“Don’t worry. I think I found a girl impervious to your cool-blue eyes and your lousy guitar playing.”
“It can’t be that lousy if it gets me laid,” Johnny said.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have fun with the redhead, by the way. She’s going to be a tender one.”
“Hey, I can slow it down when I want to,” he said.
“That’ll be the day,” Ash said with a grin. “Catch you tomorrow?”
“If you’re not balls deep in your newest flavor of the week, sure.”
“Maybe I’ll bring her by the bar,” Ash said.
“Yeah, and you can get behind this bar and put poor Herman under a cup again. I saw what you did to him. Poor guy. He was probably petrified.”
“He’s a hermit crab, Johnny. He literally lives in a dark shell for most of his life. You think he’s got an issue with a red plastic cup?”
“You don’t know. Can you talk to hermit crabs?” he asked.
“You need a break from the sun. I think you’re having a heatstroke.”
“Get the hell out from behind this bar before you get me fired.”
Ash walked from behind the bar, his head thrown back in laughter as he grabbed his surfboard. He walked it up to his car to ride back to his place, but his eyes fell back toward the shoreline. Toward the path Pretty Kallie had walked a half an hour earlier.
He saw her standing there, her drink finished and the ocean lapping at her ankles.
So much for jet lag, but he wondered what she was thinking. What it was about the horizon that had her in a trance. He debated on whether or not to go over there. To tap on her shoulder to make sure she was okay. He wasn’t sure what drew him to her, but he felt pulled. Drawn. Magnetized. Maybe it was her full, luscious lips or her soft, supple curves. Maybe it was her long, salted hair or her smooth, unscarred skin.
Or maybe it was the sorrow behind her eyes.
A sorrow that matched his when he wasn’t careful.
“Pretty Kallie,” he said with a whisper.
She would be his.
No matter what it took of him.
Chapter 5
Kallie
Kallie stood there on the beach, gazing out into the horizon. It wasn’t so much that she was thinking about something, though her mind was still on that bartender. It was more that she was tipsier than she figured she would be after one drink. She wasn’t used to drinking alcohol during the day and the lapping of the ocean waves at her feet felt good against her swaying body.
But she finally made it to her room and collapsed.
Her jet lag took over and her mind delved her into a world of fantasy. Where she could paint the reality she wanted to paint as her body slept soundly in bed. She saw herself strolling along the beach before a pair of arms wrapped around her. Held her close. Warmed her presence. A pair of lips fell onto her neck and she gasped, whipping her head around to see who was behind her.
And she found Ash. The bartender from earlier.
Her dreams swept her away into a place of eroticism she’d never visited before. She found herself on top of him as the waves crashed around their bodies. She found her lips wrapped around his cock as he worked the bar. His face was planted between her legs as he pressed her against the balcony of her villa, leaning over the edge and feeling the salted breeze against her features.
Kallie jerked awake as a flush trickled down her body. Her legs were quivering and her pussy was heated, and she was completely embarrassed to have had that kind of dream while on her honeymoon. But it wasn’t really her honeymoon, and soon reality dawned on her. She was in St. Barts by herself, sticking it to her ex-fiancé.
She got up and padded to the bathroom as the sun began to rise. She’d slept the entire day and night away and she felt more refreshed than ever. Besides the heat still trickling down her thighs, she found herself oddly comfortable and intrigued by her dream. She didn’t think the man had made as much of an impact as he had, but clearly her mind wasn’t convinced.
He was obviously not rich, but he was cute. And funny. He had this smattering of freckles across his nose that peppered themselves against tanned skin from the island. He was tall and lean, with muscles that bled through his wet suit and flexed with every movement he made. He had mahogany hair and hazel eyes that were piercing and playful. She knew those kinds of looks.