Love on the Malecon (2 page)

They made eye contact. He had searing dark
eyes that seemed to look right inside of her. He tipped his glass
to her as a hello and looked at the empty chair next to him. His
expression didn’t change; he just stared at her with an intensity
that she’d never felt before. Nicole decided to continue their
silent communication. She pointed to the elevator and then back to
the chair next to him and smiled. He seemed to understand that she
wanted to go upstairs to freshen up from her travels and then would
join him at the bar. His eyes never left hers but he did reveal a
little smirk on his face as she finally pulled her attention back
to Hector and the open elevator that waited for her.

Not wanting to take too long, Nicole flew
through a shower and put on one of the dresses she had in her
suitcase. She did a quick inventory of what she had remembered in
her hasty packing. There were a handful of dresses and skirts, a
few pairs of light summer pants and shorts, a pile of tank tops
ranging from casual to dressy, two bathing suits, flip flops, and
some bras and underwear. Luckily she had remembered to pack some
running gear and her shoes. Not too bad. She could work with this
and buy anything else she might need along the way.

After swiping on some mascara and lip gloss,
she stepped back from the mirror to survey the results. Her long
blonde hair was wet from the shower but she was one of those lucky
girls who could let her hair naturally air dry and look like she
had spent time styling it that way.

Nicole always felt that she was the
girl-next-door type of pretty. By no means did she think that she
was some grand beauty but she knew what her assets were and did her
best to accentuate them. She had always been told that her eyes and
lips were the best features, so mascara and lip gloss were
essentials. She had fair skin that didn’t really need much added to
it. She was tall and leggy with a little more curve than she would
prefer. Though men seemed to like the curves, Nicole always wished
for a little less.

She had chosen a very casual tan summer dress
so that it wouldn’t look like she was trying too hard. She threw on
one of her black bathing suits underneath, so she had an excuse to
be downstairs in case she had misunderstood their little silent
conversation. Satisfied with the reflection in the mirror, she
stepped back and noticed some of the relationship books that she
had brought with her. What was she doing? She lived with Andrew and
though they were fighting when she left, he was still her
boyfriend. Grabbing her purse, she figured she could start reading
those books tomorrow and she headed for the door.

Derek Stone was sitting in his regular spot at the
Playa Vallarta bar. He had just finished running over some numbers
at the sister hotel, Paraíso, across the street. The hotel name
meant
“
Paradise” and it was just that. The busy season had
been good to them and now things were quieting down. Though Derek
had ownership in the Paraíso, he still favored the bar at Playa
Vallarta. He had been sitting in that same barstool when he made a
decision that had changed everything for him, so he had a soft spot
for the place.

Derek had been a Mixed Martial Arts fighter
almost fifteen years ago, in what felt like another life. Derek was
a good fighter; it came easily to him. Outside of the ring, he had
grown into a rather laid back man, quite different from when he was
a kid. Derek grew up without a father in the Detroit area and his
mother wasn’t much to speak of. So for the better part of his life,
Derek had taken care of himself. That included fending for himself
in whatever way possible, which most of the time meant fighting. As
a kid, he made money to buy himself food and clothes by fighting
near the bike racks. As he grew, so had the crowds and the venues.
By the time he was seventeen and fighting in warehouse basements
for a thousand dollars a pop, he was recruited by a man who
introduced him to MMA fighting and the Ultimate Fighting
Championship. With his natural abilities and some training, the man
had said, he could actually make a career out of it. And so Derek’s
unfortunate start in life had been preparing him for his first real
job. Derek was always able to channel his anger with his parents
into the ring and it never seemed to fail him. It wasn’t long
before he had won a rather large chunk of change.

When Derek was twenty-five years old, he
decided to take a vacation to Mexico. He wanted to get away from
all the hype of the fighting world. By no means was he a household
name, but the UFC following was growing and he figured he could be
recognized in a place like Cancun. He settled on Puerto Vallarta,
which was a smaller, more authentic town, to relax. He had just
come in from running on the beach when he sat down at the Playa
Vallarta bar for a beer. A man had stopped at the bar to take a
business call.

The man surely didn’t think that Derek was of
any consequence because he spoke freely in front of him. He
discussed the area just north of Puerto Vallarta: Nuevo Vallarta.
From what Derek could gather, Puerto Vallarta had been growing past
capacity and expansion had already begun north with huge success.
He figured investing in some land further north now would lead to a
huge payday in the near future. It seemed like whoever was
listening wasn’t biting. Standing in front of Derek was an
opportunity- a man with an idea who needed someone with the means
to invest. When the man ended the call, he sat down next to Derek,
looking frustrated and defeated. Without much more thought, Derek
told the bartender to bring over two shots of tequila and
introduced himself.

Given Derek’s age and appearance, the man was
apprehensive. He was Roger Long, a real estate developer. Roger
became more receptive to the idea when he learned about Derek’s
fighting career and the winnings he would like to invest. They had
talked for most of the afternoon. Derek had been ready to retire
from his fighting career and move on. He had a large bank account
from his winnings and there wasn’t much motivation left to keep him
going. Almost all of his frustration with his parents had been
sorted out during the past five years in the UFC ring. Winning was
nice but it wasn’t enough. This seemed like the perfect plan:
invest his money so that it would grow for him. He and Roger agreed
to take a drive out to the location and have a true business
meeting about it. Roger had all the contacts necessary in Mexico to
actually make this happen but the laws were tricky, especially when
you weren’t a Mexican citizen.

Derek didn’t have a fancy college degree nor
did he pay much attention in high school. But he did have street
smarts. He learned to trust his gut in life, to follow his
intuition, and it had served him well. His intelligence showed in
his fighting. He paid attention to his opponent’s tells, he watched
to see where fighters planted their feet before swinging or
expressions they would make before certain attacks. He always
thought he could just fight, not understanding that his brain took
a part in the whole thing. Now he could turn that to his business
investments.

The land the men invested in soon had a hotel
built on it. The Samba Vallarta was a boutique-style hotel that was
popular for the area. Part of Derek’s criteria in the negotiations
was that he be given living quarters on the site and a percentage
of future revenue. He received one of the suites with a kitchenette
and was always welcome to stay as long as he liked.

During the process, Derek had realized this
industry could be a gold mine and he had no intentions of living in
the States again. As soon as the Samba Vallarta was built and
generating money, he began looking into new sites in other areas of
Mexico. Predicting areas with growth potential, purchasing land
before the expansion began, and then negotiating with hotel
companies that desired the property seemed like such a simple idea.
Kind of like the common place notion of
“
buy low, sell
high.” Derek seemed to have a gift for knowing the future. His gut
was always right. One after another, Derek added more land and more
hotels to his resume. Now here he sat at his favorite bar where it
all began.

Then he saw her- an adorable leggy blonde
walking up to the front desk to check in.

He tried not to date guests. It kept things
simple. If he did take one of his hotel guests on a date, he never
told her about his involvement. It was easier to be a guy on
vacation from Detroit. He had recently also made the mistake of
dating an employee. And of course Silvia happened to be a manager
at the Playa Vallarta. Technically they were only a sister hotel to
his, but he still should have known better. When Derek decided to
end it between them, she wasn’t very receptive to the idea.
Luckily, nothing had gone past dirty looks and the occasional late
night request to
“
talk.” Derek had to admit that he wasn’t
sure how she’d react if she found out that he was taking out this
blonde. She knew about his rule and he was definitely going to
break it.

Even though the blonde had probably traveled
all morning, she looked amazing. She was casual in a skirt and tank
top, with her long hair pulled back out of her face. She smiled
brightly and was nice to the employees. That was always something
that Derek noticed. The
“
waiter test” went a long way in his
book. Someone could be all smiles to you across a table in a
restaurant, but how they treated the waiter told a lot about what
type of person they were. When she turned from the front desk
counter, he could see her gorgeous ice blue eyes. Without another
thought, he tipped his glass to her and motioned for her to have a
seat next to him. Somehow without a word exchanged between them,
she let him know that she’d go up to her room and be back down for
a drink.

Derek didn’t get nervous, ever. He was an
attractive guy, which served him well with women, and his career
inside the ring didn’t allow for intimidation. He felt
uncomfortable in situations involving families, purely because it
was out of his element. But nerves? No, he didn’t have a problem
with them. Yet somehow his stomach knotted up at the thought of
having this woman sit next to him. He took the time while she was
upstairs to think about his past and how far he had come.

There were really only three occasions in his
life that felt life-changing. The first time he got in a fight when
he was a kid, when he discovered MMA fighting, and when he decided
to invest in land in Mexico. He remembered the exhilaration he felt
in all three of those moments. Derek realized that he just may be
having one of those moments again. He didn’t know what was going to
happen but he could feel that something was going to change. And
with that thought, he asked for a shot of tequila. The bartender,
Emilio, gave him an odd look, given the time of day.

“Yes, this early. I need a bit of liquid
courage.” It hadn’t occurred to him that it was before lunch and he
was not known to drink alone at the bar in the morning.

He didn’t want or need to get ahead of
himself. Long term relationships, other than in business, were not
a part of Derek’s life. This woman, whoever she was, looked like
fun and a nice escape from reality for a bit. Other than his failed
attempt with Silvia, week-long relationships had been his norm. He
was surprised at how many women seemed okay with casual sex and
quick goodbyes. He knew how to wine and dine a woman while always
letting them know that this wasn’t going any further than the
length of their vacation. He didn’t feel like he was using anyone.
They were all willing participants and he didn’t lead them on. For
his investments in areas like the Dominican Republic where most
vacationers stayed on their resort for the entire visit, Derek
would often spend time with his laptop by the beach or at the bar
of other resorts. He had enough business connections and friends to
allow him some perks at other resorts. That way, if he became
interested in spending time with someone for the week, he was able
to return back to his own resort each night or each morning.

He loved women, he just wasn’t sure he was
had the skills to make a long-term relationship really work.
Derek’s current true love was his work. His tequila shot arrived
and he swung it back quickly. Out of the corner of his eye, he
caught a glimpse of Silvia. Of course she’d have to be there. She
was going to need to get used to seeing him with other women.
Vallarta was not a large city. Even if the blonde hadn’t been
staying at this hotel, there was still a chance that Silvia would
see them out on the Malecon somewhere. She knew his favorite
restaurants and he had noticed her frequenting them still.

Silvia seemed harmless enough; she just
seemed like a girl that had a hard time moving on. She was young,
cute and smart. One reason he decided to give dating a shot with
her. They just didn’t have much in common. They stopped having
things to say to each other at a pretty alarming rate. And when he
realized that he still wasn’t comfortable letting her into his
apartment at the Paraiso, he knew he wasn’t willing to let the
relationship go any further. He knew she resented it as well. He
tried explaining that he was a private person and protective of his
personal space but it wasn’t enough.

His head was spinning a bit. He twisted his
neck to one side until he felt it crack. It had always been a habit
of his to help him relax. He cracked it the other direction, put
Silvia far out of his head and, waited for the mysterious woman to
arrive.

When the elevator door opened, she saw him sitting
there, chatting with the bartender, and immediately ten different
things that bothered her about Andrew popped into her head. It had
to be a defense mechanism, a way of making herself feel better. She
reminded herself that she loved Andrew and that this was only an
innocent drink. This trip was her time away to escape from
everything and an attempt to connect with her father’s memory. She
shook the feeling off and walked over to the bar.