Anything but Minor (7 page)

I smiled as I drifted off.

It was the
best
day of my life.

I waited twenty minutes in the parking lot and cursed my stupidity. I’d never been stood up. The irony was that it wasn’t even a date. I rolled my eyes as I started my Jeep and began to leave when I saw her blue Prius pull into the drive. She had her baseball hat on and was slumped in her seat.

“You’re late.”

“Yeah, sorry. I had a rough night. I can’t do...whatever it is we were supposed to do today. I, uh...didn’t have your number so I drove down to tell you.”

I frowned as I looked down at her. “You could at least look at me when you ditch me.”
What the hell was that, Rafe? You pussy!

I saw her exhale in defeat as she looked up to me. Half of her chin was tinted dark brown and so were her ears. I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “What happened?”

Her eyes narrowed as she looked up at me. “I had an incident with a chemical.”

“Looks like the worst fucking spray tan in Charleston.”

She sighed as she straightened in her seat to turn her key. “I’ll see you around, Rafe.”

Still in our cars, I looked down at her with a smile. “I can see the bikini strings tied behind your neck.”

“It was a stupid move. I can’t go anywhere in public. You have no idea. I look like I haven’t washed in certain places in twenty years.”

“The waves will get it off. Hop in.”

“No way,” she said with a shake of her head.

“I promise not to bring it up or even look at you funny.” She gave me those wide, doe eyes, and I couldn’t help but acknowledge the kick in my chest. I raised my palm to her. “I won’t. I promise, Lesbian Alice.”

“Okay,” she said as she grabbed her bag and threw it in the back of my Jeep. She stood outside the passenger door, her arms crossed, and looked at me expectantly. I gave her a sideways glance.

“Whatever,” she muttered as she opened her door and climbed in.

The open air seemed to sooth her on our silent ride to Folly Beach. She had a thin sweatshirt on that hung from her shoulder and cut off shorts. I loved the shape of her small frame as it sat next to mine. Without thinking, I pulled the hat from her head and shoved it under my seat. Her blonde locks flew around her face as she looked at me in puzzlement and then gave me my first genuine smile.

Andy’s words hit me in that second.

You aren’t ready for the real.

Jesus, he was beautiful. His hair was loosely cropped around his crown, but he still had plenty of length to run fingers through. It was messy and thick and slightly wavy. His tank accented his insane build. The top of his shoulders were sculpted as if he were some sort of gladiator pre Jesus, and the rest of his upper torso was just as etched. I was tempted to rip the cut on the side of his shirt to see more. I let my eyes drift up to his face just as he glanced over at me. I realized I’d smiled at him and as he smiled back at me, I felt a hint of something as my pulse kicked.

Our eyes diverted, his to the road and mine to take in the sun dancing over the water. I couldn’t help but to remember how good it felt to be desired in his eyes for that brief moment in the bar.

I’d been hit on in the past. I’d had sex, and had no intentions of remaining celibate. It had been almost three years aside from my close encounter with a pilot last year who’d suddenly come up with a wife.

Hopes obliterated, I kind of shut down after that incident and sex hadn’t mattered as much. As I looked back over at Rafe, his tall frame taking up the majority of the cabin, his muscular arm was braced on the door and his other large hand on the gear shift, I could only think of his lips and skin and what they may feel like if they touched mine.

He oozed confident sex appeal, and by the manner he came on to me at the bar, I was more than confident he could deliver. Maybe a night with a skilled lover was just what I needed to get me out of the slump I’d been in.

“Rafe,” I said in a whisper.

“We’re here,” he said as he parked the Jeep.

“Read my lips. No.”

“Listen, Alice, I’ll have you harnessed in. I won’t let a thing happen to you.”

I clenched my thighs together as the driver of the boat looked over my half-bronzed, bikini-clad body. His expression as he observed me bordered on laughter. I looked a total mess in my solid pink, two-piece swimsuit. Rafe had refused to let me keep my shorts on, and I’d stupidly agreed.

“Rafe, I can’t do this. I’ll scream the whole time!”

“Feet in,” he barked as he pulled the straps up my legs and clasped them around my body.

“Aren’t you a pilot, woman?” he snapped as he cupped my face and brought us nose to nose. Wide-eyed with panic, he waited on me to calm down a bit before he spoke gently.

“You’ve got this. Thirty seconds in the air, and if you hate it, I’ll bring you down.”

“Right into Jaws’s mouth.”

“Alice”—Rafe chuckled—“I’ve got you.” The driver started the boat and began whipping through the waves as Rafe egged me on with encouragement while he sat me at the edge of the boat, making sure I was properly strapped in. I’d never Googled parasailing. I had no idea how safe or unsafe it was. I knew absolutely nothing about it, and I
hated
that fact.

“Okay.” I pulled the last of my Red Bull into my mouth and crushed the can before throwing it at his feet. I bowed up to Rafe in my harness, fists clenched, teeth gritted, with a quick, “Let’s do this.” Rafe howled with laughter as I threw air punch after air punch in front of him to psyche myself up.

“What in the hell are you doing?” he asked, incredulous.

“Haven’t you seen Rocky?”

“Oh, Jesus,” Rafe mused as he checked my gear one more time.

“I’m going to make this my—Oh my GOD!!” Rafe pushed me just as I was lifted and rocked me back with a wink. As soon as I began to rise, a stream poured from between my legs. There was no stopping it.

I peed when I was nervous, excited, or scared.

Like a dog.

I peed.

And I was pretty sure I’d just slapped Rafe in the chest with it. I looked for and saw his reaction as I hovered above, screaming like a banshee, and he poured bottled water all over himself. I didn’t care how scared I was. I was never coming down.

Agonizing minutes later and after fighting a bout of humiliation induced nausea, I focused on finding my center. Once I’d managed to open my eyes, I sighed in awe. The sea was beautiful as the blooming sky lit up the water in oranges and yellows. I floated above, completely confident as realization struck of what a baby I’d acted like. Rafe gave me a thumbs up, and I shot it right back as I drifted in the air above him. My confidence slightly restored, I took in my surroundings in new appreciation. I shouted down an “I love it” that I wasn’t sure he could hear, and a silent thank you to the clouds above and the sea below for the show they gave me.

Like all good things, my ride came to an end. I couldn’t look Rafe in the eye as I was lowered back to the boat. My whole face flamed and it was from more than the result of my first hour in the sun.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly as he freed me from the restraints. “I should have warned you.”

“About what? Your R. Kelly moment?”

“Yeah, when I get really nervous—”

“You give golden showers? Some men subscribe to that. I’m not one of them.” I kept my eyes averted. How could I ever look at him again? Rafe chuckled as I quickly scrambled for conversation. “So are you going next?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you in a bit.”

I looked up to see Rafe enter the water on a surfboard fastened to his feet and a bar clutched in his hands. Seconds later, he was jumping waves as he caught the wind with his kite and gained at least thirty feet in the air. “The wind is killer today. He’ll be at it all afternoon,” the boat driver said as he handed me...a beer.

Great.

Instead of trying to find ways to entertain myself, I sat mesmerized by his skill as he floated above before he crashed down, coasting on wave after wave.

In the boat, we followed a graceful and determined Rafe as he ripped through both air and water. Pretty soon, others joined him, and I realized the show had just really begun. A circus of colorful kites and air acrobatics floated around me, but my eyes focused on Rafe. I fell into a dazed stupor. Rafe was completely in control, dancing over the curtains of water with ease. I was nursing my third beer by the time he let himself land and whipped his hand in the air in a round up way. He pulled himself onto the boat as water dripped from his ridiculously defined torso and arms. I took in every solid inch of him in appreciation. The driver, whose name was Marc, grabbed Rafe’s board from the water as Rafe dismantled his kite.

“God, that was phenomenal,” I said as he popped a beer and sat next to me. “You are
truly
gifted at that.”

Rafe seemed taken aback by my comment as I gushed on. “You looked so...good, just like a... just so skilled, so in control. I loved watching you. I wasn’t even bored like I thought I would be,” I said with a wave of my hand, “but I wasn’t, not for a single second. I could watch you all day.”

“Thanks,” he said with an amused grin.

“Yeah, dude, you totally rocked that,” I said as I tilted my beer back, and without too much thought, grabbed another from the cooler between us.

A few minutes into the boat ride back, Rafe turned to me. “So tell me about your last relationship,” Rafe said with a smirk. “You said you were single now.”

I stiffened in response, his arm slung around me casually.

“It was a long time ago.”

“We have about fifteen minutes to dock,” he chided.

That was a lot of lying to do in fifteen minutes. So I began. “Ah...I, well, he—oh, she was...crap.” I had no choice but to look him in the eye. “I’m not a lesbian.”

Rafe nodded with a smirk as my face flushed. “You knew that.”

“I did. So, I’m out of the Pride party this weekend.”

I pointed to the air above us with my next declaration. “On a technicality only,
and
because I have no gay friends...yet.”

“The parts of you that aren’t orange are now pink,” Rafe said as he looked me over, ignoring my threat.