Four towels laden with relaxing bodies wearing wet, clinging fabric were arranged in a semi-circle around a bonfire. The sun had begun its descent on the horizon and was sending out its messengers in an array of colors as its final farewell.
Wesley, lying on his stomach between Pamela and Katherine, his chin resting in his cupped hands, elbows pushing his blue-checkered towel into the sand, surreptitiously watched Johnny, who was lighting another cigarette. Grant did the math; that made about ten since his arrival a few hours ago. He didn’t recall Johnny being such a heavy smoker. What was eating him?
Someone touched Johnny’s shoulder—Katherine’s hand caressed it as she looked up at him with a glow in her eyes and laughed at something he was saying. Kate didn’t seem to notice anyone else; having Johnny there was enough to make her happy, Wesley thought jealously. He found himself wishing he was the one next to her, that he was the one she was touching, the one she was smiling up at adoringly. But no, Johnny was the lucky guy.
The soft pattering of running feet, their sound muffled by the deep sand, interrupted his broodings. He followed Katherine’s glance and looked behind him to recognize the fellow from the steam room—Mike Donovan—running along the water, clad only in a pair of short, navy-blue swim trunks. The setting sun with trailing colors of orange and pink lent an extra brilliant glow to his already bronzed skin.
Mike’s head turned as he looked casually towards the group seated in the sand, reminding Wesley of an Olympic runner accepting tribute from an adoring crowd. Donovan’s perfectly paced steps faltered as he recognized Wesley, and a large smile spread across his face. “Hey, Wesley!”
Oh no, Wesley thought, I can never get away from this goon; he raised his hand in a pathetic greeting. “Mike! Didn’t know this was part of your turf.”
Mike trotted effortlessly up the short distance to the group; his gaze rested first on Katherine, then Pamela, his smile growing even bigger at the sight of two beautiful women in swimsuits. “It is now. Needed to get a run in and just started running this way. Must admit I’m pretty stoked to see you though. Wasn’t really looking forward to running the whole way back.”
Pamela’s eyes grew large with obvious wonder and admiration as they took in Mike’s bronze body glistening with perspiration. “You ran all the way from town?”
“Yep.” Mike dropped down to the sand and squished himself between Wesley and Pamela, making himself at home as he reclined on his side, one elbow propped up supporting his weight. “It’s really not all that far.” His free hand swept along in the coastline in a broad gesture. “As the crow flies along the water, it’s really only about fifteen-plus miles.”
Pamela’s eyes looked like they couldn’t possibly grow any larger. For a moment in utter silence she simply stared up at him in wonderment. At last the awkward quiet was broken by Katherine. She extended her hand to Donovan. “I’m Katherine. This is Pamela and my fiancé, Johnny. You obviously already know Wesley here.”
Wesley watched her as she made the introductions. Was it his imagination or did her gaze dip briefly to take in Mike’s bulging biceps? What the hell did he have to do to win back some of that admiration she was now lavishly giving the other men?
“Sure do know old Wes here.” Mike gave Wesley a playful slap on the back that almost pushed him in into the sand. “We met at the club a while back. Had an interesting game of tennis going on.”
Now that the attention was back on him, Wesley straightened his back a bit to get a more flattering pose. “Yeah, for about five minutes. Make yourself comfortable. We were just thinking about roasting marshmallows.”
“I’m happy where I’m at.” Mike responded to Wesley’s invitation while winking at a slightly flushed Pamela. The only one seemingly unimpressed by Mike’s physical appearance was Johnny. Broodingly smoking his cigarette, he had only afforded Mike a quick cursory glance since he came on the scene.
And now Katherine, who had given Mike more than a cursory glance, seemed to be more preoccupied with Johnny than the new hero, and was trying to bring him into the conversation. “Johnny loves a good game of tennis, considers himself quite the professional.”
Mike jumped at the chance. “Really? We should have a game or two together. I’d love to see you show off your skill.” At Johnny’s silence he modified with, “If you’d like to, of course.”
Johnny shrugged carelessly. “Sure. I’ll play.”
“It’s settled then.” Mike almost seemed relieved that Johnny had responded. “What do you say about next week sometime, eh, Wesley?”
Wesley studied the couple, searching for some sort of hint of what was wrong with Johnny. He’d never been a very chipper fellow, but today he was positively gloomy. Finding nothing he could put a finger on, he turned his attention back to Donovan. “Sure. Sounds great. We should do it after business hours so everyone can make it. Not everyone is a tennis star with a free schedule.” And with that said, he looked back at Katherine, baiting her to bug him about what she dubbed his playboy status. All he got was a slight smile; she was still preoccupied with Johnny.
Mike and Pamela seemed to be the only ones with their minds there at the moment. “How about next Thursday, seven o'clock?” Mike offered. And Pamela was, for her, astonishingly quiet; she just hung onto every word Mike said as though he were a Greek god speaking the truth.
“Deal.” Morgan smiled and let out some of his roguish charm that made Wesley want to punch him from jealousy, especially when Katherine leaned forward and kissed Johnny on the cheek. “Sounds great. It’ll be nice to have an outing after being cooped up in the office.”
Wesley narrowed his eyes, feeling extremely relieved that Johnny didn’t turn his head to return Katherine’s kiss as he chimed in, “Cocktails and snacks at my place afterwards. I have to give my staff something to do.”