Love on the Malecon (22 page)

“Yes, that’s a good point.”

“Will you at least think about it?” he asked
sweetly.

“Yes, of course,” she said and closed her
eyes again to enjoy lying naked in the sun.

She wondered about Derek’s offer. If she left
her job, she would have no means of income at the moment. That
scared her a little bit. She didn’t really have unpaid bills right
now. She wasn’t in credit card debt and she didn’t have a car. Her
bills mainly consisted of half of what it cost to live in the
apartment with Andrew, a phone bill, a gym membership, and her city
bus pass. She wasn’t going to be living with Andrew anymore, but
where would she live instead? She had to consider that. Even if a
dream of writing novels just crept into her head, how would she
support herself until then?

She remembered a conversation that she had
with her father when she was choosing colleges. She hadn’t thought
of it in years. When she told her dad that she wanted to write, he
asked if she would dedicate her first book to him. She hadn’t even
really expected to be an author. She wasn’t exactly sure what she
was going to do with a degree once she had it, but she always
thought she’d have to find a job writing to support herself. That
was how she ended up working at
Chicago Home Magazine
.

Then she remembered watching the wedding
setup in Nuevo Vallarta. What a fun wedding to write about. But who
would she write it for? As far as she knew, there wasn’t any type
of paper or magazine that wrote about destination weddings. Even on
the Internet, the information was usually about the location and
not a particular wedding itself. She would have to look into some
options and see if it already existed or if there was even a market
for something like that.

Derek made them a pitcher of mojitos and
brought Nicole out some sun screen and her bathing suit cover-up.
They sat in the sun and talked for most of the afternoon. This time
it wasn’t about their pasts or stories that you tell people when
you’re getting to know them. This time it felt like they had known
each other forever. They laughed together. It was hard to believe
how they had started their day. It was one hundred percent
different than the moment they were having together.

This was the first time in her life, other
than with her father, that she thought she had a real partnership
with someone. Someone she could get through anything with. She had
a gun pointed at her head a mere few hours ago. Derek had saved her
again and made sure that her life returned to normal as fast as she
wanted it to. She was able to cry about it and he truly listened.
He let her set the pace of the day. He let her decide when she
didn’t need to dwell on the moment anymore. Had Silvia somehow
gotten away, Nicole would probably still be a mess. But Sylvia was
gone for good now and Nicole didn’t care where she was taken, as
long as they threw away the key.

Nicole did want to follow up with Derek about
that another time. She wanted to make sure that they would be
informed if Sylvia was allowed out of prison. The nice thing was
that Silvia didn’t seem to know about Derek’s other properties. If
Sylvia did get out, Nicole wouldn’t return to Vallarta with him.
She’d visit him at another property. Though she hoped it wouldn’t
come to that.

When it was late afternoon, Nicole decided
she wanted to find out if Andrew really had waited for her next
door.
“
Can we take a shower and go see if Andrew is still
over there waiting?” She glanced significantly in the direction of
the Playa Vallarta and smiled.
“
I’d like to get the issues
with both of our exes settled today.”

“Would you like to go alone?” he inquired. He
didn’t seem tense about that option, but she hadn’t thought about
that yet.

“I’m not sure. Do you want to come?”

“I’d prefer it, but it’s your call. I’ve seen
how well you can handle yourself.”

She laughed, taking his hand and leading him
into the bathroom. She turned on the shower to let the water heat
up and lifted his t-shirt over his head. Then she unsnapped his
board shorts. They were already rather loose and with a tiny tug,
they fell to the floor. Derek lifted her sheer cover-up over her
head. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her in for
a long kiss. He whispered in her ear how much he loved her. Without
stopping the kiss, they moved together into the shower. The water
fell over their heads as he kissed her neck. Derek moved them
toward the tile wall of the shower. He lifted her up and she
wrapped her legs around him. She held onto him for dear life while
they made love passionately, water rushing all around them. While
the steam billowed, Derek made her climax over and over until her
body clung to him, limp from exhaustion. It was the perfect
motivation to tell Andrew to go home.

Derek watched Nicole with amazement while Hector made
his way to the Malecon. They were having dinner at the current
trendy spot that night, one with a rooftop area with gorgeous views
of the city and ocean. Nicole had handled Andrew with such class.
Derek thought it would be awkward to be there while they talked,
but she had made it easy. And, with everything that she said to
him, he didn’t think that Andrew could deny it was over. No matter
how much he wanted to win her back, he couldn’t prevent her
happiness. Ultimately it came down to the fact that Andrew wasn’t
the right one for her. And she felt that way regardless of Derek.
Nicole had given Andrew a hug, kissed his cheek platonically, and
wished him well. He knew it was over and left for the airport.

Derek had sat out on the balcony for a while,
while Nicole called Kate. She sat in the living room, where he
couldn’t help but hear the conversation. She explained everything
to Kate, from Derek’s talk with Andrew to Silvia holding them at
gunpoint and Nicole ending it with Andrew in person. Derek chuckled
to himself when she made him sound like a hero, alerting Gabriel
and getting a hold of a gun. Sometimes she was too cute for words.
Although he couldn’t hear Kate’s responses, it sounded like the
friend was quite relieved that it was all over.

Kate had updated Nicole on their friends’
lives over the past week and a half. There was an on again, off
again couple that was currently on again. He thought their names
were Jenny and Matt, but wasn’t positive. He liked hearing Nicole
connect with her friends again. He wanted Nicole to live with him,
but never expected her to abandon all of her friends. He had the
means to send Nicole back to Chicago as much as possible or to
bring her friends to her. If the Chicago hotel deal went through,
it would be an added bonus, since he and Nicole could stay in
Chicago for part of the year. Derek had to admit to himself that he
hoped she’d want to be somewhere warm for the winter, but he was
willing to do anything to make her happy. They could stock their
Chicago apartment with loads of winter clothes.

He was getting ahead of himself again. It was
so easy for him to include her in his plans for the future. Oh,
this woman!

When the call with Kate was done, they
visited a few of her father’s favorite places. Due to everything
the day before, they didn’t plan anything beyond casual shopping
and enjoying some fun times at his watering holes. The two of them
were doing a fair amount of day drinking, trying to pack in all of
Old Bill’s favorites into one visit. He had a feeling that Nicole’s
father didn’t drink as much as they two were, trying to catch up.
It was worth it, though.

Now Hector was pulling the car up to the
restaurant. Derek realized that he had been deep in thought for the
entire drive, though it hadn’t been far. He relished the fact that
he and Nicole could be together and not need to fill the air with
idle conversation. She was probably thinking about things as well.
Hector held the door for them both and Derek took her hand as they
walked into the restaurant.

The décor of the place always reminded him a
bit of his Vallarta apartment: minimalistic and white everywhere.
They even had white sheets of material along the walls to add some
softness. He and Nicole were taken up the stairs just past the
hostess stand. He watched Nicole’s face as they stepped out onto
the rooftop dining space. It was one of the best views of the
Malecon. You could see much further from up above. The same white
decoration scheme continued up there. There were some VIP sections
with large white u-shaped couches with white sheets separating each
area. There were ropes blocking off each one. If Nicole wanted to
stay and have a drink, he would pay whatever was needed to get past
those ropes. Usually it required bottle service: a couple hundred
dollars for a bottle of alcohol with all the mixers you’d like and
the area was yours for the night.

There was a bar, tiled all in white, with
white bar stools and cocktail tables scattered close by. The dining
tables were closer to the edge of the balcony for the best view, in
addition to a few white chaise lounges very similar to his where
guests could relax and converse while they enjoyed drinks.

Their table was at the corner of the balcony,
where they could see the furthest. Nicole looked perfect. Her
brightly colored blue dress, strapless and reaching to her knees,
made her stand out even more than her beauty itself. Her hair was
down and the long blond strands swayed in the breeze. As Derek sat
across from her, he watched her look over the Malecon in wonder.
“
Are you still happy here?” he asked. After everything that
had happened, he was honestly wondering.

She looked at him and thought for a moment
about her answer.
“
Yes, I am. This was my dad’s favorite
place. I’m not going to let Silvia ruin that.”

Derek really did admire how strong she was.
“
I’m glad,” he told her,
“
I love it here but would
not return if it was too hard for you. Are you still excited to
mark off more things on your list tomorrow?”

“Yes, I need another day all about Dad.”
Derek had noticed that she had been referring to him as
“
Dad” more than
“
my father” now. He wondered if she
used the more casual term because they were more comfortable with
each other.

Derek wanted her to stay with him
permanently. He tried to find a way to bring it up.
“
I’ve
been thinking about your father and what Kate said the first time
you told her about me,” he said,
“
I had the pleasure of
meeting Andrew. I’m sure he is a very good man, but you seem like
you do need more in your life. It sounds like you have your
father’s wandering spirit and would love to travel the world and
see different things.”

Nicole smiled at him.
“
For most people
there isn’t an option of living all over the world. It never
occurred to me to let one place get old. But I can see where living
in different places could be fun. Keep things fresh. I thought it
might be interesting to look into options to write about specific
destination weddings.”

Her mind was already on the same track as
his.
“
There is something I’ve been considering since we saw
the wedding setup at the Samba. What would you think about writing
for weddings on my properties?” Nicole didn’t answer, but he saw
her eyes lit up, so he continued,
“
I’ve been thinking that
we could add a section to the literature about the hotels, in print
and online. I would have to see which of the owners would be
receptive to the idea. It would help narrow down where we could
visit next.” He added the last part in there to see if she was open
to the idea of doing this for the foreseeable future.

“I wonder if they would. That’s exactly the
kind of idea I was considering. All the information on destination
weddings seems to focus purely on the location and venue itself. I
don’t think anyone has focused on the couple and the specific
weddings themselves yet. You’d really do that for me?” She had
puppy dog eyes by the time she finished.

“Of course I would. Love, I’ve been trying to
find a way to get you to stay with me.” He took both of her hands
in his and asked,
“
Will you consider it?”

She took a moment to think and, though he
would have loved her to scream yes, he was glad that she was truly
considering whether it was the right thing to do. She looked out at
the water, pondering the idea. Then she looked into his eyes and
gave him a beautiful smile and he knew her answer before she said
it.

“I’d like that,” she said simply.

Derek had never felt happiness like this
before. All in that one moment, everything seemed brighter.
Everything went out of focus around her; Nicole was the only thing
he could see. He still had her hands, so he gestured for her to
come to him. She stood up and he pulled her around the table into
his lap. She giggled, but didn’t look around to see if anyone was
watching. They were all that mattered.

She sat on his lap and rested her arms on
each shoulder. He swept a strand of hair out from her face and took
her mouth into his. It felt like it was their first kiss again, at
that little bar on the beach. He knew he could kiss her forever.
When the kiss slowed down, she kept her body close. She leaned her
forehead into his and had her eyes closed. It was amazing how far
they had come in one day. Keeping her body against his, she spoke,
“
Do you know what else I’d love to do?”

“Tell me.”

“I’d love to write a book. I’m glad you’re
offering to help keep me employed. That’s important to me. But I
feel like I have a book inside of me. This way, you will give me
the opportunity to find it.”

“I’m sure there may be many books inside that
beautiful head of yours. I look forward to reading them.” He kissed
her again. He noticed that the waiter appeared to be giving them
privacy. He knew that Nicole was hungry, so he suggested they take
a look at the menu.