Free BarefootParadise by J L Taft Page A

volleyball caught her eye.
    He had sandy-colored hair and a great body. What she could
see looked good anyway. He had wide shoulders and a narrow waist, a light
dusting of hair across his pecs and a well-defined stomach.
    He was yummy and she watched him as he tossed the ball back
to the girls. He must have felt her gaze because he turned and zeroed in on
her. Her stomach flip-flopped and she wished that he didn’t have sunglasses on.
    She held his gaze for a few intense seconds before he looked
away. Gwen continued to watch him and thought about swimming his way. But she
didn’t want to be too obvious and he was too far way for her to clock his ring
finger.
    She might be hard up but not hard up enough to mess with a
married man. Some lines weren’t meant to be crossed.
    Every few minutes she watched him out of the corner of her
eye, talking and playing with the girls.
    Which now struck her as odd. He couldn’t be related to all
of them. Maybe he was one of those men who only liked those types of girls.
    Suddenly she felt stupid. There was no way he was going to
be interested in her next to all those young, perfect bodies. Pushing him from
her mind, she glanced around her.
    Figuring she would enjoy the pool for five more minutes
before she went back to her chair, she leaned her head back and closed her
eyes. She soaked up the feeling of the sun and the cool water. It was blissful.
    “Hey.”
    Gwen’s eyes popped open to see the man she had been watching
standing two feet in front of her, the water splashing up around his hips. He
smiled with even, white teeth.
    “Hello,” she said and smiled back.
    “Do you mind if I sit next to you for a few minutes?” he
asked.
    “Not at all.”
    He stuck his hand out and said, “I’m Steve.”
    “Gwen,” she said as she took his hand and shook it. He had a
firm grip and the heat of his skin tingled up her arm.
    He waded closer and she wanted to lick the water droplets
off his chest. She wanted a man who wasn’t afraid of some wild, no-strings-attached
sex and maybe he was just the right one. Maybe. Time would tell.
    He sank in the water and sat next to her, close enough that
she could smell his cologne. Or maybe it was sunscreen, but whatever it was she
liked it.
    Steve smiled again and gave her face, neck, shoulders and
the tops of her breasts a good once-over. His smile widened and she assumed
that he like what he saw.
    “What brings you to the Bahamas?” he asked.
    “Just taking a break. How about you?”
    “I got stuck chaperoning,” he said with a grin and nodded
toward the girls.
    “Chaperoning?” she inquired.
    “Yeah, I’m an assistant volleyball coach at our local
college and the girls did a lot of car washes to save up for this trip. When
the head coach was going to have to postpone for a few days I offered to take
her place. She will be here tomorrow to relieve me from my duties. I never
thought that babysitting a bunch of almost-adults would be so tiring,” he said
with a yawn and Gwen let out a chuckle.
    She was glad that he had a valid reason for hanging with the
girls and she was happy to see there wasn’t a ring on his finger.
    “Where are you from?” she asked him.
    “Pennsylvania. You?”
    “Pennsylvania,” she replied with another chuckle. “It’s
rather ironic. I came all this way because it’s hard to meet people at home and
the first person I meet is from the same state as me.”
    “You came all this way to meet someone?” he asked as he
pushed his sunglasses up on his forehead and she got the first good look at his
eyes.
    They were dark and intelligent. But something about them
made her think he had a lot of secrets.
    “I did. But it wasn’t my only reason for coming,” she told
him.
    “I can’t imagine a beautiful woman like you having trouble
finding a man.”
    He had read between the lines and she wondered if she was really
that obvious.
    “It’s finding the right kind of man that’s the trouble.”
    To her surprise he