I was curled up on the straw arm chair back in our room with a book I had been meaning to read for a while. The soft push of the ocean onto the sand was a calming background sound as the words started to roll off the page.
Our moment in the mud spa had ended in a few cheeky comments for Anthony which earned him a mud pie in the face - which was basically me throwing the mud at him. Honestly, I hadn't meant to aim for his face but I was overly satisfied with the result all the same. This didn't end well for me however as Anthony started throwing mud back at me until we were ordered out of the mud spa by the retreat staff who were muttering their displeasure at our childish behaviour as they demanded us out of the spa.
With our time in the spa cut short, we were both enjoying the rest of our day with free time. I had decided to catch up on my reading while Anthony hunted down some reception and answered a few calls that had popped up over the last few days.
I was absorbed in my book when I felt the sudden burden of a heavy breath over my shoulder. Anthony had returned from his reception hunt. I rolled my shoulders and shifted the book away from his eye-line, hating the feeling of someone reading over my shoulder. His warm breath only inched closer to get a better look at the book I was trying to hide. My skin rippled in bumps running a delightful shiver down my spine and a warm blush across my cheeks. My body suddenly became very aware of his body heat, the closeness of his arms, crossed, leaning against the back of the chair. His lips next to my ear.
"I hate it when people do that." I rolled my shoulder once again and squirmed in my seat.
"When people do what?" His voice was husky and his chest vibrated against my back sending a small thrill through my body.
"That." I breathed, my eyes still on my words but my mind far from reading them.
"You mean this?"
I didn't have time to be confused by his cryptic words before his lips pressed against my neck. My head titled slightly, automatically. His lips left a gentle kiss on my skin that felt alive with an erratic buzz, spreading through my veins.
"Or this?"
Another kiss, this one further up my neck on the tender untouched flesh just below my jaw. My head pushed back into Anthony's chest as I let him kiss me. This kiss wasn't as gentle as the last, his tongue ran along my skin while I could feel the light pressure of his teeth brushing against me. My body jumped to attention. My mind swirled waiting in anticipation. But with a another light kiss, Anthony pulled away.
I sucked in a tentative breath. I closed my book and tucked it into the side of the armchair before I finally built up the courage to face him. He had pulled back, but only slightly, his eyes like dark dying suns as they darted around my face, boring into my own eyes and searching for a reaction. I had many reactions, and none of them clear.
Kiss him. My inner-self screamed at me.
Smile politely and leave. Make him earn it. Make him respect you. My inner woman added.
Leave. Another voice said.
Oh my god he likes you! This of course was my inner pride who teamed up with my self-esteem.
But, How did I feel? What did I want?
I supposed it was all of those things. After all. All the voices inside my head were me. I lifted my hands and cupped Anthony's face, drawing him closer towards me. Pressing my lips against his, I kissed him back. Anthony didn't linger and pressed himself closer towards me, his body now hovering over my sitting form and leaning down kissing me. His lips were soft but his kiss was hard. Hungry for more and eagerly sucking on my bottom lip as I tried to breath between kisses.
His hands moved from the arm of the chair to my legs, his fingers running up my thighs. As his hands ran along the outside of my thigh and began to cut across the centre of my body - my hand pushed gently at his chest. Our kiss broke and Anthony quickly braced himself against the arms of the chair.
"Sorry." He quickly apologised for going too far.
I gave a little chuckle and shook my head, "No, it's okay, just not there yet."
With a quick smirk, Anthony stood up to his full height and extended out his hand to me. "Take your time babe. Care for some ice cream?"
I smiled brightly. "Um, of course."
Taking Anthony's hand,we interlaced our fingers and headed over to the hotel kitchen to the ice cream freezer before ending up at the beach. The waves rolled in at an erratic pace now, with the water reflecting the setting sun and the moon rising up to replace it. The weather was still so warm making the cold water brushing my feet surprisingly nice.
"Up for a run tomorrow morning?" Anthony asked as we continued to walk up the beach.
I scoffed. "Please feel free to ignore the advice we were given over this whole experience." I could hardly believe he was willing to take on the psychologist's advice in doing our routine activities together - for Anthony that was a morning run and breakfast. For me, it was more of allowing him to sit with me during my hour of late night tv before bed.
He smiled mischievously. "Some of it was helpful."
"Oh yeah?" I raised my eyebrows as a came to a stop in the sand. "Like what?"
Anthony pulled on my hand, making me stumble against his chest. His lips pressed against mine in a brief show of affection.
"Point taken." I smiled and dropped his hand, moving quickly into the water, wanting a small respite from the conflicting voices in my head that seemed to be getting louder the closer he was.
I kicked up the water, entertaining myself.
"You're so juvenile." He shook his head but the ghost of a smile still lingered on his lips.
My eyes darkened and narrowed with a running idea. Biting down on my lip I kicked up the water, further and higher this time wetting Anthony's shirt. His face dropped with surprise and his arms spread wide as he looked down at his now splattered top.
As his eyes snapped back up to meet mine, my own face dropped and flooded with regret.
"Shit!' I started to run but the water made it difficult to get very far and Anthony's arms laced around my waist before I even managed two steps. Lifting me out of the water ever so slightly, he threw me back into the water.
The cold rush of the water flooded through my clothes and my skin had already started to turn blue from the cold before I managed to surface for a gulp of air. "That's not fair!" I protested.
Anthony only chuckled. "Sexy look babe, nice bra by the way."
I gasped, looking down at my now wet and see through top, and my black polk-a-dot bra now colouring my top. "You asshat!"
He only laughed louder.
"Calm down babe."
I flicked my hair out of my face and squeeze out the water, all the while keeping a close eye on Anthony. As soon as he turned his head away to check his watch, I pounced. Moving to his side I reached out and gave him a tackling hug, forcing him into the water - and me along with him. I started laughing before my head came out of the water, causing me to swallow some seawater.
Anthony pulled himself up into a sitting position in the shallow water, his hands quickly working to pull my giggling body up to the surface. He pulled me on to his lap and quickly wiped my hair out of my face, his own face bright with a smile. "To busy laughing you forget to breath?"
"Something like that." I tried not to choke on the water.
Anthony hands cupped my face, holding me firmly as he kissed me again.
"I'm starting to think you're getting a little carried away."
"It's hard not too. You're a surprisingly good kisser." His smile spread, reaching his eyes.
We were still drenched by seawater by the time we walked back to our shack. Anthony went and used the cold shower outside to rinse the seawater and sand from his skin while I went inside and enjoyed a hot shower with soap.
Pulling on an old t-shirt and shorts I walked out of the bathroom to find Anthony already resting on the bed, my wall of pillows still remained from the night before. I licked my lips slowly and climbed into my side of the bed. Grabbing the pillow that laid in the middle of the bed, I threw it down to the floor, crushing the pillow mountain of Sky.
"Does that mean I can touch?" Anthony asked me curiously.
"Nope." I laid on my side, facing the wall and snuggled into my pillow. Anthony shifted next to me, eagerly spreading out and stretching over the newly opened space. He turned on his side and his arm pushed its way next to my pillow and under my head, while his other draped lazily over my hip. "I said no touching."
"Think of it as; I'm just reaching for my drink."
***
The morning came quicker than I expected and like the day before the sun woke me before I was ready. Opening my eyes, I saw Anthony was already beginning to stir. His arm was supporting his head and his eyes were lazily blinking away his sleep.
"Have a good sleep?" I asked him, my voice still rough and hoarse from sleep.
"Much better without pillows pushing me out of the bed."
We laid down on the bed, our heads sharing the same pillow. His hand laid lazily on my leg while the other supported his head. I watched the sun roll in, the red shadow cast a bright glow over Anthony's silhouette. Both of us just waiting for the sun to peek and breakfast to be served.
"Tell me something." I asked him.
"What?"
"Anything." I didn't really cared what he told me, nor did I know what I wanted to hear, just something, something that was entirely his.
"I'm not overly fond of carrots." He smiled, clearly impressed by his answer.
I giggled shaking my head. "No, something more."
"Okay, I actually hate carrots - oh and peas." His smile only widened.
I smiled and rolled my eyes. "Never mind." I rolled onto my back, facing away from Anthony.
"I'm only joking Sky." He tapped his hand against my thigh. "What do you want to know?"
I turned my head back to face him, giving him my attention. "Surprise me."
With a deep sigh Anthony started. "Well, before I begin, You are sworn to all secrecy."
"I Promise not to tell a soul."
"Okay." Another deep breath. "When I was sixteen I was forced to attend one of my father's company Christmas parties. I thought it would be a boring night, but I was interested in doing my business degree so I thought this would be a great chance to get a feel for it all."
I nodded along accordingly. "And?"
He tried to suppress a smile as he prepared to continue. "And it was turning out to be a fairly chilled night, we all sat down for dinner and had the first course, a very nice soup of some kind - I think it was tomato if I remember correctly."
I stared at him plainly, giving him my best 'are you serious look?'.
"And then the main course came out. It was seafood." He paused at this moment. "To be more specific it was a whole fish with its head and fins sill on, the beady eye was staring at me all 'don't eat me' like."
I had to suppress my smile.
"The smell was so strong that when I breathed in and stared at the fish head I threw up..."
"Oh my god!!" I gasped. My hands flying to cover my mouth.
"...All over the plate and to this day I can never look at a fish or eat seafood without wanting to throw up."
I laughed hysterically. My body rolling onto my side and clutching my stomach as my body shook with wild tremors of amusement. "Oh my god that is pure gold." I spoke between laughing fits.
***
How do you think Sky and Anthony's bonding is coming along?