Whirlwind (33 page)

“So you’ll give me whatever I want?” he asked slyly. I was too lazy to even roll my eyes at my mind-reading masseuse.

“Uh.”

He took my vague response as a yes. “Good,” he said. His fingers walked down my spine with tiny baby steps, covering every millimeter from my hair to my hips and erasing coherent thought. When he got to the base of my spine, he fanned his hands out and slid them back up slowly. He stopped, and I felt his warm breath in my ear.

“I want
you
.
Forever
,” he whispered, then started massaging my scalp with his fingertips.

“Okay,” I sighed, ignoring the garbled warnings running through my gelatinous brain.

“Deal.” Jason laughed again, then slowly removed his hands from my hair and covered me with the sheet. “I’m going to take a quick shower. You stay here and try not to melt into the floor.”

“’Kay,” I replied.

I don’t know how long I lay there, but when the shower went on, I finally collected enough energy to move. It was like the day had started all over again, cleansed of Ron’s disruption. Not bothering with my T-shirt, I slipped into the bathroom and started my routine at the sink. We shared my lone bathroom like we’d been living together a year, not a couple of days. Jason hopped out of the shower, and I stepped in, wasting barely a drop of water. He was just finishing at the sink when I turned off the water, and he passed me a towel.

The familiarity continued in the kitchen, where we enjoyed cereal and bananas for breakfast. I was impressed when Jason poured my coffee and added a teaspoonful of hot chocolate mix to it. With a knowing smile, he closed the canister of cocoa before handing me the cup. Mitch must’ve been very thorough when he clued Jason in on my likes. I’d have to thank him someday.

We chatted easily about nothing, eventually coming around to the weirdest things we’d eaten for breakfast. Since Jason ate at the dining hall every day, he rarely had anything that wasn’t considered breakfast food. I, on the other hand, ate anything that was in the fridge. When he raised a skeptical eyebrow, I quickly grabbed a fork and the container of cold spaghetti.

Before I could take a bite he emptied my hands.

“No, I believe you. Please don’t eat that—the garlic will ruin the banana I just ate.” He then ended the discussion by sealing his lips to mine, reminding me how much I loved bananas.

We’d barely finished our breakfast when Linda knocked on the door. She took one look at me and smiled.

“You actually wore it!” she screeched.

Doubling as a windbreaker and cover-up, my beige long-sleeved shirt was unbuttoned and tied at the bottom, revealing my navy blue bikini top.

“I said I would, didn’t I?”

Seeing Jason, Linda lost interest in me and looped her arm through his. She escorted him out to the car while I locked the door. When she dragged Jason into the back seat of Chase’s Suburban with her, I yelled “Hey!” but she just stuck her tongue out at me and buckled up. Sulking, I hopped in the front seat next to Chase.

“So you made quite the romantic proposal, I hear.” I said, trying to ignore the chatter behind me.

Chase grinned and backed out of the parking space. “I guess. She liked it.”

I waited for Linda to chime in with more gushing about their engagement, but she continued to grill Jason. When she asked about the details of our time at the
hot springs
, I’d had enough.

“Rumor has it a ring was involved, but I haven’t seen it yet,” I said loudly, glaring at her.

Linda stopped talking immediately, her whole face turning red. “There definitely
is
a ring,” she said and dangled her hand over the front seat. “I’m sorry, Mel. Here.”

“Wow, this is gorgeous,” I said, inspecting the large solitaire. I tilted the ring back and forth, sending tiny rainbows spinning through the car.

“Isn’t it? I told Chase it was perfect, but he’s taking me with him to shop for a wedding set in the jewelry district in
L.A.
next weekend.” She glowed at her boyfriend—no, fiancé.

“Wow, even more diamonds coming. I hope you have a lucrative summer job, Chase,” I said.

He laughed, shaking his head. “No, unfortunately not. Thank God for credit cards. I’m going to have to design the next
Eiffel
Tower
to pay off the bill, though.” An architecture major, Chase wanted his name on the next “world’s tallest building.”

“Good luck with that,” I said with a grin.

Jason had been listening quietly, and when the conversation lulled, he leaned forward and put his hand on my shoulder. I automatically touched it with my fingers, wishing he was closer.

“I noticed the boards on top of the car, Chase. Are there any decent surf spots around here?” he asked.

“It’s not too spectacular, but there’s a ground swell in right now. I brought my extra thruster and spring suit in case you’d like to catch a few sets,” Chase said.

I looked at him dumbly, not understanding anything he said, but Jason replied with an enthusiastic “Wicked!” The guys launched into a detailed conversation about
Central
Coast
surfing, but I stopped paying attention to the words and just listened to the lilt of Jason’s voice. Linda didn’t speak either, and I could guess she was busy trying to figure out how Jason and I fit together. Her curiosity was insatiable.

It didn’t take long to drive to
Pismo
Beach
, and we lucked into a good parking spot near the stairs leading down to the sand. Linda and Chase practically lived at the beach during the summer and had everything we’d need for a full day of sun, surf, and relaxation. The guys took the umbrella and cooler, and we followed with the chairs and towels. By the time the surfboards made it down, Linda and I were lying in the bright sun in our bikinis, oblivious to the world.

“Now,
this
is a Kodak moment,” Jason said.

I opened my eyes to find the guys standing in front of us, clicking off photos on their cell phones. I threw one hand over my face and gave Jason the finger with the other. He laughed and took another picture. He’d changed into a black, short-sleeved wetsuit. It only enhanced his muscular body.

Changing tactics, I smiled sweetly. “Come here. I’ll give you something to remember,” I said.

I heard a choking sound next to me.

Jason leaned down and gave me a quick kiss. “Later, Naughty Melissa,” he whispered in my ear. “Things are a little too revealing in this.” He ran his hand across his neoprene-covered chest.

My hand followed his. “I noticed. It’s quite sexy, you know.” I tried to pull him down for another not-so-quick kiss, but he resisted with a groan.

“You…ah.” He wiggled out of my grip and stood, holding his hands together in front of him. He was right, the wetsuit was quite revealing, and very elastic, as demonstrated by the way it was expanding below his waist. “Good thing the water’s cold. Chase, we’d better get out of here,” Jason said, picking up his surfboard.

I tried not to look, but couldn’t help but see that Chase’s wetsuit was also form-fitting, and that Linda had a similar effect on him. She glanced at me, and we laughed as the guys headed for the waves, carrying their boards waist high.

They swam out past the kids playing in the shallow water, and I soon lost sight of them. Just as I closed my eyes again, Linda spoke.

“So, you and Jason seem pretty serious after—what, three days?” she said.

Here we go.
“Define serious.”

“He can’t take his eyes off you. Did you know that? The entire ride over he was looking at you, even when he was talking to Chase.” I peeked at Linda, only to see her peering intently at me.

“Can you pass me a water?” I pointed at the cooler next to her.

“And look at you. I’ve never seen
you
like this,” she continued.

“Like what? I’m just relaxed, that’s all.”
At least I
was
.

“Exactly. You swore I’d never see you in that bikini, that you were too embarrassed to wear it in public. Yet here you are, showing more skin than I’ve ever seen, perfectly at ease. I’d say Jason’s had quite an effect on you, Melissa.” Linda cracked open her water bottle and took a long drink. “How long have you known him, really?”

I sighed. My feelings were still all churned up. How could I explain…without sounding completely insane?

I stalled, picking up my chair and moving it under the shade of the umbrella before opening my water. Maybe I was going about this wrong. If I gave her
some
of the story, there was a slim possibility she’d let the rest go.

The beach was pretty crowded, and I waited for the mother next to us to finish yelling at her disobedient son before answering.

“It’s complicated. I met Jason online at the beginning of the school year, and we had some fun via email for a few weeks. We didn’t share pictures, I never spoke to him, and when we lost contact, I didn’t give him another thought. When I saw him at the wedding, I didn’t even know who he was.”

If I
had
recognized him, would we have ended up here?

She dragged her chair next to mine. “But you figured it out.”

“Yes, and I thought for sure he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me.”

Linda’s brow wrinkled. “Why?”

“Look at him, Linda.” I waved toward the ocean. “He belongs with a debutante, or a supermodel. Plus, I wasn’t exactly alluring in my email notes. I said some pretty raunchy things.” My gaze shifted to the seagulls circling over the pier.

“You really need to give yourself a little more credit. Why you think you’re not pretty, I’ll never understand. If you saw how the guys on the team look at you whenever you walk away from them…” She picked up her sunscreen and squirted a thin ribbon on her arm. “That’s why Mitch wouldn’t let any of them ask you out,” she said casually.

Mitch wouldn’t
let
them?
Some reporter I am!
Perhaps that explained the strange behavior in the stable yesterday—Mitch must have intimidated the guys before he left. They probably saw Jason as an informant. But the larger question remained. “Why would he do that?” I asked.

“To keep them from fighting over you, that’s why. You remember the brawl last summer, don’t you?” She looked at me.

“What brawl?”

“After Santa Margarita.”

I shook my head, and she lowered her sunglasses. “You really didn’t know?”

“No. What happened?” Santa Margarita…I’d driven down to watch the rodeo in July, more as a fan than a journalist, and had spent most of my time in the stands. The guys had acted kind of weird that day, but I’d heard something about a filly and assumed they were bickering about some new girl they’d seen at the event—not me.