Chapter Sixteen
“I love it,” Zach said as the tattoo artist put some gel on Jenna’s new ink and prepared to cover it with a bandage.
“I do, too.” The hummingbird now gracing the inside of her wrist was delicate, shaded in tones of pink, green, and pale yellow with thin little vines curling around it.
“It’s an amazing tribute to your mom,” Zach said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“Thanks,” she said. “I thought having needles full of link jammed into my skin was a pretty good anti for a couples’ massage.”
“Totally,” Zach agreed.
“Your turn,” Jenna said.
“Oh, I don’t think so.” He looked horrified.
“You think this was a dumb idea?”
“No, of course not. It’s just…needles. And I don’t want you to see my manly tears if it’s as painful as they say.”
“It barely hurts.” She nudged him toward the chair. “Come on. I kick-boxed for you. It doesn’t count if you don’t do it, too. And that will mean there’s an unchecked box on my list. I know how you feel about unchecked boxes.”
“Fine,” he said, sitting back in the chair.
“What are you going to get?”
“No idea.”
“How about something to commemorate your time here?”
“Like a Sizzling Threeway?”
Jenna laughed. “Well, I was thinking of a palm tree or something, but whatever floats your boat. Just remember, it’s permanent.”
“I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”
“I’m just going to use the bathroom and I’ll be back.”
The tattoo artist handed Zach a book of his work, and Jenna heard them discussing options. By the time she returned, the artist was already at work on Zach’s ankle.
“You pick something?” She tried to peer around the artist’s hands at the outline taking shape.
“No peeking,” he said, grabbing her hand and tugging her toward him before she could tell what the outline on Zach’s ankle was.
She sat down on the stool Zach had occupied during her time in the chair and took his hand again.
“How are you doing there, big guy?” she asked with a grin.
He grimaced. “Great. Thanks.”
“Please tell me he’s not inking a hamburger on you.”
“Not a burger, no,” he said, wincing as the artist hit a sensitive spot. She was dying to know what he was getting.
“The ankle is one of the most painful places, man,” the tattoo artist said.
“I wish you would have told me that before we agreed on this,” Zach said.
“Want me to distract you?” Jenna asked, remembering how Zach had done such a good job calming her flight anxiety.
“Absolutely.” The hot look Zach gave her made her think of all kinds of fun ways she could distract him from what was happening at the other end of his body. But she didn’t think the tattoo artist would appreciate that. Or maybe he would. Ick.
“How about I return the favor and fill you in on my sad dating history?”
“Sad? Somehow I doubt that. You had to be the girl all the guys tried to date.”
Jenna snorted. “Hardly. I was quiet and shy and turned beaming red whenever a guy looked my way. I had bad skin and hadn’t fully learned to control my curls, so my hair always looked like a bad case of bedhead. I didn’t have any boyfriends in high school.”
“A late bloomer, then. What about college?”
“College was…pretty much the same. Except for the bad skin. Plus, I discovered the magic of good hair products.”
“Any serious relationships?”
“No. I mean, I dated some, experimented, you might say. But nothing that lasted longer than a few months.”
“Until Elliot.”
“Yes. I guess he kind of swept me off my feet. At first, anyway, he wined me and dined me, and when he proposed…”
“You thought it’d be forever.”
“Yeah. Stupid, huh?”
“Not stupid. Just the wrong guy. Gotta wait for Mr. Right.”
“Well, he’s late.”
“All done here, dude.”
“Thank God. The manly tears were about to flow.”
“Can I look now?”
“Go ahead.”
Jenna swiveled on the stool and looked at Zach’s ankle. “It’s tiny,” she said.
“Someone told me it’s permanent,” he said. “I thought I should start small.”
She moved to get a better look and discovered that his new body art wasn’t a Sizzling Threeway but a tiny, tiny pair of daylilies done in a pinkish red on the outside of his ankle. The kind that hummingbirds were often painted or drawn hovering around.
Something in her chest shifted. “To go with my hummingbird?”
He nodded, smiling. “Seemed appropriate. If we’re in this together.”
She nodded, her throat tight, unable to come up with a snappy comeback.
His grin faded. “Do you like it? Should I have gotten the palm tree?”
“No,” she said. “It’s got a lot of potential.” She grinned up at him.
Zach paid the tattoo artist, and they headed outside. The late afternoon sun had been obscured by a patch of rainclouds over the ocean, and she knew that the frequent, but usually short, burst of afternoon showers was about to hit.
“I always wanted to get a tattoo for my mom,” Jenna said as he took her hand. “Elliot thought it was trashy.”
“We’ve established that Elliot’s opinions are worthless,” Zach said.
“True.” She bit at her lip, wondering if she should say anything further. It wasn’t like Zach was probably really that excited to talk about Elliot all the time. He’d been surprisingly patient over the last few days as she had started to work out her relationship issues. Well, ex-relationship issues. “I just…I think I need to focus on what I want. For me.”
“I think you’re exactly right.”
“And that starts with someplace to live.”
He looked away then back at her. “Will you stay in the city?”
“Yes, I think so. For now, anyway. I don’t have a lot of money, and I need to find a job, so it’ll have to be somewhere cheap.” She sighed. “I want to stay close to Aggie and the rest of my friends if I can.”
“Let me help you,” he said.
“I don’t want your money, if that’s what you mean.”
He sighed deeply. “It could be a loan.”
“No. But thanks.” The last thing she wanted from Zach was a loan or money of any kind. “It’s just…I need to do this on my own, you know? I want to do it on my own.”
“Then how about help with finding a place?” he offered. “And organizing things. I’m an excellent planner and checklist composer.”
Jenna laughed. “You are definitely a man with a plan. But don’t you need to work?”
“It can wait.” There was a pier with a shelter on one end, and as the raindrops started to fall, Zach and Jenna jogged to it.
They sat down on the bench, and Zach took out his phone.
“First thing is housing,” Zach said. “Rent or buy?”
“Wow. We’re doing this now,” Jenna said. “I guess you don’t know the meaning of the word procrastination.”
“Not in my vocabulary,” he said. “Rent or buy?”
“Rent for now until I figure out employment. I might have to get a job that’s outside the city and need to move.”
Zach tapped something into his phone screen. “Apartment or house?”
“Apartment, same reason. Easier to get in and out of if needed.”
“Roommate?”
“Maybe. Depends on the cost of the places I can find.”
Zach stopped typing and looked at Jenna.
“Why don’t you stay with me for a while? Just a few weeks, until you get back on your feet.”
“No.” She didn’t even have to think about it.
“Wow, that was fast. Not even a maybe.” He sounded a little offended.
She sighed. “I appreciate your offer. Really, I do. It would just be…complicated.”
Zach said nothing, just looked at her with a weird expression on his face.
“I mean, we agreed that this week was just about fun. Sex and fun and time out of our real lives. If we continued to see each other when we leave here and go home…well, it would get complicated.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he said, looking at her, and for a moment, she thought he might be asking if…no. That was ridiculous. He’d said he was not a relationship guy. And Jenna? Well, she was a relationship junkie. To even entertain the thought was disaster. Total devastation. She had to quit cold turkey.
“You work all the time, and I…I need to figure some things out.”
“I see.”
Jenna got the strangest feeling that she had hurt his feelings somehow. She didn’t like the thought of that. “And besides, how would you explain me to your women?”
“My women?”
“Come on. There have to be women. You’re wealthy and successful and sweet and not too bad to look at. Not to mention a world-class lover. They probably hound you day and night.”
“Oh, those women,” he said. “Yeah. I could say you’re the help, I guess.” He paused then turned on the Smolder. “World class, huh?”
“Well, maybe not to the French judge. But from where I’m sitting, definitely a nine. With potential.”
“Hmmm. What do I need to do to get to a ten?”
“Telling you would be cheating.”
He touched her face and went in for a kiss. Gentle, thorough, delicious.
“Mmm…we’re throwing out the French score. Average is now 9.3.”
“Progress,” he said, putting his arm around Jenna and snuggling her into his chest.
Living with Zach would be amazing in some ways. This part. This would be amazing. And the talking. She hadn’t fully realized how lonely she actually was until Zach came along. It was sort of ironic that the loneliest time in her life was during her engagement to Elliot.
But as great as this was, this was temporary, time out of their real lives. Zach was a workaholic. He’d admitted that. And Jenna ultimately wanted a family and a life companion. Workaholic and family man were mutually exclusive.
And she couldn’t accept his offer for a place to stay, either. She grimaced at the thought of his having female overnight guests and her playing the domestic, even though he’d been joking. Watching the flirting, watching him kiss someone else. Hearing them…whatever. Her stomach lurched.
Why should it matter? They knew what this was when it started—just sex. And she was the one who insisted on that. So why did it bother her now that they would see other people once this time at Paradise Island was over?
It didn’t, she decided. Couldn’t. She’d just ended a long-term serious relationship. There was no way she had caught feelings for another man in a matter of days. She was just a little lost, a little lonely, and a lot confused. And the excellent sex had just clouded the situation.
Zach Ruiz was her friend. A friend with benefits on a limited timeframe. Anything else was just Jenna being the old Jenna—looking hard for a family to the exclusion of things like facts and reality. And the reality was that Zach had no feelings outside of bed for her, just as she felt the same about him. End of story.
“Thank you, seriously, Zach. I know I’ve said it often this week, but I do appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” She leaned in and kissed him just as the sky opened up and rain pounded the tin roof of the shelter they were under. All around them, jewel-colored water turned murky as the rain pounded down. This was no gentle afternoon shower but a full-on deluge.
Zach set his phone aside and put his arms around her. She lay her head on his shoulder. If she was to look in the future, Zach might be close to the kind of guy she’d want. But not now. Now she had to be alone for a while, think about what she wanted out of life. She was no longer going to look for a man to make her happy—happy meaning that a man equaled family. If she met someone and fell in love, great. But if not, she’d be just fine on her own. She had some really good friends, and that was a great start.
Jenna could feel Zach’s breath going in and out of his chest under her cheek. His arm around her was comforting and warm, and she knew that she’d miss this.
“Hey,” Jenna said as the rain let up a little. “How about we plan something special for tomorrow? It is our last full day here.”
“Absolutely,” Zach said. “I think we have to celebrate.”
“What do you want to do? We haven’t marked an anti-romantic dinner off the list yet.”
“How about you leave the planning to me?” he said.
“You are good at it,” she replied. With all the decisions ahead of her, Jenna was happy to let Zach handle this one. It was nice to be cared for, and she didn’t know when she would feel so…loved? No, not loved. Considered, maybe.
Her phone beeped, and she groaned.
“Elliot?”
“I don’t know. I hope not.” She pulled out her phone and found a message from Chuck.
She would call Chuck. But not right now.
“And?”
“Not Elliot. Chuck.” Jenna grinned. “He’s done with his background check.”
“He find anything interesting?”
Jenna looked at him. “Is there anything to find?”
“My three wives, prison record, and forty-seven illegitimate children are all well hidden. No one can crack my past.”
Jenna laughed. She knew everything about Zach she needed to know. The past didn’t matter, and neither did the future, really. All they had was right now, and she planned to make the most of it.
Seeing that the rain had made the beach and the boardwalk completely deserted, Jenna straddled Zach’s lap and kissed him deeply. “I feel I should do some in-depth digging of my own,” she said, wiggling a little.
His hands went to her waist. “Really?”
He threaded his fingers throughout the hair at the back of her head and held her still for his kiss, just the way she liked it.
“I’m totally on board with that,” Zach said. “But maybe we ought to take this ‘research’ back to the pump house.”
“Pump house?”
“Shag shanty? Coitus Cabana?”
“I think I prefer Hump Hut. It’s growing on me.” She giggled. “They ought to put that in the brochure.”
“I’ll email their marketing firm.”
They made it back to the hut, and Zach showed her exactly how good he was at research, but he wouldn’t let her linger in bed.
“Up,” he said, throwing back the covers. “We have dinner plans.”
“We do?” Looking at Zach naked, she could happily stay in bed and skip a meal or two. Or twelve.
“Yes. As you pointed out, our dinner anti got kind of interrupted. We’re going to need a do-over to check it off the list properly.”
“What in the world are you talking about?” she asked, reluctantly swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
“The dinner. We left that dive bar before we could eat and, well, I’m not sure what happened to the pizza. I think we might have left it in the Uber.”
“Fair point,” Jenna said, standing and stretching. “What did you have in mind, then?”
“It’s a surprise.”
He was already pulling on shorts and a T-shirt. Jenna sighed. If he was going to put on clothes, she supposed she could go along with whatever he’d planned.
“I’ll meet you on the beach in fifteen minutes,” he said then pressed a quick kiss to her lips and scampered out the door. Yes, scampered.
Jenna dressed and fixed her hair then went out to the deck per his instructions. She saw Zach on the beach and crossed the cool sand toward him.
“Wow,” was all she could say when she saw the spread. He’d laid out a beach picnic for them. A large blanket was covered with several covered dishes, a bottle of wine, and even some fruit.
“This is nice,” Jenna said. “Almost too nice to count as an anti.”
“That’s why we’re sitting on the sand,” Zach said. “If it was a table, then yeah. It wouldn’t count.”
“I don’t know,” Jenna said, popping a grape into her mouth. “This is a gray area. Better pour me some wine and let me think it over. I’m not sure this is check-worthy.”
He poured, and they drank. And Jenna decided that it didn’t matter if this was an anti or the real thing, because it was pretty great either way. Only one thing could make it even better.
“I know what we can do to anti this up a little bit,” Jenna said, standing up.
“What?”
“Ever been skinny dipping?”
“Have you?”
“I’ll never tell,” Jenna said, kicking off her sandals.
“Interesting. Go on.”
Even in just the moonlight, Jenna could see the way his eyes sparkled. The beach was empty, the water warm. And she was pretty sure they wouldn’t be the first couple to go for a night swim sans clothing.
She unzipped her shorts.
“Yes,” he said, leaning back on his elbows to watch. “I can see how this might work out.”
Jenna turned her back and peeled her shorts down slowly, making sure he got a good view of her backside as she bent over to push them off her feet.
She glanced over her shoulder to see that Zach’s eyes followed every move. The heat she saw there made her more bold.
Turning, she lifted her top and slowly pulled it over her head, arching her back in an exaggerated stripper pose. She tossed her shirt on the blanket next to Zach.
Left in just her bra and panties, the night air kissed her bare skin, making the moment even more sensual. She ran her hands up over her hips then further, skimming the sides of her breasts before raising her arms and tangling her hands in her hair.
With any other man, she’d feel self-conscious about her less than model perfect body, but not Zach. Zach made her feel womanly and sexy and desirable.
“Fuck. Me,” Zach said breathily. “Every time I look at you, you are more beautiful.”
Jenna threw him a come-hither grin and reached behind her back to unclasp her bra. She held the cups to her breasts for a moment, gently squeezing before pulling the garment away. She flung the lacy bra at him, hitting him in the chest. He didn’t move, his gaze fixed solely on her exposed skin.
He got to his feet in one movement, and she was in his arms. His fingers teased at the edge of her panties, dipping just beneath the waistband. She could feel how much he wanted her, and that made her blood pump a little harder, too.
“I am absolutely up for anything with you that requires nakedness,” he said. “There’s just one thing, though.”
“Yes?” She loved the way he looked at her. Like she really was the most beautiful woman in the world. She dragged her fingertips down his chest, itching to get him out of his clothes, too.
“The tattoo guy said no swimming until everything is healed up.”
Crap. He was right. “And you let me get undressed in public anyway?”
“It was strategic,” he said, sliding his hands around to cup her behind and pull her hard against him. “That was the hottest striptease I’ve ever seen.”
“Well, in the spirit of equality, I think you need to return the favor.”
Without a second of hesitation, Zach stepped away from her and peeled his shirt off over his head, his heat from his sexy grin going straight to her heart. And other places.
He unzipped his shorts and let them fall to the sand, tangled around his ankles and sandals. He shuffled awkwardly back to her.
“I’m not as good at this as you,” he said, pulling her back into his arms. “I might need a lesson or two.”
He dipped his head and kissed her.
“Or,” she said when she came up for air, “we could play a little bingo. It’s in the hut.” How was it possible to be so hot for this man? All it took was a few words and him removing a piece or two of clothing and she melted.
“We should probably go get it,” he said.
“In a minute,” she said and kissed him. Heat washed through her, but it wasn’t the hard-driving, needy type of lust that usually happened when Zach touched her. This was a slower burn, deeper somehow. More intimate.
Zach broke the kiss and scooped her up in his arms, eliciting a surprised squeak from Jenna.
“Minute is up,” he declared. Zach kicked off his shorts and hurried up the beach toward the hut, the food, wine, and clothing all forgotten.