Chica Bella (2 page)

“Oh! Well, then, please enjoy your stay.”

“
Gracias
.”

He swung his duffel bag over his shoulder and walked through the huge expanse of lobby, grabbing another beer from a passing tray.

The lobby let out to a big courtyard littered with tables and chairs surrounded by restaurants and a gift shop. He made his way through the throngs of people in the courtyard and hung a left down a crowded path sandwiched with palm trees and green grass, and fell in step with the flow of people. As he passed the upper pool, he saw that the party was in full swing even though it was only two in the afternoon. He noticed a couple of people who were going to be really sorry they had foregone the suntan lotion. The carefree laughter that wafted through the air was almost a foreign sound, but somewhat familiar, like a long ago memory.

The hotel buildings, stretching three stories tall, sat back from the path, each room brandishing a terrace. He let his gaze wander up and down the buildings, taking in the older man lounging on his balcony reading a book, and the younger men a couple balconies over who sucked down bottles of beer while checking out the scantily clad women walking the path. The woman a few doors down from the younger men was curled up on her lounge chair puffing on a cigarette. The rooms looked as if they were pretty quiet, and Landon guessed everyone was out on the beach, down at the pool, or visiting downtown Cabo.

Finally reaching his building, he hesitated. If he continued in this direction, he would run into the pool and the stairs leading to the beach. He wanted to get to his room and crash into bed, but he also needed to check out the pool.

Deciding his exhaustion could wait, he traveled down the path to the pool area, gazing around carefully. Every lounge chair had either a body or a towel on it, and the swim-up pool bar was full, people waiting for drinks standing three deep. He noticed all the bare skin and skimpy bikinis, and he appreciated it. However, he didn’t see what he wanted, what he was seeking.

He turned and walked back up the path, recalling the first time he had laid eyes on that one special woman, and their subsequent date, which happened to coincide with his initial trip to Cabo after a deployment. He had picked the vacation spot at random by closing his eyes and stabbing a pencil at a map. Upon arrival, he decided that he would drink as much as possible and screw as many girls as would let him. Three years ago, Landon had been a rough-around-the-edges playboy SEAL. Off duty, he had nowhere to be, no one to answer to, and he hadn’t cared about either.

Landon recalled that afternoon as if it were yesterday. After arriving late the prior night, early in the next morning, he had sunk into a lounge chair facing the ocean. The sun warmed his skin, and he fell into a light sleep. Suddenly, the sun was shadowed, and he opened his eyes to take a chunk out of who or whatever was blocking it. Maya had stood there, a small smile on her face, and asked if he would like a drink.

She simply took his breath away and left him speechless. Her long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and those big brown eyes sparkled as if she were highly amused by something. She carried a small tray with one arm, the other poised above the tray with a pen in hand ready to take his order.

He took off his glasses, because he couldn’t believe there was a human alive so beautiful, and he briefly wondered if he had died and somehow ended up in heaven.

“Would you care for something to drink, sir?”

He couldn’t stop staring at her.

“Sir?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll have a drink. How about a Bud?”

She made a note on the piece of paper on her tray and moved to the next chair.

Landon watched her take about ten orders and go to the bar, which was behind him. He stood so he could look at her.

When her tray was full, she came toward him and smiled. “Here’s your beer, sir.”

“Landon,” he had said, taking the beer she offered.

“Excuse me?”

“My name’s Landon. I’m no ‘sir.’” He gave her his best grin.

She nodded. “Very well, Landon.” Then she had moved on to the next person who ordered a drink.

Landon stared at her, swallowing the beer down in one long gulp. He had gone over to her and handed her the glass. “I’d like another one, please.”

She looked up at him, and the air left his chest. “Of course,” she said.

“What’s your name?”

“Maya.” She tried to get around him. “And I need to get to work, so
por favor
, excuse me.”

“Come back with my beer soon, Maya.” She met his eyes again, and his heart beat in double time.

“Of course, sir.” She smiled. “I mean, Landon.”

And so it had gone. He ordered beer after beer, drinking every second one. The rest he kept under his lounge chair. When she brought the beer to him, he would pepper her with personal questions—anything he could think of. At the end of her shift he asked her to go to dinner with him.

“I don’t think so,” Maya said.

“Why not?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know you. I know your name is Landon, and you like beer, but that’s about it.”

“Well then, you need to come to dinner to find out more about me. I’m a fascinating guy.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “You think so?”

“I’m hoping you’ll think so.” He remembered he hadn’t ever wanted anyone to say yes to a date more.

She had studied him for another moment, and looked him up and down. “Very well, Landon, I will have dinner with you.”

Coming back to the present, he turned the corner to the hallway leading to his room. He went to the elevator and waited. Going up the seven floors of stairs wouldn’t have been a challenge for him, but he was simply too tired.

The elevator arrived, and he rode it to the top floor. His boots echoed on the tiled hallway as he made his way to his room. Once there, he stuck his key in the door and stepped inside.

The furnishings were exactly as he had remembered, and that made him smile.

The warm, brown wood floors gleamed with a high shine. The king-sized bed was covered in a chocolate brown and white comforter and held half a dozen big, thick pillows. To his right was a small bar with bottles of tequila, rum, and vodka. Below them sat a small refrigerator filled with sodas, beer, and water. He grabbed a beer and went to the sliding glass door that led to the balcony and stepped out. Right away, he was wrapped in the warm ocean breeze, its slight briny smell channeling up his nose. He inhaled deeply, feeling the cleansing begin.

Moving out onto the balcony, he went to the railing and leaned on his elbows, closing his eyes. Yes, it was renewing coming here. Cabo was a place of incredible beauty, a place where he was able to forget his duties as a Navy SEAL, forget about the missions he had been on, the people who wanted to kill him, and those he had killed. It was a place where he could let go of being a highly trained specialist, and focus on just being a man. He inhaled again and let the mellow relaxation that Cabo San Lucas brought him seep into his bones.

After a moment he went back into the room, not bothering to close the door or the curtains. He stripped off his clothes and padded into the bathroom.

After spending a half hour in the shower, he stepped out and wrapped a white towel around his waist and examined his reflection. Damn, he looked bad. Tired. Really fucking tired. The scar on left shoulder from the bullet he had taken two years ago was finally beginning to fade, but the ache inside it had left seemed to be getting worse. On his left pectoral was a tattoo of the Navy SEAL Trident, a golden eagle clutching a U.S. Navy anchor, trident, and flintlock style pistol. The right side of his chest had small scars from some shrapnel he had caught a few months back. The tattoo on his right shoulder was simply a skull and bones.

He ran his hand down his muscled chest and flat stomach. He felt as if he were thirty-five going on seventy.

Walking back to the bedroom, he stopped at the bar and downed a shot of tequila. Flipping off the towel off and leaving it where it landed, he pulled back the covers and crawled in between the crisp, white sheets.

Heaven.

Letting out a groan of appreciation, he closed his eyes and slammed into sleep.

Chapter Three

Maya Gonzalez glanced over the stock in the bar, getting ready to open for the day, and was certain she had everything she needed. The pool area was already packed, and more kids on Spring Break had arrived. Spring Break was both a blessing and a curse. She liked that the hotel was busy and she hauled in more tips, but she hated she had to put up with a bunch of drunks, as well as the sexual propositions the men—no, they were boys—liked to throw her way.

She sighed, and lifted the keg to make sure it was full. It didn’t contain enough beer to last the day, but she wouldn’t have to change the barrel for a few hours.

Looking down, she made sure her white tank top was tucked into her black shorts. She pulled her long, jet-black hair up into a pony tail, and checked her face in the reflection of the stainless steel container where the bottles of liquor were kept. Big brown eyes stared back, her skin smooth and also brown. She hadn’t bothered with any make-up. She would have liked to apply a little mascara and blush, but today was going to be a hard day’s work, and there wasn’t any sense in worrying about running mascara or blush touch-ups that may or may not need to be done. Smiling at herself, she smeared her lips with a balm/sun protectant.

The alarm on her watch went off, letting her know that 11 a.m. had arrived. Time to open for business.

Four hours later, six different boys had propositioned her in some way.
Mierda
, you think they would learn that no meant no, and she didn’t want to have anything to do with them. She wasn’t that much older than they were, but she was a mature twenty-eight years old. She had been working for thirteen years to help her family keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. They weren’t rich by any means, but they were better off than a lot of people. And she definitely knew what her definition of a man consisted of, and these assholes didn’t make the cut. She had trained her brain not to think about the one man that she knew and loved, and hadn’t seen in almost a year.

Four girls were gathered at the bar, giggling and laughing while looking at something over Maya’s shoulder. All were some shade of blonde, all bone thin, and all in the skimpiest of bikinis. They sipped their margaritas, and one ran her tongue over her lips while staring at whatever, or whoever, had her attention.

“What can I get for your girls?” Maya asked, pushing her thoughts aside and concentrating on her job.

“We all want another margarita, and don’t look now, but there’s a guy on the other side of the bar who is just to die for. Big guy with brown hair, wearing a black tank top. Give him a shot of tequila and tell him it’s from us, and then ask him if he would you know, like to come say hey, okay?”

Maya nodded and smiled, but was thinking what a
chica estúpida
this one was. Why wouldn’t she just walk up to the guy and buy him a drink?

She filled up the girls’ glasses and poured out the tequila into a shot glass. Turning, she examined the crowd for the big guy with the brown hair and black tank top, and saw him immediately. He stood in front of her; the tattoo on his chest branding him the warrior he was peeked out from under the tank top. His gaze burned through his sunglasses, and the air left her lungs as though she had been punched in the gut. Joy filled her. He was alive! She wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him, but hot on joy’s heels was anger. She hadn’t heard from him in nine months. The hurt, the worry, the tears all came back to her in a rush.

Taking a deep breath, she walked up to him.

“You’re very popular with the girls over on the other side of the bar,” she said, setting the glass down in front of him.

His mouth lifted in a small smile. “Really?”

“
Si
. They want to know if you want to, you know, like to come say ‘hey.’”

He flipped his glasses to his forehead and tilted his head to look past her. The girls giggled as he lifted the shot and slammed it back, and he gave them a wink.

“Not interested,” he said, losing the smile, his gaze coming back to hers. They matched the sky and the oceans of Cabo. He appeared tired as he always did when he landed on her doorstep like this, but this time it seemed more pronounced. Tired and desperate, as if he were begging for someone to take away the sights and sounds from wherever he had been and replace them with pleasant things.

This was the third time he had come into her life, and she hurt just thinking about when he would leave.

“No?
Por qué
?”
Why
?

“There’s only one girl I’m interested in,” he said in a low voice. She marveled how he could be among throngs of people, yet when he spoke to her she felt as though they were the only two in the universe.

“Hmmm.” She put her hands on her hips as she studied him. “What if this
chica
doesn’t have any interest in you?”

His gaze quickly traveled to her left hand, looking for a wedding band, she guessed. The idea that she could get over him and move on to dating someone else, let alone getting involved with someone that would lead to a ring around her finger was utterly absurd. The thought of doing so rang through her body in a way that was about as pleasant as the stomach flu.

Those searing blue eyes met hers again, but this time they danced and glittered. She had seen him look at her like that before, and suddenly the ocean breeze wasn’t enough to cool her. Flames burst within her, desire pooling in her core.

He gave her a small smile. “Are you seeing someone?” he asked softly. She studied him a moment and shook her head.

“Well then, I would hope the
chica bella
would at least give me a chance.”

Beautiful girl. She blushed, but at the same time the anger and uncertainty rose. She was so torn when it came to him. Give him a chance?
Mierda
, she had handed him nothing but chances. He would stay for a few weeks or months, and one day out of nowhere tell her that he had to leave the next day, or worse, in a few hours. The time he was here was nothing but sheer bliss as they did very little but love one another. Sure, she had to work, but the time with him was always nothing short of magnificent.