Salsa Heat (6 page)

He removed his cell phone out of his briefcase and pressed the speed dial to call his parents’ home. The phone rang four times, and he was about to end the call when his father’s booming voice spoke into his ear.

“Dad,” Linden said into the phone. He walked out of the bedroom into the living room because he wanted a little privacy.

“Son, I read the contracts, and you couldn’t have negotiated a better deal for the company. I’m so proud of you!”

“Thank you, Dad. I worked really hard on that deal.”

“It shows. I was surprised when your mother mentioned that you decided to stay on in St. Lucia. Are you enjoying your vacation?” he asked.

“I didn’t realize how much I needed a break until I landed on the island.”

“It’s been fourteen months since you took over the day-to-day operation of running Stewart International. You deserve some down time, son.”

“I climbed the Petit Piton Mountain, yesterday,” he stated with pride.

“Be careful, son. I don’t want anything to happen to my
only
son. And, I won’t tell your mother what you’ve been up to.”

“Please, don’t tell her. She’ll just worry.”

“Tell me you won’t be climbing that second mountain.”

Linden burst out laughing. “No, Dad, I’ve done all the mountain climbing I plan to do this trip.”

“Great! When can we expect you back in Maryland?”

“I’m returning on Saturday.”

“Your mother and I expect you in Virginia for Sunday dinner.”

“I’ll be there,” he said, pacing the living room. Shay was on his mind as well as the developing feeling he could
no
longer deny.

“Dad, when you met Mom, how long before you knew you
were
in love with her?”

“I fell in love with your mother the moment I gazed into her doe brown eyes and when she refused to go out on a date with me. I knew I
had
to have her. She was a challenge. It took only two months to capture her.”

“Dad?”

“You’ve met a woman?”

He smiled at how attuned his father was to their conversation.

“Linden will you wash my back?” Shay hollered from the bathroom.

His eyes turned to the bedroom.

“She’s with you, now?” his father asked, hearing her called out to his son.

“I have to go, Dad.”

“You have to tell me
something
; otherwise your mother will blow up your cell phone, son.”

“I’ve met a woman…”

The knock on the suite’s door stopped him from saying more.

“Linden, I need you!” Shay hollered, again.

“Dad, I’ll talk to you when I get home.”

Linden closed his cell phone, while opening the door to his suite.

“Mr. Stewart, I have your room service.” Reggie said, smiling at the white man who tipped generously.

“Reggie, how are you man?” Linden politely asked as he shook his hand. Linden charmed everyone he met, including the staff at the resort.

“I’m doing well, and I have that package you requested.”

Reggie slipped a small white envelope into his hand.

“Thanks man! She’s going to love this,” he said, tucking the envelope into the pocket of his robe.

“Where would you like me to set up, sir?” Reggie politely asked.

“The usual location will be okay,” Linden said.

Reggie, a tall, mahogany-colored young man wheeled in the rolling cart containing their meal into the suite. He was one of the kitchen staff, and Linden met him the very first day of his stay. Swiftly and efficiently, he set up the dining table besides the pool. He lit the candle centerpiece and put the final touch on the table when from the corner of his eyes, he glimpsed a caramel beauty.

Shay sauntered out of the bedroom with her hair piled on top of her head, dripping wet. Her bathrobe was wide open.

“Didn’t you hear me calling you?” She whined. “I wanted you to wash my back.”

Reggie’s mouth dropped open. His hazel eyes shimmered with surprise at the woman in his sight. These last couple of days she was hidden in Mr. Stewart’s bedroom whenever he delivered their meals. When she spotted him watching her, she quickly belted her robe. But not before he saw all of her goodies: her wet, caramel satiny skin, her firm breasts, her dark chocolate areolas, and her bare mound. He wanted to cock her, but she was obviously interested in only white men, he convinced himself.

“And our brunch is here. Come, let’s go eat by the pool,” Linden said, extending his hands for her to follow him.

“Shay, I’d like you to meet Reggie. He has been delivering our meals for the last couple of days,” Linden said, as he boldly scribbled his signature on the bill.

“Ma’am,” Reggie politely replied, but his eyes boldly raked across her body again.

Shay didn’t like the look in his eyes, so she just nodded her head.

“Enjoy your meal, ma’am, sir,” Reggie said, taking the receipt and the crisp bills from Linden’s hands. He took another look at the beauty before walking through the doors.

Shay watched the door close behind Reggie.

“I called out to you twice, Linden. I wanted you to wash my back.”

“Sweetheart, let’s dine first, then we’ll both take a bath.”

Linden pulled out her chair.

Shay sat and he slid her closer to the table. Her eyes gazed across the glass table noticing there was enough food to feed an army of people.

He removed the lids off each dish.

“This looks and smells mouth-watering delicious, babe.”

“Come on, dig in,” he encouraged.

Shay loaded her plate and sampled
saltfish
, steak, dumplings, and the fruit. She ate every drop on her plate, and washed it down with two glasses of champagne mimosa.

“You’ve eaten quite a bit off that plate,” he teased.

“
Me!
You can throw down as well, Linden.”

“It must be all that fresh air and
exercise
I’ve been receiving, lately.” He chuckled.

Shay unfastened her robe. She was ready to burst, and began to stroke her full stomach, while smiling back at Linden.

“Come here,” he groaned, extending out his hand to her.

He removed their robes and eased their naked bodies down onto the large, black micro fiber chaise.

“I thought we were going to bathe together,” Shay cooed, her eyes skimming over his body.

This is just as nice,” he mumbled, nibbling on her neck. His thumb tweaked the tips of her right nipple. “You’re wearing my favorite cologne again—Blackberry. I could eat you right now, Shay.”

“The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice,” she whispered seductively. Her tongue swiped his ear, nipped, and then swiped it again.

“You’re not black in coloring. You’re more like caramel in coloring—together we’re vanilla ice cream with caramel topping and a cherry on top,” he stated.

Her tongue was setting him on fire again.

“Cherry—my cherry was busted a long time ago.”

“I wished I’d been your first,” Linden crooned, his left hand caressed her silken belly.

“My first time, I don’t know what he was doing to me. There was no foreplay. He just stuck his
thing
into me, grunted and grinned because it was good to him. But for me, I couldn’t wait for him to get
it
out of me.”

“I’m sorry…your first time wasn’t earth-shattering and invigorating,” he whispered. Unconsciously, his fingers threaded through her hair until it tumbled carelessly down her shoulders. She looked uninhibited—downright sexy to his eyes.

“I felt nothing with him, and I’ve had several lovers since then.”

“You’re a passionate, giving lover, Shay,” he said, nibbling on her chin.

“
Ahh
…with you, Linden, it’s as if, I’m making love for the very first time. It feels so good—so right. I’ve never felt as connected as I do with you.”

Their eyes locked.

She kissed his cleft chin.

“Shay…I…”

“No, you don’t have to return my feelings.”

Shay covered Linden’s lips with her right hand.

“I just wanted to share that with you, and after drinking two glasses of champagne mimosas, it has given me loose lips.”

“I care…Shay!”

She brushed her lips gently against his, and her arms curled around his waist automatically tightening.

“I like this, us just lounging around and talking like this, Shay.”

“This feels good—natural,” she said yawning into his chest.

Shay’s eyes felt heavy, her stomach was full, and the heat from Linden’s body made her aroused, but sleepy.

He didn’t get a chance to tell her how they would be spending their evening that night.

“Shay, I managed to get tickets for the Jazz festival, tonight,” Linden said into her hair.

Her eyes popped open.

“What did you say, babe?”

“I’ve got tickets for us to go to the festival, tonight, Shay,” he enunciated each word slowly.

She bolted out of his arms.

“Are you
serious,
Linden?”

“Yes!” He sat up and reached for his robe and removed the envelope out of his pocket. Linden flashed the tickets in her face.

“We’re going—I’ll get to see Anita Baker,
Najee
, Alex
Bugnon
, and Nick
Colionne
&
Ledisi
—live!” she cried out.

“Yes, Air Supply, Dionne Warwick, and Michael Bolton are also performing tonight, Shay.”

“Yes!” She shouted, and started doing the happy dance around the table.

“What time is the Jazz concert?”

“It starts at six o’clock.”

“What! It’s three o’clock, now. That leaves me with just three hours to get ready,” she said, after glancing at the brass clock.

Linden burst out laughing.

“Three hours is plenty of time to get dressed Shay.”

“Yes, for a man, but I have to find something to wear. I’m in desperate need of a manicure, pedicure, and I need my hair done,” she whined, threading her fingers through her long, thick, tangled hair. “Three hours is
not
enough time, Linden!”

The sudden knock at the door startled, Shay. She snatched up her robe off the floor and slipped back into it.

“I have another surprise for you,” he said, slipping into his own robe.

He opened the door and admitted four women.