Cancun: Bad Boys on the Beach: A Standalone Romance Novel (11 page)

Everyone smiles and starts shoving the plates back in front of us. “Comer, comer,” the old man beside Tanya says.

The young man beside me grabs a plastic pitcher of yellow slush and grabs two cups on the table. He dumps out the ice and melted slush already in them onto the grass and fills them both up. He hands them to us with a smile. “Drink up,” he says. He has a subtle accent but his English is very good.

Tanya eyes the dirty, used glass and then smiles at me. So they’ve been used before. Who cares?

I raise my glass and say, “Cheers.” Everyone along the long table jumps at the excuse to drink and raises their glasses too and yells “Cheers!”

The drink is like fruity candy. It’s the best drink I’ve had since stepping off the plane.

The man introduces himself as Manuel and then tells me the names of over a dozen people. “That’s Roberto, Carlos, Rosa, Maria, Antonio, Josefina…” by the time he’s finished my brain is a jumble of names that I’ll never remember. Tanya nods and smiles at each one of them as they’re introduced.

“Where are you from?” Manuel asks, stroking his sleeping daughter’s brown hair.

“Chicago,” I say over the music.

“Ah!” he says, leaning back and smiling. “The city of Brotherly Love!”

“Ha!” Tanya says pointing at me. “I told you!”

Manuel wraps his arm around me and refills my drink. “Who are all of these people?” I ask him.

He points to the old man beside Tanya who has taken an interest in her. “That’s my father-in-law, my mother-in-law,” he says, pointing to the old woman who’s grinning beside me. He points to the beautiful woman across the table on Tanya’s other side. “My wife, this is my daughter.” He begins pointing to people all over the place. “My cousin, neighbor, brother, another cousin, my aunt…”

I tune Manuel out as his father-in-law grabs a plastic flower from the vase on the table and gives it to Tanya. He’s hunched over and looks old enough that he could have been one of the founders of Mexico. He says something in Spanish and for the first time ever I really wish I had paid attention in Spanish class.

The old woman next to me throws her napkin at him and starts yelling something that I don’t understand. Everyone at the table starts laughing but she looks pissed.

I grab two plastic flowers from the vase and present them to her. She smiles shyly like she’s fourteen again and kisses me on the cheek with rough lips.

The old man across the table looks at me and nods. He says something in Spanish and then tries to switch to English. “How you say…swingers. Sí?”

“No!” Manuel’s wife, Adriana, says reaching over a laughing, blushing Tanya to smack her father. “Stop it!”

Jorge comes back with plates of food stacked up his arm. He places them anywhere he can and before long every inch of the table is covered in fresh hot food. The food looks and smells incredible. I don’t know what half of it is but it has my mouth watering.

We try a bit of everything, passing the plates around the table. Every bite is an explosion of flavor. It’s way better than the cardboard tasting food at the resort buffet. Manuel tops off our drinks as we talk and have fun enjoying the crazy atmosphere.

His family is a riot and they have us laughing the whole time. They really don’t do it like this where I’m from.

Tanya grabs a little roll off the plate and slathers it in the green sauce. Adriana’s eyes pop out of her head and she says “no no no no no no,” as Tanya bites into it but she’s too late. Tanya has already taken a bite.

Her face goes scarlet red and she looks at me with panic brimming from her enormous eyes. She spits out the food into her napkin and chugs her glass of slush. Her mouth is open, breathing short heavy breaths when she throws the empty glass down and looks around in a panic for more.

She grabs the half full pitcher and starts to chug it while everyone laughs hysterically around us. People from the other tables jump up and rush over to see what’s going on and before long the entire restaurant is surrounding us chanting ‘chug, chug, chug,’ as Tanya goes to town on the strong slushy pitcher.

I join in, pounding my fist on the table to the beat of the crowd. “Chug, chug, chug,” I chant along with them. The pitcher was half full but she’s still going strong. A smile rips across my mouth as she finishes every last drop and then holds the empty pitcher upside down over her head.

Everyone cheers as she slams it down on the table. I’ve never been prouder.

A song that I’ve never heard comes on over the speakers and everyone gets excited and jumps out of their seats to dance.

Tanya leans over the table towards me. “Holy fuck that was hot!”

“That was amazing, is what that was,” I answer.

The old man beside her gets up on rickety old legs and offers his hand. Tanya takes it and steps out of the picnic table. She laughs as the old man starts dancing. He moves with more grace than I thought he would and before long she’s dancing with him. The restaurant is alive with excited energy and there are more people dancing than eating.

Manuel’s mother-in-law is watching Tanya and her husband dancing with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.

“Let’s go make them jealous,” I whisper to her.

She looks at me in confusion but then smiles when I step out of the picnic table and offer her my hand. She giggles as she takes it and I can see the shy, young girl still inside her. She’s adorable. I take her tiny frail body in my arms carefully. I jerk my head back in surprise when she starts shaking her hips wildly. She can move!

She steps in close and runs her hand up and down my bicep grinning and muttering something to herself. “Easy horn dog,” I whisper to her. “I’m with someone.”

She doesn’t understand and just laughs.
I like this lady.

We have a blast dancing and before long the young men in the restaurant start pushing the picnic tables into the corner and the patio turns into a dance floor.

I can’t take it anymore. I maneuver my dance partner over to where Tanya and the old man are shaking their asses and cut in. The old lady dances with her husband and it looks like all is forgiven.

Tanya’s face is flushed as she dances on me, really getting into the song. Chugging a pitcher of that strong slushy stuff has really loosened her up. I step in close and she moves in even closer, shaking her hips and moving her shoulders. She’s got a smile on her face bigger than I’ve ever seen on her before.

I get a whiff of apricots when I smell her hair and lightness fills my head again. My hands slide down her ribs and I give her waist a squeeze with my hands. She steps in close, pressing her breasts against my chest. The half pitcher of tequila is starting to work its magic.

A sexy gleam of sweat is on her hot skin. Feeling her move and grind on me is making my heart pound and if I’m not careful I’ll have a raging hard-on pushing against my pants when the song is over. Tanya is giving me a taste of her moves and now I want to fuck her more than ever.

The fast beat fades away and the soft sounds of a violin take its place. The crowd of people quickly turns into a crowd of couples as everyone pairs up with that special someone.

“May I have this dance?” I ask, holding my hand out.

She smiles and takes it. “You may.”

I pull her in close and for the first time she doesn’t pull away from my touch. She melts into me as we enjoy the song, enjoy the atmosphere and enjoy each other.

Her skin is as warm and soft as the romantic song playing over the speakers. She tucks her head on my shoulders as her fingers entwine with mine. I usually take the opportunity to visit the bathroom or go get a bit of fresh air whenever a slow song comes on at a party but not tonight. This feels good.

We’re surrounded by a sea of couples in love, swaying together to the music. Our friends, the elderly couple, are holding each other’s frail bodies and kissing.

“Look,” Tanya says, motioning to them with her eyes. “I think they made up.”

“You were making her jealous.”

She laughs. “I think she forgot all about me when you were dancing with her.”

“I forgot all about you when I was dancing with her.”

She laughs, showing me her beautiful smile.

“Is your mouth still on fire?” I ask.

“Yes!” she says, her eyes lighting up. “That was insane.”

“You can chug like a champ.”

She flicks her eyebrows up. “I was in a sorority my first semester at college.”

“That will do it,” I say.

She takes a deep breath and her face turns more serious. “Thank you for taking me out,” she says. “I really needed to get off that resort.”

I could stare at that face for hours.

We stare into each other’s eyes letting the soft music move our bodies. She pulls in closer and she’s so beautiful that I have to do it. I lean in slowly with my lips and she does too. Just as our lips are about to touch I feel a tug on my arm.

Are you kidding me?

Jorge is standing next to us with a big smile on his goofy face.
Ugh. I can’t get mad at the kid. He’s too fucking nice.

“You like to dance?” he asks, smiling so much that he’s showing his back teeth. “We go somewhere really fun now.”

I’m finally getting somewhere with Tanya and now it’s time to see how far I can take this. “Actually,” I say, “we’re going to head back to the resort.”

Tanya drops my hands and steps in front of me. “We’d love to go, Jorge!” She turns back and looks at me with a grin. “Right?”

She makes me laugh. “That’s right!”

“Come, come,” he says, pulling Tanya’s arm towards the exit.

“I’ll go pay our tab,” I say, heading to the kitchen.

Uncle Chef Boyardee is in the tiny kitchen chopping tomatoes so fast that I wouldn’t be surprised if he moonlighted as a ninja. He drops the knife and waddles around the counter with his arms stretched open when he sees me.

“Good?” he asks, standing in front of me with food stains all over his huge belly.

“Very good,” I say, nodding.

He claps his hands together and smiles. He looks thrilled that I’m happy.

“How much for everyone?” I ask, speaking slowly. He doesn’t seem to understand. “I pay for everyone,” I say, waving my hand around the patio.

“Everyone?” he asks, rubbing his bushy mustache. “No, too much.”

“Everyone,” I repeat, pulling out my wallet. “I insist.”

The Chef looks uncomfortable but when he sees the way I’m staring back at him he knows that arguing with me will be a losing battle. He reads the handwritten bills tacked onto the cork board and moves his lips as he calculates. “About ten thousand pesos or six hundred dollars,” he says. “But it’s too much.”

I pull out fifteen hundred dollars from my wallet and stuff it into the pocket of his apron. “There,” I say. “I pay for everyone tonight. They can get more drinks and food on me.”

He moves fast for a big guy and his big arms are wrapped around me in a bear hug. I try to keep him at arms’ length because of all of the food on his apron. I have to look sharp with Tanya and having smeared salsa on my shirt won’t cut it.

Chef Boyardee is too big, too strong and too relentless and I cave in.
Fuck it. When in Cancun…

I hug the big guy back. He smells like cilantro.

He walks me out to the taxi and Tanya leaves him smiling like a drunk man when she kisses him on the cheek.

Tanya pulls out her wallet when we’re back in the cab. “How much was it?” she asks.

I place my hand on hers and stare at her with a serious look. “I don’t know what your previous boyfriends were like but with me, you never pull out your wallet.”

“Really?” she asks, her eyes challenging me. “Or what?”

“Or I’ll insist on seeing your driver’s license picture.”

She stares at me for a moment and then puts her wallet away.

“Yeah I thought so,” I say. We both laugh. “That bad huh?”

“That bad.”

Jorge jumps in the car. “Next, we go to the beach party.”

Tanya looks excited. “I’ve never been to a beach party,” she says.

We drive for about fifteen minutes through side streets, seeing the different communities and how they live. Tanya watches out the window the entire time. It’s not usually the part of Mexico that a tourist sees when they’re getting shuttled from the airport to their resort and back.

Jorge pulls down a dark, secluded road in the woods. “Where are you taking us?” I ask. The headlights from our car are the only lights in the heavily wooded area.

“Beach party,” he says, glancing back in the mirror. I’m about to respond when I hear the faint music coming from somewhere in the distance.

Jorge parks the car and jumps out.

“Where are we?” Tanya asks as we step out of the car onto the dirt road. We seem to be in the middle of the forest but we can hear the music louder now.

“The party is this way,” Jorge says, pointing to the thick bushes. “Follow me.”

He squeezes through the thick bush and quickly disappears.

Tanya looks at me, shrugs and follows him in.

“Where are you taking us?” I ask, staying close to her.

“Come, come,” is all Jorge answers.

Tanya turns back to me. “Are there alligators or snakes in here?” she asks.

I laugh. “Don’t be silly.” But after I think about it for a few seconds I call out to Jorge. “Are there alligators or snakes in here.”

“Oh yes,” he says in a serious tone. “Giant ones.”

Tanya and I pick up the pace and before long we step out of the bushes onto the sand.

“Holy crap!” she says.

There’s a bonfire the size of a small house a short walk down the beach with a DJ spinning and people everywhere, dancing and drinking on the beach. Even from this distance, the light from the fire lights up Tanya’s face. The shadows dance across her cheeks and neck as the breeze takes her hair and dress and makes them flow. She’s beyond words.

She takes my hand as we follow Jorge to the party. Young, beautiful people are everywhere, dancing barefoot in the sand. My insides vibrate with the beat of the music and my heart races from touching the angel by my side.

Jorge grabs two beers from the huge, open cooler full of ice and bottles. He opens them and hands them to us.