Wet: Part 2 (17 page)

Paul noticed movement and looked up at the second story balcony to see what it was. It caught him off guard and his breath hitched slightly at the sight of her. The soft flickering light radiating from the pool and patio made her just-showered skin glisten, her bare shoulders and legs. She looked beautiful, standing in the glow with nothing but a towel wrapped around her body.

He noticed he’d made her feel self-conscious when their eyes met, but she didn’t attempt to run inside. They gazed at each other, lost in their own world.

“Now that’s an eye fuck if I’ve ever seen one.” Taylor broke the spell. He slapped Paul on the arm with the back of his hand and licked his lips to see if he could rile Paul. “That’s the first glimpse I’ve caught of that girl that might help me understand what you see in her.”

David and Bryce looked up to see what they were looking at, but Rhees had slipped inside as soon as Taylor so crudely ruined the moment.

oOo

One and a half bottles of whiskey later, the men were still in the whirlpool and the decibel level of their conversation had risen considerably. 

The girls had all given up on their dates and gone to bed, including Rhees.

“I’m glad to see Rhees didn’t hold out on you forever. I honestly didn’t think she’d ever let you have her cherry.”

Once again, Taylor’s bluntness and crudity knew no bounds, and Paul couldn’t really say anything in her defense. He chose to nod slightly and pretend it was no big deal.

“Virgins must really be as tight as they say. It’s all I can come up with—why you’re still with her. You have all those cute, worldly girls on the island, a fresh supply showing up every few weeks—”

“What’s going on with you and Ash-witch?” Paul gave Taylor a dirty look, drawing the attention away from his relationship with Rhees by putting it on David.

“Her dad’s a Senator.”

“Oh! I get it,” Taylor piped in, as though a light bulb had just lit up inside his head. “You’re using Ashley to make her dad jealous.”

“No, you.” David wiped away a fake tear. “You know you are my first and only true love. I want you back. Why aren’t you jealous?”

The guys all laughed.

“Dickwad!” David slugged Taylor’s arm. “Her dad likes me, and that can’t hurt my career, but you’ve seen her. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever been with.”

Taylor and Bryce nodded in agreement, but Paul seemed confused. He hadn’t given Ashley or the other girls a second notice, and it surprised him to realize it.

“You’re a damned good attorney . . . slash, future politician—if that’s still the course you’re foolish enough to want to be on, but my point is—” Paul held up his finger to drive home said point. “—There are more important attributes to look for in a woman than her appearance,” Paul said casually and took a drink.

Paul’s friends all silently stared at him in disbelief before they all broke out into wild laughter.

“I think hell is going to freeze over while we sleep, and we’ll wake up to see pigs flying in the morning. Did you guys think you’d ever hear those words come out of Paul’s mouth?” Taylor threw his head back and laughed some more.

“The only thing that would surprise me more is if I heard
Taylor say that.” Bryce kept them on a roll. Paul laughed too, but not as loudly. The change in his attitude about women had sneaked up on him, and left him a little dazed as he only now realized how much.

“I mean it though,” Paul finally said when they calmed down. “If Ash-witch doesn’t stop being so offensive to Rhees, I’ll have to bitch-slap you, Davey.” Paul glared at David.

“Paul, seriously? You’d choose Rhees over David?”

Paul jerked around to look at Taylor for asking the question. “Not Davey. But I sure as hell would choose Rhees over his current fuck.”

“Guys, we need to do an intervention for Paul. We have to save our buddy. He’s fallen in love,” Taylor mocked, feigning grave concern.

“Love?” Paul almost choked at the idea. “Rhees is just—” He suddenly felt agitated—he didn’t know how to finish the sentence. He’d never allowed himself to think too much about it. It made him too uncomfortable.

“What’s she got that I don’t?” Taylor cried, throwing his arms around Paul and burying his face into his shoulder like a discarded girlfriend, stirring the others up into another round of laughter. Paul knew it was best to just let it play out. If he tried to stop Taylor during one of his drama queen rants, it would only make it worse. “Don’t leave me for her. I’m better for you than she is.”

At two thirty in the morning, Paul convinced the guys they should all sleep on the pool chairs so they wouldn’t wake the girls. Taylor, the only one who didn’t care, went upstairs to Liz anyway while the others passed out around the pool. Paul was too drunk to trust himself . . . but drunk or not, he was confused as to whether he even wanted to be near Rhees. The guys’ ridiculing had really bothered him. He lay awake another hour, thinking about what Taylor had said, and it put him in a bad mood. 

oOo

The next morning, Rhees not only prepared breakfast, but made sack lunches for the guys to take with them on their testosterone-filled activity for the day. Paul stocked the cooler as she generously piled meat and cheese on the leftover bread she’d baked the night before.

The dates, in return for a free vacation, were expected not to complain as the men ran off every day on their adventures. The men had made it unquestionably clear. No girls were allowed during the day activities.

This first day, the plan entailed making their way to Pavone for a day of surfing. The logistics of getting there made it an all day trip and they were happy for Rhees’ thoughtful sack lunches and her idea to take a cooler filled with drinks. She’d meant bottled water and soda, but the guys insisted the cooler be stocked with nothing but beer.

Rhees had to snag Paul to give him a hug as he and his friends tried to get out the door. He glanced around, nervously checking to see if the other guys noticed. He couldn’t get Taylor’s comment about being in love off his mind.

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” she confessed quietly. “You didn’t come to bed.”

“I didn’t want to wake you, and honestly, I was too drunk to be a good citizen.”

“I’m sorry.” She sighed. “I wish it didn’t matter. I wish I could just, you know . . . it would make things so much easier.”

He did a double take. She must have understood the look on his face.

“Yes, I mean
that.
I’m tired of being so uptight about it. I wish I could—”

“Don’t say that. It doesn’t help. I should go.”

She rose up on her toes to kiss him, but he only offered his cheek.

“My, you’re grumpy this morning. Hungover?”

He nodded at the good excuse she’d given him. The headache didn’t help, but it wasn’t last night’s alcohol that had him uptight and uncomfortable.

“Tonight, don’t get drunk. I miss my snuggle buddy,” Rhees said.

“I’ll try, but it’s hard.” He hemmed and hawed, feeling uneasy about their relationship all of a sudden.

“Hey, Pussy-Whipped! Come on, we’re going to miss the chopper,” Taylor yelled on his way to the van.

Paul looked Taylor’s direction, embarrassed. He lost his place. “Um . . . it’s hard with the guys around. We’ll see.”

“I know.” She gave him a warm, understanding smile. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Enjoy your time with your friends.”

“Why do you have to be so perfect?” His brows knit together. He felt bad for the doubts running through his mind.

“Mangina!” All three of his friends joined in the heckling.  

Paul looked at them and hesitated before giving Rhees a quick kiss and running to the van.

Chapter 16

T
he girls sat around the pool, working on their tans, and getting to know each other. Rhees made a big salad after breakfast and left it in the crisper of the commercial fridge so they could piece on it as they got hungry.

Angel’s daughters arrived and cleaned up the breakfast mess before they started on the rest of the house, but Rhees almost wished they hadn’t. She knew how to clean and didn’t mind doing it, and hanging out with the other women, all day, the next few days, caused her some anxiety.

“What’s Paul’s problem?” Ashley asked that afternoon. “He acts like a big spoiled brat. How do you stand to put up with him?”

“Paul?” Rhees’ voice went high with disbelief.

“Yes, Paul. He’s a bully.”

“Come on,” Liz said. “You only have to take one look at him to know why she puts up with him.”

“David is good looking too, but I’d never put up with that kind of shit.”

“Paul is not a bully.” Rhees slipped in to defensive mode. “Paul might come across like that once in a while, but it’s only because he takes things a little too seriously sometimes. When he cares about someone, he gets protective. He’s really quite generous and thoughtful.”

“I don’t believe it,” Ashley said with a humph.

Rhees shrugged, thoughtfully. “It’s not just me. You know, he’s still friends with almost all the girls he’s been with. Even though he isn’t with them anymore . . . never really was . . . actually.” She reflected on that idea. In all the time she’d known him, Shelli was the closest he came to having a disgruntled girlfriend.

She smiled to herself, knowing he would deny Shelli was ever a girlfriend. But even after the way they’d parted company, Shelli had called him when she regained consciousness, to apologize for the way she’d acted. She told him she blamed herself for what Mario tried to do to Rhees.

After Shelli had left the shop, she’d met Mario and they hooked up quickly. Still upset with the way things had turned out, she said she’d talked too much about Paul the man-whore and Rhees’ virginal status. She said it hadn’t taken Mario long to start saying strange, inappropriate things like, he wanted to teach Paul a lesson, show him who the big bull really was, and how it would show Paul if he got to Rhees first.

Shelli told Paul that when Mario confessed what he planned to do, she tried to stop him, but he beat her for it, raped her, and left her for dead. Paul had told her not to blame herself and bought her a plane ticket home so her family could watch over her while she recovered from her injuries. The kind of person Ashley described wouldn’t have cared enough to do that.

“But they all
still
consider him a friend,” Rhees continued. “There has to be something to that. Like I said, he’s generous, thoughtful, and protective.”

“Bryce loves him,” Jeannie said. “He said Paul would do anything for him.”

“Taylor feels the same way,” Liz added, and then she repeated, “and he’s so pretty.” Jeannie nodded in agreement.

“Don’t let him hear you call him pretty,” Rhees warned. “He tolerates good-looking, handsome, and even beautiful, but he hates being called pretty.”

“See? Bully.” Ashley had heard David say the same nice things about Paul, but she wasn’t about to add that to his cause.

Rhees hated how Ashley ignored every nice thing everyone said about Paul and focused only on the one thing she’d said that made him look bad. She wished she could take it back and hoped to fix her blunder. 

“Paul is more than just a pretty face. He’s the smartest man I’ve ever known. He’s a hard worker, he’s fun, funny,” Rhees continued. “So many of the things I admire. He’s a man of his word. He keeps his promises—almost to a fault—it’s annoying at times. Maybe what you’re picking up on is his honesty. When he’s angry, you know it. When he’s happy, you know it. There’s no guessing. He’s so honest . . . except when he lies.” She giggled, and the other girls giggled at that too. 

“Isn’t that the way they all are?” Liz said.

oOo

The next day included shark diving in the morning, and a round of golf that afternoon. Once again, he’d had too much to drink the night before and didn’t come to bed. He’d made excuses to linger downstairs until all the other men went up to their dates before slipping into the media room to sleep on the couch. Rhees woke from a nightmare, found him missing again, and went searching for him. She rousted him up and got him upstairs before anyone could find him and ask him hard-to-answer questions.

“Sharks?” She followed him around the bedroom as he got ready for the activity. “Why can’t you use a cage?”

Paul was still confused about his feelings, and acted too invested in getting ready to answer.

“Paul, I’m so scared. Please, don’t go.”

“I have to go.”

“Then promise me you won’t get eaten.” That made him laugh in spite of his attempt to stay aloof, and she was finally able to catch him, throwing her arms around his waist. She’d chased him around the room as he wandered, gathering his things and packing them into his duffle bag. He liked the contact and that only confused him more.

“If a shark did take a bite, I’m so
nasty
, he’d spit me right out. Besides, I can’t get eaten. If I weren’t around, who’d take care of your beautiful ass?”

“That’s right. Without you, I’d wither and die.” She scowled at him and he sneaked in a quick squeeze of her butt. 

That day, four massage therapists showed up after lunch and gave each of the girls a two-hour massage by the pool.

“These guys know how to take care of a girl,” Jeannie said.

“Only when they want something in return,” Ashley clarified.

oOo

At dinner that night, the guys went over their scheduled activities for the rest of the week. In the morning, they planned to do one of the longest and best zip lines in the world. The day after, their last day at the beach house, they’d scheduled kite surfing before they headed back to town for their last night together.

“A zip line?” Rhees’ attention piqued. “I need to do a zip line. It’s one of those things on my list of fears to overcome, like diving and ice blocking and . . . life itself.”

The guys stared at her, alarmed at her comment. Paul looked at her, distress written all over his face.

“Paul . . .” Bryce and Taylor both said at the same time.

“Rhees, I’ll take you sometime.” Paul tried to save the awkward moment, and his man card. “Not this trip, okay, Babe?”

“I know you don’t want me tagging along with you and the guys, but what if I went alone, or with the girls?” She turned to the girls. “How about it? Who else wants to do the zip line with me?”

“No way. I’d rather shop at Wal-Mart,” Ashley said. The other girls weren’t as vocal as Ashley, but it became clear they weren’t interested.

“Okay, looks like I’m on my own. I’ll go at a different time than you. I promise not to encroach on your,
Brotherhood of Testosterone,
time.”

“No!” Paul snapped out.

Rhees glared at him, and he found himself taken aback by her wounded expression.
Shit! She’s serious.
He suddenly felt torn between her happiness and appeasing his friends—his friends would be more vocal. Sure, Rhees would back down—she always gave in to him—he thought it would be a good opportunity to let the guys know he hadn’t turned soft on a girl—even if he had—he hadn’t figured that out yet, before this trip.

“I
said
I’ll take you,
another time
.” He gave her a,
can we discuss this later,
look.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would we spend all that money to come again when we’re here now, and I can just check it off my list?”

“No. You’re not running around in a foreign country by yourself.” She rolled her eyes at him. “Rhees, I’ve made up my mind about this, you’re not going alone. I said I’ll bring you back, and we can do it then.” She didn’t look happy, but she dropped the subject like he expected she would.

That night, they all decided to watch a movie in the media room. The remote beach house didn’t have cable, so they voted on which movie to watch from the large collection on the shelves. They decided on
The Patriot
.

Taylor and Liz didn’t make it fifteen minutes into the movie before they sneaked out and to their room. Bryce and Jeannie started making out on the couch as soon as Taylor left, and eventually slinked off to their bedroom as well, leaving Paul, Rhees, David, and Ashley to watch the movie. David kept trying to get Ashley to make out too, but she acted more interested in Heath Ledger and Mel Gibson than David.

With the extra space made available by the exiting couples, Paul and Rhees stretched out on the couch, lying next to each other, Paul behind her. When the movie reached the scene where Anne’s parents sewed Gabriel into a bundling bag, Rhees turned to face Paul with a questioning look on her face.

“I didn’t know they did that back in those days.”

Paul shrugged. He’d never heard of it before the movie. Rhees continued to stare at him, inquiring.

“No,” he said. She raised a brow. She didn’t look like she agreed. “No! We’ll talk later.” He tipped his head at David and Ashley to alert Rhees of Ashley’s sudden interest in them, so Rhees turned her attention back to the movie.

Neither of them had slept well without each other the past two nights, and Paul and Rhees wound up falling asleep on the couch in their cuddly position.

David watched his friend, snuggled up to Rhees, wondering what was going on with Paul. He’d been acting different, strange all week.

“I saw Paul on the couch last night when I came down to get something for my headache. This is the first time they’ve slept together since they got here,” Ashley said. She and David both laughed that Paul and Rhees were literally sleeping. “I’d say the magic in that relationship is long over. They’re like an old married couple. I don’t know why she puts up with him.”

“You didn’t know Paul, pre-Rhees. I can’t figure out what he’s still doing with
her
!”

“It’s obvious. She worships him, and he’s clearly into being worshipped.”

David looked surprised at Ashley’s conclusion. “No. That’s not it at all. Paul’s always been low-key, quiet, kind of shy. He listens and pays attention, to
everything,
and then he’s just there when you need him.”

“He is not shy. He’s mean and grumpy and—”

“That’s because you’ve been pushing his buttons. Ash, you don’t want to push Paul’s buttons.”

“I’m not afraid of Paul. The rest of you can be if you want, but I’m not letting him push me around.”

“He doesn’t push anyone around. We respect him, and he’s usually right.” David chuckled.

“You’re saying I’m wrong? I am not wrong! How dare you say—”

David shushed her, turned the TV off, and they walked upstairs to their room.

“Paul’s a watcher. He sits quietly and watches, listens, and learns. Maybe that’s why he’s a good judge of character, and I guess the reason he’s so hung up on Rhees—I don’t think he even realizes it though.” David laughed at the thought of his long-time friend being blindsided by an emotion Paul always claimed to be incapable of feeling. “But she’s good people. She’s good for him. I’m just surprised.”

“Rhees is a wimp. That’s what he sees in her. She worships him and when he says jump, she asks, how high. If he were my boyfriend, he’d learn a thing or two real fast.”

Again, Ashley’s take on the matter surprised him. David thought the role was
reversed
, that Paul was the one doing all the jumping and worshipping. David didn’t want to argue with Ashley about it. “It’s like I don’t even recognize him anymore. He disappeared, just took off when his brother died five years ago. His dad hired an army of private investigators to find him and sent Taylor to check up on him, bring him back, but Paul refuses to go home. He’s changed—changes every time I see him.”

“How’d his brother die?”

“No one knows the details. The police never solved the case. He was mixed up with some drug ring, I don’t know, but they were very close.”

“Was Paul involved too?” Ashley grasped for juicy information.

David ignored her question. “The Paul I knew would never fall for
anyone
, let alone someone as tame as Rhees. Taylor mentioned she was a virgin when they met.”

“Are you kidding?” Ashley seemed too amused by the revelation.

“And have you noticed how territorial he is with her? He’s always been more like Taylor.”

“Taylor is so crude and horny. Poor Liz. They aren’t going to last, I just know it.”

David shot her a look. It wasn’t news to him. Liz was just a pretty lay for the trip and David knew how hard it was on Taylor to stick to the same girl all week. He’d rarely seen him with the same girl twice. “Honestly David, this trip hasn’t instilled a lot of confidence in me about your choice of friends. We’re going to have to work on that, find you more suitable people to hang out with.”

David’s heart sank. He wished Ashley would stop trying to change him and he wondered again why they were still together if she didn’t like anything about him.

“Well, the Paul I remember was more like Taylor, only stealthier. Taylor sees what he wants and goes for it, bold and loud, no holds barred. The girls either fall for him or they run like hell. Paul’s always liked his girls to take the initiative. He sits, quietly watching as they start to circle. Like a predator being preyed upon, he waits in the grass, not moving a muscle, only his eyes . . .” David huffed a laugh.

“His eyes just kind of drew them in like moths to the flame, but he
never
fell for any of them.” David paused, thoughtful for a minute.

Ashley slugged his arm. “You sound like you admire that piece of shit.”

David regretted saying anything. He slid his arm around her waist and tried to kiss her, but she pulled away, slapping his arm again.

“Come on, Ash. Let’s sleep together, and I’m not talking the Paul and Rhees kind of sleep.” He waggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

“It’s late, David. Their kind of sleeping together sounds better to me.”

oOo

Rhees woke with a sore neck and had to reposition herself. She turned to face Paul. He didn’t stir, worn out from all the physical activity. She watched him for a while, unable to get back to sleep.