Love on the Malecon (12 page)

He kissed her shoulders and arm and found one
of her breasts. Nicole arched her back at the sensation and he
heard her moan again. He took his time teasing her body and he
could feel goose bumps forming on her arms. That made him more
excited. But he was determined to hear that moan over and over
before he was inside of her. He moved down to her flat stomach,
tanned from their days on the beach. He kissed the side of her hip
bone and she squirmed into him. He spread her legs apart; he
couldn’t wait to taste her. He quickly found what she needed. She
lifted her hips up and grabbed his head. When he heard her sighs
and she called out his name, he gently kissed the inside of her
thigh. Then he kissed all over her body again, moving himself back
up to look into her eyes as he slid inside of her.

It really had never been like this for him
before. He always knew the difference between fucking and making
love. When he was with a woman, more often than not they just
wanted to fuck. And when it was slower, it never had the passion
that he felt right now. He knew just how to make her moan louder
and loved that he had that effect on her. He enjoyed that as long
as he could until he no longer could control his body. He pulled
out at the last minute and his body fell on top of her.

After a few minutes of her kissing his
shoulder and neck, he grabbed a towel that he kept folded near the
chaise and cleaned them both up. He lay back flat and closed his
eyes. She curled her body up to him. It still seemed so strange,
how their bodies interacted like they had been together their whole
lives. She was tracing his arms along one of his tattoos. It went
up one shoulder and down the other.

“It’s still pretty early. Tell me about your
tattoos,” she said sweetly.

“The one you’re looking at now, that was my
first. In Latin it means, ‘a life lived in fear is a life half
lived’.” It went up one shoulder and down the other.

“I like that,” she smiled.

“After I found MMA fighting, I had the boxing
gloves tattooed on my calf.” He turned his leg out so she could see
the tattoo that covered the entire muscle.
“
This one was
like your rib cage. It took me two sittings to get it done. Never
felt pain like that in my life.” He laughed at the memory.

“My next was the Maori design that takes up
this shoulder. An artist friend of mine designed it for me.” Derek
had made sure that it flowed well with the Latin letters but didn’t
cover them. He pointed to his other shoulder.
“
This one was
my fourth. The compass represents all the travelling I do with my
company. The name of the company is hidden here in the design.” He
showed her where it read
“
Stone Hospitality” intertwined in
the patterns, elaborate but still masculine. Each tattoo was
separate, but they all flowed into each other with a similar motif
in the background.

“This one,” he pointed to the circular figure
on his chest,
“
Is a Buddhist mandala for strength.” It
reminded her of American Indian art.
“
It reminds me to look
for my inner strength and to fight for what I deserve,” he said,
“
I’ve always considered myself spiritual rather than
religious. All of the religions, for the most part, have some of it
figured out. If you put them all together, you could lead a pretty
good life.”

He leaned so she could see his back.
“
This one going down between my shoulder blades, what does
it look like to you?”

“Some kind of design.” She touched the tattoo
while she looked at it and he wanted to take her again right
there.

“It’s an ambigram. Do you know what that is?”
he asked.

“Sounds kind of familiar but no,” she
answered honestly.

“Look at from the left and then the
right.”

She cocked her head.
“
It reads
friend,” she read aloud. Then she turned her head the other
direction and practically yelled,
“
It reads enemy! I love
this!” She kept turning her head back and forth like it was
magic.

“For my entire life, the majority of my
fighting had been for profit or money to survive,” he explained,
“
I had to fight friends and guys that were good people. None
of them were based on emotions, none of them were based on hatred.
They were my friends but I’d step in the ring and I’d need to see
them as my enemy.”

“This one may be my favorite of your tattoos.
Although this one,” she pointed to the Maori design his friend had
drawn,
“
I like because I can see it the best when you’re on
top of me.”

They both laughed. He could tell that she was
a bit embarrassed to admit that, which was cute as hell. He looked
out into the night with Nicole’s head on his shoulder. Everything
felt right in his world. Nicole was meant to be here with him.

He thought about her father for a moment.
Could her friend Kate have been right? Was it possible that her
father knew that the Maybe Boyfriend wasn’t right for her? Derek
didn’t have a normal life, but Nicole needed more than normal. He
knew that he wanted to take care of her, always. She would never
want for anything. His mind went back to the question he asked
himself earlier that day. Did he just want normalcy or did he
really want Nicole herself? He looked down at her naked body draped
over him. A man would be insane not to want it. But she was so much
more than that. Maybe he needed to be ready to want normalcy before
he met her. The universe worked in amazing ways, bringing them
together at the perfect moment in both of their lives.

“Tell me about fighting,” she stated
simply.

“Before UFC, the fighting was pretty normal.
Nothing was very structured. I was a teenager, about sixteen, when
I started fighting for real money. Well, real money for me. I’d
make a thousand dollars with a hundred people watching and betting
on me.” He kissed her head before he continued,
“
UFC was an
entirely different world. There were rules and regulations, weight
classes, fancy locker rooms and rings. But it was a crazy
lifestyle. So many times I felt like I was living like a rock star.
In the ring, it was extremely regulated, but what went on in the
background felt like the backstage of a concert. I won’t go into
the dirty details for you. But I saw some crazy things.”

“Was it hard to leave that life?” she
asked.

“Not one bit. I wasn’t very comfortable with
the attention. I held the title in the welterweight class, the one
in between light and heavy weight, for quite a while. It was weird
seeing my picture online or my name in lights. Watching myself
fight on TV was especially strange.” He thought for a moment.
“
It always seemed like an out-of-body experience. Like I was
watching myself live the life, but I wasn’t present in it. It set
me up financially to start this company, but leaving the ring was
easy.” He never talked about this with anyone, so he hadn’t quite
realized before why it had been easy to leave.
“
I like this
life much better,” he stated,
“
I didn’t like when someone
would recognize me. I enjoy having all the perks of the money and
no one realizing it. It’s my own little secret.
“

“Hector driving you around makes sense now,”
she said.

“Yes, this is a sister hotel to Playa
Vallarta so they are very nice to me over there,” he told her,
“
I have a deal with Victor, the general manager. I double
Hector’s salary and he is at my disposal. It helps take care of his
family.”

“You are very generous,” she kissed his
cheek.

“I fought for everything I had; I like to
help make it easier for some.” He found her mouth and kissed her
deeply before whispering,
“
I want to take you inside and
make love to you in my bed. It’s been waiting patiently for
you.”

Nicole woke up surrounded by a mountain of white. The
sheets on Derek’s bed had to be about a million thread count
because they were the most comfortable things she had ever felt.
She looked around, letting her eyes adjust to the light. Her face
lit up when she realized that the windows here opened up like the
ones in the living room. There was water for as far as she could
see and she could hear the sound of the ocean waves crashing into
the sand. It made her feel like she had been sleeping out on the
beach. Listening for Derek, she heard him moving around in the
kitchen just as she noticed the smell of breakfast cooking. How in
the world did she get so lucky?

Most men kept their boxers and t-shirts in
the top drawers of their dressers; Nicole opened one of Derek’s and
found what she was looking for. Hoping he wouldn’t mind, she
slipped into a crisp white t-shirt and a pair of blue plaid boxers
that clung to her hips for dear life. She wandered into the
kitchen. He was at the stove, his back to her while he attended to
what smelled like eggs. He wore only a pair of board shorts which
made him look incredibly sexy. She smiled at the tattoo on his
back, now easily seeing the friend and enemy blended together.
Sneaking up behind him, she reached her arms around his bare waist.
He turned around and hugged her so that her feet lifted up off the
floor.

“I hope you don’t mind, I thought I’d look a
tad fancy in my dress this morning,” she looked down at the clothes
that she was wearing.

“Love, you can wear my clothes anytime you’d
like. They look much more appealing on you.” He kissed her lips.
“
Are you hungry?”

“Yes, it smells wonderful,” she replied. She
sat at the little table and he grabbed two plates out of the
cabinet.
“
Can I help with anything?” she asked.

“Nope, everything is ready; I got us both
lattes as well.” He grabbed two to-go cups, emblazoned with the
name of the café downstairs, and put them on the table in front of
her.
“
I had Hector pick them up along with something for you
to wear back to your room.” He handed her the bag from the counter.
“
He has pretty good taste,” he smiled and took a drink of
his coffee.

Nicole peeked into the bag- a simple blue
sundress. Given that she didn’t have a bra, she was glad it wasn’t
white.
“
Thank you,” she smiled and took a sip of the coffee.
Derek brought over their plates, each with a slice of toast spread
with well-peppered avocado and a heap of scrambled eggs with cheese
sprinkled on top. Everything looked wonderful. She loved avocado
but had never tried it this way. When she took a bite, she never
wanted to eat toast without it again.

“Old habits die hard,” he told her,
“
I
still start my day with a healthy breakfast.”

“I’ve never had this,” she replied as she
took another bite of the toast,
“
I love it.”

It felt so natural to be eating breakfast
with him at the tiny table in this gorgeous apartment. She thought
for a moment about that word, yes she guessed it was an apartment.
Hotel room didn’t really sound right. They chatted as they finished
their breakfast. Derek told her he’d walk her back to the hotel. He
needed to talk with Victor about a few things and then they could
go through her list of her father’s places. Derek had already
showered so she could get ready while he had his quick meeting and
then he was all hers for the day. Immediately she started thinking
about what she would like to do first. Definitely the Kings Head
Pub. They could try a heavy British beer and maybe they’d even have
some British food. An authentic English breakfast would be out
since they just ate, but maybe they could try that another day.
“
I know exactly where I’d like to go,” she said
enthusiastically,
“
The King’s Head Pub, isn’t it close
by?”

He had been rinsing the dishes and stood
still there for a second. He walked over to her with the water
still running.
“
Oh love, I’m sorry but the King’s Head
closed quite a few years back.”

She tried to hide her disappointment, but he
could tell she was upset. He pulled her up from the chair and
wrapped her arms around his neck.
“
It was turned into a
little breakfast place. If I had known, I would have taken you
there this morning.”

She tried to interrupt, to tell him it wasn’t
his fault, but he stopped her with a kiss on the lips.
“
How
about I take you there so you can see where it was and we’ll have
an early lunch,” he offered,
“
They do have a nice brunch
menu. I’ll show you where everything was when it was the King’s
Head. You can imagine it in your mind.”

“What happened to the owner?” she asked,
“
That was my favorite story from my dad’s travels. He came
over for a vacation, fell in love with the town, went back, sold
everything, and opened a bar here.” A wave of emotion overtook her
body. She wanted to cry and she didn’t really know why. She
couldn’t believe this was affecting her so much. She missed saying
goodbye to her dad and now she missed seeing this place.

“Do you want to meet him?” Derek said with a
smile on his face,
“
He was ready to retire from the bar
business and spend more time in England with his grandchildren.
When he couldn’t find someone that wanted to keep the concept of a
British pub, he sold it. He spends the English winters here and the
summers across the pond. He hasn’t left for home yet.”

“You know him, too? Of course you do, you
seem to know everyone,” she laughed and wiped away a tear.

“I told you, this is a small town.” He kissed
her cheek.
“
I’ll have Gael track him down and we’ll have a
drink with him while you’re here.”

“Thank you,” she smiled,
“
I’m going to
get dressed.”

Derek held her hand as they walked across the
cobblestone street. He kissed her cheek when they reached the door
and told her he’d meet her by the bar when she was ready. She saw
him stop to talk with Hector on his way to the office and laughed
to herself, wondering what errand he was going to send him on
now.