Page 34 of Taming Waves

“Thank you.”

I set mine on the ledge and pull my sweater over my head. I drop it into a lounge chair and tug my leggings down to reveal the black bikini underneath.

I hurry to the edge of the hot tub, and Parker offers me his hand. I grab it, and he helps me up the slippery steps.

I moan as I settle down into the bubbly warmth. The jets against my back feel like heaven.

“You getting in, handsome?” Amiya asks.

Parker’s eyes are on me as he answers, “In a minute. I need to change. Do you ladies need anything first?”

“I think we’re all set,” Amiya replies.

He walks back inside, passing Heather as she comes out to join us, and Avie grins at me.

“You’ve got that man all kinds of twisted up.”

“I’m not doing anything to him.”

“Maybe you should,” Amiya suggests, wagging her eyebrows.

“That’s what I’m saying,” Heather says as she climbs in beside me. “Take him for a spin.”

“He’s not a car,” I say.

“You know what I mean.”

“What am I missing? Why wouldn’t you want Parker? He’s a great guy. Single, funny, sexy,” Amiya asks.

“They were high school sweethearts. He broke her heart back then, and she’s not over it,” Heather shares.

“Yes, I am. And there’s more to it than that, and you know it.”

“Like what?”

I look back at Amiya. “He ghosted me. I thought we were in love, but he disappeared in the middle of the night without even leaving a fucking note. I cried myself to sleep for months. I never heard another word from him until he walked into Whiskey Joe’s one night five years later and acted as if nothing had happened.”

“And you’re still pissed,” Amiya surmises.

“And I’m still pissed.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Parker I know, but I don’t blame you. I’d be pissed too.”

“I don’t blame her either. That’s why I think she should take him for a spin. He was the one she gave her virginity to. Think about how much better you’ve gotten in bed since then. I’d love a chance to have hot, sweaty sex with my first one more time. If for no other reason than to show him how damn good I’ve gotten at it,” Heather says.

“She’s has a point. I’d love the chance to sleep with the guy I gave my cherry to again. I’d rock his world,” Avie says.

“Bitch, you are a happily married woman,” Amiya says, then looks at me. “But you should totally do that. Then, you could ghost him.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” I say as I take a sip of my cocktail.

“Afraid you’ll catch feelings?” Amiya asks.

“Or maybe she never stopped carrying a torch for him,” Heather accuses.

“Trust me, any torch I carried for Parker Alston burned out a long time ago,” I insist.

“Torches can be reignited easily enough. All you need is a spark,” Avie says as Parker reemerges, wearing nothing but his swim trunks and a sexy smile. His eyes bore into mine.

---