Love on the Malecon (14 page)

When they reached the bed, she took a deep
breath and looked at him.
“
Thank you. That is what I needed.
I needed you to wash all of that away. I don’t want this to define
me or us. I want it to be over. Can we do that?”

“Of course we can. Nicole, you tell me what
you need and we will do it.” He rarely used her name. He always
used his pet name for her.

“I want you to take me to your apartment in
Nuevo Vallarta. I want you to make me feel like my old self again.
I want you to make love to me there.”

“Hector will be outside in about ten
minutes,” he said to her.

“First, I need to call Kate. I’m not sure yet
what I’ll say but I need to call her.” She looked confused and he
felt sorry for her. He handed her the phone from his apartment. She
dialed the number and waited.

“Hi, babe, it’s me. I’m calling from
Derek’s,” she said, wiping away silent tears.
“
Everything is
fine, why?” It was so hard for him to listen to half of a
conversation, especially one like this.
“
Derek is great. It
got a little scary with one of his crazy ex-girlfriends but he’s
taking care of me.” She listened.
“
No, still no word.” Derek
knew immediately that had to be the Maybe Boyfriend. He was
relieved to hear that he hadn’t tried to contact her. That was a
good sign for him.
“
We’re going up the coast to Nuevo
Vallarta for the night.” She listened again.
“
He has a place
there as well…Yes, very lucky.”

He decided that he should give her a little
privacy. He wasn’t sure why he had listened for so long already. He
grabbed his cellphone and walked into the living room. First, he
called the Samba Vallarta and let them know he’d be arriving and
most likely only staying for the night. He also asked for the
concierge to go to the shops and pick out plenty of options for
Nicole. He already had everything there for himself.

Next, he dialed Gael’s number and waited
anxiously for him to answer. He was going to track down Silvia.
Victor could handle the police with the attacker, which was rather
straight forward. He was clearly guilty. It was Silvia’s day off,
which was most likely not a coincidence. If she had heard about her
cousin being apprehended, she might be hiding. He needed someone
with Gael’s background to find her. She was not getting away with
this. What were the chances of their being a random attack at Playa
Vallarta, a perfectly safe hotel in a safe city, by another person
that had the same tattoo as her cousin? Yes, Gael would find Sylvia
and he would deal with her.

By the time Gael answered, Derek was pacing
the floor.
“
She has left her apartment,” was how Gael
answered the phone.
“
I found her passport, so she hasn’t
fled Mexico.”

“Find her.” Derek tried to keep his voice
down.
“
I want her arrested with that piece of shit.”

“I will find her before you return,” Gael
told him, before they ended the call.

Walking back into the bedroom, he saw that
Nicole was off of the phone. She seemed a bit uneasy, like she
wasn’t sure she was the same person. That worried him a bit. When
he heard her scream his name, something had happened inside of him.
If there had ever been a wonder in his mind if Nicole was the one
for him, it had vanished immediately in that moment. What Silvia
had done completely backfired on her. Maybe she didn’t know the
route that her cousin was planning on taking, maybe she wanted him
to scare Nicole into leaving her vacation and going home. It was a
gamble with Nicole’s life that Sylvia should not have taken. All it
did was make Derek one hundred percent sure that he was completely
in love with Nicole. He wanted her with him always. He had been
scared to trust his feelings about her so early in a relationship,
but this had catapulted his emotions into overdrive and he trusted
them now.

He knew he shouldn’t talk to her about this
yet. She knew he was there for her and that was enough. Right now,
she needed to have a day or two away from everything and to back to
herself and he was going to make sure that happened.

She put on one of the dresses he had bought
her on their first day shopping- white with swirls of purple, blue,
and pink. She pushed her sunglasses on her head to hold her wet
hair away from her face. He loved how beautiful she looked in the
dress. She was perfect for him and he hoped that she would discover
the same thing regarding him.

They walked down to the street to where
Hector was waiting with the running car. All of the madness from
earlier was gone. It had turned back into a little street in a
sleepy Mexican town. Derek opened the door for Nicole and asked her
if she was ready.

“Let’s get out of here.” She mustered a
smile, put on her sunglasses, and got into the car.

The drive up the coast did Nicole some good. She was
really starting to feel better about the whole thing. However, it
was a bit of a reality check. It’s human nature to feel somewhat
invincible. To feel that nothing would really ever happen to you.
Those kinds of things happen to other people, to people you read
about in newspapers. Well, she knew first hand now that those kinds
of things could happen to her.

They pulled up to the hotel. It was bright
and cheery, with white walls and a Spanish style roof. The bellman
that opened the car door for them seemed to recognize Derek
immediately. Hector got out of the car, said hello to some of the
staff and a few words to Derek.

This still didn’t seem real. She tried to
imagine what it would be like to live on a resort all the time. It
reminded her of a TV show that her father used to watch. She was
pretty sure it was called
Hotel
, all about the staff of a
hotel living on the property. It had seemed like such a strange
concept to her as a kid. Now here she was, kind-of-dating a man
that did just that.

Derek took Nicole’s hand and led her through
the lobby. They didn’t need to check in, but he did go by and greet
the people behind the counter. She noticed a few looks among them
when he introduced her. She hadn’t really considered the fact that
maybe he didn’t take women to
any
of his apartments; she had
only been thinking about the Paraíso at the time. That led to her
next question. How many apartments did he have? He said last night
that he lived in
“
a lot” of places.
“
A lot” could
mean anything.

She looked around the hotel. It had a quaint
boutique atmosphere and was about the same size as all the other
places they had passed. There was a cute little bar covered in
Spanish tiles, one side facing the inside of the lobby and the
other side facing the pool area. She hoped they stopped there for a
drink tonight. She wondered what she’d wear. It was a little
strange to think that there would be clothes in the closet that she
didn’t pick. Would they even fit?

In the elevator, he looked at her in a way he
never had before, like he wasn’t sure if she’d fall apart or
not.

“Derek, I’m not going to break,” she told
him, not wanting it to be awkward. She hated what happened but she
didn’t want to let it ruin her time with him.

“I don’t know if I would survive it if you
had.” His eyes were so sincere.

“We let her win if this comes between us. Her
plan will have worked.” She stood right in front of him and put her
hands on his chest.
“
That thought is what’s keeping me
strong.”

“You are a smart woman, love.” He hesitated,
but then leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips, sweet and
innocent. She wondered if he was going to make love to her when
they reached the hotel room. She figured she needed to take matters
into her own hands. They both needed sex to be a good thing and not
the negative experience that had almost happened. In the past, she
had always been a bit timid when it came to taking the lead. Nicole
realized she may need to be a bit more forward than she was used
to, to dig deep and be the initiator.

She stopped him before he opened the door to
his room and asked,
“
Have you had a woman in here?”

“No, I’ve never brought a woman to any of
these locations,” he smiled at her.

“So that’s why the staff had those looks on
their faces when you introduced me.”

“You caught that, huh? They’ll be talking
about this for days,” he joked.

It was now or never for Nicole. She decided
to play the dominant as best she could.

“Allow me,” she said, motioning for the
key.

“Welcome home, love,” he said, smiling and
handed it to her.

She opened the door and walked in. The room
wasn’t nearly as modern as the Paraíso apartment, but then again,
this had been his first property. It looked like a suite that other
guests might have in the hotel. There was a small kitchenette with
a breakfast bar and two stools. The living room had wicker chairs,
a dark blue couch with a coffee table and small TV stand with a
slightly outdated television. Sliding glass doors led to a balcony
with a table big enough for two people to comfortably sit. She
wandered into the bedroom, which seemed like a basic hotel room
except with far nicer bedding. The bathroom was clean, but what you
would expect for a hotel. This place wasn’t as fancy as the
Paraíso, but she absolutely loved how drastically different it was.
She wondered if all of Derek’s places had their own style. What a
fun way to live, the scenery always changing.

“How many apartments do you have?” she
asked.

“Currently,” he paused a moment before he
answered,
“
I have 27 apartments at my disposal. But I spend
most of my time in four of them. I only make quick visits to the
others. Do you want to take some trips with me and see them
all?”

She took a deep breath.
“
I’d love to.
But first…” She walked up to him, closing her eyes because she was
rather embarrassed.
“
Undress me.”

She opened her eyes. Derek looked a bit
caught off guard, still unsure if she would want to do this. She
didn’t take it personally; he had made it quite clear how much he
desired her. She knew it was because of that morning. And she meant
what she said. She wasn’t going to let this little bitch win.

“What did I tell you, darlin’?” she smiled,
“
I’m not going to break. Undress me.”

He smiled and slowly did what she said. He
pushed each strap of her dress off of her shoulders until it fell
to the floor. She looked down at herself and back up to him with an
eyebrow raised. She didn’t have to say a word for him to understand
what she meant. He reached around and unhooked her lacy pink bra,
then slid her matching panties over her hips until they fell to the
floor with her dress.

“That’s better,” she said,
“
now do
something about your clothes.”

She couldn’t believe how naturally this was
coming to her. It was exhilarating and empowering. She watched him
undress before walking him over to the bed and pushing him back
until he fell onto it. Then she crawled on top of him, as sensually
as she could.

“I want you to make me cum. I don’t want you
to stop until I call out your name. Can you do that for me?”

Without a word, he flipped himself on top of
her and kissed her neck. She started laughing, unable to help
herself.
“
Take that, Little Bitch.” She had decided that
would be her nickname for that woman.

“Exactly right,” he told her,
“
Now
let’s work on that name calling.”

It was hard and fast this time. Nicole had
set the tone for it and she loved it. Her past experiences with
boyfriends had always been one way or the other. With Andrew, it
was always slower, never as passionate as with Derek, and
definitely never even close to fucking. The bad boys of her younger
past had, for the most part, only wanted it fast. If she tried to
slow it down for a change of pace, they never took her cues. And
she hadn’t been comfortable enough to talk about it with them
either.

Now she was sprawled on top of Derek, trying
to catch her breath. He had a firm grip around her still. She loved
how worried he was for her, but she hoped that he would get past
it. He must have known what she was thinking because he said,
“
I will be okay once Gael finds Silvia. Once I know she’s
arrested, I will put my guard down.”

“That’s her name? I like Little Bitch better,
personally.”

“Yes, it suits her.” He kissed her head as a
silent thank you that she seemed to understand.

After the day’s excitement and their
adventure in the bedroom, they wandered in and out of a sleepy haze
for the rest of the day. It was exactly what they both needed: an
entire twenty-four hours of sleep to recharge their batteries. They
stayed curled up under the blankets, enjoying the time together,
laughing and talking.

When they finally decided to be part of the
land of the living again, he asked,
“
Are you hungry?”

“I’m famished!” she said, getting out of bed
and stretching her muscles.

“Take a look in the closet. I told them to
get you some options. There should be dresses, pants, tops, bathing
suits, running stuff, lingerie, anything you need. I figured we
could leave them for next time…” He let that last part trail off as
he walked into the living room. She smiled at that thought. Oh
Lord, she needed to do something about Andrew.

She ran through the shower and picked out a
strapless linen dress in coral that somehow fit her perfectly.
While Derek was getting ready, she walked out onto the balcony to
check out the view. She leaned against the railing, looking at the
people below on the beach, and wondered when she was going to wake
up from this dream. It still didn’t seem quite real that she was
here.