Author's note: Hey friends, I decided to completely revise this first chapter, it needed a lot more depth and since it was my first submission, I was just testing the waters. Please re-read it and leave me comments! I have really been enjoying working on this series.
"Tell me everything you need now, anything at all..." Soft vocals drifted through the house, she could hear it from where she sat at the table. No matter what, she always seemed to come back to these Lifehouse songs. Laney sighed, pushing the bottle away from and watching it slowly roll back, hitting her curled fingers. The incline of the table had led to a boring game for the last half hour. She looked down at her feet at the large black dog that was serving as a foot-warmer, at the moment. "Poor Rexie, he's so bored," she cooed softly, smiling at the answering
thump, thump
of his tail on the floor. The house was immaculately cleaned, everything was taken care of, and she was bored out of her mind. Most people at her job worked every day, but she took a few days off a month to work on her thesis. Getting her bachelor's is what had brought her to the island in the first place, but once she'd gotten it, she couldn't seem to stop. After achieving her master's, she'd plunged head-first into her doctorate thesis. And it was kicking her ass.
Finally standing up from the table, she let the bottle hit the floor as she moved into the living room, looking for her cat. No doubt he was asleep on top of the bookshelf. She called, softly, staring up at a short silver and black tail. "Tugger, come down here, Tugger." She heard some shuffling and a large silver head appeared over the edge of the shelf. She smiled to herself as he languidly stretched, moving to drop down onto the papasan chair, and then walk over to her slowly, as if he had all the time in the world and she was blessed at his acknowledgement. Sighing, she scooped up the large Bengal cat and cuddled him into her lap as she sat down. His beautiful spotted body gave the appearance of a wild animal, but she knew better than that. Rum Tum Tugger was just a big love bug, but that made for some less lonely days. Rex still lay at his spot on the floor of the kitchen, enjoying his nap, but she could tell his eyes were watching her. Bored, and noticing the gorgeous sun outside, she stood, picking up a leash. Rex was on his feet in a second, Tugger looking at both of them disdainfully. She clipped the leash onto the dog's leather collar, and bounded out into the sun, determined not to sit around all day. When she sat around, too many things started to try to flood back in. Things that she didn't want to remember.
*******
She was a goddess, or maybe a siren from the sea, meant to draw men to their deaths. But lying there, naked, in the sand, she was all his. Her body was tanned, perfectly, without the slightest tint of orange. He moved over her, covering her with his form as he stole a kiss from her parted lips, trailing lingering, desiring nips across her jawbones and down her throat, moving between her breasts. He took a nipple into his mouth, working restlessly against it as she moaned and pressed her body against his in desire. He teased it to a painful stiffness, and then moved to the other one, biting gently but not enough to bruise. Her blue eyes were full of hunger, heavy and half-lidded. He lowered himself down onto her body again, positioning his aching member against her entrance, and....
Woke up. Again. Jack allowed a noise of frustration to leave his lips, throwing the sheets off to help cool the sweat from his aroused body. He glared down at his erection, seeing it glaring right back at him. Every night, for the past few months, he'd been dreaming about the same girl. He'd always move to at last join their bodies together, and he'd always wake up as he was about to enter. Glaring at the clock, which glared back in angry red numbers, he saw he still had some time before he needed to leave to get to work. Subconsciously, his hand dropped down, hoping to ease the aching arousal. He closed his hand in a familiar fashion, pumping up and down slowly at first, thinking of his blond temptress on the beach. So aroused already, he was soon moving faster and faster, feeling that familiar clench that told him he was almost there. Finally, long spurts of seed shot out, and he shuddered, not relenting until he had drained all he could. Jack sighed, relaxing back into the sheets, sweating even more. Wiping himself off with a towel that had been left on the floor last night, he closed his eyes, disappointed to find he felt even more aroused. It just wasn't the same as getting to feel her...a girl he'd never seen or met, and probably never would.
*******
Working had done nothing to ease the unease that Jack had felt all day. He'd never liked working. At least, not in a fish market, stocking fish and smelling like shark had puked on him. On the island, catching fish to sell at the market was a respectable position, but the adrenaline, the challenge, the unknown, these were the things that were lacking.
Anyone could do this
, he thought, throwing another tuna onto the ice pile.
God, I'd rather be surfing right now.
Now that was a job he could get into. Too bad the pros were so difficult to break into, because honestly, it was the only thing he knew how to do, and the only thing he was good at. Great at, really. The fact that he was the best on the island didn't really mean much; no scouts came to Galveston to find professionals. The waves were hardly high enough to warrant decent surf, anyways. Back in Australia, when he'd had the chance to actually do something with his life, he might have made it all the way. But sitting here, throwing fish, those days seemed long gone. Jack turned to stare at the clock, wishing closing time would come so he could get down to the beach, forget his life for a few hours, and tune out the girl that continued to haunt him.
*******
Laney never planned on ending up at the beach, but it's where Rex always wanted to go, so here they were. They'd spent the entire day exploring the island, Rex delighting in the waves that crashed against him on the beach, and meanwhile Laney tried to find good specimens of seashells for her latest project. Truthfully, she had too many things going on to keep up such projects, but she found she would go crazy without something fun that she did just for herself. Not that her job wasn't fun, but still. She'd meandered down to her favorite private beach, opting just for a bikini top and little mesh shorts, accented with her favorite hot pink tennis shoes. Laney hadn't been much on fashion, but she hated running in heavy cotton clothes, and the outfit she usually jogged in let her run right in the surf with Rex, which was where he really wanted to be. The best thing about the private beaches on the island was the most obvious, no tourists. The locals usually came to this place, though, because of the great swell. A few surfers were out there now, getting some great waves. She stopped to watch, amazed by the grace they had. She did her fair share of surfing, but these guys were the true talents. She was drawn to one in particular, and though he was far out, he was definitely close enough to appreciate how handsome he really was.
Maybe not just handsome, either. This guy was drop-dead gorgeous. At least, to her. She'd had the most particular taste when it came to men, and most women didn't feel the same.
Still, you'd have to be blind to not appreciate those washboard abs
, she thought to herself. She watched the grace he exhibited as he rode a wave in, and she gasped a little, getting a closer look at his features. Like all locals, he was tanned from spending time at the beach, and his hair had been sun-bleached a little, but was still a light brown that hung as if he had no energy to cut it, but wasn't so long that he looked like a slob. She couldn't see the color of his eyes from where she was, but she had the feeling they'd have the same determined look in them she was seeing in his surfing. His jawbone was strong, masculine, and there was no facial hair to be seen, completely clean-cut. His body was long and sinewy, and she could tell he spent a lot of time out on the waves, to have such a form. His cheekbones weren't pronounced, but were average, and there was nothing in particular about him that was fascinating, except when she watched him surf. She felt the grace and power that he displayed as he took on the waves, and felt herself moving in time to him, even though he was out on the water and she was at the beach. She could see a red mark, faintly, on the side of his left ribcage, and she was curious how he'd gotten such a scar, in such a perfect circle. Laney watched, breath taken, as he nailed a fantastic wave and rode it in, hopping off his board as it beached and undoing the leash, then running up the beach, towards where she was standing.
