Chapter 1: The Demands on the Sand
The last of the sun bled out over the Pacific, turning the sky a bruised purple and orange. The sand beneath Jess’s bare feet was still warm, holding the day’s heat. Behind her, the familiar soundtrack of spring break played on: laughter, a thumping bassline from the beach bar, the clink of bottles. She blocked it all out. Her entire world had narrowed to the man standing in front of her.
Marcus Vega leaned against a twisted piece of driftwood, arms crossed over a chest that was all lean muscle and sun-kissed skin. He’d been watching their group from a distance for an hour, a silent, amused spectator. Jess had watched him back. And now she’d broken away from her sisters, marched across the sand, and planted herself directly in his space.
“So,” she said, her voice low enough that the crashing waves almost swallowed it. “You’re coming back to my villa tonight.”
One of his eyebrows lifted. A slow smile started at the corner of his mouth. He had a nice mouth. “Am I?”
“Yeah.” Jess didn’t blink. She let her eyes travel down his torso, then back up to meet his dark, appraising gaze. The predatory heat in her own stomach was a new, thrilling sensation. It was like hunger, but sharper. “But we’re establishing the rules first. No misunderstandings.”
Kelsey’s voice, tense and high, carried from the blanket fifteen feet away. “Jess, come on. The shots are here!”
Jess ignored her. She took a half-step closer to Marcus, close enough to smell the salt on his skin and a faint, clean scent of soap. “Rule one,” she said, holding up a finger with a pearlescent nail. “No condom.”
The smirk on his face froze, then deepened into something more serious. His eyes flickered over her shoulder toward her friends, then back to her. He uncrossed his arms, letting them hang at his sides. “Bold opener.”
“It’s not an opener. It’s a requirement.” She kept her tone matter-of-fact, as if she were dictating a grocery list. “I’m on the pill. I get tested every month. You’ll have to take my word for it. If that’s a problem, we end this conversation now.”
He was quiet for a moment, just studying her. The sounds of the party seemed to fade. “It’s not a problem,” he said finally, his voice a low rumble. “Keep going.”
A shiver, hot and bright, raced down her spine. “Rule two. I don’t want gentle. I don’t want romantic. I want you to focus on one thing.” She leaned in, her next words a whisper meant only for him. “I want you to take my ass. Hard. Until I can’t remember my own name. That’s the only thing I’m interested in tonight.”
From the blanket, Kelsey made a choked sound. Jess heard the frantic whisper to another sister. “She’s telling him she wants him to… God, she’s completely lost it.”
Marcus didn’t look away from Jess. A muscle ticked in his jaw. His gaze was intense, absorbing her words, her unblinking challenge. He didn’t look shocked. He looked… focused. “You lay it out plain.”
“I know what I want,” Jess said, shrugging one tanned shoulder. “Why waste time?”
“Why me?” he asked, his head tilting.
“Because you look like you can follow instructions,” she said, a sharp smile touching her lips. “And you haven’t run away screaming yet.”
He laughed then, a short, quiet sound. “Screaming’s not my style.” He pushed off the driftwood, closing the last bit of distance between them. He was taller than she’d realized. “Your place, you said?”
“Villa Seven. Palms Resort. Midnight.” She reached out and tapped a single pearl-colored nail against the center of his chest. It was a possessive, bold gesture. “Don’t be late.”
She turned then, the movement final, and walked back across the sand toward her friends. Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic, exhilarating beat. The warm night air felt electric on her skin.
Kelsey was on her feet the moment Jess sank back onto the blanket. “What the actual hell, Jess?” she hissed, her dark eyes wide with a mix of anger and fear. “No condom? With some random guy? Are you trying to get a disease or pregnant?”
“I’m covered for one, and impossible for the other,” Jess said, reaching for her abandoned cocktail. The ice had mostly melted.
“That’s not the point! You don’t know him. You just… you commanded him like you were ordering a freaking pizza! ‘Extra rough, hold the romance!’ It’s insane.” Kelsey wrapped her arms around herself, looking genuinely distressed. “You’ve never been like this. Ever.”
Jess took a long, slow sip, the sweet-and-sour tang of the drink grounding her. She looked past Kelsey, back to the driftwood. Marcus was still there, watching their group. Watching her. He lifted his drink in a subtle, almost imperceptible toast.
“People change, Kels,” Jess said, her voice softer now, but no less firm. “Maybe this is who I am now. Maybe I’m tired of hinting and hoping and playing games. I saw something I wanted. I went and got it. It’s that simple.”
“It’s not simple! It’s reckless.” Kelsey slumped down, pulling her knees to her chest. “I’m scared for you.”
“Don’t be.” Jess finished her drink and set the glass down with a definitive click in the sand. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”
But as the moon rose higher, painting a silver path across the black water, a tiny thread of doubt wound itself through her certainty. She had seen the look in Marcus’s eyes. It wasn’t just intrigue. It was recognition. Like he’d been waiting for someone to talk to him that way. Like he knew exactly what game she thought she was playing, and he had already decided how it would end.
At five minutes to midnight, she turned off all the lights in Villa Seven except for one dim lamp in the bedroom. She stood in the center of the cool tile floor, listening to the distant roar of the ocean and the pound of her own blood in her ears.
A single, firm knock sounded at the door.
Right on time.