Love on the Malecon (3 page)

He hadn’t seen her get off the elevator so
she sat down next to him.
“
Well, hello again,” she said with
a smile. She could see he was glad she hadn’t changed her mind
about their drink together.

“How was your flight?” he smiled,
“
What can I get you?” She asked for a beer and he ordered
them each one along with two shots of tequila.
“
Figured we
should start you vacation off right,” he said with a smirk in his
eyes.
“
I’m Derek.”

“The flight was far too early,” she said with
a sigh.
“
I’m Nicole.”

“Are you waiting for anyone to arrive?” he
asked casually.

She considered how to explain why she was
there.
“
My father spent a lot of time in Puerto Vallarta and
this was where he always stayed,” she continued to check out the
hotel as she explained.
“
I just want to feel closer to him,”
she added with a bit of a wince as it was all too real that he was
now gone.

“I’m sensing it was recent,” Derek stated,
but it seemed like he knew not to push any further.

“Yes,” she admitted and then picked up the
shot glass in front of her,
“
And on that note, let’s do this
and start my vacation.”

After being with Andrew for years, there had
been little for them to talk about lately. So these days, she loved
meeting new people. She loved discovering another’s life and the
feeling when they both had so much to say. She especially loved
those first conversations where each person is practically
interrupting all the time because they each have so much to tell
the other. The feeling like they would burst if they didn’t explain
everything immediately. She was getting a little bored with the
silence at home and only the sound of the radio or television as
she and Andrew sort of co-existed. It seemed blaringly obvious now.
Had she really not noticed it before?

As she and Derek began to chat about the
basics, Nicole noticed everything about him. Even though he was
sitting, he looked like he was just under six feet tall and in
extremely good shape, lean with just the perfect amount of muscle.
She couldn’t help but admit to herself how incredibly attractive he
was. He looked like he could kick someone’s ass if needed, which
she found extremely sexy. She had always guessed that being raised
mainly by her father fed into her love of bad boys. Her father
himself had not been the type of man you would mess with. He wasn’t
a really large man, but he could command the attention of a room.
His numerous tattoos from different parts of the world added to his
tough appearance. Nicole always knew that he would do whatever it
took to protect her. She was attracted to the same type of man,
someone that would love her unconditionally and always protect
her.

Derek definitely looked the part. She
particularly loved his arms. He had strong forearms and his t-shirt
tugged just slightly at his biceps. She got a closer look at the
edge of his tattoo. It looked like some sort of design, but not the
tribal art that was so popular these days. This looked like the
work of a true artist. She blushed a bit when she realized that she
was imagining his shirt off and his arms around her. And then she
noticed his lips…

She had to stop herself and get back into the
conversation before he thought she was a mindless bimbo. She
couldn’t exactly explain to him where her mind wandered, that she
could practically feel the warmth of his body on top of her…

She had gathered that he was from Detroit and
that he was some kind of real estate investor. She told him a
little bit about growing up in the suburbs of Chicago. Their lives
were very different but they had both been mainly raised by one
parent. Nicole lost her mother to cancer at eight years old and he
never knew his father. The one thing she could tell, though he said
little about it, was that her father had been a far better parent
than his mother. Both of them were only children and neither had
been married.

“Look at that beach,” Nicole said, staring
out over the water,
“
I cannot wait to get out there for a
run.”

“You’re a runner?” Derek stated more than
asked.

“Well, no plans on ever running a marathon,”
she joked.
“
But I love the time outside. It’s my version of
yoga.”

“Stress relief and meditation, huh?” se
agreed.

“Exactly,” she replied with a smile.

“We should go for a run while you’re here,”
Derek mentioned casually.

Nicole loved that he was planning on seeing
her again.
“
It’s a date.”

She realized that she hadn’t had anything to
eat since before her flight and picked up a nearby menu. Derek
casually reached for it.
“
Would you allow me?” he asked,
“
I know what’s best here.”

“Thanks, as long as there are no
mushrooms.”

Nicole admitted to herself that she kind of
liked the take-charge way about him. He wasn’t doing it to be
controlling or because he thought she was helpless. He just wanted
her to have the best meal possible. She liked that he seemed to
care about something so simple involving her.

He ordered her the steak quesadillas. As he
passed the menu to Emilio, the bartender, Nicole saw multiple scars
on his hand. She couldn’t help herself asking,
“
Did you used
to work with your hands?”

He looked down at them as if he’d almost
forgotten the scars were there.
“
I was a fighter once upon a
time,” he told her.
“
Started in the school yard and finished
in a professional ring. Not much difference between the two when it
comes down to it.” She ran her fingers across his knuckles, light
and slow, as if she wanted to make sure the wounds had indeed
healed. The moment she touched his skin, she felt a sudden charge
and in a flash, she was transported to the bed in her hotel room.
They were naked and he was on top of her. She could feel his lips
dragging along her neck while he held her hands firmly over her
head.

Nicole drew her hand back and caught her
breath. She couldn’t quite tell what Derek was thinking. He noticed
that she was unnerved but she hoped he thought it was only the
scars. She remembered being told once that sometimes when actors
needed to play a very dominant role, they would take boxing lessons
to help them appear more confident. She hadn’t thought of the
random fact again until that moment. Maybe that was why Derek
seemed so able to protect her. He had years of experience in the
fighting ring and the confidence that could only come from
protecting yourself in fight after fight.

As Nicole finished up the last of her beer,
Emilio brought a fresh one along with her quesadillas. Though she
hadn’t asked for it, she was thankful it was there. She offered a
piece of food to Derek and piled some guacamole on her own before
taking a bite. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she
smelled the steak and cheese in front of her. The only word she
could muster up after the first taste was,
“
wow!” The
home-made tortillas were filled with cheese, onions, and peppers,
and whatever the spice was on the steak was fabulous. The guacamole
was fresh, with thick chunks of avocado. She finished the first
piece as fast as she could without forgetting all of her table
manners.

She and Derek continue to talk about all
sorts of things. When he finally asked about a boyfriend, Nicole
was confused about how to answer. She knew she wouldn’t lie, that
wasn’t who she was. She realized that she really didn’t know her
status with Andrew. They didn’t have a huge fight, they hadn’t
yelled or thrown things. No one said that it was over. However,
here she sat in Mexico and Andrew didn’t seem to care. That seemed
rather final, just without the grand finale. Nicole figured that
the best solution was to explain exactly what she was feeling. She
gave Derek a quick summary of the last conversation with Andrew and
simply stated that she wasn’t exactly sure what her relationship
status was at the moment.

Surprisingly, she was quite interested in
Derek’s take on her Andrew Dilemma. When she finished telling him
that Andrew might not remember what her father’s favorite place
was, she could tell that Derek caught on to the fact that her
boyfriend may have no idea where his girlfriend actually was. His
face crunched in concentration, as if he was trying to wrap his
head around that scenario in his own life or maybe trying to think
of a nice way to say something.

“What is it?” she asked cautiously.

“Let’s just say it would seem that your Maybe
Boyfriend and I are two very different men.”

Derek was surprised that he had let Nicole out of his
sight that night or the next day. They had continued to talk most
of the first afternoon. At one point, they moved from the bar to
the pool. They leaned back on lounge chairs, sharing another bucket
of beer and talking about everything from movies to card games they
liked to play. Derek couldn’t remember the last time a woman had
made him feel this way. There were so many times he’d be watching
her as they talked, the way her dress hung over her thighs, and it
took everything in him not to reach his hand over, slide it up
between her legs and pleasure her until she called out his name. He
could see glimpses of the little black bikini she was wearing under
her dress and, God, he wished for the chance to rip it off her
body.

They watched the sun sink into the ocean and
Nicole looked so at peace in that moment. When she told him that
she was going upstairs because she had been up so early that
morning, he could see that she was genuinely tired. Ordinarily, he
may have asked a woman to stay for one more drink, but something
was different about Nicole. He wanted her to be happy. He wanted to
protect her. If that meant she got a good night’s sleep and he
tossed and turned while she haunted his dreams, so be it.

That was exactly what happened. He could not
get her out of his head. What little sleep he did get was filled
with dreams of her in his bed. That part was nice but restless. He
spent most of the night pacing the floors, grabbing at his head in
an attempt to physically pull her out of it. Nothing was working.
At least her trip was twice as long as the usual Vallarta vacation.
Though he was happy to have the two weeks, he knew he was going to
want more. Already he couldn’t get enough of this girl and they had
only spent a few hours together.

He didn’t know what to think of the Maybe
Boyfriend back home. He preferred the women he saw to be single but
he wasn’t a saint. He knew there had been boyfriends at home from
time to time, though he drew the line at husbands. Yet the thought
of another man touching Nicole infuriated him. The fact that they
shared a bed together every night before this was more than he
could handle. He couldn’t imagine what man would ever let that
woman get on an airplane without knowing where she was going. Why
hadn’t the Maybe Boyfriend come with her? Whatever the reason,
Derek intended to dig deeper into the matter.

He made it through the entire next day by
visiting the Samba Hotel in Nuevo Vallarta. He needed to get some
distance, a bit of a distraction. But by the next morning, he was
pacing his apartment at the Paraíso, trying to decide the best
course of action. Getting on his plane and flying to his furthest
property was probably the smartest decision. But he knew damn well
it wasn’t the one he’d choose.

Going for a run wasn’t an option either. He
had already gotten up at a ridiculous hour and run a few miles
along the beach. He knew he wasn’t about to lose a second of time
with this woman, so working was the best way to try and take his
mind off of her. She had promised him dinner on the Malecon that
night, so he just needed to get through the day. He probably should
have spent the night at the Samba. He could have come back just
before dinner.

He wasn’t keen on the idea of working in the
Playa Vallarta lobby bar. He didn’t want to come across like a
stalker if he saw Nicole; she knew he wasn’t staying there. Plus he
was sure he’d get an earful from Silvia the next time he saw her.
He cared even less what she thought now but he didn’t want her
bringing him down off his high from Nicole.

So where to work? Maybe he’d just hole up in
his apartment until it was time to pick her up in the lobby. He
still hadn’t decided when his cell phone rang.

“Hello?” he snapped.

It was Gael, his right hand man. Gael wasn’t
what one would call an assistant but he was an employee. Derek had
met him in his first few years in the business. Originally from
Mexico, he had gone to college in the States. Gael was extremely
versed in the real estate and land laws in Mexico and was doing
random contract work for other hotels when Derek convinced him to
work exclusively for him. He became indispensable to Derek and not
a day went by when they weren’t discussing some sort of business
opportunity.

Now Gael was checking in to see if he’d
finished his research into their latest plan. Of course he hadn’t.
Nicole’s arrival in Vallarta had changed everything. Derek let him
know that he had set aside the better part of the day to make a
final decision. Hearing Gael’s voice helped him get his mind back
on track.

Derek really loved this part of his job-
using his gut instinct to decide which property was going to be
most the successful and ultimately most lucrative. He opened his
email and browser and began looking into the company’s vision for
their expansion into the United States. They had been extremely
successful in Mexico and now comfortable enough to branch out, but
where? That’s where Derek came into the picture. This was where he
had a sixth sense for these things. It’s not like he threw darts at
a map. He did serious research and visited the area’s sites
beforehand. And his choices never seemed to fail.