Elemental: Earth Read online

  “Um, well,” Gavin mumbled.

  “Yes! You’re absolutely correct, uh?” Giles jumped in and turned on the charm. He held his hand out to Tessa, forcing her to place her own into the cradle he’d created so that he could kiss her hand.

  “Tessa. Tessa Farrington,” she said and grinned. She could only keep this naïve act up for so long. It went against every fiber of her being. If they were going to spend any time with these guys and try to get to know them the way they were supposed to, she was going to have to allow herself to be the aggressor sometimes. Maybe she could just come out of her shell, so to speak, claiming to feel extremely comfortable around the boys?

  “Buenos dias, guapisma,” Giles murmured.

  “And this is Melissa, Dara, and Gillian,” Tessa said, turning to introduce the others.

  Ever flamboyant, Dallas kissed the hand of each. “It is a most wonderful day when a man is on the beach,” he said. “But to find such treasure on the beach in one day is a day one can only find in Heaven.”

  “Oh, my,” Gillian claimed, all a-flutter. “How poetic. Are you a poet?”

  “Mi alma, I’m many men, but for you, I’m the only man.”

  Gillian looked like she might actually swoon.

  Dara inserted herself between Gillian and Dallas. “Shall we call you Don Juan? Or do you have a more common name?”

  “My friends call me Lume.”

  “Ok, Lume. Now, what do your lovers call you?” Dara asked in a purring voice, stepping forward the moment Dara moved away and brushing her breasts against his chest.

  “Oh, mi alma. My lovers do not call me. They’re never that far away to have to call me. And when they’re with me at night, they cannot call me, for their breath is gone.”

  Gavin stepped in, shoving Giles to the side none too gently. “Excuse my brother, Miss. . . Dara. I know he comes on a little strong. He can’t help it. The nanny dropped him on his head when he was born. You can call him Giles … and me Gavin—Fuerza.”

  “Please don’t apologize for your brother,” Dara flirted. “I like my men strong. And you look very strong as well, Earth.” She grabbed Gavin’s bicep with both of her hands and measured around unable to quite touch her fingertips. “Will you look at that,” she marveled.

  “Nah. You don’t want to do that.” Gavin shied away, gently taking her hand from his arm and patting it before letting it go. “And we’re sorry to disturb your relaxing day. We just thought you most likely weren’t locals and figured we would see if you’ve been to Lupe’s to eat yet. See, she’s a godmother of sorts to us, but she’s certainly one hell of a cook, and it’s all local food that she cooks right in her house. Thought we’d tell you about it if you want some authentic cuisine. We like to help her drum up a little business whenever we can. Helps her with her finances, you know?”

  “Lupe’s? I don’t think I’ve heard of it,” Tessa said. “Can we walk there?”

  “We were just on our way,” Giles said. “Why don’t you chicas come with us?”

  Tessa innocently looked at her three companions. It was clear what Dara wanted. “What do you two think?” she asked Gillian and Melissa.

  “I could eat,” stated Melissa. “We can head there.”

  “Sure,” Gillian agreed. “I think we’re okay. Besides, we can take care of ourselves.” She glanced at Dara, practically drooling over Dallas. “Well, most of us can.”

  The girls donned swimsuit covers that doubled as sun dresses and packed up their straw bags. A short walk down the beach took them to a dwelling that looked like it could’ve served for the picture in the dictionary for the term ‘shanty’. The building was part wood, part mud, and part tin. Someone had extended a generic blue tarp from one side of the small building to create a half-tent under which a picnic table and a few rusty lawn chairs were arranged. Buckets were placed at the chairs and the table. Two men whose age was indeterminable since the sun had leathered their already tanned skin already occupied the area. They sat chatting quietly in a fluid, mumbled Spanish that sounded more like intonations than words.

  Gavin greeted the gentlemen and asked how the day had gone for them and made a little more small talk. Tessa heard him ask where Lupe was and the men gestured towards the shanty just as a plump brown woman came out the curtained doorway with her arms spread open towards the brothers. Giles and Gavin both grinned like little boys and bent to hug the jolly-looking woman. Giles even lifted her off the ground and planted a kiss on her cheek. She proceeded to ask in what sounded like rapid-fire questions about where they had been, why they hadn’t seen her in so long, were they losing weight, how were their brothers, where were their brothers, and were they hungry.

  “Si, si,” Gavin replied to all of her questions, clearly trying to interrupt the flow. Finally he picked Lupe up and actually brought her over to the girls, put her down in front of them, and laughed as she began to ask more questions about who these beauties were. Which was for which brother? Where did they meet them? Why they were so pale? Had the brothers brought them from America? Was that where they had been?

  Gavin was finally able to introduce Lupe to the girls. “She’s probably the most famous cook in the village. Everyone loves her cooking and both women and men are jealous of her—women because they want to cook like her—men because they want their women to cook like her. She said she has some parrillada that she made just a few hours ago that we must have.”

  The girls smiled and nodded. Tessa shook Lupe’s hand and told her what an honor it would be to eat at her table. Lupe smiled and blushed, both proud and impressed at Tessa’s Spanish.

  The six gathered at the picnic table as Lupe and her scrawny little daughter of ten brought bowls and plates and a pitcher of deep red wine out underneath the blue hues under the tarp.

  “So, about five percent of the world’s beef comes from Argentina,” Giles told them. “And you’re about to taste the only reason that percentage isn’t higher. This, ladies, is a national treasure. Salud!”

  The dinner lasted for a few hours and Lupe plied them with so much food, the women were threatening to make the guys carry them home. The sun started to set and the colors of the sky changed from orange to pink to a fuchsia unseen in the Northern Hemisphere.

  As the sounds of the day melted into the softness of the evening, so did the conversation. Gavin had been eyeing Tessa all night but certainly didn’t want to be rude to the other women. Not to mention the fact that he needed as much information on each of them as possible. Dara and Giles disappeared around the other side of the building, and soon Melissa and Gillian were protesting that they were fine to walk themselves back to the cottage.

  “It’s just a short walk back down the beach. We’ll text your cell, Tessa. We’re beat. And Melissa has a deadline back in the States,” Gillian said pointedly.

  “Alright, if you insist. I’m still wired, though, so I think I’ll hang out until Dara slinks back around, and we’ll catch up with you soon.” Tessa was secretly thanking her friends for insisting they leave while she stay. She’d been dying to get Gavin alone all night. She hoped she hadn’t given away too much of her feelings, but Melissa had known her for so long, she may have picked up on the magnetism. It’s fine if she did, Tessa thought. I know she won’t say anything to those other two, especially Dara. She’s too loyal and trustworthy, and we’ve protected even greater secrets for each other. And so, Tessa found herself alone with this beautiful mountain of a man.

  Lupe’s daughter came tiptoeing out the doorway with a two lanterns already lit and hung one on the shepherd’s hook just inside the tent’s entrance and placed the other one on the picnic table. Gavin whispered something to her that Tessa didn’t catch, but it definitely made the girl blush and giggle. Then she glanced at Tessa and ran off laughing.

  Tessa looked at Gavin with questions in her dark eyes.

  “Nothing,” he answered her unasked question. “She’s like my kid sister. In fact, in many ways s
he’s. My brother, Reed, actually had to deliver her.”

  “Wow! That’s amazing,” Tessa sighed, leaning in for more details, intrigued.

  “Long story.” Gavin smiled. “Maybe another time.”

  “So, Gavin, Reed, and Giles. Were your parents Irish? Or hippies or something?” Tessa asked, already knowing the answer. She’d studied his file for over a year—closer to two. She knew so much of his history, but there was a period of about ten years where the brothers had gone underground and agents couldn’t find any sign of them. Then, with the majority of efforts concentrated on Osama Bin Laden and later watching the crazy dictators of North Korea and Syria, the task force couldn’t afford the numbers to look for the brothers like they had. But then came a reprieve and it was followed by a mistake. Giles surfaced.

  “He’s the one,” Chief had told the girls. “He’ll be our ticket. He’s too hot-headed. Sooner or later, he’ll slip and Gavin won’t be able to cover for him and he’ll tell on himself.”

  And Chief was exactly right.

  “Yeah, my parents were free spirits,” Gavin answered. “And we have a fourth brother, Dallas.”

  Tessa smiled. “Hey, Melissa’s full name is ‘Melissa Mariposa’.”

  “Butterfly,” Gavin translated and grinned. “Guess her parents were hippie-types, too.”

  Tessa leaned close. “You know, this day and age, and some of the people I’ve met, I think I’m more shocked when I come across a ‘Jane’ or ‘John’ or ‘Susan’.”

  “What once was ‘normal’ becomes the ‘abnormal’?”

  “Exactly.”

  “So, what’s abnormal about you, Miss Farrington?” Gavin’s indigo eyes twinkled in the light of the lantern.

  “Hmmmmm,” she said, stalling. “Where should I start?”

  “Well,” Gavin drawled, shrugging, “it’s a little less than ‘normal’ to vacation here. It’s not the usual destination for a ‘girlfriend getaway’.”

  “Silly tradition.” Tessa began to unfold the story the girls had all worked on together. “Melissa and I started it several years ago. We have a map that gets traded back and forth. . . well, now we rotate it between the four of us. But anyway, whoever has the map picks a general area at random, and we plan to go. If it’s a tourist destination, we live like tourists. If it’s not, we live like locals. . . well, as most as possible anyway.”

  “That sounds cool,” Gavin responded. “It could be dangerous, though. No?”

  “Yeah. We have a few places that are crossed out and not options because of safety, of course. It’s been a really great way to experience a variety of cultures, though. Do you travel a lot?”

  “I used to. . . earlier in my life. My parents would take us all over the place. We had years that we lived in a camper.”

  “Well, that’s one way to see the world.” Tessa smiled, knowing the story was a lie. “So, what do you do, Mr. Gavin of the Hippie/Irish parents?”

  “Well, I do a lot. I do cooking. I do laundry. I do home repairs. I do computer programming. I’m a pretty man to have around the house.” Gavin grinned and winked at Tessa. That’s right, woman, he thought, just keep those questions coming. If you’re who I think you’re, you already know everything anyway.

  Tessa laughed and playfully slapped at his hand across the table. “No. You know what I mean, silly. What sort of career do you have? Or do you just bum around looking for women to become your ‘sugar mama’ for a while?”

  “Are you volunteering?” Gavin grinned.

  “You wouldn’t get much sugar here,” Tessa said.

  “I don’t know,” Gavin countered. “You seem pretty sweet to me.”

  Tessa hated these games. She hated having to be the demure little flirt. This was not at all how she operated. She preferred a direct and, if necessary, short courtship. Her life was already too full. She didn’t have time for more people. But that didn’t mean that she didn’t need a male companion from time to time. After all, woman cannot live by vibrator alone. However, she knew within one date if the guy was going to be worth her time or not. It wasn’t that she didn’t want a relationship or had anything against actually investing the time to develop one. When she visualized her future self, she saw a partner for certain, but all of the silliness that society used to play the dating game she could definitely live without.

  “You know,” Tessa said, “let’s just cut to the chase. I think you’re interesting, not to mention very nice looking. You’ve shown us a good time, so I think it is safe to say there’s some interest there on your part, too. So here’s my plan—you’ll walk me back to our hotel down the beach, hopefully holding my hand, maybe an arm around my waist. At my cottage, you’ll kiss me goodnight. I’ll leave you and go to bed, and you’ll walk home, but you’ll come find me on the beach tomorrow.”

  Gavin felt his heart pounding. If he’d his choice, he’d take her in his arms and kiss her right now. Forget the walk on the beach. He wanted to take her home—his—to his bed. He wouldn’t do it this soon, of course, but he’d never felt desire for a female like he felt for the one sitting across from him now. All he could see when he looked at her was the two of them, naked in the candlelight, as he slowly traced every line and curve of her body, committing it to memory, reading it like Braille.

  “Hello? Too strong?” Tessa interrupted his thoughts.

  “No.” Gavin smiled, rose, took her hand, and helped her to her feet. “I like it. . . very much,” he said. “I like a woman who knows what she likes and what she wants. I like it even more when she communicates it to me and takes all of the guesswork out of navigating the waters, so to speak.”

  They began walking towards the beach cottage. “Oh, crap!” Tessa stopped and looked back towards Lupe’s house. “I totally forgot about Dara.”

  Gavin laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that Giles gets her home. He comes on pretty strong, I know, but he’s a true romantic at heart. Really very harmless and loves the act of wooing. He really is a gentleman, believe it or not.”

  “Well, it’s a good thing.” Tessa relaxed. “One of them probably needs to have some couth, and it isn’t Dara. You may need to rescue your brother instead of the other way around.”

  Gavin laughed. “Oh, he’ll be fine. He’s been in worse situations.”

  The sand was coarse on her tender feet, but Tessa didn’t seem to truly notice. What the hell is it about this guy, she mused? I can’t think about anything but him. I almost forgot why I was here. I never ‘lose my head’ this way. I’m always the calm, methodical, logical one, but I swear I feel like a silly girl with a grade school crush.

  “. . .tomorrow or maybe in the evening.”

  Tessa realized she had missed out on what Gavin was saying as she was chastising herself. “What? I’m sorry. I just realized I wasn’t paying attention.”

  “Don’t worry about Dara, really.” Gavin looked into Tessa’s eyes. “She really is okay with Giles. If my mother taught us anything, it was how to treat women well.”

  “Oh. No, I believe you. I wasn’t thinking about her,” Tessa responded quickly. What the hell, she scolded herself? Let him think what he wants to. There’s no reason to be giving him more information than he needs. Just like he did with all of his evading the questions. Damnit—I’m better than this! I know my job, and I’m good at my job. . . usually.

  “Well, while I’m dying to know what you were thinking about, I’ll refrain from prying,” Gavin said, smiling. “I was just asking if I should try and meet up with you sometime during the day tomorrow or if the evening would be better. I like to get my directives correct before I try and act on them.”

  “I don’t have any plans tomorrow,” Tessa said and sighed. “I’ll be a lady of leisure. We will be right here on the beach, so why don’t you come whenever you have the time? If you want to come after you get off work, that’s fine, too. Oh yeah, you never did tell me what your occupation is, did you?”

 
“I can do whichever you desire. My schedule is really flexible.” Gavin walked her up the wooden steps off the shore and across a very unstable wooden walkway to the patio of the cottage. A soft light glowed inside, and he could see Melissa’s face lit with a cold, bluish tinge as she stared at what looked to be a large laptop. She was talking, too. “Looks like Melissa got a chance to Skype,” Gavin observed.

  Tessa glanced towards the house. I wish she’d waited on me, she thought. Of course, I don’t have much to report, and I really hate that little weasel. “Maybe her mom?” Tessa acted nonchalant and innocent. “Hey, if your other two brothers are around, why don’t you bring them tomorrow? Melissa could use a little distraction, anyway. Her mom isn’t well,” Tessa explained. “She didn’t really want to come, but her mother insisted. She kept telling Melissa that she’d be no use sitting around worrying and getting underfoot and bringing her down. You’d like her,” Tessa offered.

  “Has she been sick long?” Gavin asked.

  I think he’s genuinely concerned, Tessa thought as she looked into his eyes. It’s weird, she thought. It’s dark out here, but I can still completely see his eyes and tell the dark shade of blue they are, even with hardly any light. It’s more like they’re lit from within. STOP IT! That is so freaking lame!

  “Cancer,” Tessa replied. “She’s beat it four times. In fact, now that I think about it, she’s been sick for as long as Melissa and I have been friends, and that’s been many years. She’s been told three times that she’s ‘cancer free’, but the last time, the doctor told her he didn’t think she ever had been, nor would she ever be in the future. She wants Melissa to live her life, enjoy her youth (at least what’s left of it), but Melissa deals with a lot of guilt not being around for her mom. Melissa’s brother is an addict, so a lot of the responsibility falls on her.”