Belong to You
Page 13
“Yep.”
I turned on my side, propping myself up on my elbow to look at him. “You don’t expect me to believe that a gorgeous man like you, who is incredible in bed, has only had one girlfriend, when he was 16?”
“I’m glad you think I’m incredible in bed.” His voice was so damn sexy.
“Don’t try to change the subject Jack, we agreed that we each got to ask ten questions that got ten truthful answers. You told me you had 500 to 1,000 partners?”
He took a deep breath in and exhaled loudly. “I told you the truth both times. I had one girlfriend, but lots of partners.”
“So all of the others were one night stands?” I knew he had to have lots of casual sex in order to have so many partners, but something about only having one girlfriend freaked me out a bit.
“No, Syd. Some of them were more than one night stands. But I wouldn’t say that any of them were my girlfriend, other than when I was 16.” His tone was getting stronger and more defensive.
“Define girlfriend.”
I thought maybe we had different definitions of the terms.
He was quiet for a minute.
“Someone you see on a regular basis that you care for and have a mutually exclusive relationship with.”
Okay, so I couldn’t chalk his answer up to a difference in a definition. How could this gorgeous man who just took me to his favorite spot to show me the stars not have found someone to have a relationship with. There must have been women clamor-ing at the opportunity. “I can’t imagine you lacked the opportunity, is it the mutually exclusive part that you weren’t interested in?” He was quiet for a long moment. I liked that he didn’t just spit out an answer for the sake of hearing himself speak, as many men would have done. He seemed to give my questions due consideration before he responded. “I enjoy sex and spending time with women. But I have my business and a life and I guess I never found anyone that made me want to complicate things.”
“Complicate things?” You see having a girlfriend as a complication?” I couldn’t hide the appall in my voice.
His tone changed and I could tell he was getting more defensive. “How did your relationship end? I’d call that complicated.”
I rolled back on my back and took a deep breath. He was right, relationships were complicated. A week or two of fun with someone like we were doing now, was probably much more simple.
Jack lifted himself and brought his face close to mine. “I’m sorry babe, I didn’t mean that to come out the way it did.” He kissed me chastely on the mouth.
“It’s okay. I think it only bothered me because you are probably right. I always believed in happily ever after, but maybe those endings really are only for fairytales.”
“No.” I jumped at his booming response, startled; his voice was stern and un-expected. “You deserve a happily ever after, don’t listen to my shit.” He lifted himself up and reached out his hand to help me up. My stupid questions had upset him again. Jack had given me a great day at the beach, a fun dinner with friends and a sweet evening under the stars and I ruined it with more prodding.
The drive home seemed longer than the drive there. We both were quiet and our conversation was limited to discuss-ing the radio station and Jack pointing to a few landmarks as we passed by. It was the first time since I met him that there was any uncomfortable silence.
I could hear the music blaring and people having fun at the outdoor poolside bar, as we passed through the open air lobby. “Do you want to go have a drink?” I wanted to change the mood, but wasn’t sure how to do it.
“I have to get up early in the morning, the guys and I are taking a day trip over to the island of Paui for an all day fishing trip. Our flight leaves at 7am.” His voice was distant and my heart sank at his response.
He was ending our fling. I knew what it was when it started, but we had so much fun and chemistry, I let myself get lost in it. I couldn’t let him see me get upset.
“That sounds like fun.” I did my best perky and carefree impression.
Jack walked me to my room, and I tried to hide my disappointment. He kissed me and watched the door close before leaving. It was the first time since I met him that we didn’t make any plans to see each other again. Inside my room, I didn’t cry, although I was sad. Sienna was right, I had started to have feelings for Jack and needed to be careful and see it for what it was, a rebound fling.
Chapter 7
I woke to the phone ringing the next morning. The hotel manager had heard about Sienna and I singing at the bar a few nights ago and wanted to know if we would fill in for the lead singer at the resort’s nightly themed party. The band’s lead singer had come down with the flu and the backup they usually used was in Maui working a wedding that night. I wasn’t really in the mood to sing, but the manager’s desperation made me feel guilty knowing that I could help him. Plus, technically, the hotel was my employer, and it wouldn’t look good if anyone heard that I refused to help out with a singing gig, when I was available. I reluctantly agreed and told him that we would come down and rehearse later in the afternoon with the band.
Sienna was in surprisingly good shape that morning and seemed genuinely excited about our gig when I told her about it. We decided to spend the day at the beach before our rehearsal. We both put on our bikinis and sarongs, big floppy hats and filled out straw bags with tabloid magazines and ipods.
The beach was quiet and we found two loungers near a straw hut.
We positioned our chairs to face the sun and both tilted our chairs back to lie on our backs.
“What happened with you and Jack, I was surprised to find you in our room when I came in this morning?”
“He said he had to get up early for a fishing trip to an outer island this morning.” I wanted to hide the disappointed in my voice, but Sienna knew me too well.
“Oh. I didn’t think that man was going to let you out from underneath him the whole week. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I just assumed it was going to last the whole week too, but I think the fling has flung and we are done.” I tried my best at casual.
“Well, whatever it was it seemed to work, you didn’t spend the first few days of our honeymoon talking about that ass**le Michael at least.” Sienna smiled at me.
She was right. I barely even thought about Michael the last few days, un-less I was comparing him to Jack and he was landing on the light side of the scale. I’m sure she had expected me to be sad and re-miniscent about my years with Michael on our trip, after all we were on the honeymoon that I had planned to spend with Michael.
I turned on my side, propping myself up on my elbow to look at him. “You don’t expect me to believe that a gorgeous man like you, who is incredible in bed, has only had one girlfriend, when he was 16?”
“I’m glad you think I’m incredible in bed.” His voice was so damn sexy.
“Don’t try to change the subject Jack, we agreed that we each got to ask ten questions that got ten truthful answers. You told me you had 500 to 1,000 partners?”
He took a deep breath in and exhaled loudly. “I told you the truth both times. I had one girlfriend, but lots of partners.”
“So all of the others were one night stands?” I knew he had to have lots of casual sex in order to have so many partners, but something about only having one girlfriend freaked me out a bit.
“No, Syd. Some of them were more than one night stands. But I wouldn’t say that any of them were my girlfriend, other than when I was 16.” His tone was getting stronger and more defensive.
“Define girlfriend.”
I thought maybe we had different definitions of the terms.
He was quiet for a minute.
“Someone you see on a regular basis that you care for and have a mutually exclusive relationship with.”
Okay, so I couldn’t chalk his answer up to a difference in a definition. How could this gorgeous man who just took me to his favorite spot to show me the stars not have found someone to have a relationship with. There must have been women clamor-ing at the opportunity. “I can’t imagine you lacked the opportunity, is it the mutually exclusive part that you weren’t interested in?” He was quiet for a long moment. I liked that he didn’t just spit out an answer for the sake of hearing himself speak, as many men would have done. He seemed to give my questions due consideration before he responded. “I enjoy sex and spending time with women. But I have my business and a life and I guess I never found anyone that made me want to complicate things.”
“Complicate things?” You see having a girlfriend as a complication?” I couldn’t hide the appall in my voice.
His tone changed and I could tell he was getting more defensive. “How did your relationship end? I’d call that complicated.”
I rolled back on my back and took a deep breath. He was right, relationships were complicated. A week or two of fun with someone like we were doing now, was probably much more simple.
Jack lifted himself and brought his face close to mine. “I’m sorry babe, I didn’t mean that to come out the way it did.” He kissed me chastely on the mouth.
“It’s okay. I think it only bothered me because you are probably right. I always believed in happily ever after, but maybe those endings really are only for fairytales.”
“No.” I jumped at his booming response, startled; his voice was stern and un-expected. “You deserve a happily ever after, don’t listen to my shit.” He lifted himself up and reached out his hand to help me up. My stupid questions had upset him again. Jack had given me a great day at the beach, a fun dinner with friends and a sweet evening under the stars and I ruined it with more prodding.
The drive home seemed longer than the drive there. We both were quiet and our conversation was limited to discuss-ing the radio station and Jack pointing to a few landmarks as we passed by. It was the first time since I met him that there was any uncomfortable silence.
I could hear the music blaring and people having fun at the outdoor poolside bar, as we passed through the open air lobby. “Do you want to go have a drink?” I wanted to change the mood, but wasn’t sure how to do it.
“I have to get up early in the morning, the guys and I are taking a day trip over to the island of Paui for an all day fishing trip. Our flight leaves at 7am.” His voice was distant and my heart sank at his response.
He was ending our fling. I knew what it was when it started, but we had so much fun and chemistry, I let myself get lost in it. I couldn’t let him see me get upset.
“That sounds like fun.” I did my best perky and carefree impression.
Jack walked me to my room, and I tried to hide my disappointment. He kissed me and watched the door close before leaving. It was the first time since I met him that we didn’t make any plans to see each other again. Inside my room, I didn’t cry, although I was sad. Sienna was right, I had started to have feelings for Jack and needed to be careful and see it for what it was, a rebound fling.
Chapter 7
I woke to the phone ringing the next morning. The hotel manager had heard about Sienna and I singing at the bar a few nights ago and wanted to know if we would fill in for the lead singer at the resort’s nightly themed party. The band’s lead singer had come down with the flu and the backup they usually used was in Maui working a wedding that night. I wasn’t really in the mood to sing, but the manager’s desperation made me feel guilty knowing that I could help him. Plus, technically, the hotel was my employer, and it wouldn’t look good if anyone heard that I refused to help out with a singing gig, when I was available. I reluctantly agreed and told him that we would come down and rehearse later in the afternoon with the band.
Sienna was in surprisingly good shape that morning and seemed genuinely excited about our gig when I told her about it. We decided to spend the day at the beach before our rehearsal. We both put on our bikinis and sarongs, big floppy hats and filled out straw bags with tabloid magazines and ipods.
The beach was quiet and we found two loungers near a straw hut.
We positioned our chairs to face the sun and both tilted our chairs back to lie on our backs.
“What happened with you and Jack, I was surprised to find you in our room when I came in this morning?”
“He said he had to get up early for a fishing trip to an outer island this morning.” I wanted to hide the disappointed in my voice, but Sienna knew me too well.
“Oh. I didn’t think that man was going to let you out from underneath him the whole week. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I just assumed it was going to last the whole week too, but I think the fling has flung and we are done.” I tried my best at casual.
“Well, whatever it was it seemed to work, you didn’t spend the first few days of our honeymoon talking about that ass**le Michael at least.” Sienna smiled at me.
She was right. I barely even thought about Michael the last few days, un-less I was comparing him to Jack and he was landing on the light side of the scale. I’m sure she had expected me to be sad and re-miniscent about my years with Michael on our trip, after all we were on the honeymoon that I had planned to spend with Michael.
