You can't ask for a better day when you're finally in a warm atmosphere with a clear-blue cloudless sky and a hot summer sun shining brightly over the hot babes smelling like cocoa butter and coconuts, and a hint of Jasmine as they swim, walk around the pool, or lay in their chairs tanning in their skimpy bikinis.

As I lay back in my chair, I sipped on my Mauby and studied the women around us, curious to see who'd be worth my time. I looked to see which ones came with their man, partner, friends, or a woman who came to the resort alone, which I have a hard time seeing at such a beautiful place like this.

"See anyone worth talking to?" Jacob, my friend since high school, asked.

"A couple of women caught my eye, but I'm still looking to see which are worth talking with."

Jacob pointed at a woman wearing a dental-floss-looking bikini. "What about that woman in that hot-pink bikini? She's hot as fuck."

"And taken. I already checked that woman out." I nudged my chin over to the tiki bar. "Her man is over there, grabbing the coconut drinks off the bar."

"I don't know why you didn't bring Samantha with you. She was worth bringing here and to Camden's wedding. She's smoking hot."

"All she wanted from me was my dick. When she had enough, she left. Just like all the other women I've met and taken to bed."

Jacob shook his head. "I don't get it. You're a multi-millionaire. Well-known worldwide. And all the women you meet only want one-night stands. What's wrong with them?"

Actually, I have no problem with the women only wanting my cock and then saying Sayonara when they had enough of it.

"It's because they don't like that I'm not in the same city for more than a few days. So they get what they want from me and then leave, which is okay with me. I don't have to worry about being tied down. And I don't have to worry about them prowling around when I'm on the road. So it works out best for all of us."

"I really thought Samantha would finally be the one you wouldn't let get away. Out of all the women you've taken out, she was the one who lasted more than one night and a week."

Yeah, well, once I told her what I did for a living, she was gone in a flash.

Just like the rest of them had done...

"You know, Camden's fiancée will be bummed once she sees you at their wedding solo. She made a comment that she's sick of always trying to play matchmaker for you. So, I suggest you hurry up and find a woman willing to go to the wedding with you so we don't have to hear her complain."

I'm not here to please her. I'm only here to watch my best friend marry the love of his life. All while relaxing in the sun while vacationing during my time away from the ice.

While finishing the last of my drink, Jacob smacked my arm, then pointed, saying, "Check out that hottie. She's alone, dragging her luggage behind her, heading toward the huts."

I set my empty drink on the table beside me. "Those huts are for honeymooners, you idiot. "

He sat taller and looked around before saying, "I don't see any man following her. Maybe she rented it just because."

I chuckled, standing. "I doubt it." I pointed at his empty glass. "I'm grabbing myself another drink. Do you want another?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

While heading to the tiki bar, I couldn't help but focus on the brunette walking down to the huts. Curious to see which one was hers, I stopped to watch. I also waited to see who was with her. When I saw her enter her hut and no one followed her in, I ordered Jacob and my drinks and then headed back to my chair with hopes the brunette would come out and enjoy her time at the pool.

"Clarissa just messaged me, wondering how much longer we'll be at the pool. I guess they're all ready to go snorkeling."

"You can go. I think I'll stay behind and continue getting my half-naked women fix for the day."

Jacob laughed. "You're waiting for the brunette to come out and play, aren't you?"

Playing dumb, I asked, "Which brunette?"

"The one who went into that honeymooner's hut. The same woman you watched the entire time you were heading to the bar. The same one you assume is married because of where she's staying."

I shrugged. "So what if I am? I've had a few drinks, anyway. You're only drinking coconut water," I chuckled. "So, there'll be no snorkeling for me."

"So what should I tell our friends when they ask why you're not going?"

"Tell them I'm being me—that I'm putting my charm on the ladies," I suggested, grinning. They'd believe him.

I would've gone snorkeling with my friends. But now that I finally have time off from spending my days on the ice, swinging at those little black pucks, sweating my ass off, and doing daily strength training every damn day. I need a break—a day to relax and soak in some rays while enjoying gazing at the half-naked gorgeous babes strutting their beautiful bodies around me.

During my off-season, it seems like all I do is what I do during in-season—train, eat right, sleep a lot, and continue being a public figure. So, five days a week, I spend more than two hours of my time at the gym, on top of the three days a week of ice session training. As well as being a role model everywhere I go.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being a public figure, and I love setting good examples for the kids, ensuring they can achieve any dream they'd like to accomplish, such as I have. It's also been an honor doing it. But I need time to sit back and relax, especially since I took a week off, hoping to do just that. So if I can find a woman who'd like to enjoy hanging out with me for a week, then that's what I'll stay behind to do.

For over two hours, I sat on the lounging chair, focusing on the hut, waiting for little Miss Brunette to come out and to see if someone else was accompanying her, but I saw nothing.

After not seeing any activity from her hut and not finding any other woman worth talking to, I returned to my room to nap.

Eventually, the brunette and I will cross paths.

***

My phone repeatedly ringing interrupted my nap. And when my phone beeped with my message sound, I knew it was one of my friends trying to reach me. So, I reached over to the nightstand, grabbed my phone, and looked to see which bonehead friend of mine was trying to annoy me.

Camden: We're back from snorkeling. If you're done chasing women and up for having a drink with us, we're inside the hotel's bar having some cocktails.

Camden's message didn't get me moving, but reading Jacob's message sure got me springing to life.

Jacob: We're at the hotel bar, and that hot brunette babe you thought was on her honeymoon is here. And... she's alone. And she's even hotter than Samantha. She's scorching hot!

Instead of responding to Camden, I messaged Jacob.

Me: Hotter than Samantha? If that's true, are you sure she's alone?

Every hot chic I've met that's more gorgeous than Samantha are already claimed. So, it makes me believe she's also off the market.

Jacob: Definitely.

Jacob: Don't tell Clarissa this, but I'd be all over her if she and I weren't a thing. The woman is the most beautiful brunette, doe-eyed, ravishing beauty queen I've ever seen.

If that's the case, I better see for myself.

Me: I'll be down shortly.

I jumped to my feet, threw my phone on the bed, took the fastest shower I'd ever taken, then cologned up—smelling my best, hoping to drive this supposedly single woman crazy, where she couldn't get enough of me.

Hopefully, Jacob isn't messing with me, trying to see how fast it'll take me to meet them at the bar. I know how they are. I'm sure they all have money in the center of the table, betting on how long it'll take me to get to them. So when I get down there and see that woman isn't there, Jacob will wish he never messed with me.

When I entered the bar and saw my friends sitting around a table, smiling, laughing, and having a good old time, I headed over to them while scanning the bar area, looking for this supposedly scorching hot woman. Only, I didn't see her, and I instantly wondered if they were toying with me, especially when I saw Camden's fiancée smacking Jacob's arm and pointing at me.

Seeing hundred-dollar bills where I assumed they'd be—in the center of the table, I reached and grabbed and then held the money in the air, saying, "So. Who won the bet?"

They all bellowed in laughter, then picked up their phones and looked at the time.

Emma, Camden's fiancée, stood and reached across the table, trying to grab the money from my hand. I quickly pulled my arm back, not allowing her to seize the money. "That'll be mine," she proudly said. "Now give it to me," she demanded, extending her hand toward the money.

I laughed.

"Before I hand it over, I want to know what everyone's times were."

Jacob laughed, then filled me in. "I said twenty minutes. Camden figured it would've been seventeen minutes. Clarissa's was twenty-five minutes. Emma thought fourteen minutes. Danica was adamant it would've been twenty-two minutes. Alex said five minutes. And Aubry was extremely adamant it would take you only two minutes."

I looked at Aubry, grinning. "You would've been right. But I showered before coming down."

I held the seven hundred dollars in front of Emma's face, and as she proudly and happily snatched it from my hand, she sang, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now it looks like you're buying us all drinks for the rest of the night," I teased, then looked to my left and shoved Jacob, asking, "So, where is she?"

He turned around, jutting his chin at the bar. "She's right over there, her hair tied into a cinnamon roll. She's also wearing that sparkly black dress, sitting between those two dudes."

"And they're not with her?"

"Nope." He looked at me, grinning evilly. "I think they're working their mojo on her, but she isn't having it."

Since there wasn't any room for me to squeeze in at the bar, I grabbed a chair and set it next to Aubry, wanting a better view of the brunette. Once a seat opens beside her, I'm high-tailing it over to her and fighting whoever else tries sitting next to her.

"Would you care for anything to drink?" a waitress asked me.

I removed a hundred-dollar bill from my wallet and handed it to the waitress. "Yeah, get my friends here, whatever they're drinking, and I'll take a glass of water for now."

Camden's brows quickly drew together. "Water? What's wrong with you? You can finally let your hair down and choose to drink water?"

"Yes, water. I don't want to be slurring my words when I finally talk to a certain woman I've had my eyes on since she walked past Jacob and me earlier."

My friends laughed loudly.

I frowned. "What's so funny?"

"Since when have you cared if you talked to a woman after a few drinks? It's never stopped you before," Camden reminded.

I flashed my not-so-perfect whites as I smiled. "There's always a first time for everything, right?"

I noticed the guy to the right of the woman shoving his empty glass to the edge of the bar while standing, so I stood fast. Not wanting to lose the seat to another man, I hurried over, and like an anxious child wanting to sit beside their mother, I shoved my way in and immediately sat, not caring if the guy was leaving to use the restroom.

Whether he likes it or not, it's my chair now.

While waiting for the bartender to tend to me, I looked out from the corner of my eye to get a view of the woman I was dying to lock eyes with. When my eyes lowered, and I saw one of her breasts playing peek-a-boo from her dress, I gulped from the gorgeous view.

I think there might have been a delighted groan that followed, also.

After getting a sneak peek of her breasts, my eyes bounced back up to her face, but when I saw her knocking back her drink and looking at me from the corner of her eye, I quickly looked away.

Now I know why she was eyeing me. The bartender stood across from me, waiting for me to answer him. "Are you ordering a drink, sir?" he asked.

"Ah, yeah. I'll take one of those Maubys." Seeing the woman beside me had finished her drink, I flashed my thumb her way, adding, "And if she'd like another drink, I'll buy her one as well."

Thinking she was heading out, I became nervous when I saw the woman set her empty glass down and shove it at the bar's edge. But then she said, "I'll take another one of these Piña Coladas." She looked at me quietly and politely, saying, "Thank you."

Score!

"You're welcome," I replied, holding my eyes on hers, not wanting to get busted from them checking out her breasts.

Jacob was right. She's got beautiful doe eyes—large, gentle, seductive, and innocent, dark-colored eyes. And she has such an angelic face that my heart skipped a beat for the first time ever.

Then, curious to see if her left hand presented a sacred union since she was staying in a honeymoon hut, I looked, then turned to the bartender when he handed us our drinks.

"Thank you," I told him, picking up my drink, then turning to her and asking the one question I've wanted to know since seeing her heading to her hut, not caring it sounded corny. "Are you here alone?"

She didn't answer.

So, I bit my bottom lip as I studied her face, trying to figure out her story. "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."

Holding the straw at her lips, she said, "It's okay; there's no reason to be sorry."

Is this another score?

Do I need to find a referee to replay the play?

I needed no replay; she finally answered, which gave me another score. "Yes, I'm here alone."

Hmm...

As I sipped my drink, I wondered what I'd ask her next. Then, while lowering my glass to the bar, instead of asking another question, I hoped to get the answer I wanted when I said, "Your husband must be nuts or pretty trusting to allow you to sit at the bar by yourself, wearing an outfit like that." Hopefully, it didn't come out sounding like I was an asshole.

She breathed a laugh.

If I knew better, it sounded like she was mocking my assumption of her having a husband.

Looking at her drink, she quietly responded, "That's something I don't have to worry about."

I cocked my head to the side and looked at my friends' table, returning the grin after seeing them all watching me, smiling, and throwing money in the center of the table again.

They're making bets again.

My eyes returned to her. Wondering if I could get another score and make it a hat trick by asking as many questions as possible to get her to talk more and to get the score I needed since my friends were making another bet about me, I said, "So, no husband." Then I got bolder when I asked, "Are you here with your boyfriend? Girlfriend? Wife? Or are you here with your friends?"

The corner of her mouth lifted into a side smirk. Then she giggled, shaking her head before telling me, "No husband. No boyfriend. No girlfriend. No wife. And no, I'm not here with friends. I'm here alone," she admitted, finally giving me a better view of her gorgeous face when she looked at me.

I got the hat trick. Now, can I get the haul?

I lifted my drink off the bar, then brought it over, holding it in front of her. "My name's Gareth. And you are?"

She brought her drink to mine, clinked her glass against it, and greeted me with a smile, "It's nice to meet you, Gareth. I'm Kinsley. Thank you for the drink. But to be honest with you, I'm not here trying to meet anyone, or looking to have a fornication vacation, or have my heart broken—it's been shattered enough."

"That's good to know," I responded. I winked and said, "It's nice to meet you, Kinsley. But I should also tell you I'm not here looking to break or shatter a woman's heart. I'm only here taking a break from reality while vacationing with my friends over there," I said, aiming my thumb at the table behind me, "the group throwing money in the center of the table, thinking I'm trying to score a night with a hot babe," I admitted. "That's not why I bought you a drink, though. I only came over to see who the woman was wearing the eye-catching black dress, looking somber as she sipped on her Piña Colada, and to say hello."

"Hello," she said, showing a beautiful smile, her lips also expressing something was bothering her.

Hopefully, she's okay with my trying to talk to her.

I didn't want to leave her side, but I also didn't want to push it, ruining any chances of her letting me get to know her. So I let out a breath, looked at my friends, then at her, saying, "Well, it was very nice meeting you, Kinsley. But I should return to my friends before they think I've abandoned them. If you feel like having someone to talk to, you're more than welcome to come over and join us."

"Or you could stay here and continue talking to me. Maybe you could get your friends to make more bets to see if you can get the girl," she surprisingly offered, making me smile.

Yes!!

I scored again!

I got the haul and the glut, but will I be lucky enough to get a double hat trick now?

"Are you going to try taking advantage of me?" I teased.

Finally, an actual, genuine laugh left her lips. "No. I won't try taking advantage of you. Just promise that's what you wouldn't do to me."

I raised my hand, giving her the scouts honor by showing her three fingers. "I promise."

"Okay, then stay. Since entering the bar. Every guy who's come over and sat next to me has given me the creeps."

"Well, we can't have that. So, if that's what you want, then I'll stay. Just don't keep me out until after midnight." I leaned to her, smiling and saying, "Then I'll turn into a pumpkin."

🤞🤞 I hope you enjoyed the chapter!! 🤞🤞