Accidentally in Love Read online

  Seven. L8R.

  And that was the end of that. I was on my own until dinner. Sigh. I tucked my phone into the book I’d painstakingly cut a phone-sized hole in and set it on the edge of my chaise. No way would someone think to steal my copy of Clan of the Cave Bear.

  “So, Jessica, tell me, what do you do for a living?”

  A little forward, but nothing to set off warning bells. “I’m between jobs. Start a new one in two weeks.”

  “Doing?”

  Dental hygiene sounded so boring. Who wants to know that I scrub teeth all day long? I loved it, and I loved that my patients left after a visit with clean and healthy teeth, but it’s not a sexy job in the least. I could’ve lied and said anything. Instead, defeated, I told the truth before I could conjure up a more romantic-sounding job.

  “That’s cool.”

  I shrugged. “What about you?”

  “I’m a web designer.”

  Whether he was telling the truth, I’d never know. He could throw all sorts of web lingo at me to prove himself, and it could be believable.

  “Sweet.” Technology wasn’t my strong suit. When I’d get an error message on my phone, I always called my brother first, who usually laughed and told me it was nothing to worry about.

  “I’m my own boss, so it’s a pretty sweet gig. I decide what jobs I want, and my timeline for working on them. If you ever need a website …”

  “I’ll give you a call,” I winked. He’s probably not even named Jon. Not that he’s given me any reason to not believe him. Still, he’s a random stranger who took my note, assumed it was intended for him and came to find me. Weird.

  “I’m getting hot. What about you? Want to go for a swim?”

  Tess, the girl I was until I’d blurted out a false name, would’ve waited until this Jon vacated his spot, even if she was already feeling sun tinged. No way would she have stripped off her tank top and shorts in front of him, that’s something Camille would’ve done, and probably had every guy drooling as she did it. It felt just a little too saucy for my liking. But then again, I was suddenly Jessica, and she was bolder and braver than me. “Sure.” I pulled off my tank top and shimmied my shorts off, placing them over the top of my bag.

  Jon had already removed his shirt revealing a taut, hairless chest. A tattoo in script ran along the inside of his bicep, and I was more than a little curious to know what it read.

  Later. Maybe.

  For now, it was time to play and have some fun. “Race ya.”

  Chapter Three

  I ran down the sand, feet digging in less and less as the water-soaked shoreline advanced. Jon was right behind me. Instead of touching the ocean like I wanted to, I sidestepped the waves and skirted over to the dock. My bare feet landed on the rough wood, and quickly, I raced down the vacant floating reprieve, past a dozen or so lounger chairs, and over to the far end. My toes stood poised on the edge, ready to launch me into the water, but I froze. I wanted to be sexy and make a perfect dive, but I didn’t know how. And jumping in while holding my nose wasn’t the epitome of elegance either.

  Jon paused beside me. “Let’s go.”

  I focused on the shoreline. We were quite the distance away, maybe two hundred feet, so the ocean floor should be far below. The resort owners would make sure it was safe, right? I found my feet again.

  “Are you afraid?”

  “Not at all.” It wasn’t fear that held me back. I studied the waves, seeing if there was anything I should worry about. Would they slam me against the dock? They didn’t appear that strong, at least not here. The island further out in the ocean probably helped break up the strength of the waves.

  Screw it. I am Jessica, wild and free. I plugged my nose and plunged into the ocean, feet first.

  The moment they broke the surface, a chill shot through my body and as soon as I came up for air, I gasped. It wasn’t as cold as I thought, but totally refreshing. It felt awesome.

  Jon lowered himself in slowly, gripping the edge of the ladder. He tipped his head back into the water, and the ocean licked at the sides of his face. Righting himself, water ran out of his dark hair, spiraling down his neck. It was highly sexy. I brushed my own dark hair back figuring I looked more like a drowned rat than anything remotely attractive.

  “Water’s nice,” I said. It wasn’t the smartest words to roll out my mouth.

  “Indeed.”

  The hum of a motor revved in the distance, and we both turned to watch. A parasailor floated in the air behind the boat.

  Jon kept his focus on the half-naked man suspended under the parachute who had his arms extended a la Jack in Titanic. The words ‘I’m the king of the world’ almost sailed through the air. “I’m going to suck up the nerve to do that before I go home.”

  “Yeah, me too.” But I knew it was shop talk. No way was I going to allow someone to drag me down a beach and hope everything worked well enough to yank me into the air. I had better ways of spending my money. Shopping for one. I was sure I passed a mercado on my way to the hotel.

  The rivers of water were having all the fun washing down Jon’s perfectly sculpted legs as he climbed back onto the dock.

  I swam over to the ladder and pulled myself up, my own rivers running down my goose-pimpled skin. The contrast between the blazing sun and the cool ocean was heavenly. I stepped over to the edge of the dock and sat, dangling my feet in. “Well, I need a cool drink now. How about you?”

  “Are you a good swimmer?”

  I shrugged. “Decent enough. Couldn’t save anyone’s life though.”

  “Wanna race back to the shore? Last one there buys drinks.”

  My eyebrow shot up into my hairline. “The drinks are free.” It was a perk to staying at an all-inclusive.

  “Fair enough. Then the first one there gets to select the drink.”

  I’m not a drinker by nature but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to show this guy who was boss. I may be a little rusty in my abilities, but it should come back like riding a bike, right? “Fine.” I pushed myself off the dock and slipped into the water with a little less grace than I’d hoped. My suit caught and gave me an instant wedgie which I fixed under the cover of the water.

  Jon remained on the dock.

  “Aren’t you coming in?”

  “I prefer a little push. But to compensate, I’ll give you a five-second head start.”

  I lined up next to the back of the dock, level to Jon. He’d be launching off at a weird angle, so my five-second advantage was going to pay off. “Whenever you’re ready.”

  “Go,” I said, my arms already cycling through the water. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. I didn’t bother to see if he’d taken off yet, and I didn’t hear a splash. Instead, I kept my focus on making sure my strokes were strong and smooth. I couldn’t dive to save my soul, but I could swim. Eventually the bottom rose up to smack my hands, and I twisted to glance behind me to see where he was. There was no one in the ocean. How could he have passed me? Yet sure enough, there he was in all his slicked-up glory standing by the chairs. How in the hell?

  Salt water dripped off my body as I walked from the shoreline back to my undisturbed chair. Pleased that nothing had been touched or taken, I grabbed my towel and dried my hair off hoping the frizziness stayed away but knowing better. I finger brushed it into an unsecured braid and hoped for the best.

  Footprints etched into the sand led to his chair and I followed their path to the water’s edge. How did he do it? Coach Tremblay would’ve wanted a fast swimmer like him on the swim team, especially since I was useless and couldn’t master a proper dive.

  “It’s killing you to know how I beat you, isn’t it?”

  “It’s not killing me, but I am curious.” Here I’d thought I was a decent swimmer, but not only had he beat me, he had time to walk up the beach to our spot. Impressive.

  A resort worker crept by and Jon flagged him down. “Dos cervezas, por favor.”

  With a quick nod, the waiter disappeared.

>   Jon dug under his T-shirt and withdrew a fifty peso bill for a tip. To the worker it was probably big money. I’d noticed at breakfast how grateful they were for even ten pesos. Even with our paltry exchange rate, the fifty was the equivalent of $3.50, stupid cheap for a beer. It sucked how hard they all worked for so little. I vowed to be even more generous in my tipping.

  The heat from the blazing sun pressed down on me, warming me up like an oven after I’d just exited the cool of the ocean.

  I polished up my sunglasses, cleaning off the water spots and placed the wide-brimmed hat back on my head. Stretching out on the chair, I gave permission to the sun to dry my body off while at the same time sucking in my stomach and trying to look as flat as possible.

  “Better reapply your sunscreen. You’ll burn to a crisp.”

  “I think I’ll be just fine.” It was SPF 40 and waterproof at that.

  He shook his head. “If you say so.”

  The waiter returned a few minutes later with beers so cold the outside of the bottle was ripe with condensation. Jon passed me one, and the chill felt so heavenly in my warm hands that I ran it over my chest for good measure, sighing as it created goose bumps in the process.

  Jon held his bottle still in his hand and pointed the neck of it in my direction.

  I tipped the bottle back and drank a few solid, unladylike gulps and released a satisfying burp which I covered and hopefully stifled. “Damn, that hits the spot.”

  He laughed; a sweet and hardy sound. “I’ll bet.” Sand-crusted feet hit the edge of his lounger as he stretched out in his spot, remaining topless. The sun bounced rays off his perfect chest.

  I tore my gaze away and let my eyelids softly shut, enjoying the peaceful sound of the waves, and in the far distance, the peals of children’s laughter.

  It was the sound of heavy feet and breathing that brought me to my senses. A large presence stopped beside my lounge chair and sent off a wave of paranoia that ignited my fine hairs to stand at attention.

  “Dude, finally. You turn your phone off?” The voice was a tad panicked.

  “I lost track of time. I was swimming and enjoying the presence of Jessica, here.” Jon stood and in one fell swoop, pulled his white tee back over his delicious body. “Jessica, this is Irwin.”

  Not a name I would’ve given to the man beside my chair. He was more than intimidating with his distinct nod at being introduced. But it was totally weird that he was wearing black pants and a dark T-shirt. The man knew we were only a few degrees north of the equator, right? Who wears that much black in the tropics?

  “Hey,” he said in a higher pitched voice than I expected from a man of his size. “Bus leaves in ten minutes.”

  “Oh, shit. Do I have time to change?” He guzzled down the rest of his beer and shimmied the bottle into the sand.

  “If you move your ass right now.” Irwin’s tone commanded more attention than his harsh words.

  “Sorry, Jessica, I need to run. Can I meet up with you later?”

  I smiled shyly. He was easy on the eyes and a resort-based crush and flirt would be harmless fun. “Sure.” I stretched back out while Irwin tapped his watch. “If you can find me.”

  “Dude, we need to go.”

  Jon stood at the end of his chair and gave me a once-over. “Challenge accepted.”

  I listened as Jon and Irwin’s chatter faded away and finished up my cool beer. Challenge accepted. I laughed. What a guy. After that, I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep. It was like being at home with the sound machine being on, except here the sunrays perfectly heated my body, unlike my electric blanket.

  After a wee nap, I woke up. My hat had tipped forward and therefore protected my face and part of my chest. However, I was now sporting a pink, wide-brimmed smile across the top of my breasts. Waterproof or not, a reapplication of sunscreen was vital here. My legs had been crossed at the ankle and thanks to the nap, they were two different colours: pink and white. Just great.

  I had two choices. Take a quick dip in the ocean to cool off my skin or head back to my room and take an hour-long cold shower and apply some burn relief lotion, which I had the foresight to pack. The latter sounded better, so I gathered my things and took the two beer bottles and deposited them onto an empty serving tray.

  The sun was incredibly hot. All around the bustling pool, the sun chairs were all shaded by giant umbrellas. I needed to remember that for tomorrow. There were no umbrellas on the beach, and that was likely the reason it was deserted in the heat of the day.

  After a cool shower and another nap, I dressed in a white linen dress that showed off just how fast my Canadian skin can burn. It was time to meet Camille, so I headed to the main area of the resort where the à la carte restaurants were. This resort had five, which was almost unheard of. I didn’t need to eat at the sprawling buffet for every meal of the day, just the first two, and based on how I’d dined this morning, maybe only one. The à la cartes were all themed: Mexican, Italian, Japanese, Indian and a seafood speciality. I wasn’t sure where that one was, though, but the tour guide on the bus mentioned it was on a boardwalk along the beach. However, I didn’t remember seeing any restaurant when I was down there.

  I hung around the entrance to the à la carte. All of them, aside from the seafood experience, entered through the same main door before branching off. A few minutes after I checked on our reservation, Camille emerged from the elevator in all her magnificent glory, a slinky grey dress showing off her toned body. Her blonde hair was piled on her head, and as always, she was stunning. Sometimes I wondered if I had a girl-crush on her as even her outer beauty rivaled her inner beauty.

  “Hey, sunshine,” Camille said as she got closer. “Look who got some colour today.” She ran her fingers over the edge of my burn and made a sizzling sound. “Ouch.”

  “Yeah. I spent some time on the beach. What were you up to today?”

  “Let’s sit, and I’ll tell you.” She linked her arm through mine and led me over to the hostess.

  We checked in and were escorted to a table with a seaside view. A bonus was watching the sunset, and judging by the magnificent colouring in the sky, we were in for a spectacular show.

  “So?” I placed the cloth napkin over my lap. “Who is he, and how did you meet?”

  “Well, last night after our Welcome to Mexico drinks, I came back down. I just wasn’t tired. They had the music going, and I made myself at home. This one guy, Wade, yeah, that’s his name.” Her head bobbed in recall. “Anyway, he and I hit it off and danced until they shut the place down. Like, around two or something. I was pretty hammered, and so was he. I asked him if he wanted to continue the party up in my room, and we grabbed a few drinks to take upstairs.” She winked at me. “I think I wore more of the drink, if you catch my drift. Word to the wise, ice on the body is tantalizing.” Her eyebrows danced. “It was the most fun experience I’ve had in a long while.”

  “You dawg.” I playfully swatted her hand.

  “Good thing they change the sheets. My bed was … a little sticky.” She didn’t even blush.

  “And Trey?” They’d been together for months.

  She shrugged and took a sip of her water. “Whatever. He thinks it’s okay to sleep around. Two can play his game, he can consider it revenge. Besides, these guys don’t live in butt-fuck Alberta, and I’m never going to see them again. They’re not even Canadian. Well, not all.” She jutted her nose out. “Except maybe him. Ghosts have more colour.” A peaceful sound breathed out of her and she draped a napkin over her lap. “You know, I could live here. Couldn’t be too hard to find a job on the resort.” She waved her hand, and I understood. It was hard to hate on a place as beautiful as the tropics where it never snowed, the heat was welcome and the sun shone all the time.

  “What did you do all day today with this Wade guy?”

  With Camille, there was no holding back. “We fucked. Endlessly. It was ah-mazing. Trey’s a one timer, then he’s done. But Wade … Wow. Over and over again
. His stamina. Incredible. A girl could get used to that.” She ran her hands over the top of her breasts and a contented sigh breathed out of her. “Ever had sex in a shower?”

  I cleared my throat as the waiter arrived. We ordered shots of tequila to get our evening started and an appetizer.

  “Are you going to see him again?”

  “Maybe.” She scanned the terrace. “He’s not the only guy here though. There are lots of hot guys. Who knew revenge sex was so wild?”

  I checked out the other guests. Yeah, hot guys were definitely in abundance. There had to be one at every table. And the majority of them were in our age range, late twenties to early thirties. But, a lot of them were also sitting with pretty women so it did lessen the playing field.

  Camille nudged me. “What about you? What were you up to all day?”

  “I wasn’t working up a sweat, if that’s what you mean. At least, not with someone else. I hung out on the beach, went for a swim in the ocean.” With a gorgeous guy. For a little while at least. Speaking of which … “What’s your room number again?”

  “2432. Why?”

  Damn. I was off by one number. The note should’ve slid under the door beside Jon’s. Oh well. “Just wondering. I was going to come by and knock this morning, but I couldn’t remember if you were thirty-two or thirty-one.”

  “The room next door has a hot guy in there.” She fanned herself. “I should make myself known to him.”

  A part of me knew if she threw herself at him, he’d been lured into her charms and the little tentacles of a jealous nature wrapped around me. Not that I had a chance with him anyway. He was just some guy I had a beer with on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, who accepted a weak challenge to find me later. As cute as he was, I couldn’t see myself bedding him. Well, I could actually. If we were in an adult relationship and had known each other for a few months first. But after one meeting? Never. And certainly not within the week I was here. That was a Camille thing, not a Tess thing.