Mark of a Good Man (2 page)

“We’re meeting them… him—”

Alarm bells sounded in Amber’s head. “Did you just say,
them
? Who is
them
?”

Josie cleared her throat, but kept her eyes on the narrow road. “Well, Colby has a friend from Barbados who’s on island for the night. He—.”

“And I’m not, I swear.” She placed her right hand across her heart. “I didn’t want to tell you about him because I knew you wouldn’t come out with us.

“Darn right I wouldn’t. You know what happened the last time you set me up on a blind date.”

“I’m not setting you up, Amber. But perhaps you should leave your mind and heart opened to the possibilities and just let things happen naturally. You’re not always gonna look that good, you know. You will put on weight. Your bountiful head of hair will thin and turn grey, and your taut, impeccable skin will start to sag and collect age and liver spots at some point. Play, while the sun is hot, girl. Night will come, and so will the crow’s ugly feet to stamp all over your lovely face.”

Amber giggled. It was hard to stay mad at Josie, especially when she rendered her silly metaphors and analogies. They had been best friends since meeting in a Marketing course at NYU over eight years ago, and they had never been able to get seriously mad at each other, or have a real fight. Amber wondered if the day would ever come.

“So, do you know anything about this friend of Colby?” she asked, grudgingly.

“I met him when I came home at Easter. He was spending a few days with Colby. Besides the fact that he’s a real hunk on the outside, he’s really a terrific guy on the inside.”

Amber took a deep breath to keep from exploding. She exploded, anyway. “I know you didn’t say
pilot
!”

“Look, Amber, I know you better than anyone else on this earth. There’s still a lot of love in that big heart you’ve built a wall around. You’re beautiful, loving, smart—”

“And I asked you to stay out of my personal life. So you could add one more adjective to that list—
Mad
!
Mad as hell
! You know I swore I would never date another pilot, Josie. I was married to one who had a woman in every city in which he had a layover. He thinks ‘laying over’ means ‘getting laid’.”

“All pilots aren’t like Josh, Amber. Colby isn’t like that.”

“How do you know?”

“I trust him. And if he were like that, he wouldn’t be a pilot. He wouldn’t be much of anything. He’d be dead,” she added emphatically.

“That was my problem. Now it’s yours.”

“Relax, girl. It’s not like you’re planning to marry the guy. Mark’s here for one night. In two days, we go back to New York, and you’ll never have to see him again.”

Amber closed her eyes. “Stop the car!”

Josie stopped the car.

Amber opened her eyes to see two rows of dwarf palm trees on either side of the car and Colby’s sprawling blue and white house in front of her. She glared at Josie.

Josie shook her head and reached in the back seat for her beach bag. “Seriously, Amber, you need to live a little. Ever since you found out what Josh was doing, you’ve given up on men. There are nice guys out there, and I’m sure there’s one with your name written on his forehead. But you’ll never recognize him with that attitude.” She rested her hand on Amber’s shoulder. “You’re my best friend and I want you to be as happy as me one day. Sooner, rather than later, I hope. For tonight, though, just meet Mark and try to enjoy yourself. Do it for me. I only have two more days with Colby before I return to Manhattan, and I want them to be pleasant. I can’t have a good time when you’re wearing your sourpuss face. Is that too much to ask of my best friend?” She hung her lip in a mocking sulk.

After a long silence, Amber flashed her a noncommittal smile. “Fine, I’ll try to have a good time for you. But I don’t care how much of a hunk this Mark is, I’m not letting my guard down. She opened the door and stepped out of the car. She waved to Colby who’d appeared on the veranda with a big grin on his face at the sight of Josie, the love of his life.

His friend was nowhere in sight, and that suited Amber just fine, because she did need a little space to collect her frazzled thoughts and put on her ‘look-I’m-having-a-good-time’ mask. She walked across the green lawn toward the beach. When the grass ended, she slipped off her sandals and kicked her way through the warm sand to a wooden gazebo under a tamarind tree.

She leaned against the railing and once again allowed the magnificent aura of the island to calm her spirits.

The sun was finally slipping behind the horizon and had transformed the blue sky into a blazing canvas of cobalt, violet, and amber tones. The vast canopy made an opulent backdrop for the island of St. Jude in the distance, and the local ferry making its way from Basseterre to Charlestown.

Amber had traveled around the world several times in her young life, but never had she seen such splendor. This was indeed the quintessential paradise. She could never get enough of this place. Again, she toyed with the idea of moving to Dulcina, but she knew Josh wouldn’t let her take his babies so far away from him. He may have been a lousy, two-timing husband, but he’d always been an attentive father—if she could overlook the fact that he’d used their children as leverage to get his way in the divorce.

Amber sighed. She’d come to Dulcina to relax and detox, not rehash her divorce drama with Josh. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled the emotional toxins through her mouth and sent them floating up into the ethers.
Nice
. Again.

“Exquisite.”

Amber’s body drew as taut as a bowstring at the sound of the deep masculine voice behind her. That single word resonated through her like the echoing notes of a cello. She willed her heart back down to her chest as she wondered, foolishly, how the sound of a man’s voice could affect her so severely. Especially when she’d spent the past year erecting a wall between her heart and the opposite sex. Perhaps it’s because he’d caught her on a half breath when her lungs were deprived of oxygen, she thought.

But when the leaves of the tamarind tree above her wrestled gently, and a soft breeze, pregnant with his masculine scent caressed her face, Amber realized that it wasn’t just his voice that had affected her. It was his odor as well. He smelled of the salty sea, wet coral sand, and a woody spicy aftershave. Amber felt warm, sedated, as all her senses became fine-tuned to his presence.

“Yes, it is exquisite,” she finally responded in a tremulous voice.

“I was referring to the lady,” he said softly in a Bajan accent that was even more melodious than the Dulcinans. “But, the sunset is also exquisite. Almost as exquisite as you, Amber.”

So Colby had been talking about her, and perhaps her deceitful friend, too, Amber thought with bittersweet agony at the way he spoke her name—like it was a succulent piece of fruit he was savoring on his tongue.

He’s a hunk on the outside
. As Josie’s words surfaced in her mind, coaxing her to satiate her visual senses as well, Amber turned around.

He was a massive wall of golden brown flesh, and as smooth and hairless as a newborn baby’s behind. He took a step forward, bringing the dark heat of his body dangerously closer to her. Her breathing became labored, her breasts swelled beneath the cotton material of her dress, and her nipples had the audacity to harden.

Amber licked her lips as she watched a daring drop of seawater slither off one powerful mass of breastbone, trickle down the tight expanse of his stomach, and settle temptingly inside the dark, secret hollow of his belly button. Involuntarily, her gaze dipped lower to the heavy bulge in his wet swim trunks. He was blessed. She swallowed and forced her gaze back to his chest. She wanted to say something, but her tongue was clamped to the roof of her mouth.

The muscles of his chest expanded and collapsed on a deep breath. “Are you always in the habit of staring at a man’s chest? Why don’t you look into my eyes, Amber?” he said with a profound urgency in his voice.

Amber raised her head. Her heart skipped a hard fast beat when her eyes encountered his. They were the most earthy-brown, magnetic eyes she’d ever seen. Something exploded deep inside her, and her body shuddered outwardly in response. She felt trapped in a spinning vortex. She wanted to run, but her feet ignored the signal from her brain.

“Hi,” he said. “You are more beautiful than I imagined.”

Again, Amber tried to speak, but words had eluded her. She felt as if she were caught up in some primitive island magic. Her body felt heavy, yet light enough to soar into the evening sky if a strong enough breeze happened along. Her heart beat heavily against her chest, and she couldn’t tell if it was fear or excitement that was propelling the blood through her veins. She’d never felt this powerless, this vulnerable in the presence of a man before, and she didn’t like it.

“Well, good to see the two of you getting along so well.” Josie’s voice broke the spell.

Amber turned to see her friend and Colby walking toward them, hand in hand, and in their swimwear. What the heck? Seemed as if she was the only one who didn’t get the memo.

“Nice meeting you, Mark.” When he said Barbados was known for their high standards of etiquette, he wasn’t joking, she thought, realizing he was waiting for her to initiate a handshake. She held out her hand and when he took it, lightning shot up her arm and spread through the rest of her body. She snatched her hand back and balled it into a fist to stop the tingling sensations.

“Well, now that we have that out of the way, why don’t you go change into your swim suit, Amber?” Colby said.

“I thought we were going to dinner and I dressed accordingly, but I see someone lied to me.” She threw Josie a ‘I’m-going-to-strangle-you’ look, then peered at Mark. She didn’t like the effect he was having on her while she was fully clothed. There was no way she was stripping down to a scanty bikini in front of him. “I didn’t bring my swimsuit, so I’ll have to sit this one out,” she said, folding her arms across her midriff as if she was already naked and needed to cover up.

“Actually, you do,” Josie said with that sly meddling grin of hers. “I brought along the new bikini you bought yesterday. I left it in the guest room off the office.”

Damn her
! Josie knew Amber would have declined if she’d told her they were coming here to swim, or that there was a man waiting to couple up with her. The first time she’d come to Colby’s secluded stretch of beach to swim with him and Josie, she’d felt like a third wheel watching them make out in the water, then later on a towel on the beach. She’d gone for a long walk to give them some privacy, and when she’d returned, the look on both their faces told her they’d made love. It was embarrassing, and she’d sworn not to put herself in that awkward position again. Except for the times when they went out in public, Amber explored the island by herself when Josie visited Colby.

So instead of mentioning swimming, or Mark, her sly fox of a friend had told her they were going out to dinner. Then before they left home, she’d sneaked into Amber’s room and snatched her bikini while Amber waited for her in the car. Amber’s chest heaved on a livid sigh. “Well, we’re going out to dinner later and I didn’t bring my makeup and toiletries,” she said, hoping to put the matter to rest. “So, I guess I really can’t go swimming.”

Amber glanced at Mark, standing beside her like a sun god, sexually spiked pheromones oozing out of him like the nectarous juices of a ripe mango. She got the message loud and clear and her eyes, once more, inadvertently wandered down to his slim hips and the bulge of his manhood straining against the stretchy material of his navy blue swim trunks.

“Mark’s only here for one night, Amber. Why don’t you try to enjoy him?” Josie teased.

That did it
. Amber grabbed Josie by the arm and dragged her out of Colby’s embrace, and across the sand out of earshot of the two men. “You know, for someone who isn’t trying to fix me up for love, you’ve gone to great lengths to set the stage for a hookup.”