Charming: A Modern Day Sexy Cinderella Story (6 page)

“Katie sounds like she’s a wonderful friend to you,” Faye comments with sincerity.

“She is. We’ve been best friends since we were eight. I can’t imagine my life without her. I hope I never have to.”

Her eyes turn serious a line appearing between her brows, “We should all be so lucky to have friends like that. I hope you cherish her.”

“I do,” I reply honestly with a nod of my head for emphasis. “I have no doubt that she knows how much I love her.”

She smiles, “That’s good.”

I find myself smiling back and something inside of my chest eases. She has a soothing quality about her and the pain in my heart seems to ease a bit while talking to her. I’m not sure what it is about her that’s so calming, but I’m thankful for it.

“We had a great time together,” I tell her with a small laugh thinking about our week together in Cabo. When Katie returned home after a week, I did elect to stay for the second week after all. It was a week that was so amazing that thinking about it makes a gamut of emotions wash over me. Happiness, excitement, fondness, passion and sadness all in a rush so fast it makes my head spin.

“She’s not with you now, so I assume you did end up staying longer?”

“Yes, you’re right. I didn’t intend to before we left. Part of me thought that time alone would be too hard emotionally and I didn’t want to end up crying in my margaritas over my life. The funny thing is, I didn’t do a whole lot or mourning over my combusted relationship with Jeremy. At the beginning I had a few things to work through, but then, it was like I was able to let go. There’s nothing I can do about what happened; dwelling on it wasn’t going to change a thing. Maybe I should feel guilty about how easy it was to move on, but I think it’s a sign of just how wrong being with Jeremy was.” I shrug not really having any other words to explain what I feel. I mean, how much should a person mourn a relationship they weren’t completely happy in and never should have let go on as long as they did in the first place? I don’t think there’s a manual about that.

“And you realized that being alone while on vacation wasn’t so bad after all?”

My cheeks flush and I look down, absently scratching my nose, “Um, well, not exactly.” Glancing at Faye, I see amusement in her eyes.

“Oh?” she asks raising a brow.

“Well, I didn’t exactly spend that week alone.” I wait for her face to reflect judgment or disgust when she realizes exactly what I’m getting at. My breath stalls and I look at her worryingly, partly confused as to why I care what she thinks, and partly wondering why the hell I’m telling her any of this to begin with.

“Well honey, I didn’t think so. A woman doesn’t board a plane from a beautiful place like Cabo San Lucas crying for any reason other than a man. So, get on with it. Do tell me more. Starting with when you and Katie arrived, of course.”

My breath comes out in a rush and I laugh softly reveling at how much I adore Faye already considering I’ve just met her. “Yes, ma’am.”

When our plan lands we begin a crazy experience at the airport going through customs and retrieving our luggage. Before we reach the destination given to me by the resort to obtain our shuttle, we have to weave our way through a maze of people offering god knows what. It’s confusing and rather intimidating as some people are pretty aggressive, but we find the driver of our shuttle and settle in for a ride that reveals the countryside and non-touristy part of the city. The drive passes quickly. I feel the tightness in my shoulders begin to give way on the ride, but the minute our shuttle pulls through the security gates of our resort in beautiful Cabo San Lucas, I feel my entire being start to relax.

Passing security where they ask my name and make sure we are on the list of check-in’s, our shuttle comes to a huge resort entrance. To my surprise, instead of pulling in, we continue past. Looking out the window, I see huge homes set in semi-circular patterns high up in the mountains and a large number of southwest-looking brightly colored buildings below. Lodging spreads out over what looks like many acres. Continuing, we capture sight of lush flower gardens, welcoming pools, a large fountain, and golf carts moving all throughout the property, driven by hatted men dressed in light khaki colored clothes, clearly transporting guests to and fro.

As our shuttle continues down a long road, I see ahead of us, at ocean level, another large resort. It sits alone at the bottom of the mountain and it’s easy to tell even from this distance how amazing it’s going to be. Cabanas garnish the ocean’s edge where blue ocean water laps the sandy shore. Excitement builds and my foot starts tapping in my impatience to arrive.

From the moment we walk through the glass doors of the lobby to check into our room, our mouths are agape in wonder. The pictures I’d seen of the resort definitely did not do justice. The lavish, yet tastefully adorned lobby is shaped in a circle, with an opening between eleven and one o’clock that reveals a breathing taking view of the ocean – its beauty as far as the eye can see. The white caps of the water keep winking in and out of view, and the smell of sea and salt is potent in the air. The lobby emits an appeasing aroma of lavender and something else I can’t place. The combination is divine and I can’t help but take a deep breath, close my eyes, and imagine the stress of the previous day rolling off of me in waves and evaporating into thin air.

I feel a small twinge of sadness when I overhear the cute couple clearly in love checking into their room before us say they are here on their honeymoon. Knowing I’m supposed to be here on mine as well makes my eyes sting with unshed tears. I sniff and clear my throat hoping the action brushes the impulse away. As if she knows my thoughts, Katie catches my eye and smiles widely. The wonder and excitement of the few days we have together clear on her face. I can’t help but smile back, feeling thankful for the distraction. Looking forward to spending some time in an amazing place with my favorite person, makes the sadness fade away.

As soon as we get to our room we make a joke about the huge king size bed. Unfortunately, they were unable to switch us to a double, but it’s okay, the bed is massive and we will easily be swallowed up into it with plenty of room on either side of us. I still tease Katie that I’d like to be the small spoon and she the big one.

After we finish checking out the room, oohing and aahing at our ocean view, the towels folded into perfect fish, the plush robes in our closet and the multitude of toiletries available for our use, we immediately dig our swimsuits out of our luggage. Not even taking time to unpack anything else, we excitedly change, grab magazines, our kindles and sunblock, and get our booties to the pool.

A couple hours later, I’m lounging next to Katie, sucking down my third, or maybe it’s my fourth, margarita. Happily feeling the buzz of alcohol, especially since I’m drinking on an empty stomach, we are enjoying the view. The pool sits at ocean level and the only thing that separates us from the beach is plexiglas that has been perfectly placed at the outer edge. It helps mute the sound of the wind and ocean, and likely would protect the pool from any gusts of dust if the wind would pick up, but does nothing to obstruct the gorgeous view.

Our resort is adult’s only, so the pool while hopping, doesn’t include excited screaming children running around. Waiters and waitresses constantly move around chairs either taking food and drink orders or delivering orders to guests. Katie and I just ordered fish tacos– because yum.

“It’s like a Mariah Carey video,” Katie says at my side. She’s on her tummy, feet kicking in the air behind her, rocking her fuchsia and orange bikini. Her shades are on the top of her head and she’s looking out toward the ocean.

“What is?” I ask, adjusting the top of my royal blue and white bikini wondering if I should put on more sunblock.

“Those beds on the ocean.”

“Oh, they are so romantic,” I sigh happily looking out to the cabanas she’s referring to. There are four of them and they are large four-poster beds literally sitting on the beach halfway between the pool and the ocean. They are gorgeous. Dressed with white linens and teal and tan pillows, they are adorned with gauzy white drapes that can be pulled – along with the darker shade- for privacy. The drapes billow in the wind creating a pretty picture and longing fills my stomach making it burn. “I bet Jeremy and I would have rented one of them.”

“No you wouldn’t have because you were never going to go on a honeymoon with Jeremy,” Katie states her sunglasses lowered on her nose so she can glare at me.

“True. I just can’t help but think about it I guess.” Looking toward the beds again, I let out another sigh. “I just can’t help but think about sex while looking at those things. Hot, clawing the sheets, sweaty, screaming orgasms kind of sex.”

Katie laughs, “You mean the kind of sex you
didn’t
have with Jeremy?”

I gasp, “Hey!” I tell her a little miffed she would use what I’ve told her against me at the moment.

“Just sayin’. You know it’s true.”

“Too true.” The admission makes me think of something and I cringe knowing exactly what Katie will say when I confess. “Katie,” I whisper, “I need to tell you something,” I swear that sounded like I slurred it.

“What?” she says too loudly back.

“Shh!” I tell her, flailing my hand in a shut up gesture.

“Why are we having to ‘shh’?” she asks eyes wide repeating the same flailing gesture I just made.

“Because I need to tell you something personal.”

“Okay,” she whispers back hesitantly, and I laugh when she blindly uses her lips to find her straw and keeps missing. “Shut up,” she says with a roll of her eyes knowing I’m making fun of her.

“I almost…” I pause reconsidering this topic of conversation.

“Almost what?”

“I almost gave up my butt for Jeremy.”

Katie immediately lets out a shriek and sits up straight almost spilling her drink. Her sunglasses fall from the top of her head into her lap and she looks at me with her jaw wide open, “No!” she gasps in horror.

“Yes,” I nod solemnly.

“No!” she repeats herself.

“Yes!” I nod again emphatically and take some large swallows of my margarita as if it will drown the shame.

“Why?” She asks, “Why would you do that? I just don’t understand! We’ve talked about this. We should make a no butt sex pact or something. I think it’s another commandment. Best friends shall not let each other succumb to butt sex.”

“You have a commandment for everything.”

“For good reason! Look what you almost did! Again I ask you, why?”

“Well,” I shrug, “I told you that our sex life was lacking. He kept bringing it up and I guess I thought maybe it would help.”

“Butt sex is never the answer,” she says louder than comfortable.

“God, Katie! Keep your voice down!” She giggles and signals our attractive waiter from across the pool. He nods at her with a wide smile and heads on over. “Hi Juan, may we have two more margaritas as soon as possible, please? It’s a margarita emergency. An emergarita,” she says with a laugh and I can’t help it, I giggle. I think maybe we should consider quitting the margaritas actually.

He smiles and laughs, “Uh-oh, sounds serious.” He walks away to place our order and her eyes track him lingering on his firm ass.

“Looks to me like you’re thinking about doing something with
his
ass,” I say watching her head tilt to the side and wondering what the hell she’s thinking.

“Oh, please. I can appreciate a nice ass, maybe even want to give it a nice bite, but that doesn’t mean I would ever consider giving up my butt. That’s completely two different things.”

“Never?” I ask.

Her eyes narrow slightly and she slides her sunglasses down her nose to make eye contact with me, “No!” She slams down her empty margarita glass on her thigh for emphasis, “What were you thinking? It’s exit only, Ella!” She makes a gagging sound which makes me laugh out loud. “So gross.”

“Do you think everyone has your opinion?” I ask.

“You mean
our
opinion? No, of course not.” Her eyes rove around the pool and settle on a couple. “Look at them,” she gestures casually. A man and woman lie side by sound in their loungers. The woman is lying on her stomach, her cheek resting on her arms as she looks at the man next to her. He is talking to his companion while his fingers trail down her back, over the curves of her ass and back up again. They are completely lost in each other. “I bet you they partake – probably have a bondage set and everything. I bet you he was more experienced and he’s been teaching her all kinds of things – maybe in his very own red room. They only have eyes for each other and will probably pack up and leave here soon so that they can go fuck like bunnies,” she tells me.