Chapter 8

This was how Jon knew he was royally screwed, he was very tempted to snatch her up and bend her right back over the hood of the car. Because he was an idiot who apparently hadn't learned the lesson life had just tried teaching him. Not about to be caught in that situation again anytime soon, he heaved a sigh, reached for curly hair he no longer possessed, and followed her.

"I'm fucked."

Vallea heard the door open and close to her condo, already knowing who it was, and had the shower going, needing to cleanse herself. She undressed, dropped her clothes in the hamper, and turned her head in time to see Jon step into the bathroom with her. Stepping up to him as he kicked the door closed with his sneakers, she slid her hand up his chest beneath the shirt and back down again, this time using nails.

"Shower with me." It was a soft, sultry request and she didn't wait for a response, just pushed the t-shirt up over his head before going to his jeans, unfastening the belt and button, sliding the zipper down. That sound alone made her warm from the inside out, a fire raging inside of her only he could create and quench.

"You're still not tending my hands, doll." Jon informed her with a crooked grin, blue eyes searching hers intently as she knelt down to slide his jeans down.

He was wearing boxer briefs, something that wasn't the traditional tighty-whities, but also didn't need to be adjusted from riding up his ass or getting bunched in uncomfortable areas. She took those down along with his jeans, letting his erection spring free and one eyebrow slowly raised. Not bothering with responding, Vallea wrapped her soft hand around his dick and stroked, making him harder instantly. Good, she wanted him a little riled up and guided him, by the dick, into the shower under the hot sprays. Jon captured her mouth with his, drawing her against him, and lifted her to where her legs encircled his waist, pressing her back against the shower wall. They could have a quickie in the shower and then a longer, drawn-out session in the bedroom afterward. Vallea was lost in ecstasy once again, drowning in it, and shut her eyes, relishing every second with Jon she had, the incident with the stranger at the restaurant long forgotten.

It was no surprise when Vallea woke up in the morning, Jon was gone once again – no note left behind or anything.

And so it was back to reality until the next time fate intervened and drew them together.

"So that's how it works for you? You guys hook up and then you bail on her while she's asleep?"

"Hey, she has my number."

Joe shook his head, both amused and a little disgusted. "You have hers."

"And maybe I'll let her forget about me over the next few days and then text her a dick pic."

How were they friends? Joe sometimes didn't understand it.

Hawaii again.

It never ceased to amaze Vallea just how beautiful this place was. It still didn't hold a candle to Vegas, not in her eyes, but she knew Monique felt differently. They hadn't talked about their excursions with the wrestlers, only because Vallea had passed out on the plane as soon as it was time for takeoff. Jon had worn her out, not that she was complaining. What was there to complain about? She did worry she wouldn't hear from him again, however. The way he acted after hurting that man…how he'd been so cold toward her…it would be a shock if he actually did call her or they ran into each other again in the future.

Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't, who knew?

"Now then, you're going to tell me what happened between you and Ambrose last night."

"First of all," Vallea held her hand up, walking along the beach with Monique after a long day of work. "His name is Jon. I refuse to call him by his wrestling name or whatever. Secondly, a lady doesn't kiss and tell. So I tell you what, you tell me what happened between you and the Samoan and I'll THINK about telling you some details of my night."

"Cheeky wench." Monique giggled, looping her arm through Vallea's, and stared out at the ocean. "He kissed me…and it was wonderful. We talked for a while and he invited me up to his room, but we didn't have sex. Just laid in bed talking. It was nice. I don't know if I'll hear from him again, but at least I'll have that night to remember him by." The difference was, when she woke up in the morning to a pair of lips on hers, Monique was grateful Joe hadn't skipped out on her, even though it was his hotel room. "Now you."

"We had shower sex and then more sex before passing out together. There, now you know." Vallea grinned, laughing when Monique shoved her into the ocean.

After a few minutes of horse playing in the ocean, Monique helped Vallea back onto the warm sand. She was laughing as they both dropped down, drawing her knees up to her chest. She loved Hawaii, volcanoes or not, and she had every intention of retiring here and being wealthy enough to do so comfortably. She had a feeling Jon and Vallea had done another 'no wake-ups' type deal but that wasn't her business. If it worked for them, it worked for them. She had given Joe her number but she honestly didn't expect anything to come from it, and she was okay with that. She had gotten to spend the night with the guy.

"You two going to hook up again?"

Vallea shrugged, honestly not knowing the answer to that question. "I don't know. He left before I got up this morning again, like last time. It doesn't bother me as much as it probably should." Maybe she was as fucked up as Jon claimed to be. "There's no way to have a fully functional relationship…" Her brow raised when Monique's phone went off, which was safely in the waterproof compartment of her waterproof purse.

The woman didn't take ANY chances when it came to her phone because it was her livelihood.

Pulling it out, Monique felt her jaw drop at who was texting her and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Let me guess, the hot Samoan?"

Monique nodded with the biggest smile on her face. "He's letting me know he had a great time and he's sorry he didn't get back to me, but work has been hell on earth for him. He said he'll call me later tonight once he's back at the hotel from the show."

"Sounds to me like he's interested in more than one night with you." Vallea teased gently, nudging her crimson-faced friend, and laughed, digging her toes further into the warm, soft sand.

In Monique's humble opinion, that being interested stemmed from the fact that they hadn't had a one-night stand. There had been no sex at all. Sure, some kissing, but mostly talking. That tended to add to the whole shebang, not putting out straight away. But then again, maybe Jon and Vallea weren't meant to be anything except casual one-night stands.

"So if it were possible, you'd want a fully functional relationship with Jon?"

"If possible, yes." Vallea answered without hesitation, drawing her knees up to her chest to stare out at the ocean, the sun setting on the horizon. "I have a connection with him I can't explain. It's like…a gravitational force and no matter what I do, I can't shake him. I can't shake the pull. It scares me, honestly. I've never met a man like him before – he's different. And if we could be together in a fully functional relationship, I would in a heartbeat. Something tells me he's not the relationship type though." She sounded just slightly saddened by that fact and brightened right back up again. "Anyway, no point in dwelling on it. You gonna answer your Samoan back or not?"

"Oh yeah, eventually. We're on a bit of a time difference here, Valle." Monique pointed out, glancing down at her phone. "And he's calling me later. Always leave them wanting more." She giggled, feeling that they had left each other wanting more, not that she was in any hurry to get to that point. She liked building things up and drawing it out. The downside to that was if things fizzled when they hit The Point of No Return. "Outside of him saving you, what do you really know about Jon?"

Come to think of it, nothing Vallea could think of off the top of her head. "Hmm that's a good question, I really don't know." She tilted her head, trying to wrack her brain and shook her head. "He's a wrestler? I don't really know much about him other than that and the sex is fantastic." Monique gave her a stern look and Vallea shrugged it off, wondering why she hadn't tried getting to know Jon better. "It's so crazy because the first night we went out together, it was both day and night actually, we talked for HOURS. I know his favorite food is greasy cheeseburgers and his favorite beverage is beer. That sort of thing, but nothing about his background. He was hush-hush about it."

Somehow, Monique had a feeling that she knew more about Jon than Vallea did, thanks to Wikipedia. "Um, you never Google'd him or anything?" She had done that to Joe right after that night. She had spent a lot of time looking him up on her cell, just to learn everything and anything she could. Monique wasn't surprised when Vallea shook her head. "So, you'd be down for a relationship, knowing nothing about him?"

"Okay in my defense, I never thought I'd see him again after that one night. Second, I didn't know his last name or his wrestling name either, so there was no way for me to google him. Third, I'd rather get to know the person from THEMSELVES than look it up online, even if they are a celebrity." Vallea ticked each response off on her fingers and nudged Monique, scowling playfully. "Hell, I STILL don't know what his last name is, only his wrestling name and I'm not gonna google him. If he wants me to know about him, he'll tell me himself."

"Well, sweetie, if he's on the hush-hush side when it comes to his personal life and background, I'm going to venture out on a limb and assume he doesn't want to tell you." Monique sighed inwardly. What she knew was about the character and again, whatever was on Wikipedia, when it came to Jon. It wasn't really her place to tell Vallea about Jon, if she wasn't going to search it herself. "Well, if it gets serious, let me know."

"I will."

Vallea doubted it would, firmly pushing Jon into the far recesses of her mind for the time being. She had a job to do and didn't have time to be hung up on a guy – a one or two-night stand at that. Maybe it was old-school of her, but Vallea believed in getting to know a person without using the Internet. There was so much technology in the world these days, too much, and it made getting to know someone relatively impossible. Everything was for the world to see, thanks to social media, which she didn't do much of. She avoided it at all costs, not even having a Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, none of it.

It was all nonsense, in her opinion.

It was probably a good thing Vallea had cultivated some high-profile contacts in her line of work. Because not utilizing social media, for the most part, was just a bad idea all around when it came to professional things. Technology was where it was at and social platforms allowed people to market themselves.

"I really think I should invest in some affordable housing out this way." That was a bit out of the blue to say.

"Affordable housing in Hawaii?" Vallea began laughing, wondering where that thought came from because it really was out of the blue. Monique was all about the Benjamins, usually, but every once in a while, she would say something as random as that. "Not a bad idea, if you can find people that are willing to donate time and money to build the affordable housing." That was a bitch in itself because everybody was all about the almighty dollar. "I'm heading back to the hotel, you coming?" She stood up, dusting the sand off her, and couldn't wait to hop in the shower, knowing she probably had sand in her vagina right about now.

"Yeah." Monique wasn't kidding about retiring and living here.

She liked flipping houses and all that, but eventually, she was going to settle in one spot. This spot. This state. To that end, she wanted to make sure she wasn't going to be living in a slum and a sad fact of life in Hawaii was that there were a lot of homeless and/or poor people. Housing wasn't cheap, she knew, she was investing and selling here. She would much rather have people in cheap apartments than camping on the streets.

Each going to their private rooms, Vallea had just gotten undressed and had a towel wrapped around her body when her phone rang. Who was calling her? She rarely received phone calls unless it was from one of Monique's clients, which were all taken care of for the time being. Frowning, she walked out of the bathroom and looked down at the caller ID, eyes widening at the name on the screen. Jon…was calling her…Vallea picked it up before it could go to voicemail, holding the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Doll, I need you to settle something for me and Joe," Jon said by way of greeting, without actually greeting her. He figured by now, she was probably either used to his less-than-normal way of doing things or she was just 'that' kind of girl. "Joe says it's fucked up if I send you random pics of my junk out of the blue. I say we're way beyond the point of fucked up."

"I'm sorry…what?" Vallea blinked at that greeting and started laughing, wondering if she'd ever get used to Jon's randomness. "Umm…I wouldn't mind the pictures, no. It's not like I haven't seen you naked before…" What kind of conversation was this? "And why are you arguing with a man about sending pics of your dick to a woman? Or do you swing both ways, Jonny boy?"

"I don't know, never tried it." Jon said after a moment, sounding thoughtful. "Hold that thought, doll." He set his cell down. "C'mere Joe."

"Hey… what are you doing? Jon?" Joe sounded confused and then agitated. "DUDE!"

Jon returned a few moments later, laughing his ass off. "Well, I still don't know, but Joe is traumatized."

Vallea did NOT want to know what Jon just did to make the Samoan roar out and force her to pull the phone away from her ear. Nope, she was good. Jon couldn't stop laughing and she shook her head, walking out onto the balcony after tightening her towel a little more to gaze out at the ocean. "So is that the only reason you called me? To settle a dispute with your bromance?"

"I HATE YOU, JON!"

Now it was Vallea's turn to giggle.