CORAL (A Romance Trilogy, Book 1) (6 page)

Healthy eating has been part of
my regime for as long as I can remember. I’m good 70% of the time, and
semi-naughty for the rest. I learned long ago from Joyce that food can affect
moods, and I try everything I possibly can to keep my moods balanced and in
check. I turn the corner and eye the prominent David Lloyd Leisure club. I slow
my pace down and walk across the car park to the entrance, pulling open one of
the glass front doors, I walk straight in and head for the gym department.

I locate Will chatting to one of
his colleagues. He glares at me when he sees me, finishing with his colleague
he walks over to me. His 5ft 10ins, slim, extremely toned stature stands in
front of me, his dark brown eyes and shaved head make him seem extremely
intimidating.

He crosses his arms and stares
down at me. “You’re late.” He states.

“Yes.” I smile trying to placate
his mood. “My boss kept’– “No excuses Coral.” He holds out a hand to shut me
up.

“Sorry.” I offer.

He shrugs nonchalantly at me.
“It’s your time.” He snipes.

“Well let’s get to it then.” I
march away from him and turn to see a slight smirk appear across his face.

THIRTY MINUTES IN AND I’M ALREADY FLAKED OUT
. Even though this place has air conditioning, it still seems so hot.
Will and I are busy practicing combat moves, when I swear to god out of the
corner of my eye, I see Tristan go speeding past the ceiling height windows –
wearing only a pair of swimming trunks. His hair is soaking wet, his muscles
rippling as he walks...
Oh!

“Ouch!” I cry out as Will slams
me down onto the mattress.

“Where’s your head at?” He
shouts.
Jesus Christ Will, calm down!

He pulls me up by my hand, my
feet leaving the floor for a moment.

“Sorry.” I mumble back.

“Coral, how many times do I have to
tell you? An attacker aint gonna wait for you to be ready, you need to have
your head in the game at all times.” I pull my hand around to my ribs where I
hit the floor, I feel winded. “Ok, that’s enough.” He barks.

“What?” I screech.

“I dunno where your heads at, but
it’s not here. Go home Coral, I’ll see you Thursday.”

“No!” I shout stamping my foot on
the floor. “I need this Will, especially today. Please just...can we just do
some bag work, or sparring...please?” I plead.

He stands staring at me, his hands
on his hips. “Alright,” he says shaking his head as he walks away.

I follow Will to one of the
sparring mats, he starts putting on his hook and jab pads. I dash to my gym bag
and pull out my boxing gloves, getting them on as quickly as possible.

We stand face to face. Will has
his arms down by his sides, the moment he raises one of them, that’s the one
I’m supposed to hit. He lifts his right hand with lightning quick speed, I
launch into an overhead, right hand hook.

Pushing all my body weight
against it, I slam my fist into the pad.

“Good,” he shouts. “Again!”...

AN HOUR LATER AND WE ARE FINISHED
. I feel exhausted. Although, I know a quick cold shower will
invigorate me so I can get out and down a couple of yummy cocktails with Rob,
then hit the sack. I say goodbye to Will, and he seems in a better mood than
earlier. I think he realised in the end that I needed to get rid of some pent
up frustration.

As I drag my tired ass back home,
my belly starts frantically rumbling, reminding me that I haven’t eaten since
breakfast. I must remember to have a snack at Lag Iguanas! One the many reasons
I work out so hard, besides from wanting to protect myself, is that I love food
- except when Moguls are buggering up my lunch pattern and making me forget to
eat...

HALF AN HOUR LATER I HAVE SHOWERED
and I’m sitting on my bed with my towel wrapped around me staring
into space...
What is wrong with me?
I should be getting ready, but I
feel immobilised by the pair of dreamy chocolate eyes and full lips that keep
pouting at me, pulling me in –
God damn it!

I am
pulled out of my revere by a knock on the patio door. I hear it slide open, I
panic for a second, then I hear Rob’s voice call up to me. “Are you decent
darling?” He shouts.

“Yes!” I shout down to him,
chuckling as I do. Feeling relieved, I throw my towel on the floor and pull my
summer robe around me. His footsteps come barrelling up the stairs and when I
see him, I notice he’s looking very summery tonight.

He’s wearing a light blue
cheese-cloth shirt, baggy dark blue jeans and a pair of dark blue flip-flops.
He’s mixed race, but more like his mother, very light skin, yet he has his
father’s height. At 6ft 3ins he seems to tower over everyone, especially my
short arse, and to make him look even taller he’s skinny to boot - well not so
much skinny now he’s done all that training with Will - but he still looks
really slender to me.

In-fact, now I look closer I’d
say he’s lost some weight?

“I have no idea how you live in
such a tiny place.” He states collapsing onto my bed.

“Knackered?” I ask, knowing he’s
just spent a week in London with the most awful woman he has ever met. Rob’s an
Interior Designer; he’s got himself a fantastic reputation and charges a
fortune to anyone wishing for his simplistic, yet beautiful designs.

“God she was a fucking
nightmare,” he scowls. “Changed her mind every five fucking minutes, it was
hell on skates; I could really do with this tonight. I need to let off some
steam.” He turns on his side and eyes me sitting on the bed next to him, my hair
still dripping wet.

“You’re very sweary tonight.” I
smile.

“Yeah well...” He frowns deeply
then starts picking at the throw he bought me. “This is for winter you know,”
he tells me.

“Yes I know. I’ve been taking it
off every-night.”

“Well why don’t you just put it
away?” He bites. I look around the room as though I’m trying to find something
that is lost; he rolls his eyes at me.

“You know, I think I would only I
can't seem to find a spare cupboard to put it into.” I say sarcastically.

“Come on!” He snaps again,
jumping up off the bed. “I need a drink, hurry up and get ready woman.”

“Hey,” I stop him from walking
away from me. “There’s wine in the fridge, and some tequila left from last
Saturday, if you feel you need an instant hit. Although I’d prefer if you told
me what’s really wrong?” I stare up at his face, he smiles weakly at me, but I
can see the pain behind his black eyes.

“Carlos and I...” He stops
talking and shakes his head.

I gasp and bring my hand to my
mouth. “You haven’t?” I whisper hoping beyond all hope they haven’t split. I
have never known them fall out or go through hard times. They really are
perfect for one another.

“No, but let’s just say it’s not
going so well.” He sits on the edge of the bed and sighs deeply.

“Oh Rob!” I sit next to him, put
my arm around his shoulder and squeeze as tightly as I can, feeling my heart
constrict for him. Then I take his hand in mine and squeeze that too. “Have you
tried couples counselling like I said about?”

He smiles awkwardly at me. “No,
but I think Carlos is finally willing to try it. He says he doesn’t want to
lose me, but he just keeps snapping at me and being really argumentative, it’s
not like him.”

I smile feeling relieved. They’ll
work it out, I know they will.

“Hey, chin up mister. You’ll get
through this.” I offer.

Rob snorts with laughter. “Says
she who doesn’t date or have a significant other?” I cock one eyebrow up at
him. That was a low blow and it hurt. Of course Rob doesn’t know my real
reasons for my behaviour towards men, he just thinks I had my heart ripped out
by some cheating scumbag, and well I did, but...

“Hey, I’m sorry that was
un-called for. I’m just feeling all stressed out.” He says flying his hands
around.

“Get us both a shot Rob. I’ll be
down in five.” I say, still feeling wounded.

I watch Rob walk away. The moment
he does I throw my robe to the floor, pull on a pair of boy shorts, then my
white linen trousers, followed by my strapless bra and my mint-green camisole.
I rummage around my cupboard, find my matching green wedges and slip my feet
into them.

Then I roll my deodorant under my
arms, and spray myself with my favourite perfume - Absolutely Irresistible. As
I wonder downstairs with my wet towels, I notice Rob isn’t in the lounge, he’s
outside talking to Bob. I spot the two shot glasses sitting on the side then
quickly shoot into the bathroom and hang up my wet towels.

Then I turn and see myself in the
mirror. I stare at myself for a moment, coral blue eyes encased in thick dark
brown lashes and eyebrows. High cheekbones, full lips, decent nose. I look at
my wet hair and decide to let it air-dry, it’s too hot to use a hairdryer.

I grab my coconut oil off the
side, squirt some into my hands and scrunch it into my hair, as I pull my head
back up, dark silky waves fall across my shoulders and breasts.
Yep, that
will do.

Next, makeup! As I lean forward,
I see I have a few stray eyebrow hairs - I pick my tweezers up and I’m about to
pluck away when Rob comes into the bathroom.

“Stop!” he squeals.

I pull my hand away and stare back
at him. “What?”

“Darling you know what your skins
like, you pluck now and you’ll have bright pink brows for the rest of the
night!” I chuckle remembering the last time I met him at Iguanas and had
plucked before leaving, he almost had a heart attack when I approached him. He
thought I’d been attacked by some beauty salon newbie.

“What, so I should just leave
them?” I question.

“Here, let me see.” Moving closer
he takes my face in his hands and starts inspecting the stray hairs, pulling
funny faces as he does, making me laugh out loud. When he’s done he stops and
looks down at me. “Leave them!” He shouts, throwing his hands in the air.
“Onwards darling, onwards - Hurry with the makeup!” he teases, and leaves the
bathroom doing a little dance.

I really giggle at him, then turn
to the mirror and frantically begin applying a little blusher, some mascara and
some nude lip-gloss. When I’m done, I walk back into the lounge, and stand next
to Rob who has my shot glass in his hand. He toys with me for a moment, moving
it each time I reach out.

“Rob!” I scold.

“Here.” He chuckles handing one
to me.

“Cheers.” I say tapping his shot
glass.

“Cheers. To wild cocktail nights
and sexy men!” He chuckles, exaggerating each word, as though he’s about to get
the most passionate night of his life.

I chuckle hard, still myself and
take the shot in one.

“I’ve ordered the taxi.” Rob
advises.
Damn it! I forgot to do that, where’s my head at?
I think I
know the answer to that, I immediately shut down that line of thinking.

“Great.” I reply, still shivering
from the tequila hit.

“Right, ready?” Rob asks.

“Yep, got bag, got keys.” I say
shaking them in the air.

“Condoms?” He snorts. I look up
and see he has a ridiculous grin spread across his face.

“Rob!” I slap him lightly around
his bicep with my little carry bag.

Then I check everything is as it
should be and walk outside. Rob follows me out, and as I lock the patio door I
can feel the slight buzz of alcohol kicking in –
Whoa tequila!

I turn and link my arm in Rob’s
and we walk back along the Concourse towards the gym. It’s been a tradition
every since we became friends. Sometimes, when I see people looking at us, I’m
sure they think we look like a couple in love, well, that is until Rob does
something totally gay with his hands or his body movements.

As we reach the Gym car park, we
see Will leaving for the evening and wave to him as he gets in his car. A black
cab pulls up, Rob gives him his name and opens the door for me, just as I’m
about to get in, I’m momentarily spooked again when I think I hear the grumble
of that V8 of Mr Moguls.

I quickly search the multi-storey
car park opposite us, and the roads, but there’s no sign of him. I suddenly
feel really glum – I’m about to question why, but I don't want to go down that
road because I think I know the answer –
Pandora’s box Coral, don't open it!

I nod in agreement with myself,
and step inside the taxi.

As we make our way west on the
A259, I watch all the people out and about enjoying the warm summer evening,
the sun sparkling against the sea, the boats lazily bobbing about out on the
ocean. I suddenly get that warm holiday glow flow through me, I just can't get
used to the lovely weather we are having. I usually freeze with the slightest
of breezes, but tonight - I don’t even have a coat, which makes me feel even
more summery.

“Can I ask you something?” Rob
asks interrupting my mellow thoughts.

“Sure.” I turn and smile at him.

“You don’t have to answer if you
don’t want to.”

I immediately feel defensive. “Shoot.”
I say it can't be that bad, right?

“It’s just something I’ve always
wondered about you?” He turns and looks at me, his eyes wary.

“What do you want to know Rob?” I
ask a little defensively.

“Well...it’s just...you never
wear skirts or dresses and I think you’d look really pretty.” He says. I am
silent. “And you have great legs,” he adds.

I snort with laughter at that
one. “I don’t think so, chunky legs maybe.”

Rob rolls his eyes at me. “You
have really great muscle definition Coral, they are not chunky.” He scolds.

I shake my head in disagreement.

Rob huffs at me. “What is it with
women nowadays and self-esteem?”

“Maybe it’s all the tall, skinny,
fake looking models plastered all over magazines and billboards?” I blurt out.

“That’s not the everyday woman
and blokes know that, well, real blokes do. Take Sam for example.”
Huh?