Angry Sunshine

Alan pulled the rental car into the parking lot of Melissa’s condo and parked in the visitor’s section.  He noted quickly that her tiny red Miata was parked in its place and smiled.  His chance to come to Florida had been at the last minute.  There were two critical pieces of equipment for the Meta Probe which were not functioning up to standards.  The manufacturer insisted that they either return the parts or send a large team of people up to the Space Dock.  Alan ordered the parts loaded on an Eagle and delivered them directly to the company’s clean room in the old McDonnell Douglas facility in Ocala.  Then he rented a car, got on the Sunshine Parkway and headed south as fast as the Mustang would take him.  The parts were supposed to be ready for return to the Space Dock the following day at noon, so he didn’t have much time.

He headed for the lobby, pulling off the mirrored aviator sunglasses he wore and enjoying the brilliant midday sunshine.  He knew her routine.  She should be about to break for lunch and he hoped he could persuade her to take the afternoon off.  If not, he would borrow one of her boards and hit the beach for the afternoon, then take her to dinner and then neither one of them would sleep much tonight. 

The guard looked up as he walked up to the security desk.

“G’day, mate.  I’m here to see Mel Thompson.  Name’s Carter.”

The man quickly pulled up Melissa’s name on the computer and noted her list of people cleared to go straight to her apartment.  The man nodded.  “Mr. Carter, your name’s on the top of the list, but she just walked out, not five minutes ago.”

“Is she down on the beach?”

“She was headed to the yacht club for lunch.”

“Thanks, mate,” Alan headed quickly out the door.  “I’ll catch up with her there.”

The guard nodded and turned his attention back to the game show he was watching.

Alan smiled at his good fortune.  Mel must have already decided to take some time off today.  Maybe she was planning to take the sailboat out after lunch.  He was imagining them spending the afternoon sailing lazily along the coast.  His mind was much more on the afternoon’s activities than anything else as he entered the dark interior of the yacht club.

Melissa took a sip of the white wine the waiter had just sat before her.  Reg Gonzales-Jaimes still held her left hand in his.  “I think I have just what you’re looking for, amigo,” she told him.  “It’s an ambitious project, but the profits should be tremendous if you can pull it off.”

“Profits, and other benefits to the area.  That part of Guatemala has so much to recommend it and its people live in such poverty.  It is so unnecessary.”

“You old softie,” Melissa said, leaning over to kiss her friend’s dark cheek.

“Just don’t go telling anyone else about my soft spot.  It would do endless damage to my reputation as a ruthless businessman.”

She leaned forward and winked at him.  “Your secret is safe with me.”

Reg looked past her and smiled.  “Chiquita, there’s a very attractive man by the door with a hard-on that has your name written all over it.”

Melissa smiled and sat back, crossing her legs.  She was used to her friend’s odd humor. 

“No, I am serious,” Reg nodded his head in the direction of the door to the restaurant.

Melissa turned and saw Alan.  She grinned in delight and murmured,  “You’re right, Reg, that is my hard-on,” she stood and moved toward Alan.

Alan stopped at the door to the restaurant.  It was not quite noon yet and the middle of the week.  There were only a few tables occupied at the moment.  Melissa and her partner were sipping wine and leaning toward each other, obviously sharing some kind of intimate joke.  They sat at a corner table with a view of the boats and the waterway beyond, but the man was facing the interior of the restaurant and looked up.  He spotted Alan and smiled, showing perfect white teeth.  He leaned toward Mel and said something.  She stretched languidly, moving stocking clad legs in a way that made Alan feel like he was going to explode.  Then she turned at a motion from her companion and grinned as she recognized Alan.

She said something to Mr. Perfect Teeth that made him chuckle as she rose and headed toward Alan. 

“Hi there flyboy,” she said softly as she put her arms around him.  “What are you doing here?”

“I had to bring a part down for repair and while I’m waiting to pick it up thought I’d drive down to see you.” 

She kissed his lips softly and quickly, but the way she pressed her body against his indicated her welcome a good deal more than the kiss.

“Well, this is quite a surprise…” Melissa started.

“I can tell that,” Alan interrupted.  “Who’s the guy with the perfect teeth?”  He nodded toward the table where the man was studying the menu.

“Reg?  He’s…”  Melissa started again.

“Looked like he was all over you.  And you appeared to be enjoying it.”  Alan interrupted her again.

Melissa looked at him with surprise.  Alan’s face was flushed and he glared at Reg from across the restaurant.

“Maybe I came at a bad time,” Alan said.

Melissa took his arm and headed toward the door.  “I think we need to take this outside,” she said with an authority that brooked no refusal.  As they walked out the door, she said, “I’m at the beginning of a business lunch here that’s pretty important.”

“Yeah, it really looked like a business lunch.  How big was that glass of wine you were drinking?”

“The usual size,” Melissa said, her temper flaring.  “Remember, I don’t work for the government.  I’m an adult and can drink whenever I like.”

“And with whoever you like,” Alan said.

“That’s right.  Alan, what’s with you?”

“It just looks to me like I’ve walked into a situation where three’s a crowd, if you know what I mean.”

She looked at him blankly for a second, then laughed.  “You’ve got to be kidding.  Look,

 Alan, I’m really glad to see you, but I do have a life while you’re out playing spaceman.”

“Playing?  Hey, I had a little time off, and thought I would come by and…”

Melissa rolled her eyes.  “Come by and spend the afternoon screwing Mel’s brains out.  Well, I’ve got news for you, flyboy.  I’m not your personal nookie wagon.  We’ve had some great times together, but you absolutely cannot just pop in and dictate the way I run my life!”

“Fine then, I’m sorry I bothered you.”

“Give me a call,” she said pointedly.  “Next time you’re on the planet.”

“Maybe I will!”

“Maybe I’ll have some free time!”

With that last statement, Melissa turned and headed back into the restaurant, leaving Alan standing alone in the sunshine.  At first he was too surprised to move.  Then he turned and headed back to the rental car.  His thoughts were a cloud of red.  If she didn’t want to see him, that was just fine.  There were plenty of other sheilas out there.  He didn’t have to stand around and be abused by this one.  All he had planned to do was see what she was doing, and have a little fun if she had the time.  If she was interested in Mr. Perfect Teeth, then so be it.  He had no intention of standing in her way. 

He started the car and headed back to I-95, turning north.  He drove with only a portion of his attention, thinking about Mel and their times together, on the boat, in that condo of hers, at her mom’s place in Texas in the barn.  Damn, she was hot.  He wondered if she would take Mr. Perfect Teeth sailing, or to the island.  Maybe she was better off with someone on this planet.  Then why did he feel like shit?

Melissa picked at her seafood casserole.

“I thought that was your favorite, Chiquita,” Reg said as he took the last bite from his own.

“It… is,” Melissa admitted, looking at her friend with a half hearted smile.  It was what they ate the first time she brought Alan here.  At least Reg hadn’t ordered the mushrooms.

“Ah, to be young and in love,” Reg said with a dramatic wave of his hand.

Melissa responded with a rude suggestion.

“You know, that’s the way I like it best,” Reg responded with a wink, completely unperturbed. 

“I am not in love.”

“Nonsense.  Gossip is that you met this guy sometime last year and have been having a mad passionate affair with him ever since.”

“That may be, but I’m not in love.”

“Admittedly, it’s not your first passionate affair, Chiquita.  But you have to admit, your flings seldom last this long.  A number of us were hoping this time.”

“Well, it’s over now, so you can spread the word to stop hoping,” Melissa growled.  She put down her spoon, no longer wanting to even finish the meal.

“Was it so bad?  Being in love?  I remember you being very happy.”

“So do I.  I also remember having my heart ripped into tiny shreds over something as stupid as the color of my skin. Then having to deal with the plans we already had in motion and try to pretend it didn’t bother me.  No, Reg.  It’s a lot less complicated just to keep things light.  Alan was a lot of fun, but he doesn’t own me I won’t have him dropping by to play the jealous boyfriend whenever he feels like it.”

“Jealous?  Of me?”  Reg laughed softly.  “Better you be jealous.  Do you know if he has any interest in swinging the other way?”

Mel wagged her finger at him.  “Don’t start or I’ll tell Trent.  You two have been together for eons.”

Reg nodded.  “I’m only joking, and Trent would know that.”  He turned serious,  “Mel, it is nice to have someone who cares, and who cares about you.  It’s more than the great sex.”

“I thought… I thought this time I had that.”  Melissa picked up her napkin and dabbed at her eyes.  “Dammit, Reggie, if you’ve made my makeup smear, I’ll slap you.”

“Oooh, please Melissa,” Reg panted with exaggerated excitement.  “Hit me really hard.”

She slapped him playfully with her napkin.  “Give me that folder with the dates you need reserved.  I’m going home and back to work.  You’re paying for lunch.”

“Of course.  I had intended to all along.  Look, why don’t you make up with that delicious boyfriend of yours and bring him by so Trent can get an eyeful too.  Even if I can’t touch, I can look.”

“In your dreams, Reggie.”  She reached over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  “I’ll email you the details this afternoon.”

Reg took her hand.  “You’re planning to come too?”

“Of course.  This is a good project to be involved in.  I appreciate your business, Reg, and the chance to get into this on the ground floor.”

“You won’t be sorry, Chiquita.”

Melissa headed home, and placed the folder on her desk.  She noted several messages on the answering machine but was too restless to sit at the computer.  She changed from the print sundress and stockings to black shorts and a black t-shirt that said ‘HOT, HOT, HOT’ in gold sparkling letters and wandered out onto the balcony.  She looked down at the beach.  It was a beautiful spring day and the surf looked inviting… and lonely.  She turned and went back inside.  The apartment seemed too quiet. 

She wanted to throw things.  She wanted to sit down and cry.  She glanced at the phone, thinking of calling her sister, but didn’t know what to say to her.  The thought brushed her mind that she could email Alan then she remembered that she had pretty firmly broken up with him and then she missed him all over again.  She replayed their fight in her mind.  Why had she gotten so mad so fast?  Why hadn’t she just laughed it off?  Why wasn’t she just shrugging this off like she did most things?  What had happened?

What had happened?  Alan’s thoughts kept drifting back to that question.  He was heading for Cocoa Beach where he could get a room at the Coastal Condos then go out for a drink or two, maybe cruise around and pick up a girl.  But every time his daydreams reached the point of picking up a girl, he thought of Mel, and then thought of seeing her with that guy at the yacht club and then thought about the things they had said to each other.  What the hell had gone wrong? 

It was obvious that when she walked over to greet him, she had been happy to see him.  The kiss had been publicly chaste, but the way she squeezed him and pressed up against him had been a promise of things to come.  Then things changed, and suddenly she didn’t want to see him.  Why was that?  He kept thinking about what he had said, and what she had said.  And what she hadn’t said.  He hadn’t let her tell him just who Mr. Perfect Teeth was.  She told him she was having a business lunch.  He hadn’t believed her.  That was when she had gone ballistic on him. 

Mel had certainly never been anything but open and honest with him; sometimes going into more detail than he wanted.  She had told him about past lovers and pet peeves.  They sent each other long emails about their daily lives.  He knew when she had been to a party, or out with friends or traveling on business.  She had never said anything about dating anyone else.  He remembered walking on the beach on the island with her in February.  She told him that she had never taken anyone else there.  It was her retreat from the world, something special she had only shared with him. 

He remembered exactly when he lost his temper.  He asked her about that other guy and implied that she was sleeping with him and she had responded with ‘you’ve got to be kidding’.   It hadn’t been a joking matter with him.  But if she had been telling the truth, if she were that incredulous, then he’d been a real asshole. 

There was an exit up ahead.  He pulled off the highway and into a gas station.  He didn’t need gas, but he did need to stop and think.  He glanced at the pay phones at the edge of the parking lot.  If he called her, she would probably just hang up on him.  If she wasn’t sleeping with that guy, he probably deserved it.  He looked back out at the highway.  North or South?  Did he write her out of his life right now, or go back and try to figure out what had gone wrong? 

He’d broken up with other girls before.  A few times he had even been sorry about it for a while.  But this felt different.  This time there seemed to be a line tied to his chest, pulling him back to the south, back to Melissa—if she’d have him.  He looked back down the highway in the direction he had come.  She would probably just throw him out again.  But he had to try.  He put the car in gear and headed back down the highway, south.

Melissa finally steeled herself to work.  She sat tailor fashion in front of her computer, concentrating on the information on the screen.  The radio was playing on the stereo.  Instead of the usual country station, it played classical music.  The Brooks and Dunn song ‘Neon Moon’ had nearly made her cry, so she had changed it.  Beethoven’s Eroica was now playing which had the advantage of not having any memories of Alan associated with it.

When the doorbell buzzed she was startled out of her concentration.  She wondered if Reg had been worried about her and come back to check on her.  Maybe she should suggest that they go find Trent and do some clubbing this evening.  Tuesdays were usually dead, but surely they could find some action somewhere.  It might cheer her up.  She stood and headed to the door. 

Usually she checked, either by the computer or through the peephole in the door.  But it was a secure building and she was distracted.  She opened the door wide, fully expecting to see Reg or one of her neighbors from the building.  Instead, there stood Alan.  He was holding a large bouquet of tropical flowers, a white teddy bear, a mylar balloon that said “I’m Sorry” in big bold letters, and a bag of chocolate kisses.

He started talking as soon as she opened the door.  “Don’t close the door, Mel.  Please let me say something.  I’m sorry I didn’t call you before I came today.  You’re right.  It was rude and inconsiderate of me.  I know you work, and I was really planning just to find out what you were doing and then hang out at the beach or something until you were free, but then I saw you with that guy and I really hated thinking that maybe you were seeing someone else, and I lost my temper and said things I shouldn’t have.  I got to thinking about it, and I should have believed you when you said it was a business lunch.  After all, you did seem to be pretty glad to see me at first, so I realized, that you wouldn’t be going after that guy in the middle of the day too, because that’s not like you.  I was wrong.  I’m sorry.  Please forgive me.”  He ground to a halt and waited apprehensively.  “I’ll go away again now, if you want.”

She gave him a scowl, reached out and pulled him inside by the collar of his polo shirt.  “Dammit, Alan Carter, I’ve been wet and horny all afternoon because of you with no one to do anything about it.”

He grinned at her.  “You have?”

“Check it out for yourself, flyboy.” She pulled him to her and he pressed the door shut behind her.  Her arms went around his neck and she pulled him into the kind of deep kiss she would have preferred to use when she saw him earlier in the day.  He dropped the bear and the candy and put his hands on the waistband of her black satin shorts.  He slid his hands down, moving her shorts down as he explored lower.  His hands moved to the front and her legs parted for him.

He pulled back from the kiss.  “You are wet.  What do you want me to do about it?”  He nuzzled her neck.

“I think you need to take care of this little problem right now,” she murmured into his ear. 

“My pleasure,” he responded.

He pushed her pants down around her ankles and she stepped out of them.  She leaned against the door, legs spread wide.  He kissed her quickly on the lips, then dropped to his knees.  He used his fingertips, lips and tongue to thoroughly explore her wetness, and find just the right spot to pleasure her.  She moaned and ran her fingers through his hair.  Her pleasure inspired him and he brought her quickly to orgasm. 

“Oh, flyboy!”  She moaned louder.  Her back arched as she peaked, then she leaned back against the door and slid down onto the floor.  She pulled him to her for another deep kiss then pressed against him until he lay back on the floor.  She unfastened his fly and smiled, liberating him from his pants and quickly mounting him.  “I want you again,” she said in a low husky voice.

“Any time,” he gasped as she began moving against him.  She leaned down and kissed him.  His hands moved underneath her t-shirt, seeking out her hard nipples. 

She was coming again, quickly, but he had no problems keeping up.  His mind had been on just this sort of activity all day long.  As he came, he pressed his feet against the door and he realized dimly that they hadn’t even made it into her living room this time.  She screamed out her orgasm as she came, pressing her breasts against his hands and clamping down on him with her vagina. 

“Mel!”  he gasped as he released.

“Damn, you’re good.  I don’t want to fight with you,” she said breathlessly.  She relaxed and settled against his chest, not yet ready to release him. 

“So, I’m forgiven?”

“This time.  I can’t stand jealousy.  Just don’t go there.”

“I’ll do my best.”  He ran his hands up and down her back.  “I never did let you explain who that guy was.”

She smiled, cuddling against his shoulder, enjoying the feeling of him still inside her.  “A longtime friend and business associate, devoutly gay.  He really was bringing me a project to work on.”

“Gay?”  He shifted so he could look into her eyes.  “I am a fool aren’t I?”

She allowed him to slide out of her very slowly.  Then she kissed him.  “No comment.”

He pulled her more tightly against him and kissed her harder, letting her know that their lovemaking was far from over.  Her arms crept around his neck. 

A knock on the door startled them and they moved apart slightly.  Alan grinned as he saw Mel realize just how close to the door they were.  She began looking around for her shorts.  He reached out and handed them to her.  “Think that old lady who lives down the hall heard us?”

“Well, at least we closed the door,” she said softly, but with a jaunty grin.  She stood and adjusted her shorts.  Alan stood as well, pulling up his own pants and zipping them.  He retrieved the candy and the bear from the floor.

Melissa checked with him to make sure he was ready.  He answered her look with a silent nod. 

She pulled the door open and Alan caught sight of the guy with perfect teeth.  He was grinning widely.  Behind him was a tall slender man, hair thinning, but with a great tan.

“Reg!  And Trent!  How long have you been there?” Melissa asked with surprise.

“Oh, only a couple of orgasms, Chiquita,” Reg said with a chuckle.  “I take it you two made up.”

The other man was holding a picnic basket.  “Reg was worried about you and insisted we come over and cheer you up, Mel.” 

Melissa was blushing, which Alan found amusing.  “Oh, guys…”

Trent took charge.  He held out the picnic basket to Alan with a wink.  “My famous cajun fried chicken and a few other little things I know she likes. Full of calories and fat, but I’m sure you can find some way to work off the calories.  You two enjoy them.”

Alan took the basket, “Thanks, mate.”

Reg was obviously enjoying Melissa’s embarrassment and Alan also noticed that Reg was checking him out carefully.  Trent nudged him with his elbow.  “Come on, dear.  Four’s a crowd, and Melissa’s friend doesn’t get down here that often.  Maybe next time you’re in town and can stay longer we can all go to dinner together.”  He leaned forward and kissed Melissa on the cheek and practically pulled Reg down the hallway toward the elevator.

Melissa closed the door and turned back to look at Alan.  She put her hand over her mouth and giggled.  Any remaining tension between them drained away.  Alan put his arm around her waist and drew her into the living room. 

“Want to take this picnic down to the beach?”

“The balcony is closer to the bedroom,” she suggested.

“So it is.  And we don’t have much time.  I like the way you think, Melissa Thompson.”  He put down the hamper and pulled her into his arms.  It might be a long time before they got around to eating.