.

As he drew close enough to confirm his suspicions, he froze. For the love of all things holy, these people were definitely naked. Every last one of them. And they were all old. Old and naked. There should be a law against those two things being in the same sentence.

Myrtle waved to him, “Yoohoo. Brock. Come join us.” All of her naughty bits had flown south for the winter. He didn’t need to see this.
 

Louise’s physique was plumper. Her belly hung to her lap. At least her stomach covered her down there. He wanted to turn around and run back home, but they’d seen him. They knew who he was. He couldn’t just run off and insult them.

He told himself that every human on the planet has a body, and anyone lucky enough to live to be a ripe old age should be proud of their body. He had no right to view theirs as hideous sights. If they were brave enough to expose themselves, he should be brave enough to look.
 

But God. Did he have to? Really?
 

Carl walked up behind the ladies and pinched Myrtle’s butt. The decrepit man’s birdcage chest was dusted with a few silver, wiry hairs. His manly bits. Dear Lord, his manly bits reminded Brock of a Vienna sausage and two pieces of chewed bubble gum. Mazy should buy Carl some of that supplement she was raving about.

Myrtle put one hand on her hip, the other behind her head and struck a calendar girl pose. “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.” She giggled like a little girl. It cracked him up.

He said, “I could never hate you.”

She lowered her arms. “I’m glad to hear it. I was afraid you’d be mad at me because of that voting poll.”

Focus on her eyes. Do not look below her neck
.
 

He didn’t know what she was talking about. “What voting poll?”

Myrtle’s face went flat. “Oh. I thought Sam would’ve told you by now. Nevermind.”

Louise swatted Myrtle’s arm. “You have a giant mouth for a munchkin. You know that?”

Carl grimaced at Louise. “Now...Louise. Don’t start nothing.”

“I’m not starting nothing. She does have a big mouth. You said so yourself.” Louise smoothed her auburn coif that didn’t seem to budge in the wind.

Brock kept his eyes on their faces. “What voting poll?”

Carl chopped the air. “It’s like this here. When you first came to town, none of us knew you from a hill of beans.”

Myrtle pushed Carl’s hand down. “Oh hush your mouth. I’ll tell it.” She put her hands on her hips.
Do not look down
. She said, “I let people cast their votes on whether or not you and Sam would end up bed buddies or enemies. Twenty dollars a vote. One hundred and twenty nine people voted.”

Brock soaked it all in without saying a word.

Myrtle stamped her foot. “Well ain’t you gonna say nothing?”

He cleared his throat. “I didn’t know that many people lived on the island.”

Louise howled. “Population three hundred and ninety-two as of last night when Patricia Drucker had her baby girl.”

Carl said, “Come on over and join us. I got us a tent and plenty of beer.

Myrtle looked him up and down. “No shirt, no shoes, no pants required. You can just let it all hang out.” She made big eyes at Louise who licked her lips and nodded her head in agreement.

Louise cooed, “Yeah, honey. You don’t have to be shy around us. We’ve seen it all before. Just drop em and join the party.”

He assumed by dropping ‘em she meant he should take off his shorts and parade around in the nude with them, but that thought held absolutely no appeal. “Thanks for the offer, but I need to finish my run. It’s been...” He was about to say it’s been good seeing you, but it hadn’t been what he’d call good. Bizarre. Funny. Frightening. But not good. Sam was going to pay for this one. “It’s been quite a surprise running into you. I need to get back to the house. Bye.”

He ran toward his house. When he reached the lifeguard stand, Sam’s beach towel was still there, but he didn’t see her. He checked the water. She wasn’t there either. He trudged toward the house, stripped, and stepped into the outdoor shower just off the carport.

SAM WADED THROUGH the breakers after a mile swim parallel with the shore. She panted, and her muscles ached in a good way. After drying off, she ambled to the house. While rubbing her hair with the towel, she walked to the shower off the carport. She reached in to turn the water on and grabbed a knob, but it wasn’t the kind of knob she’d expected to be putting her hands on. This one was soft and fleshy.

She dropped the towel and found herself gripping Brock’s wet, flaccid penis. Holy crap. If the man was this big when he was soft, imagine how large he’d become when aroused. What was she thinking? She let go and lifted her hand to her Grand-Canyon-mouth.

Brock smirked and flung his towel over the back of the shower, like he’d changed his mind about drying off and chose to drip dry. Right in front of her.
 

At the sight of him, she quivered.

He posed with rivulets streaming down his gorgeous nude body. Without an iota of embarrassment, he said, “I like when a woman grabs what she wants.”

Sam swallowed loudly. “I didn’t mean to do that. I didn’t know you were in there.”
 

“There’s plenty of room in here for both of us. Step in, and you can scrub my back. I’ll wash your hair for you. Do you like coconut? I have some coconut shampoo.”
 

His erection was growing and growing like the magic beanstalk, and she wanted to pretend her name was Jack and climb it. She shook her woozy head. “You’re naked.”

“Of course I am. I just took a shower, and I’m willing to take another with
you
.” He closed the short distance between them until they were almost touching. “Most people shower naked. And as I discovered, thanks to you, people here on the island do a lot of things naked. Especially on the north end. I now understand the hidden meaning of
Bare Point
.”

How she wished she could have seen his reaction when he stumbled across the Naked Naughty Seniors. Wait. He was the naked one now and inviting her to join him. Nekkid with a capital “N” and that stands for....NO.

“I’m not a fan of nudity.” She lied. Well, kind of. She wasn’t a fan of visiting the Naughty Naked Senior’s stomping ground, but if there were such a thing as Naughty-Naked-Brock-Watching Club, she’d sign up. Heck, she’d volunteer to be the leader.

“You’re embarrassing me.” Oh sure, she said that, all coy and brimming with bullshit, but there she stood, still staring at him. Judging by his wicked grin, he hadn’t let that little tidbit slide by.

“Oh come on. After last night?” He shot her a seductive come-hither look.

After last night? What the hell happened last night? She didn’t have a clue, but she was sober now, and he was offering. She could actually feel herself getting creamy as a heaviness formed between her thighs.
 

“Really. I better not.” Hot men ruined her life. Exhibit A: Steve Monague, the gorgeous prom date who took pictures of her naked while she slept after losing her virginity and passed them around school. Exhibit B: Roger Templeton, the hunky frat boy with the 4.0 GPA who borrowed her car and ended up wrecking it while his French tutor gave him head on the freeway. Exhibit C: Greg Lyons, the sexy record producer who invited a couple over to swing without asking how she felt about it first. Then there was Shawn Harrison, the ex who knocked her up, broke up via Twitter, and left her 50K in debt with nothing to show for it.
 
If she let herself fall for another hot guy, she might as well get fitted for a straight-jacket. She had to be strong. Only the strong survived.