Chapter Fifteen
Christian
When I woke up the morning after the date, Mark was still passed out on the couch. I looked sympathetically at the angle of his neck and shook him awake.
“Oh, hey, man,” Mark said groggily, rubbing at his neck. He looked around. “Sorry, I should have got out of here last night.”
“Nah, man, it's cool,” I said, shaking my head. “I wasn't back until late, anyway.”
“Oh?” Mark asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively at me. “Good night, then?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Let's go get breakfast,” I suggested. “My treat, for making you camp out on the couch last night. I could use some hash browns in my life, though.”
“Mmm, yeah, hash browns sound really good,” Mark said, nodding at me. “Let's go. I know just the place.”
I picked at my napkin as we sat across from one another in the diner. “Things went well,” I finally admitted. “That barbecue place was incredible. I should have taken her there in the first place. And we had some piña coladas and…” I shrugged. “And then we ended up back at her place.”
“Yeah, man!” Mark said, holding up his hand for a high five.
I high-fived him, but I chewed on my lower lip, feeling uncertain about the whole thing. “I think maybe I should have waited,” I admitted.
Mark laughed. “Would you ever give a girl five dates back in New York?” he asked.
“No, of course not,” I said, laughing a little. “I don't even date girls back in New York. I pick up girls and take them home from wherever we are. I can't even think of when the last time was that I bought dinner for a girl.”
“So, see?” Mark said, shrugging a little. “You bagged her. And now it's on to the next girl, right?”
I sighed. “That's the thing,” I said, chewing on my lip again. I shook my head. “This is totally not the way that I operate, right? But for some reason, I want to see her again.”
Mark raised both eyebrows at me. “She was that good, eh?” he asked. He snorted. “I bet, with the amount of time it's probably been since anyone gave her five dates, that her pussy is as tight as a fucking vice.”
I shook my head. “It's not even that,” I said. “She was great in bed, but it wasn't about that. She just leaves me wanting in ways that I don't even know how to explain. No girl has ever managed to string me along like this before.”
Mark laughed. “Oh wow,” he said. “Those Hawaiian girls, huh?”
“How did things go for you last night?” I asked suddenly, surprisingly curious. Mark was just my driver; it wasn't like we were friends or anything. Once I left Hawaii, I doubted I would ever hear from him again.
“Yeah,” Mark said, grimacing. “It was shit. I don't even think she believed that I was staying at the Golden Palm. Nothing happened. Wasted chance.” He shrugged. “Bitches.”
“Ouch,” I said, shaking my head. “Sorry to hear that, man.” And the surprising thing was, I genuinely was sorry to hear that. I'd have to think further on that one at some point.
For now, I raised a glass to him and took a drink.
“But seriously, no deflection,” Mark said, grinning at me as though he knew exactly what I had been up to with asking about his own conquests. “You like this girl, right?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I guess so,” I admitted. “I wouldn't say I like her so much as I'm intrigued by her. She isn't like other girls.”
“I can try to find out more information for you if you want,” Mark offered. “She's a local girl; there must be some good dirt on her somewhere on this island.” He shrugged. “I don't know most of the people in her circle of friends, but I think one of my good girlfriends is friends with Gretchen's friend Mina, who runs the shop next door to her. I can put out some questions.”
I shook my head. “Nah, man,” I said. “The thing is, the night didn't end that well. We had sex, and then she kicked me out.” I laughed a little. “I'm used to being the one ushering the girls out, but not this time.”
“Oh, man,” Mark said, shaking his head as well. “You must have fucked it up.”
“I don't even know what I did wrong,” I told him. “I just treated her like she was any other girl. I don't know what the problem was. She definitely orgasmed, so it's not like-” I broke off, suddenly realizing that I was sharing all of these details with a guy who I barely knew. I wasn't usually like this. It wasn't like I needed Mark's advice or anything like that. It might be nice to have him look into her whole story since she was maddeningly closed-mouthed about all of it and since he was just another dude there on the island.
“Hey man, chill,” Mark said, holding up both his hands. “I get that. But you're Christian Wall. She's probably just playing with you, trying to make sure that you take her out again. I've got some recommendations, and she is going to be putty in your hands.”
I grinned at him. “That's good,” I said, taking a decisive bite out of my food. I didn't know what my thing was with her, but it was good to think that I probably could fix things with her. And despite Mark's inexperience, I trusted him to lead me straight. He did know the local girls, after all.
Even if we weren't friends, I had to trust that.
Speaking of friends, I was surprised to see Paul calling me as I walked back to the resort an hour later, full of the best breakfast I'd had in a while. I smiled a little to myself and picked up the call.
“Hey man, how are things going?” I asked him.
“They've been good,” Paul said, sounding contented. “How are things going with you?”
“Really good,” I admitted. I shook my head, kicking some sand off the edge of my balcony. “I mean, like, really good.”
“Still in Hawaii?”
“Yeah, I might stay here until I'm ready to come back home,” I told him. “It's beautiful here, and the girls are just gorgeous.”
Paul laughed. “Yeah, I bet it's a lot nicer than New York City is now.”
“Oh, definitely,” I said, nodding. “Less girls to run through.”
“I'm sure you'll manage,” Paul said dryly.
“Yeah.” For a moment, I considered telling him about Gretchen, but I wasn't sure how to bring her into the conversation. “So, how's the business been, anyway? You guys miss me yet?”
“Of course, we're missing you,” Paul said, but from the hesitant way that he said it, I couldn't believe it. “Our stocks have been up again since you gave your apology, so that's been good. And we're getting quite a few commissions for different projects around the world.”
“You're realizing that you don't need me,” I said flatly. It wasn't a question.
Paul sighed. “Christian,” he said. “We miss you. We could use your good head with the media. Press conferences are just flat without you.”
“You don't need me,” I repeated, more insistently this time.
“If you're asking if you can stay another couple of months in Hawaii-”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. I flopped back on my bed, sighing heavily. “Paulie, I knew this was going to happen. You can't just walk away from your business for a few months and expect that there will still be a place waiting for you when you get back.”
“There's always going to be a place waiting here for you,” Paul said quietly. “You don't have to worry about that. Unless you don't want there to be a place for you,” Paul said cautiously. “I know you love this job, Christian, and trust me, we could definitely use you around here. But at the same time, I think everyone would understand if you decided you just wanted to stay there in Hawaii.”
I blinked, wondering at his words. When I thought about it, it felt right.
“That's impossible,” I said, shaking my head to get rid of those thoughts.
“Is it?” Paul asked, his voice still gentle, as though he were afraid of scaring me. “Christian, you have enough money already, and if you sold your stocks as well? You could-”
“You don't mean for me to come back,” I said flatly.
“It's me that you're talking to,” Paul said, sounding impatient. “Christian, if this was coming from one of the other owners, sure, maybe they would be looking for excuses to get rid of you. But give me a little bit of credit here.”
I swallowed hard. “Yeah,” I said, feeling a bit choked. “Yeah, I know. Sorry.”
“There's a girl, isn't there?” Paul asked, sounding almost curious.
I sighed. “Is it that obvious?”
“Nothing else has ever been able to hold your attention,” Paul said sagely. “So, what, she won't put out for you?”
“She did, but it’s more than that.” I tried to explain.
“Oh,” Paul said. “Oh. Wow.”
“Fuck off,” I said half-heartedly. We'd been friends for long enough that he knew exactly what that meant. “It's not like I'm getting married or anything. I'm going to come back to New York once January comes around, anyway. Nothing's ever going to happen between us, not in a long-term sense. She's just fun. You told me to get it all out of my system, right?”
“Yeah,” Paul said. “And that's good, Christian. I'm happy for you.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You make it sound like I'm dying,” I told him.
“Maybe you are,” Paul said, a devilish note to his voice that came through clear despite the shitty reception. “I've never heard you give a shit about anyone before.”
“I give a shit about you,” I protested.
“A female, then,” Paul amended. There was a pause. “I'm happy for you, kid. Even if it is just a bit of fun.”
I rolled my eyes. “Even though you're all married and having children and whatever, I'm not a kid,” I said.
There was laughter on the other end of the line, and our conversation quickly turned to other, less serious matters.