No Distractions

Oh hey, another post.  I've been doing a little bit here and there to keep myself sane now.  I still don't plan to be back on schedule until the 24th, but I finished another full post and thought I'd post it for you guys.  Thanks for being so patient, I'm excited to get moved and settled and be able to be back regularly!  If you need a refresher, you can re-read the last regularly storyline post here.
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We did end up moving to the hammock, and we laid cuddled together for more than a half hour until the sun went down.  I yawned and closed my eyes, the long day of travel catching up to me.  Brody's thumb stroked small circles against my shoulder, and the combination of his touch and the sound of the ocean lulled me into an almost hypnotic state.  "Bed?" he asked softly.

"Mmm, it's probably not even 9:00," I mumbled.

Brody chuckled softly.  "It's not," he replied.  "But you're clearly ready anyway."

"That's true," I agreed, yawning again.  Between traveling, my post-sex stupor, the stress of the last few weeks, and the bottle of wine we'd shared, I really was ready to fall asleep at any second.

"Come on," he prodded me gently.  I rolled my head to the side, thinking about it.  Brody slid his arm out from under me and stood.  He stretched, then offered a hand to me.  I took it and got up.  We made our way down the stairs carefully in the near-darkness, and I blinked at the harsh light when Brody flipped a switch back in our room.

I brushed my teeth, changed, and got into bed.  Brody followed a few minutes later and fit his body to mine, his chest against my back.  "Are you going to bed too?" I asked.  He seemed much more awake than I was.

"No, just wanted to lay with you for awhile," he replied.  I was enjoying it far too much to point out that he had just laid with me for nearly an hour.  I closed my eyes and realized I could still hear the waves faintly.  I tried to let them lull me to sleep, but quickly realized that my trip down the stairs had woken me up a little too much.

I didn't feel like actually getting up though.  Instead, I wriggled out from under Brody's arm and rolled over to face him.  "What's wrong?" he asked, brushing a piece of hair out of my face.

"Nothing," I replied.  "I'm just a little too awake now."  I leaned towards him and kissed his throat, and I was rewarded by him gripping my hips and pulling me closer.  His hand traveled over my ass and down the back of my leg, pulling it up and over his leg.  His other arm slid between us and he tilted my chin up so he could kiss me.

He pulled away long enough for me to pull my shirt off.  The hand that had been on my leg immediately went to my breasts and he rolled my nipple gently between his finger and thumb, causing me to moan softly.  He rolled me onto my back and lowered his head to my chest, teasing me with his tongue.  I gasped and arched my back toward him when he tugged gently on one nipple with his teeth.  Brody pulled at my shorts and I quickly wiggled out of them while he took his off.  I moved on top of him and lowered myself onto him.  I started off moving slowly but his hands on my hips urged me faster and it wasn't long before I came, my legs shaking like crazy.  He gave me some time recover before he lifted me off of him, turned me away from him, and pushed into me from behind.  He used his fingers against me to help me orgasm again before he finished, and we both collapsed onto the bed, breathless.

I laid on my stomach and turned my head towards Brody.  I smiled at him, dazed and sleepy again.  "Now are you ready to sleep?" he teased gently, pushing my hair behind my ear.  I nodded.  "Me too."  He shifted and pulled me closer to him and I moved over until my head was on his chest, my body pressed against his side.  One of his arms wrapped around my back.  That hand settled on my waist while his other hand stroked my arm lightly.  I let my hand rest on Brody's upper arm, feeling the muscles contract and extend as his hand traveled up and down my arm.  I was completely relaxed for the first time in what seemed like months.

Brody kissed my forehead and said softly, "I love you, Liv."

"I love you too," I mumbled back sleepily.  This time, I fell asleep easily.

I woke up hours later, shivering as the air conditioning brushed across my bare skin.  I extracted myself from Brody's sleep-limp grip, wrinkling my nose when our skin, which had been damp with sweat when we fell asleep, stuck slightly before separating.  Brody didn't even move.  I got up and walked carefully to the bathroom.  When I returned, I pulled the sheet and blanket up over both of us.  Brody stirred and rolled onto his stomach as I settled on my side.  I fell back asleep quickly.

The next time I woke up, the room was light.  I squinted at the clock and saw that it was 6:02am.  I shut my eyes again before I processed what had woken me up: Brody was kissing the back of my neck.  I almost rolled away in protest of the early hour, but his patient work on my neck and shoulder was having the desired effect.  What is it about vacations and hotel rooms?  Our lazy morning sex happened quickly and without any words exchanged, and then I fell back asleep one more time, my body still pressed against Brody's.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw a much more reasonable 8:37 on the clock.  Considering we had originally fallen asleep before 10pm, I wasn't surprised to find that Brody was no longer in bed next to me.  I heard the shower running as I rolled onto my back and stretched.  I laid there, slowly waking up, until the shower shut off and Brody walked back into the bedroom area, a towel around his waist.  "Good morning, beautiful," he said, grinning at me.  I smiled back, then let my eyes roam his lean, muscular body.

He turned his back to me to grab some clothes and said, "I went for a walk this morning and checked out our breakfast options.  There are two restaurants that are open for breakfast, otherwise there's the buffet."  He told me the restaurant choices and I picked one as I sat up and thought about getting in the shower.

"I figured you'd be hungry right away," he continued, his voice muffled as he pulled a shirt over his head.

"Weird," I joked.  "It's like you know me or something."  He rolled his eyes and threw his wet towel at me, which motivated me to get up and get in the shower.  I showered quickly.  I was frowning at my bag, trying to decide what to wear, when Brody said, "It's already really hot and humid.  I was thinking after breakfast we could wander around a little and then go check out one of the pools?"  I agreed and pulled out a bikini and a sundress and quickly put them on.  I braided my hair and we headed out of our room towards breakfast.

Brody slid an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him as we walked towards breakfast.  Despite the heat, I was enjoying his touchy-feelyness.  I had felt so disconnected from him the last couple weeks with him being gone so much and everything being as crazy as it was.  It was a welcome change to be with him without interruption.

We reached our breakfast destination and were quickly shown to a table against a wall of glass, looking out over the beach.  A waiter quickly brought us glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice.  We looked at the menu for a few minutes and then placed our order.  After we ate, we wandered around checking out the resort.  It was huge, and there were 6 pools, including a small lazy river that wound its way around the spa building.

"Pool or beach?" Brody asked, after we completed our self-guided tour.

"Beach," I answered.  There was a small area of beach that was only for people with the upgraded rooms, and we decided to head over there as it was far less crowded than the rest of the beach.  "I need to go put more sunscreen on first," I said, frowning at my pale shoulder.

We went back to the room and grabbed some water and sunscreen and my Kindle, and then we went down to the beach.  We found lounge chairs and I immediately threw my towel on mine and laid down.  "You're not going in?" Brody asked.

"I will in a little while," I assured him.  He shrugged, pulled off his shirt, and walked down towards the water.  I watched him for awhile before picking my Kindle up and turning it on.  I read for awhile and then looked up again.  Two girls in tiny bikinis were talking to him.  I grinned as I watched.  His body language was completely uninterested.  He was half turned away from them, looking at neither of them, and seemed to be barely responding to their efforts.  After about a minute, he said something to them, waved, and walked out of the water towards me.

I smirked at him as he approached.  "Don't say a word," he said before I could open my mouth.  "I couldn't get out of that situation fast enough."  I laughed.  I watched him dry off and stretch out on the lounge chair next to mine.  Then I set my Kindle aside, shifted around to get more comfortable, and closed my eyes for awhile.

Several minutes later, he said, "When are your parents' birthdays?"

"Huh?"

"Your parents' birthdays.  When are they?" he repeated.

"My mom's is June 29th and my dad's is July 7th," I replied, looking at him curiously.  "Why?"

"Wow, they're so close together.  That's convenient.  I was thinking we should go visit them, and it seems like the weekend of the 4th of July might be a good time.  I'm sure they'd both love to see you for their birthdays."

"You were thinking we should go visit them, huh?" I asked, the corners of my mouth twitching up in a grin.  "Because you miss them?"

He laughed.  "They're nice, I liked them.  They're so normal compared to my family.  But really, my mom and sister love you so much, I feel like I need to work harder to win over your parents."

"Are you kidding?" I said.  Brody gave me a weird look.  "My parents adore you already."

"They do?"

"Yes!  After Lynn's accident, my dad would not shut up about 'the initiative you took' looking up his number and calling him when you couldn't get a hold of me, and how you couldn't get a flight into Madison, so you flew into Milwaukee and drove.  And my mom was so floored that you left work to be with me--and she didn't even know that I had been an asshole and we had fought before you left for Texas.  She would have been even more impressed had she known that.  And don't forget that you made it possible for them to spend Christmas with me, because I wasn't going to go because of the ticket prices."

"Oh," he said, dumbfounded.  I tried not to laugh.  He was so surprised about all those things being important, and I loved that he didn't realize the impact.  He had done it all without a second thought.

I rolled my eyes and said, "And I think they finally believe I've found someone that can take care of me in their absence.  My mom flipped when I told them I was moving to Denver.  I'm pretty sure she was worried I was going to die out here with no one to protect me from life."

Brody snorted.  "Little do they know, you'll do anything in your power to make that job difficult for me."

"Oh no," I assured him.  "They know all about it.  I'm sure they'd be happy to commiserate with you.  I gave them just as much trouble as I give you.  Though at least you let me hang out with my friends."

He furrowed his brow.  "They didn't let you hang out with your friends?"

I shrugged.  "For awhile.  On and off, probably depending on whether my biological father was in or out of prison."  Brody gave me a weird look that clearly said "more information, please."  So I told him the story of how I'd come to find out my parents were worried about him showing up and kidnapping me.

When I finished, he was staring at me in surprise.  "What?" I asked.

"I can't believe that's something you decided to just...not share," he said.  "So many things about you that I haven't understood make perfect sense now."

"Aside from why I don't like to be protected, what else makes sense that didn't before?" I asked.

"I get why you insisted for so long that what happened with Jordan was not a big deal.  I get why you were so upset at me for not giving you any say in what would happen to us when I went to Miami to do my dad's bidding.  I still don't understand why you freaked out so much when I initially wanted you to move in, but now I at least understand why you were willing to put your own life in danger to get out of a situation where you felt pressured."

I cringed thinking about all those situations.  I struggled to think of a good response, but I had nothing.  Luckily, we were interrupted by a resort employee stopping by to take drink orders.  We gave him our drink orders and I looked back at Brody.  He was still looking at me as if he had just had an earth-shattering revelation.  I guess he had.

"I don't know why it never occurred to me to tell you about that," I said, finally.  "It's not something I spend a lot of time thinking about anymore.  I didn't purposely not tell you."

"No, I know that," he assured me.  "I didn't think that was the case at all.  I'm just glad to know now."  The employee came back with our drinks and Brody spared me from that conversation by saying, "So would you want to go visit them?"

"My parents?  4th of July weekend?  Sure," I replied.  "Are you sure you still want to, now that you know they already love you?"

He laughed.  "Yes, I do.  It'll just really solidify it.  And also, I really want another normal holiday with a normal family, even if it is just the 4th of July."

"Alright," I agreed.  "Let's do it."

At lunch time we wandered along the sand to the beach grill that served lunch and snack foods all day.  We sat at a table and ordered a few things to share.  "I need to get out of the sun for awhile," I announced, inspecting my shoulder again.  I was worried that I would burn, even with my SPF 50 every hour.  The sun was intense, and my fair skin wasn't a fan.

"It's really hot," Brody said.  "I wouldn't mind going back to the room for awhile."  So after we finished eating, we headed back to the room.  I jumped in the shower for a couple minutes to rinse off the stubborn sand that was clinging to my skin, then pulled my dress back on and flopped across the bed.

"We should just move here," I said.

"Here to this resort?  This room?" Brody teased.

"Sure, why not?  I could live here."

Brody grinned.  "We could always buy the timeshare they tried to sell us when we checked in."

"There we go.  Then we could come whenever we wanted."

"If you want a timeshare in Mexico, I'll buy you a timeshare in Mexico," he replied.

"Of course you would," I said.

He stood from where he was sitting on the couch and came over to me.  He stretched out next to me, sideways across the bed.  "I would," he said, running his fingertips lightly down my arm.

"I know you would," I replied.  "Please don't buy me a timeshare in Mexico."

"Fine, I'll just buy me a timeshare in Mexico," he retorted.  Now he was teasing me again and I shook my head.  I caught his hand as it started a path back up my arm, then brought it to my lips and kissed his knuckles.  "I might even let you come with me sometimes."

"I only want a timeshare in Mexico if it means we get to spend more uninterrupted time together," I said softly, rolling onto my side to face him.

He smiled and traced his fingers over my cheekbone and jaw and down my neck.  I shivered when they skated lightly across my collarbone.  "I think we just need more of that anyway, with or without Mexico."  I nodded.  "I'd like to be able to have just one day a week where I don't check my work email, or take a work call, or worry about work all day.  We haven't even been here 24 hours and I already feel so much better.  I really needed this.  We really needed this."  I nodded again, closing my eyes as his fingers slid over my shoulder and down my arm.  He stroked the inside of my wrist, which raised goosebumps all the way up my arm, then slid his fingers between mine.

"I love how driven you are and what you've created for yourself," I said, opening my eyes and looking at him.  "But I hate seeing the way it takes over your life and stresses you out day after day.  I know it's not avoidable, and it's just part of owning your own successful business, but it's still hard to watch.  And selfishly, it's hard for me to give up that time with you, but you know that already."

"An entire day every week without any work is probably not realistic right now, especially with having to be on call every three weeks," he said.  I nodded.  I knew that.  "But what if we did half a day every week I'm not on call?  Sundays from noon to midnight, I'm all yours.  I'll turn my phone off completely.  We could go out and do something or stay in and watch a movie, it doesn't matter.  I need to get better at doing that sometimes for my own sanity, and spending the time with you will be a great motivator."

"I love that idea," I said, smiling.

"Good," he said.  "I love you, Liv."

I scooted closer to him and pressed my forehead to his.  "I love you too," I replied.  He kissed me; a soft, sweet kiss with no pretense, just a kiss.  When we separated I shifted and moved lower on the bed so I could press myself against him.  I burrowed my face into his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me.  I'd known this trip was going to be good for both of us individually, and for our relationship, but I'd had no idea how much closer I'd feel to him just by getting rid of the distraction of work.  In that moment, I would have been content to stay here forever.