Arizona Skies: The Muse (16 page)

Jesse

I
woke up before Bailey and just lay there looking at her as she slept. She was stunning, with her long fingers wrapped around her pillow and a contented look on her face. I remembered how trusting she was with me last night, giving me her beautiful body. I dreamed of her all night, those eyes looking into mine, captivating my heart with her sweetness and her trust. I wanted her again but had to rein in my libido and wake her up so we could explore Cozumel, Mexico, today. I wanted to play a little, so I licked her face,
laughing as her eyelids moved when she started to wake up. She tried to push me away, but I licked her again. I wanted today to be fun; we’d gotten thru an emotion packed night last night. She had granted my every wish, so today was all about being together and exploring this island. I waited for her to open her eyes and realize that it was me.

I needed to see that perfect body again and started the shower. She watched me test the water and then I extended my hand to invite her in so I could wash her. She smiled that sweet smile and walked toward me, completely naked looking so trusting as I took her hand and helped her step into the tub. She looked so sexy with the water dripping down her face, across her breasts, down her stomach to her crotch. I wanted to lick every inch of her, jealous of the water drops as they rolled down her body. I had to shake my head to keep my attention on business. I gently washed the blood off her thighs and then dipped the washcloth into her pussy to clean it. She moaned, making my cock hard. I quickly turned her around to do her back. I wanted her, but I restrained myself as I switched places with her under the water, closing my eyes and letting the water cascade down my heated skin.

She surprised me by washing me as I had done for her. Her eyes were scanning my body as her hands worked their magic. My cock was still hard when she took hold of it. I opened my eyes to her mischievous eyes looking at me. She licked her lips, and I knew immediately what she was thinking. I grabbed her hand and shook my head no stopping her before I lost it. She smiled as I turned around for her to do my back.

I wasn’t ready to teach her about shower sex yet, still needing to experience slower, sensual lovemaking with her. She was inexperienced, and I wanted to teach her everything, but right now I was hungry.

I’d just gotten my clothes on when a loud knock had me wondering who the hell was at her door so early in the morning. I asked but
she told me it was her little blond friend. This was my chance to get even, so I made sure she was covered and grabbed the door handle quickly to scare her. Yep she screamed and jumped back. “Gotcha,” I said as she pushed past me to enter Bailey’s room. She started looking around as this evil smirk crossed her face when she looked at Bailey still wrapped in the towel. Oh boy, Bailey was in for it. I blew Bailey a kiss and left in a flash, hoping she didn’t get interrogated too badly.

When I got to my room, Scott’s door was wide open, and he was picking up clothing off his floor.

“Where the hell have you been?” he asked.

“Umm…with Bailey; where else would I be?” I said, opening my door.

“You and she…man…you fucked her, didn’t you?” he asked.

“Scott, I’m not telling you anything, bro; that’s between Bailey and me,” I said, closing my door in his face. He burst open my door and leaned against the doorframe with a smirk.

“Had to work for that one, didn’t you, Jess? Glad it was you, man—not surprised, but glad,” he chuckled.

“Don’t talk about her like that,” I snapped, bothered by his remarks.

“Man, she’s a little hottie,” he said.

“She’s more than that; I’m so damn confused. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I’d ever meet a girl like her Scott,” I confessed sitting on my bed.

“She fucking got to you, didn’t she?” he taunted me. “Admit it, man.” I smiled, unable to keep my poker face.

“Yeah, but she’s a nice girl, Scotty. I care about her a lot.” I looked over at him as he sat down beside me. “I’ve never felt like this before.”

“Man, I get it; I fucking feel the same way about Shelly,” he confessed to me. “We’re both screwed, literally,” he laughed. I couldn’t help it; I started laughing too, knowing exactly how he felt.

I put my hands to my face. “I’m fucking screwed.”

“What the hell are we going to do?” he asked.

“Damned if I know; I’m on uncharted territory here. I just know I don’t want to lose her. I don’t want to go back to my old life. No more mindless fucking for me anymore. I’ve never felt more alive than I do when I’m with her. I don’t think about my needs; I just want to please her. Her smile warms my heart. Listen to me—I sound like a fucking lovesick asshole. She blindsided me, Scotty,” I confessed to my best friend.

“Those sound like words to put in a song, man. Don’t worry; we’ll figure something out; this can’t end,” he said, slapping my back.

“I’ve asked Bailey to come to Arizona over winter break. I just need her with me,” I told him. “I can’t lose her Scott, I just can’t!”

“Jess that’s a great idea. I’ll ask Shelly to come too; that way they can fly together, and we won’t have to worry about them being alone,” Scott said.

“Listen, I’ll even pay for their plane tickets,” I offered, “Anything to get her out there Scott. I just want her with me. I’ll take her anyway I can get her, maybe she’ll like the weather better and I don’t know move out after she graduates from college. I know I’m grasping at straws right now,” I said running my hand thru my hair. “Shit, I just don’t know how to handle all these feelings I have,” I said touching my heart.
One fuck and I was tied up in knots
, I thought. How bad is it going to be after I’ve made love to her for the rest of this cruise? I was craving her body already, damn was I even going to be able to function? I had finally met a woman I was willing to fight for.

Eight

Bailey

W
e stood on deck watching the ship pull into port. I looked down at the light-aqua-colored water. The water was so clear I could see the coral reefs in the distance with all the colorful fish swimming around. It was a beautiful tropical paradise, and I was anxious to explore it. I could see the dolphins jumping and diving just beyond the reefs, talking to each other. It felt like they were greeting us, welcoming us to their island.

We left the ship hand in hand, strolling along the white, sandy beaches. There was a line of luxury condos along the coastline, and as we strolled into the town, there were venders all over trying to sell us stuff. I was looking around at all of the shops, wanting to peer inside some of them to see what they held that I couldn’t live without.

Somewhere there was a band playing music, but we couldn’t see them. We strolled along taking in all the sights. The sun was shining, and beautiful flowers were all over. The people were dressed in brightly colored clothing, smiling at us as we walked along. There were a lot of restaurants in a row; they had thatched huts out front with tables under them to sit and eat. Shelly was taking pictures as we walked.

“Smile,” I heard her say. Jesse and I turned to look at what she was doing just as she snapped our picture. “Gotcha,” she smiled at us. I was going to have an album full of pictures when we got home—she took pictures of everything. Every night when we dressed up,
she took a picture. At the pool, she took pictures. At the table during dinner, she took pictures. I knew I would have a lot of pictures of Jesse to remember him by, thanks to my own personal photographer.

“Make sure I get some of those pictures,” Jesse said as he turned back around.

“Look, Bailey, you can swim with the dolphins,” he said, pointing to a sign. “Or we could go scuba diving.” He watched my reaction.

“I’m not sure I’m ready to be under the ocean; I’m contented to stay on top of it for now. But you guys can go if you want to—we’ll go shopping,” I said, anxious to check out the shops.

“Yeah, let’s go swim with the fishes,” Scott yelled in his enthusiastic way.

“Keith, John, you in?” Jesse asked.

“Hell yeah, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. This is the scuba-diving capital of the world,” Keith smiled.

“OK, it’s eleven o’clock now; we’ll meet you girls at one o’clock for lunch,” John, said looking at his watch as he slid into his manager mode.

“Where would you like to meet?” Jesse asked.

Shelly and I looked around and pointed to a restaurant.

“OK, you girls have fun shopping, and we’ll see you in a couple hours,” Jesse said, kissing me sweetly as he left with his friends.

“Listen, let’s stay together. I don’t trust these tourist traps, and I’ve read that all these islands have pickpockets, so we can keep an eye on each other’s bags,” Liza said.

“Also, I’ve heard that island men like to carry off blond women and rape them,” Shelly said. I was shocked. I never thought she was afraid of anything.

“I’ve got your back, Shell; nobody’s messing with you,” I said, putting on a brave face, not worried because I wasn’t blond. We hooked our arms together and marched off toward the shopping section. We did stay together as we went into shop after shop, waiting patiently for each other as we shopped for island treasures.

I wanted to go into this leather shop, spotting men’s leather wristbands. I wanted to get something special for Jesse to remember me by. Some of the bands had hand-painted stones on them, and the detail in the painting was amazing. The stones were secured by a small hole in each end and tied to the band with rawhide, very masculine looking. I chose a black band that had a white stone on it with an ocean scene. There was a ship at sunset with the moon in the background and a silhouette of a seagull. I held it up to my wrist to see how it would look. Shelly came over to look at it.

“That’s really nice, Bails; are you getting that for Jesse?” she asked.

“Do you think he’d like it?”

“I think he’ll love it,” she said.

“Look what I found.” She held up a rawhide necklace with a light-blue stone hanging off it. “The stone is the exact color of Scott’s eyes,” she said.

“I like it,” I said, smiling at her. Liza was checking out the necklaces as well, choosing a long, tan-colored stone shaped in a triangle with a symbol on it. I realized we were all shopping for our men!

“OK, let’s shop for ourselves now,” I said, leading the way down the path to some clothing shops. I found a light-blue tank dress, fitted and short. Shelly chose a fitted, hot-pink skirt with a flowery little top to match. Liza, who was tall like me, chose a pretty, aqua-colored dress that was high in the front and dipped longer in the back. We paid for our purchases and continued on, keeping a close eye on the time so we would be back to meet the guys at the designated time.

I fell in love with these hand-painted shawls and tops. I picked out a white fringe shawl with bright tropical flowers on it. I paid and tucked it in my shopping bag. Shelly, my wild friend, picked up a top that barely covered her bra with long fringe to her navel. She was a little more daring with her wardrobe than I was. I went more for classic styles that I could wear year after year, since I wasn’t rich like she was.

“Oh, look, silk scarves,” I said, pointing to the next shop. “I’ve got to get one for my mother.”

“That’s a good idea,” Liza said. “I haven’t gotten my mother anything yet.” We all converged on the shop, checking out the assorted styles and colors, picking out just the right ones for our mothers.

“Time to head back,” I said, taking over keeping an eye on the time since John wasn’t there. We walked back toward the strip of restaurants, sitting down at one of the huts as we waited for the guys. We heard them before we saw them, rounding a corner by a bunch of flowered bushes. They were talking and laughing as they came into view. Jesse came over and pulled me into his arms. “That was awesome,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “Let’s go swimming with the dolphins this afternoon.”

“Jesse, I didn’t bring my swimsuit,” I said.

“I’ll buy you one right after lunch,” he said. How could I say no to that face as he looked at me with sad puppy-dog eyes?

“All right,” I conceded. “Shelly, will you take pictures?” I wanted our experience to be forever on paper for me to look at.

“Sure, I might even get in myself,” she said, letting Scott sit down, then perching on his lap.

“Liza, how about you; you up for a swim with the dolphins?” Keith asked her with a big smile.

“Sure, let’s all go. It’s pretty hot out here; I could use a swim. But we need to get swimsuits first—none of us brought them with us,” she said.

“OK, we eat, get the girls suits, and go back to the beach. Afterward we have to head straight back to the ship by five, or they leave us behind,” John said, taking over his manager job again.

“Yes, sir,” Shelly said, saluting him. We got an assortment of island foods to share and sat under the shade of the hut to eat.

“I know where to find swimsuits,” Liza said. “We passed it on our way back here.”

“OK, you lead the way,” Keith said, taking her hand.

We each picked out a swimsuit. I picked a two-piece that had a little more coverage in case a dolphin decided to undo one of the ties on a string bikini—that would be embarrassing. Jesse just laughed at me, grabbing colorful beach towels for each of us, and we were off. There were changing rooms with lockers for our stuff. I locked up my belongings, putting the band with the key around my wrist as we headed for the beach. There was a man there who gave us instructions; then we swam out near the dolphins.

The dolphins swam pretty close to shore, so we didn’t have to swim out very far. They were not afraid of us as we treaded water, waiting for them to approach us. They swam right up to us, touching their bodies with ours. Shelly stayed behind to take pictures; then she and Liza traded places, so Liza could take some pictures of her. The dolphins were friendly; it seemed like they liked to pose for pictures, staying still in the water for us. We got some great shots frolicking in the water with them. I was glad I decided to do it; it was fun. I couldn’t stop smiling as we swam around.