The Cancun Trilogy, An Erotic Beach Romance (8 page)

Nik nudged her, looking up. She saw
Spidey, the howler monkey, scurry half way down his palm tree. He
raced around the trunk, screeching. He stopped and looked at Terra,
squealed louder as if berating her, then scampered back up the
tree.

“He actually glad to see you. He upset
you take too long to come back. He’ll forgive you.”

“Hola,” Terra called up, as a peace
gesture. Spidey gave her a final reprimand, then disappeared among
the palm leaves.

When they got to the deck of Nik’s
house, a man came out and approached them, smiling. He was very
attractive, dark skinned, wearing only swim trunks, with an
athletic body and dreadlocks past his shoulders. “Hola,” he said to
Nik.

“Hey, Carmine, this is Terra,” Nik
said. The man’s smile widened. “Ah, the mythical Terra! Hello,
hello!” He took Terra’s hand and put his other hand on it, holding
it warmly.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Terra said.
His soft brown eyes had a gentle warmth to them. “You have been the
topic of many a long conversation around the fire with my good
friend Nik,” he said. “Stop it,” Nik said, pushing Carmine’s
shoulder and looking off, clearly embarrassed. “No, no,” Carmine
said, still holding Terra’s hand. He leaned in closer to her. “You
have him under your spell. In Jamaica, we call that Majik. It’s
like owning a soul. Big responsibility.” He let go of her hand with
a knowing nod. “So, what take you so long?” he asked
Nik.

“Motor bike broke down.”

“Ah, crap, man. Where is
it?”

“I had to leave it in town and get a
cab.”

“Ah. Let me know where and I’ll see
what I can do.” He turned and stepped off the deck onto the sand,
looking up at the sky. “Fire time,” he said as he wandered off,
leaving them alone.

“Fire time?” Terra asked.

“You’ll see. Come on,” Nik said,
leading her inside the house.

The kitchen was alive with activity. A
large group of people, talking and laughing, were cooking and
preparing food. Music was playing from a portable stereo, giving
the place a party-like feel. It was very different from the quiet,
serene place Terra remembered from her last trip.

Her throat tightened as her
insecurities grabbed hold of her. She was never much for crowds of
people, always feeling out of place in cliques. She’d been
surprised to find that college wasn’t much different than high
school, with its fraternities and social groups—just a more
formalized version of the high school social scene. Now, when she
saw the group in the kitchen, her first instinct was to
withdraw.

“Hey, everyone,” Nik called out, his
arm around her. “This is Terra.” Everyone looked, flashing big
smiles. “Terra! You exist! We were beginning to wonder,” a girl
with wild red hair shouted.

“Hey Terra, grab this, would you?”
said a portly guy with a shiny bald head, handing her a large plate
of cut vegetables as he walked past.

“Guys, we just come from airport, let
her at least use the bathroom before you put her to work,” Nik
said.

“No, it’s okay,” Terra said, taking a
deep breath and dropping her shoulder bag. “I’m good. Where should
I take this?” she asked the bald guy. “Ask Red,” he said over his
shoulder as he went out to the deck.

“Over here,” the girl with the red
hair said, waiving Terra over as she swung her hips to the music.
They soon had Terra cutting vegetables and mincing garlic. Someone
poured her a glass of wine. Nik joined in, telling Terra who was
who as they peppered her with questions about college and recent
news from the States.

More people came in from outside,
grabbing beers, bottles of wine, stacks of plates and cups, hauling
it all outside. Everyone wore bathing suits and sandals, or went
barefoot. Most of the guys didn’t wear shirts. There was a mix of
ethnicities, but most seemed to be in their twenties or thirties.
There was a casual, sexy, summer camp for adults feel to it all.
Everyone was relaxed and friendly, greeting Terra with warm smiles
and friendly handshakes, going out of their way to include
her.

It was nice to see Nik in a group of
people. She could tell everybody liked and respected him. His easy
laugh and comfortable charm seemed to bring out the best in
everyone. It didn’t take long before Terra felt like she was part
of the group. It was the only time in her life she felt a real
sense of belonging, like she just naturally fit in.

Terra loaded up with all she could
carry and followed the others outside while Red gossiped with her
about Soren, a Swedish hunk that was methodically seducing all the
women. “Including you?” Terra whispered. Red gave her a knowing
smile. “Well, he’s quite persuasive. I’d say watch yourself, but I
think you’re the one girl here that’s safe.”

Stepping off the deck, Terra was
surprised to see an enormous beach fire going. There were more
people she hadn’t met, setting things up. A couple was just coming
in from the water, walking up to the fire as someone threw them a
towel. Terra placed her plates on the table along with the
others.

It was a dizzying amount of food.
There was fresh caught fish, mounds of pasta and rice, and large
loafs of fresh baked bread. The bald guy, who Terra now knew as
Allan, who used to be a banker in Boston, was roasting whole onions
with some elaborate method using sticks and foil. There was a whole
table of just fruits and vegetables that Terra later learned came
mostly from Carmine’s garden and greenhouse.

As soon as the plates were set down,
everyone grabbed one and started piling on the food. Someone set
the portable stereo on the end of the table and turned it up. They
ate while sitting on the sand in circles or standing up, mixing and
mingling. Everyone seemed to have the big appetites that come after
a long day of hard work.

Smelling and seeing all the delicious
food, Terra suddenly realized she was famished. She had skipped the
iffy looking plane food, so she hadn’t eaten since the day before.
Everything tasted so delicious she had to force herself to slow
down. After a steady diet of bland dorm food, her taste buds were
screaming for joy.

Terra was eventually introduced to
everyone, trying hard to learn their names. Nik stayed at her side
the whole time, giving her a needed sense of security. After
eating, they walked down the beach together.

Settling on a driftwood log, they
could still hear the music and laughter drifting down the beach,
and could see the soft glow of the fire.

“I’ve never in my life had food that
good,” Terra said. Nik smiled.

“It’s become competitive. Everyone try
to outdo the other with what they cook best. But I guess we all
benefit, yeah?”

“Yeah. Was it a special occasion
tonight?”

“No occasion. We do that every
night.”

“Really? With the fire and
everything?”

“Well, sure. Unless it rains, then we
all cram into the house.”

Terra playfully pushed her feet
through the wet sand as the waves lapped the shore just a few feet
away. “Everybody here is so… nice,” she said.

“Yes. Everybody really wants to be
here. I think they all feel they be a part of something
special.”

“Because of you,” she said.

“No. I just started it, but once more
people came, it became… something different. More than I ever
imagined. It’s becoming a real… ah, what is the word?”

“Community.”

“Yes,” he said, looking at her. “A
community.”

“You’ve done a great job,” she said,
touching the back of his head and stroking his hair.

Down the beach, the fire grew as
someone added more wood, illuminating Nik’s face in soft strokes.
He looked at her in the same way he did in the taxi, as if he was
trying to find the words to say something important.

Terra looked into his eyes, glowing in
the firelight. Tension pulled at his face. She leaned closer to
him.

“I…” he said, struggling.

“Shhh,” she said, tracing her fingers
over his lips. “Later. Okay?”

“Yes. Okay,” he said, relieved. She
intertwined her toes with his, pushing them into the sand,
initiating a toe fight.

“Hey,” he said, smiling at her, “do
you want to go for a dive?”

“Love to,” she said,
grinning.

Chapter 5

They walked hand in hand back to the fire. Terra wondered
what time it was—it had been dark for a couple of hours. Then she
realized she really didn’t care what time it was. She noticed
earlier that nobody here wore watches. The others were still around
the fire. Nobody seemed to think it was strange when she and Nik
went to the boat and pushed off.

Nik tacked the sailboat along the
coast. The moonlight created a soft glow on the face of the white
cliffs as they dropped dramatically into the sea.

When they got to the next bay, Terra
could hear the sounds of the island before she saw it. She
remembered it from last time—a nighttime chorus of birds and
animals. The sound instantly brought her back to last summer. As
the boat got closer to the island, Nik turned on a light,
illuminating the shore and the line of trees set back on the beach.
The sounds got louder, as if welcoming the two of them back. “I
guess they’ve been expecting us,” Nik said.

They anchored in the calm water just
off shore. Nik pulled out the water lights and some masks from the
hull’s storage. Without a word, they both took off their clothes
and dove in.

While Nik dove down to set up the
lights, Terra floated on her back in the dark water, looking up at
the stars. Her naked body felt the welcome caress of the warm
saltwater supporting her. It was hard to believe that it was just
yesterday that Vicki drove her to the airport, through the
sweltering, urban streets of Detroit. Terra smiled, remembering
Vicky’s admonishments as she swerved her truck through
traffic.

“Call me when you land. And every
other day. At least. No,
every
day.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You better be or I’ll come there and
drag you home myself. Don’t do anything stupid. Use your common
sense.”

“I thought you always said ‘normal
rules don’t apply’ when you’re on vacation.”

“That’s only when I’m with you. I’m a
badass from the streets of Detroit. You’re a prissy white girl from
the suburbs of Ann Arbor, so all the rules apply to you. You hear
me? Every goddamn rule applies to you. The rules were
invented
for girls like you. And rule number one is, don’t
get hurt. And that includes your heart.”

“I won’t,” Terra said softly, not
sounding too sure.

“I’ve got a few years on you, you
know? I’ve been to the love rodeo a few times. I’m just sayin’ be
careful. I don’t want you living on saltines and soda water
again.”

The water around Terra suddenly lit
up, pulling her from her daydream. Another light went on, then
another. She rolled over, looking into the brightly lit water.
Swirls of fish in vivid, rainbow colors fanned along the bottom.
Nik was down near the reef. He looked up at her and kicked for the
surface. When he broke the surface, he took her hand and stroked a
few yards closer to shore where they could stand in the shallow
water. He held her diving mask. “This reminds me of the first time
we met,” he said. “The girl with no spit.” He handed her the
mask.

“You remember that?” she
asked.

He nodded as he slid his mask on. “Oh,
I remember. I remember every second of every moment we spent
together.” He rolled over and dove down. She took a deep breath and
followed him.

They dove off the reef. He showed her
some free-diving techniques. He could hold his breath for so long,
she was tempted to check him for gills.

Eventually, they went back to the boat
and sat on the bow, still naked, drying off. Nik made birdcalls,
getting the island birds to answer him back. He went back and forth
with them, like they were having a complex conversation of squawks
and screeches. “They are used to it,” he said. “I tell them all my
hopes and plans.”

“Hopes and plans?” she asked. The warm
night air had dried their skin, leaving a light dusting of
salt.

“Yes. You know, my dreams.” He turned
and looked at her with that same expression. One of the birds
squawked again, left hanging in the middle of their conversation.
Say it,
she thought as she looked at him, her stomach
tightening into a fist.
What is it? What do you want to tell
me?
After a moment, he called back to the bird. The bird made a
chuckling sound, as if laughing at their exchange. Or teasing Nik
for being a coward.

Nik stood and reached down, taking her
hand. He led her down the steps into the hull of the boat. There
was a small, cozy sleeping room, about the size of a large closet,
barely tall enough for him to stand in. A low, wide bed was built
out of the sidewall. Nik led her to the bed and laid her on her
back, then slid in next to her. There were small oval windows along
the wall next to the bed, at about the same level as the water. The
surface of the water bounced against the windows, giving her
glimpses of the illuminated, underwater world, and brief peeks of
the island beyond.