Free Kissing Eden by T. A. Foster

went to this local party last night and I was walking on the beach with Grey …”
    “His name is Grey? Ok, that is already hot.”
    It didn’t take much to get Taylor off topic. If I even tried to describe Grey’s eyes, I knew she would start swooning over the phone. “Anyway, we were talking and one thing led to another, and he kissed me on the beach. But when he walked me back to my room, he asked if he could come in and I said no.”
    “What? You turned down a hot one-night stand? Are you going to see him again?” Her questions kept coming.
    “Yes and yes, he kinda owns the place where I’m staying. It’s unavoidable.”
    “Oh, this is just like one of those Maybelle Flannery books I read last summer when the girl ends up hooking up with a hot guy on vacation. I cannot believe this is happening. This is so awesome. What does he look like?”
    “He’s cute. Well, better than cute . He’s tall and has these eyes and I don’t know what I’m doing. This is ridiculous.” I wished I could send Taylor a text picture of Grey right then. That would really have her going crazy.
    “It’s not ridiculous. You deserve some attention from a hot guy after all the crap that Brett put you through. Stop analyzing it and have fun. You don’t have to marry the guy. It’s just spring break, Eden.”
    “Right, it’s just spring break.” Taylor knew exactly what to say. “I’ll let you go back to sleep. Thanks for talking me off the ledge.”
    “Call me back after you see him again. I want to hear more about this hottie. Bye, girl.”
    “Bye.”
    I looked around my motel room. I couldn’t stay in here all day and hide out from Grey. I threw a bottle of sunscreen into my beach bag and one of the towels he had brought yesterday. A day at the beach was in order and Taylor said it—I deserved this.
    I twisted the key in the lock and pulled my sunglasses over my eyes. The sun was blaring.
    “No, I understand, but if you could just give me until the end of the month—” I heard Grey’s voice. It sounded like he was near the ice machine. “I have reservations the rest of the month, if you would just let me keep the account open until then.”
    He sounded like he was in the middle of a negotiation. It was unmistakably about the Palm. “Right, I know you have a business to run. I’m just asking as a favor—only until the end of the month.”
    The call must not have turned out the way he wanted, because I heard the ice machine take the brunt of his anger.
    I clutched the beach bag tightly to my shoulder and took the steps to the boardwalk two at a time. I didn’t want Grey to catch me eavesdropping on his business call. Things at the Palm must have been worse than I thought.
    From the top of the peak, I could see South Padre beach spreading for miles in both directions. To my left was the spot of last night’s bonfire and to my right was the spring break party mecca. I walked straight ahead, shook out my towel, and stretched out under the Texas sun.
    I tried to take deep , relaxing breaths and focus on the warmth of the sun’s rays, the waves pounding the shoreline, and the gulls circling overhead, but every time I heard a wave crash, I thought about that kiss and Grey’s hands on my body. Dammit , I sat up.
    It was just a crush—a spring break crush. It was perfectly fine and normal to react to a hot guy, right? It didn’t escape me that only a week ago I was someone else’s girlfriend. I tried to remember if I ever thought of Brett this way or if I could even remember the first time he kissed me. It was probably in the basement of his fraternity house. After last night, all other kisses had been erased from my memory, and I seemed ok with it.
    “Here you go! Party at Bongos tonight.”
    A runner with a messenger bag slung over his bare chest ran past while shoving a flyer in my hand. I looked at the fluorescent green paper.

    Spring Break 2014
    Bongos knows how to party
    Be there—everyone else will be

    It