3 Weeks 'Til Forever (7 page)

They
completed their check-in, went to the room and freshened up, then hopped back
in Redmond’s van for the hour-long trip up into Hill Country where Janey could
start her interviews.

That
first evening, Janey interviewed a local basket weaver. His family had been
making and selling baskets from bamboo and palm leaves for “as long as he could
remember,” he told her.  

The
weaver was nice enough to let her video him as he started a new basket, in
addition to patiently sitting for photos.

Each
basket was unique and they were so beautiful. Many had designs of island
flowers woven into them and they were hand-painted in brilliant shades of
yellows, blues, greens, reds and pinks. Of course, Janey couldn’t help herself
and purchased a couple.

The
basket weaver’s wife insisted that they share a meal with them, which was a
full three-courses. It started with a bowl of seafood gumbo, which had shrimp,
conch and lobster. This paid homage to the variety of food the Caribbean sea
provided.

The
main course of consisted of baked lamb with potatoes, which gave a nod to the
island’s Greek influence.

The
final course, dessert, paid homage to the island’s African and Spanish
influences.
Churros was served. It’s a common Spanish dessert made from deep-fried
flour dough, powered with cinnamon and sugar. It’s simple to make, and is
simply divine.

It perfectly complemented the juicy
cinnamon oranges, which are a common dessert found in Morocco.

Served with ice cold ginger beer, Janey
couldn’t remember when she’d enjoyed a meal so much. She hadn’t expected to
have dinner in Hill Country. She thought that she would conduct her interviews
then she and Redmond would find a restaurant close to the hotel for a meal.

She was glad things had unfolded the way
they had though because by the time they got back from Hill Country, it was
going on midnight and almost every establishment, even those close to the
hotel, was closed.

Chapter
10: The First Night

Exhausted, upon entering the room, Janey
announced to Redmond that she was going to take a shower and head to bed.

“Which bed do you want?” she asked.

“Thanks for asking, but as you’re the
‘tourist,’ you can have the one closest to the terrace. That way, you can see the
sea when the curtains are pulled back in the morning.”

Yawning and thanking him for his
thoughtfulness, Janey grabbed her small travel bag which contained her
intimates and toiletries, then headed for the bathroom.

“I won’t be long, I promise,” she yelled
over her shoulder as she entered the bathroom.

Looking at her tiny, but oh so womanly
figure as she headed toward the bathroom, Redmond headed for the terrace to
catch some of the night air.

It was going to be much tougher than he
thought to keep his hands off her, especially as she was going to be in a bed
right
next
to him.

It had been a few months since Redmond
had been with a woman, and it had been years since he desired one as much as he
desired Janey. In order to keep himself in check, he reminded himself that he
had a daughter and he wouldn’t want any man to lay a finger on her if she
didn’t wish it.

While that thought cooled his blood a
bit, he couldn’t stop the images of just how he’d like to make love to her from
flooding his mind.

True to her word, Janey was in and out
of the bathroom in 10 minutes. He was surprised when she stepped to him on the
balcony, letting him know that the bathroom was free.

Dressed in white cotton night shorts and
a matching, demure, button-down top, Redmond couldn’t help but think that with
her face scrubbed free of all makeup, she looked like a teenager.

“That must be some kind of record for a woman getting in and out
of the bathroom,” he joked to her.

“Business perk,” she said. “You learn
what to pack and how to shower and dress quickly in my line of work.”

“Does that account for your pajamas?
Somehow it’s not what I pictured you wearing to bed,” Redmond responded.

“Because I travel so much, I’ve learned
that it’s prudent to wear practical pj’s when I’m on the road.”

“When you’ve had to run screaming from
your sleeping quarters, in the middle of the night, in a jungle, in a foreign
country because you encountered a snake, you learn pretty quickly to leave the
pretty stuff at home.”

“Practicality is the name of the game,
especially in nightwear, when I travel. … And you’re right, I do dress quite
differently for bed when I’m at home,” she summed up.

“Hmm, makes sense.” Redmond replied.

“Too bad for me though, I was expecting a
sneak peek at some
Victoria’s Secrets
.”
            “Ugh, ugh,
ugh, ugh, ugh, Mr. Hillyard,” Janey said, pointing a slim finger at him,
“remember your promise.”

“I do
remember my promise, Janey.
I remember
exactly
what I promised. It’s you that keeps forgetting,” he
said, closing the space between them in two steps.

Gathering her in his arms, he smelled
apricots and almonds, which were the scents of the body spray and shampoo she’d
used.

Whether she was too tired to resist or
just didn’t want to, Janey didn’t know, but she stood still.

Redmond simply looked down at her,
imploring her to meet his gaze. After a few seconds, she did and was surprised
to see the longing reflected there. He lowered his head to kiss her and she squirmed
out of his grasp.

Feeling the heat stirring in her, Janey
didn’t trust where a simple kiss could lead, considering what had happened the
first time he’d kissed her in front of her hotel. And that had been in public!

Here in the intimacy of the hotel room,
with nothing but simple cotton pajamas between them, Janey knew she had to hold
Redmond to his word.

Needing a (cold) shower more than ever
at that moment, he let her slip away with a simple, “Alright Janey, have it
your way . . . this time.”

Redmond grabbed his leather overnight
bag and went to take that cold shower.

In spite of him trying to kiss her,
Janey was surprised at just how at ease and safe she felt sharing a hotel room
with Redmond. As she turned on the TV, she thought to herself how silly her
initial apprehension had been.

When he exited the bathroom a few
minutes later, Janey was fast asleep. She’d turned out the lights and put the
TV on the local news. But she obviously didn’t catch much because the
silver-bluish light radiating from the television highlighted her angelic,
sleeping features.

So beautiful,
Redmond thought as he turned off the TV and slid into his own bed.

.
. .  

“Aaaaaaaaaa!!!” Janey’s piercing scream
woke Redmond.

She had bounced from her bed to his,
shaking like a leaf.

“There’s a . . . a . . . in my, my . . .
bed.”

“A what,” Redmond implored, holding her
to his chest and rubbing her back to try to calm her down. He reached for the
beside lamp, illuminating the room in soft light.

“A . . ugh, a . . . .a   big
liza . . . lizard I think,” she managed to get out.

Sure enough, scurrying across the center
of her bed was a big, fat albino-looking lizard. They were natives to the
island and were harmless.

Janey knew this and wasn’t scared of the
little ones she saw every day on her hotel balcony. It wasn’t that lizards in
general scared her, it was big, fat ones; and especially big, fat albino ones.

She’d felt something crawling on her
face, which woke her up. Once she felt it, she hopped like a cat on a hot tin
roof from her bed to Redmond’s.

Redmond quickly tracked the little fella
down and set him free on the terrace, where he promptly disappeared over the
side, apparently as scared of the situation as Janey was of him.

Sitting in the middle of his bed with
her knees curled under her, Janey had almost regained her calm.

Embarrassed, she said, “Thanks. I’m not
such a big baby, really. It’s just that fat lizards, especially those albino
ones, scare the bejeezus out of me for some reason.”

           
“It’s no problem …”

“Know what? My daughter isn’t afraid of
any creature she’s ever encountered on this island,
except
albino
lizards. She said the color reminds her of an albino python she saw on a school
trip once. Ever since then, she’s been afraid of them.”

           
“Really?” Janey said, “You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

           
“Yep, really. I didn’t make that up. I find it ironic that neither one of you
are afraid of lizards, just a particular size and color of lizard.”

Redmond couldn’t stop himself from
chuckling.

Janey threw a pillow at his head.

“What’s so funny?” she said,
half-jokingly and half mad. 

“Oh, I wasn’t laughing at that. I was
just thinking that you have quite the pair of lungs on you. No one could ever
kidnap you, that’s for sure.”

Embarrassed all over again, Janey
apologized again.

“Do you want to switch beds?” Redmond asked.
“I know it can be scary to get back in the same bed where you’ve just
encountered an unwelcome bedmate.”

“You wouldn’t mind, really?”

“No problem,” Redmond assured her.

           
Janey slid under the covers in Redmond’s bed.

           
He turned out the light after settling himself in her bed.

           
Janey tossed and turned, but it wasn’t entirely from her encounter with the
lizard. The pillow smelled of Redmond, the sheet she pulled up to her chin
smelled of him, and she swore she could smell him from across the room.

Hints of wood, vanilla, citrus and musk
assaulted her nostrils, almost like he was right there in the bed with her.

Unable to sleep either, Redmond fought valiantly
but lost the battle and took the two steps to her bed. Reaching for her in the
dark and without saying a word, he claimed her lips.

Janey didn’t resist, knowing this was
just the release her body needed.

Redmond kissed her long and deeply, afraid
that if he let go of her mouth, she’d find the words to resist.

His hands found their way under her
night shirt. Braless, her breasts were warm and she flinched at the coolness of
his hands on them. The passion of his kisses soon had her whole body on fire.

Her hands roamed over his naked chest.
Finding the back of his head with one hand, she pulled him closer, deepening
the kiss even more.

Taking his cue from her, Redmond pushed her
back against the pillow, not letting his mouth leave hers. His hands moved over
her flat belly to her thighs and to her core.

Still kissing her deeply, his fingers
sought and gained entrance to her womanhood. Softly he stroked that magic place
between her legs.

Janey opened her legs wider to give him
greater access.

The gates of passion had opened and she
was lost.

How did he know to touch her like that?
So soft, at just the right place, with just the right amount of pressure.

Almost crying in delight, she called out
his name, “Redmond. Oh Redmond.”

“Yes baby, I’m here,” he responded. “I’m
right here.”

Boom, boom, boom.

Boom, boom, boom.

Somewhere through the haze of passion,
Janey and Redmond realized there was someone knocking on their door.

“Who is it?” Redmond called out, almost
angrily.

Frustrated by his pent-up needs, Redmond
thought,
Who could that possibly be at this hour and their timing couldn’t
be worse.

“It’s security,” the voice on the other
side of the door answered. “We got a report of screams coming from this room
and wanted to know if everything is alright?”

Body barely composed from the obvious
signs of lovemaking, Redmond peered through the peep hole to verify that it was
indeed hotel security, then opened the door wide enough so that the young guard
could peer inside and see that everything was ok.

Speaking from directly behind him, Janey
said, “I found a lizard in my bed which made me scream. I’m sorry to cause such
a ruckus. I hope I didn’t disturb any of the other guests too much.”

Obviously relieved at seeing that
everything was ok, the guard said, “It’s okay ma’am, and I’m sorry that
happened to you. It is the tropics and it happens from time to time.”

“Good night sir,” the young guard said,
tipping his hat before he strode off.

Redmond closed and secured the door,
then looked at Janey.

Chewing on her bottom lip, Janey said,
“Redmond, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let things get so out of hand.”

Reaching
for her, he responded, “I don’t think things got out of hand at all Janey. I
know you want me as much as I want you.”

Side-stepping his embrace, she
responded, “That’s irrelevant. For so many reasons, let’s just stick to our
original arrangement.”