His face lit up, and leaning against the dock railing, he sized me up. “Okay then. We have options. I can teach you to ride a jet ski, or, I can even take you on a jet ski tour if you want to ride tandem.”
I bit my lip. The idea of sharing a jet ski with Rob, while the motor’s vibrations carried through the seat to my most sensitive parts, was seriously tempting. But I couldn’t let him know just how much his friendliness was jostling me. I wanted him to think that I was under control, not some freak from the States who came on vacation to get laid by the cabana boy. My visit had been great so far. The last thing I needed was to make an ass of myself by hitting on a guy who was just doing his job.
“Lessons would be great,” I said blurted, kicking myself for not opting to share. “When can we do it?”
He grabbed a clipboard and flipped through a couple pages. “I’m not too busy today. Want to go in a couple hours?”
I jumped up and down in my flip-flops. “Yes, oh my god, yes!”
He looked out over the water for a moment, then back at me. “I’ve got an idea. Look out there.”
In the distance, I could see a small land mass. “What is that, an island?”
“It is. The resort owns it. Very private, most of the time used for weddings and other events. But it’s an insanely beautiful little spot, so pretty that one year,Sports Illustrateddid one of their swimsuit photo shoots there. We could go visit the island and bring a picnic along.”
“Oh my god. That sounds amazing.”
His eyes twinkled. “I want to make sure your vacation is memorable, Tana.”
Okay. The manwashitting on me. For real. And I liked it. “Cool. I’ll be back in two hours.”
He ran a finger down my bare arm, and I had to hide my shiver. “I’d take you now, but I need to finish a few things. That, and I don’t have a picnic basket in my back pocket. But trust me. You’ll have memories that’ll last forever.”
I returned to my room, my stomach twisting as I thought about what I’d just agreed to. Alone, on a little island, with this gorgeous hunk of manliness?
Sign me up, bitch.
He was right. There was no way I was going home without real vacation memories. And if that took a bit of a risk, so be it.
I changed into my little white bikini, because of course, and pulled on shorts and a swim shirt. Two agonizingly long hours and a few minutes later, I returned to the dock.
Didn’t want to be exactly on time.
“Are you off duty now?” I asked.
“Something like that. Why do you ask?”
“Well,” I said, biting my lip, “I’m wondering if this is a jet skiing lesson, or a date.”
He reached out, capturing my wrist and pulling me in until I was pressed against his body. “Let’s just say that I plan on teaching you to use a jet ski for sure… but we could have even more fun than that if we decide to. Shall we keep our options open?”
Okay then.
More fun than jet skiing? For about the tenth time in the last couple days, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
Options were open. Way open.
“I’m down. Sounds good,” I stammered.
“Okay. Now, have you ridden a jet ski before?” he asked.
C’mon. How hard could it be?
“Um, no,” I said.
He smiled at my honesty.
“That’s fine. Just remember that on the water there’s no such thing as brakes.”