Love on the Malecon Read Free Page B

became
interested in spending time with someone for the week, he was able
to return back to his own resort each night or each morning.
    He loved women, he just wasn’t sure he was
had the skills to make a long-term relationship really work.
Derek’s current true love was his work. His tequila shot arrived
and he swung it back quickly. Out of the corner of his eye, he
caught a glimpse of Silvia. Of course she’d have to be there. She
was going to need to get used to seeing him with other women.
Vallarta was not a large city. Even if the blonde hadn’t been
staying at this hotel, there was still a chance that Silvia would
see them out on the Malecon somewhere. She knew his favorite
restaurants and he had noticed her frequenting them still.
    Silvia seemed harmless enough; she just
seemed like a girl that had a hard time moving on. She was young,
cute and smart. One reason he decided to give dating a shot with
her. They just didn’t have much in common. They stopped having
things to say to each other at a pretty alarming rate. And when he
realized that he still wasn’t comfortable letting her into his
apartment at the Paraiso, he knew he wasn’t willing to let the
relationship go any further. He knew she resented it as well. He
tried explaining that he was a private person and protective of his
personal space but it wasn’t enough.
    His head was spinning a bit. He twisted his
neck to one side until he felt it crack. It had always been a habit
of his to help him relax. He cracked it the other direction, put
Silvia far out of his head and, waited for the mysterious woman to
arrive.

CHAPTER THREE
    When the elevator door opened, she saw him sitting
there, chatting with the bartender, and immediately ten different
things that bothered her about Andrew popped into her head. It had
to be a defense mechanism, a way of making herself feel better. She
reminded herself that she loved Andrew and that this was only an
innocent drink. This trip was her time away to escape from
everything and an attempt to connect with her father’s memory. She
shook the feeling off and walked over to the bar.
    He hadn’t seen her get off the elevator so
she sat down next to him. “ Well, hello again,” she said with
a smile. She could see he was glad she hadn’t changed her mind
about their drink together.
    “How was your flight?” he smiled, “ What can I get you?” She asked for a beer and he ordered
them each one along with two shots of tequila. “ Figured we
should start you vacation off right,” he said with a smirk in his
eyes. “ I’m Derek.”
    “The flight was far too early,” she said with
a sigh. “ I’m Nicole.”
    “Are you waiting for anyone to arrive?” he
asked casually.
    She considered how to explain why she was
there. “ My father spent a lot of time in Puerto Vallarta and
this was where he always stayed,” she continued to check out the
hotel as she explained. “ I just want to feel closer to him,”
she added with a bit of a wince as it was all too real that he was
now gone.
    “I’m sensing it was recent,” Derek stated,
but it seemed like he knew not to push any further.
    “Yes,” she admitted and then picked up the
shot glass in front of her, “ And on that note, let’s do this
and start my vacation.”
    After being with Andrew for years, there had
been little for them to talk about lately. So these days, she loved
meeting new people. She loved discovering another’s life and the
feeling when they both had so much to say. She especially loved
those first conversations where each person is practically
interrupting all the time because they each have so much to tell
the other. The feeling like they would burst if they didn’t explain
everything immediately. She was getting a little bored with the
silence at home and only the sound of the radio or television as
she and Andrew sort of co-existed. It seemed blaringly obvious now.
Had she really not noticed it before?
    As she and Derek began to chat about