Then another thought strikes me like a blow to the head. If anything goes this weekend, then why the fuck am I out here playing golf?
I clear my throat. “Gentlemen, I’m very sorry to, uh, leave this so close to the end, but I’ve got to get back to the retreat,” I say suddenly, already walking backwards.
The others look at each other and then back at me. “Something wrong?”
“Yeah. Nothing serious…actually, yeah it’s serious. An emergency.” I wave my cell phone, as if I’ve just received an urgent message. “I’ve really got to get back. It’s urgent.”
“It must be,” David laughs. “If you’re going to try and get back on foot. Here, take my car. We’ll all try to squeeze into Jim’s car – God knows it’s big enough.”
David tosses me his keys and I offer a quick salute of gratitude before turning and jogging back through the course, the sound of their laughter behind me.
Several broken speed limits and a bad parking job later I’m running through the grounds of the retreat asking people where ‘Tessa’ is like I’m looking for a criminal on the run. Eventually I find her stretched out on a lounge chair by the pool, deep in conversation with a vaguely familiar Australian woman in big sunglasses who looks like she’s just as enamored with Jessie as I am. She’s wearing nothing but a bikini under a thin, see-through sarong and she grins at me when she sees me jogging toward her. As if I needed any more convincing.
“Hey, Tessa!” I say, stepping in front of them.
“Oh, hey. You’re back early. This is Caroline. Where’s everyone else?”
“Um…they’re on their way. I had to come back before them. Something…I need you for a moment.”
Jessie looks at Caroline then back at me.
“Can we do it later?” Jessie asks, ever-so-slightly pleading.
“Not really. But it won’t take long…I mean, not if…”
“Oh, it’s fine, darling,” Caroline says in her Australian drawl. “I’m not planning to move from here until they stop serving drinks – which they’d better not.”
Jessie beams at the woman as she gets up.
“Great! Enjoy the daiquiris. I’ll be right back.”
“Bye Nate,” Caroline says with a grin before turning back to her cocktail.
I grab Jessie gently by the arm and urge her forward alongside me.
“Do you know who that was?” she asks in a shocked whisper as soon as we’re out of earshot.
“Caroline, right?”
“Yes! Caroline Tiernan. She’s, like, the most amazing costume designer around right now! She just arrived this morning!”
“Great.”
“We’ve been talking for hours. She is so awesome.”
“I told you this trip would be worth it,” I say, as I bring her inside the retreat and guide her through the corridors.
“She’s been going through some of my ideas with me. I think I’ve learned more today than I did in my three years of costuming classes in college.”
“That’s really fucking awesome!”
“That’s not even the most awesome thing – she wants me to show her my designs!”
“And thus, a star is born.”
“I’m just on such a high right now, I don’t think I’ve ever – wait, what’s going on? Why did you drag me back to the room?”
I shove open the door, drag her inside, slam it shut, then slam her up against it.
“Oh,” she says, her surprised eyes narrowing into a look of suggestive mischief. “I see.”
Pressing my body up against hers, I take a moment to appreciate having her to myself again. The smell of her sun-baked skin filling my nose, our faces so close I can see the flecks of yellow in her hazel eyes, lips so close I feel every fragile breath on my face. I rake my fingers gently up her side, enjoying the way her skin trembles under my touch, until I find the string of her bikini top, and reach around to her back.
“Since nothing counts while we’re here,” I whisper, bringing my lips close to her ear, “I wanna make the most of it.”
She giggles a little, throaty and deep. It’s a green light, a red flag, a starting pistol. Her way of saying ‘go for it, I’m all yours.’ I put my hand around her throat and guide her mouth to mine, pressing swollen and wet lips together, tongues flickering against each other like stoked flames. Bolts of strength surge through my body as I press up against her, my nerves overloaded with desire for her. My hands work automatically, untying her bikini top and tearing it off her as she moans and gasps at the aggression of my tongue-fucking, giving herself entirely to the power of my body forced against her.