Not Quite Enough(21)

“Yeah.”
“Does this mess mean you’re out of a job?”
Not hardly. But he understood her question. “In a way. Tourists won’t return anytime soon.”
“Are you going to stay here? Will you lose your home?” There was real distress in her voice.
“Nothing so dire. Blue Paradise has other locations.”
“Oh, so you think they’ll transfer you?”
He chuckled.
“What’s funny?”
“I’m part owner of Blue Paradise.”
Her lips formed a perfect o. She shifted her gaze back to the ocean. “Will you stay here and help rebuild?”
He shrugged. “Probably not. Getting groceries is going to be a problem and living on a generator long-term is a lot like camping.”
“It sucks that you’ll have to leave your home.”
And his sanctuary. “I’ll be all right.”
Now she laughed softly. “You’ll find another place for shorts and flip-flops?”
“Maybe.”
The dark sky started its slow dance toward light. The faint glow of blue stretched out on the horizon and grew steadily until orange and red rays filtered through the distant clouds. He glanced over and saw the wonder on Monica’s face. Her bright ice blue eyes never left nature’s opening act. Even the crickets seem to hold their breath, and the birds held off their morning song, as the sun rose.
“Wow,” she whispered.
He shivered. Just watching her sent a different sort of chemistry through him.
She caught him staring and offered her smile.
He knew then that messing with Monica wouldn’t be a simple exercise in sexual relief. No, it would get complicated… very complicated.
“I’ll make some coffee,” he said suddenly, pulling himself out of the tractor beams of her gaze as he left the patio and escaped into the house.


Monica watched as Trent fled the patio as if she were the head “pregnant” cheerleader walking into the high school football team’s locker room, and he was the quarterback.
Even Ginger popped her head out of her paws to watch him leave.
“What’s with him?” Monica asked the dog.
Ginger released a deep sigh and settled back down.
Monica returned her attention to the sunrise and smiled. It really was spectacular. For a brief moment, she forgot why she was in Jamaica and just enjoyed the sky.
Noise from the back of the house indicated that Trent fired up the generator so he could brew the coffee.
Her mouth salivated with the thought.
Her limbs started to twitch with a need to move. Letting Trent do all the work didn’t feel right. Monica unfolded from the chair and walked inside. Trent stood over the sink, one hand poised on each side. He was staring out the window lost in his own thoughts.
He was a million miles away… and Monica was disturbing him.
She started inching her way back outside when Ginger took that moment to bark from behind Monica.
Trent’s eyes traveled to her and narrowed before they slid down her frame.
Monica wasn’t sure if it was admiration or discontent, but she knew something about the man had changed from the moment she stepped outside to watch the sunrise. She crossed her arms over her chest, aware for the first time that she wasn’t dressed for mixed company… especially with whom she wasn’t intimate. “Did you need some help?”
Trent shook his head and turned away, opened a cabinet. “I got it.” His tone was gruff.
She suddenly felt very exposed and extremely unwanted. “I’ll shower then,” she said just as quickly.
“The water’s not warm yet.”
“It’s OK, a cold shower will wake me up.” Besides, this room was cold enough to chill her. Being alone with cold water would feel better.
She started toward the guest bathroom when Trent’s voice stopped her. “Monica?”
A rush of unwanted and unexpected tears filled her eyes. She hesitated and felt her throat clog. “On second thought,” she said with only a slight tremor in her voice. “A quick run will give me the jolt I need for today.”
He called her name again, but she fled to the room she’d slept in and closed the door behind her. She wasn’t sure what had changed… changed before either of them could act on the sparks that were obvious between them, but she was glad for it. She didn’t do tears and heartache. Disappoint them first. Leave before either of them could care was even better.
Apparently she and Trent would be a “leave him with only a thought,” which was better.
He’d probably be terrible in bed. A sloppy kisser. All wet with no meat.
Two minutes later, she pushed out of her room, her running shoes on and the one pair of running shorts donned. She’d seen the stairs that led down the steep cliff below Trent’s home and let the early morning light lead the way. She didn’t hear anything in the house as she snuck away.
Not long after her shoes hit the beach, she heard a bark behind her.
Ginger.
Thankfully Trent wasn’t behind the dog. The tightening in her chest was relief and not disappointment, or so she told herself. A quick run would clear her head; bring her back to her own level of homeostasis. A word she didn’t know existed before she went to nursing school. Her state of normalcy had always included a void of some sort in her life.
Even those years when she lived with Jessie and Danny, life had never been truly complete.
Monica called the dog and took off at a fast run.
Just thinking of Jessie reminded Monica of home. Home being nothing more than an empty apartment in an inland suburb of California surrounded by other people just trying to make a buck and pay the rent. The apartment was empty now that Jessie had moved to Texas, and it appeared that Katie and Dean would be moving back to Texas as well since Dean’s construction company was expanding. The move made sense. Both Katie’s and Dean’s families lived in the big state and they couldn’t get enough of their daughter, Savannah.