He chuckled, “I said, do you have any toothpaste? I’m out.”
I took one last look at up and down his scrumptious body, trying not to whimper as I walked away to retrieve the requested item. I almost
caved, almost gave in right then and there. Had it not been for Maddie barreling out of her room asking for breakfast, I probably would have
pulled him by the towel into the room and tackled him to the ground.
The shower trick was low. He knew how much I loved him in a towel. It reminded me of our first morning together. We’d woken up and showered
together, and I finally felt like I had found home again.
Before I had a chance to come up with a witty comeback to his touching comment, our instructor showed up; he was a tanned young surfer dude
with blonde hair and an accent to match his laid back style. We both stood to greet him, and he kindly shook our hands, but his eyes lingered
on me, and Logan noticed.
“Nice to meet you, Derek. I’m Logan, and this is my fiancée, Clare. We’re here for the week celebrating our upcoming wedding.” It wasn’t
lost on me that he emphasized the word fiancée or immediately wrapped a possessive arm around my waist.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you both. Very nice,” he said, his eyes still trying to lock with mine. Not happening, dude.
“Well, who’s ready to get wet?!” he said with enthusiasm. Logan’s hand gripped my hip harder and I sighed.
Oh, this was going to be fun.
I hated snorkeling. If that guy looked at Clare one more time, I swore I was going to shove his air tube up his ass. Note to self, request old,
gay instructor next time.
“Okay, guys…had a great time. Thanks for spending the afternoon with me,” the douche said, before he narrowed in on Clare. “If you need any
one-on-one time in the future, please be sure to ask for Derek.”
Clare’s eyes widened a bit before giving a polite nod. She said thank you, which was more politeness than I could offer up at the moment. It
was all I could do to keep my mouth shut. It takes a special kind of asshole to flirt with your fiancée right in front of you days before your
wedding. The asshole in question sauntered away, no doubt thinking Clare was checking him out as he did. She wasn’t. She had turned to me, her
eyes full of laughter.
“You’re jealous. And mad.”
“That was not fun.”
“You’re kind of hot when you’re mad,” she said, rising up on her tip toes to place a soft kiss on my mouth. Not giving her the chance to
move away, I pulled her closer, deepening the kiss as I moved my tongue with hers. She moaned, making that sound I loved, and melted in my
arms. I needed to pull away and stop before the semi I was now sporting went pro. Covering up a boner in swimming trunks was nearly impossible,
and there was no way I was going to do so out in the open with our relatives and friends milling about.
I reluctantly pulled back, running my fingers down the side of her face, into her damp hair. The sun was hot, and her hair had already started
to dry in waves against her back.
“Giving up so easily, Mr. Matthews?” she teased.
“Just trying to keep my sanity, Mrs. Matthews-to-be. If I keep going, I won’t be able to stop, and then your family will end up getting quite
the show.”
She snorted out a laugh, giving me a playful slap on the chest.
“Come on, Casanova, let’s go find Maddie. I think her day program will be wrapping up soon and I wanted to take her shopping.”
I bent down to pick up our stuff which was still resting near the lounge chairs we had occupied earlier. As soon as I came back up, the world
tilted, and my vision blurred. I grabbed the first thing I could find, the lounger, but I missed, or I think I did. All I know was I ended up
on the sand, with the lounge chair upended next to me.
“Oh my God! Logan! Logan! Are you okay?”
Clare came rushing to my side, kneeling down to pull me into her lap. I was dizzy, so dizzy. I looked around, my vision returning back to
normal a bit, but still a bit fuzzy. Clare’s father and mother were rushing over to us.
“I’m fine. I’m okay,” I said, trying to rise. “I just need some water.”
She dove into her beach bag, retrieving a bottle of water, and handed it to me. I took a few sips and let the water slid down my throat.
“Mom, go to the hotel. Have the front desk get a car ready. We need to get him to the hospital.”
“No,” I said simply.
“What?” Clare looked at me suddenly, her eyes filled with horror.
“Babe, I’m fine. Just a bit of dizziness. It’s passing.”
“But, what if…”
“Laura, Tom…can you give us a minute?” I asked Clare’s parents. They nodded, both still looking at me with concern. I understood. Everyone
here had already lost someone to cancer. But I wasn’t going anywhere, and they needed to stop walking on egg shells.