I drank a couple cups of punch, danced with a couple of Jack's younger cousins, and enjoyed the festivities. The DJ they had flown in from New York was worth every penny. When it came time for Emma to throw the bouquet, I joined the crowd. Emma winked at me as she turned around. As she threw the bouquet behind her head, I watched it sail in a perfect arc toward me. If this was on purpose, I thought, then she must have been practicing her behind-the-back bouquet tosses. I held out my hands to catch the bouquet- and suddenly a young teenage girl about sixteen years old jumped up and snatched it.
The crowd cheered for the young lady, and my eyes went straight to Owen. His eyes were on me too, and I gave him my best can't-win-em-all shrug. He walked over to me, drink in hand.
"You were robbed," he said.
I smiled. "I thought you weren't going to talk to me anymore," I said, a wry smile on my face.
He shrugged. "You initiated communication, even though it was nonverbal." I laughed and he continued. "Besides, you looked bored."
I leaned in and whispered. "I feel guilty, but I am a little bored. I don't know many people here, and Emma is so busy talking to people."
He shrugged again. "You know me. Listen, Jack's brother Robbie has his racing boat parked on a marina right down the beach. Why don't we take it for a spin?"
That sounds like fun, I thought. You really shouldn't though. I could feel my resistance breaking down. "I should really stay here until the end of the wedding."
Owen smiled. "Jack will look for any excuse to start his wedding night as soon as possible, if you catch my drift. The best man and maid of honor leaving would be such a perfect excuse. Besides, I have to hear all about the gross stuff that happens at hospitals."
Maybe just a quick boat ride...
Owen continued. "Or, if you'd like, we can just go straight back to my cabana house," he said.
I grimaced a little. He just lost the sale, I thought. "You know what? I do think I'll call it a night. It was a pleasure, Owen," I said.
Owen knew he had messed up. "Of course," he said, gracefully accepting defeat. "Perhaps I'll see you tomorrow," he added, hopefully.
"Perhaps," I replied coolly, not counting on him still being interested in me tomorrow. Tomorrow I would be plain old Kaylee, small town girl from Iowa, not maid of honor at his best friend's wedding. I went and said good night to my parents and gave Emma one last hug. I left quickly, looking back one last time. Owen's eyes were on me as I left, and he raised his hand in a quick, meek wave.
When I got to my room, I took a nice bath, thinking of Owen joining me in the warm suds. I turned the air conditioning in the room down to 68 and lay down in bed, watching TV as I drifted off to sleep. Somehow, even with the room being as cool as it was, I still writhed uncomfortably in bed as I slept, the thought of the strong, rich man down at that wedding consuming my every thought.
Chapter 4
The next morning, I awoke a sweaty mess. Owen had invaded my dreams, and I had a feeling he would occupy my thoughts for the rest of the day as well. Still, I had taken my first flight on an airplane in order to be here, and I was going to make the most of this vacation. Tomorrow evening I would be back on a miserable flight to Iowa, so I might as well make some memories while I was here.
I knew that Emma would probably be exhausted from partying and everything else that goes along with a wedding night, so I just grabbed a book and headed out to the beach. It was quiet on the resort, as all the guests were sleeping off the party. A tree caught my eye as I wandered toward the water, and I went to investigate. It was a funny little tree, with bunches of beautiful five petaled flowers. I picked one blossom from a branch, and held it to my nose. It was the sweetest flower I had ever smelled. I tucked one behind my ear, feeling very pretty.
I went down to the beach, not terribly interested in finding a place to read just yet. Setting the book down on a safe patch of sand, I waded into the crystal clear ocean. The water was too warm and wonderful not to at least dip my toes in at every chance. I kicked lightly at the waves, looking down the shore. A few hundred yards away was a set of cabana houses. Jack and Emma were in one of them, the two of them staying in the same cabana where they had fallen in love.
Something else caught my attention, though. A woman's scream of terror shattered the quiet of the beach. I remembered Emma's story of saving a man's life on the beach, and I knew that it now was my responsibility to do the same. I jumped to my feet, scanning the water for signs of a woman drowning. Soon I realized that the sound wasn't coming from the water—it was coming from above...
There, hundreds of feet in the air, a woman screamed as she was pulled behind a boat. A huge red parachute kept her airborne as she flew through the air. The only thing preventing her from flying off into the stratosphere was a tether connected to her harness and the boat.
That looks fun, I thought. Way too dangerous, though. As the woman soared through the sky, screaming in joy and terror, I knew that I wanted to try it. It would be the perfect vacation adventure, something to tell the girls back home. This was my vacation. I had spent my whole life playing it safe, never leaving the security of Iowa. Now that I was in a faraway place, I was going to try some new things.
I turned around and picked up my book from where I left in in the sand. When I stood back up and turned around, I was face to face with Owen.
He was wearing nothing but a pair of expensive looking swim trunks and even more expensive-looking sunglasses. I couldn't help giving his body a once-over, realizing that he must have women do this all the time. He grinned as if he knew exactly what I was doing, and instead of feeling embarrassed, I was glad I had looked.
I had felt how strong he was every time he had touched me in the past couple days, but I hadn't expected those muscles to be so... uncovered. There wasn't a hair on his body below his ears. Indeed, even his face was completely clean shaven, and his square jaw accentuated the obvious hardness of his muscles.
I knew I was beginning to stare when he said, "What are you up to?"
I opened my mouth but no words came out. I pointed behind me at the general vicinity of the woman in the sky, my head not allowing itself to turn away from the Greek god who stood before me.
He smiled. "I haven't been parasailing in a while, but I still have a 'chute at my place. Would you like to go with me?"
Once again, he was trying to get me to go to his house. I smiled, this time managed to stutter a response. "I can't, I-"
He cut me off, removing his sunglasses. His blue eyes squinted immediately, but it had the desired effect as he stared at me and I felt my knees turn to jelly. "Kaylee, no more excuses. I want you to go parasailing with me, and then I want to hear all about being a physician's assistant."
I didn't know how I had managed to resist him this long, but I lost the battle with my own common sense at that moment. As soon as I decided to go with him, I regained most of my confidence. "Sounds great! I just have to drop my book off at my room, and we can go."
He gestured to me to lead the way. As I walked past him, he put his hand on my back, guiding me as I headed to the row of rooms Jack had rented out. Normally I would have shrugged him off, but his touch felt so good...
Chapter 5
The walk to his beach house was pretty quick, and he spent the time talking to me about my job. I kept the details as sparse as possible, not wanting him to think that I was too interested. However, with every look he gave me, I found my resistance breaking down. He walked beside me, occasionally bumping into me a little bit, and I wondered if I would even make it to his place before my defenses broke down completely.
As we neared his house, I gasped. Oh sure, he never told me it was his until we got close, but I could see it from about a mile away. It was huge, with gigantic bay windows looking out over the ocean. There were balconies off of every bedroom. It looked more like another resort than somebody's home. Why not? I asked myself. With all the money in the world, I might do the same thing.
I had wanted to check it out, but I never got the chance. Naturally, he had somehow sent a message to the dock that we were going parasailing without me even noticing. A parachute with two harnesses was already set up and ready for us to go on the dock attached to his mansion.
"Are we ready to go?" Owen asked as we approached the dock.
The owner of the speed boat looked like an experienced sea hand, typing on his tablet quickly. "I'm all set, Mr. Parker, and the weather is good for the next few hours." Owen nodded, and we began to get into the harnesses.
The captain strapped us into what looked like a big swing for two. I began to get nervous as he explained what we should do in an emergency, but nodded my head and acted unafraid. There was no way I was going to back out of this now. This was a vacation adventure, and I was going to treat it that way.
Before the boat started moving, Owen reached over and plucked the flower from my hair, raising it to his nose and taking a breath.
"Ah, plumeria. These usually grow in Hawaii, but I see no reason why they wouldn't thrive here," he said softly.
"I wondered what it was. I think it might be my new favorite." I grinned at him as he pocketed the small flower, making sure it was safe as the speedboat's engine revved.
We rode out to the designated area on the back of the boat. I gripped the straps of the "swing" tightly, getting more and more nervous by the moment. Another man kept the tether reeled in while the captain looked back at us. "Are you ready?" he yelled at us.
Owen looked at me. "Are you afraid of heights?" he asked.
I smiled at him. It was probably pretty obvious. "A little," I confessed.
He smiled back. "Me too." He gave a thumbs-up to the captain. The captain hit the throttle as the assistant freed the release on the tether. Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled off the back of the boat. The captain had warned us that this is what it would feel like, but I panicked a little anyway. Soon, however, we were completely clear of the boat and climbing. I felt the parachute bring us higher and higher, and I found myself growing more and more excited. When Owen let out a whoop of joy, I joined in with him, screaming my own lungs out.
The captain had told us that the tether was four-hundred feet long but that we would only be going up about half that distance. Still, as we reached the apex of our flight, I could see for miles around. Owen grabbed at my hand, and I looked over at him and gave him a huge grin.
After about fifteen minutes of looking at all the scenery and feeling the wind blow us around, I could feel the tether reeling us back in. We got closer and closer to the boat, and soon we lifted our legs up, getting ready to land. I could see Owen's eyes on my toned legs, which were probably the sexiest part of my body. Let him look, I thought, I've been checking him out all day.
Within another few moments, we were safely back on the boat. The assistant helped us out of our harnesses, and I took a seat. Owen pulled a cooler out of a storage compartment, and inside was ice and a bottle of champagne. He had already popped the cork, pulling two glasses out before I had a chance to refuse. The label on the bottle looked fancy.
He poured two servings and set the bottle back down in an ornate bottle holder. He sat next to me, not shy at all about how close the two of us were sitting. He handed me a glass, and I accepted. Our cups clinked softly together as he toasted, "To trying new things on vacation."