Page 74 of The Impact (Parachutes #3)

Immediately, Tahli sensed the bartender’s disappointment sneaking through her smile.

A curly-haired island woman with a bad boob job, probably poorer than usual, had likely spotted all of this man: the tattoos, muscles, shirtless, killer smile, guttural voice as smooth as the cognac she poured him.

Probably saw a lottery ticket covered in bright American flag-colored lights.

The view of the pools was even more breathtaking at night, lit with neon glows, as gentle island music played. The sweet breeze carried tropical flowers, beachy air, and sea breeze. And Tahli stood there next to her friend , dressed in her cover-up ready for a dip.

“You are so beautiful.” The bartender scanned Tahli with the compliment like she was taking notes.

Tahli had learned quick, especially the more successful Vin became, it took a certain type of woman to tolerate constantly and quietly fighting off cunning, alpha-craving ladies.

So delicately, the men didn’t even spot the game playing out in front of their face.

“Such pretty skin. Sparkle like…” she reached out and rubbed Vin’s gold and diamond Hublot.

“Thank you,” Tahli grinned. “But be careful touching that. It’s expensive.” The man and the watch, Hun. Way out of your league .

“This is Anya. She was hipping me to some excursions we should try. A boat to this little private island.”

“Yes, it takes you to Mayaguana–”

“That’s nice. I’m going in the pool to cool off.” Tahli smiled them both away, leaving Vin with Anya, the Explorer; looking for her American way.

Tahli shed her coverup with her back to Vin, so he couldn’t spot her smirk. She turned enough to toss it behind her and catch his double take.

Her bare ass cheeks barely met the water before the men started gravitating.

Swaying naturally toward her in the water like sharks circling prey.

Tahli fully immersed herself to soak her body, then lay back in a slow backstroke toward the waterfall.

When she sat up erect, she had lured a man with her pheromones. Tan skin. Wavy haired.

“Hello,” he smiled gluttonously. “You are here alone?”

“I, um…” Tahli glanced past him, spotting Vin kicking off his Prada slides. If these men were sharks, the Great White had just breeched the waters, blazing straight in their direction. His scowl led his body as he too easily parted water from his path.

“You should go.”

“Why? Party’s just starting.”

“No, love. Party’s over. Swim away. Now,” Tahli used her teacher voice, and the smart man broke through his drunken fog enough to listen.

And Vin…Vin didn’t even look like he was in the pool.

He stormed through that water with no falters, face tight, body rippled with veins. The four feet of water at his torso.

“Aht.” Tahli swam in his path, blocking him from where her visitor had disappeared to.

“He ain’t do nothing. Leave that man alone,” Tahli snickered.

Vin cast a long look in the guy’s direction before focusing on her.

“What the fuck are you wearing?”

“My swimsuit,” Tahli’s reply dripped with innocence.

She watched Vin’s eyes scan the tiny triangles barely swathing her watermelon tits, serious under boob threatening to slip.

But Tahli knew what it was when she bought it.

She was a woman as devoted to her feminine power as her motherhood and career.

The power of a woman being all things; nothing to be sacrificed.

“What was wrong with your other one?” Vin grilled, hands sneaking up on her hips beneath the water, getting dangerously close to her bare cheeks in her thong bottom.

“That’s my Mommy bikini,” she crooned. “This is my ‘the kids are asleep, I’m in Turks & Caicos, and I still look damn good, grown-ass-woman’ bikini.

” Surrounded by twenty-somethings, Tahli was aware that when she stepped out onto this deck she had every straight man’s attention.

She didn’t relish in it. Instead, she exchanged smiles for gazes, returned compliments, radiated positive energy.

And fucked her ex-husband’s head up. Because, come on…

all the trouble you made, Dalvin Hayes? I can at least fuck your head up.

“Dalvin.” A hand to his hard chest was a subtle down boy . Because now he was caressing her ass. “We’re not supposed to do any of that. Remember?”

“You’re wearing a fucking shoestring,” he gritted into her face, almost angrily. “So, who’s not playing fair?”

Tahli pulled her honey-blond locs behind her to wring out water, eyes never leaving his.

“I’m just enjoying my vacation.”

“I’m telling Larry.”

She guffawed. “You gonna snitch on me? Seriously? The Vin Hayes that respects the code? Why don’t you go back over there with Rihanna and let me swim. I wanna go in this cave.”

“Tahli, my dick’s harder than a tree trunk, stop playing with me,” he hissed, but Tahli turned on her stomach for a slow stroke to the quieter, more secluded area of the pool.

Her bare ass cheeks leveled above the water, the mist from the nearby waterfall and island breeze put goosebumps on it. Vin was on her tail like a bodyguard.

“What you doing?” Tahli asked when they reached the secluded, cave-style area, a small opening to view the stars above them. “You wanna swim now? Where’s your phone? One of us has to keep our phone for the kids.”

His kiss on her neck was his response, and Tahli squeezed his face with her head and shoulder to stop it.

“Vin!” The sounds of Bob Marley’s Is This Love floated over the blue water, misting with the moist breeze.

They had a Bob Marley thing . Not only did Tahli grow up on his music, it seemed since meeting Vin, it had followed them across the globe.

Their first trip together to Ocean City, they danced to Waiting in Vain in a tiki bar.

Times throughout their marriage, his songs would find them in the most magical moments.

Like the one playing. Is This Love transported Tahli back to their bungalow in Moorea.

Tahli had a belly the size of a basketball. A babymoon for her pregnancy with Terran. She stepped onto the wooden planks over teal water turned black by the night, a big moon hanging above it in the distance.

The smell of Vin’s weed blended with coconut air as his hairy legs stretched out on the lounge chair, feet bare. He was deep in thought, in one of those meditative moods. And Tahli was floating.

There was a yacht nearby. The patrons of it were partying but Tahli didn’t mind. The music was tranquil and Bob Marley’s Is This Love was loud enough for them to enjoy.

Tahli initiated a sexy dance, pregnant and all, sporting the purple lace panties and bra she’d changed into after her shower. Swirling her hips, she stared into her husband’s eyes, hoping to entice him, swollen midsection, and all, as he puffed away, smiling eyes up on her.

“You’re beautiful, baby love.”

He made her so bashful, even a decade in. Tahli tossed her head back to giggle at the stars.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. And big as this bungalow. Is this not life, Vin? Like is this not the sweetest fucking life ever, baby?” She leaned down to kiss him quickly, tasting the chocolate smoke on his lips.

Poor unfortunate souls who didn’t experience life’s decadent pleasures.

The main one. The only one that mattered: love.

“Baby, we’re in Tahiti…on a Bungalow…” Tahli danced playfully again, rubbing her belly on beat.

“Black…and sexy…and we got money…and pretty babies.”

Tahli made him grin a faultless smile in his laugh.

“And they’re playing Bob Marley. Is this not life?”

It was life. And it was love.

“Are they really playing Marley right now?” Tahli asked louder than intended, in this pool with the memory hanging over her head. Same man. So much time and circumstances later.

“Remember Tahiti?” He blew her mind and fleetingly joined her back in time. Tahli gawked at him. A second later, he drew her nearer.

“Stop!” Tahli smacked his beefy shoulder as he held her against his erection. Then he sucked on her neck, making her shudder.

“I wanna climb in this bikini.”

“You wanna wear this bikini?” She giggled, splashing him with water. “I don’t know if it’ll fit yo’ big ass.”

“I wanna wear you . I wanna climb inside of you, baby love. Then you can’t ever get away from me again.” She couldn’t help hugging him back, inhaling his forehead.

“You gotta stop,” Tahli’s voice dropped a level as he toyed with her nipple through her top, even if she wanted nothing more than to feel his mannish tongue abusing her vagina. Like, would pay money for it, he was so good at it, and she craved it so achingly.

“We’re on vacation,” he echoed deep in her ear. “You know how we do on those.”

Dammit, Dalvin Hayes…what is it about you? About us?

“Woohoo!” some drunk airhead called out from the edge, hanging off a meat-headed Italian guy. She couldn’t be more than twenty-five, and he was balding. Brolic like Vin, but Vin’s V-shape from his broad shoulders to his tapered waist was more proportioned. This guy was sponsored by steroids.

“See! That’s how a husband is supposed to be all over his wife!” She shouted drunkenly, slapping Meat-head’s muscular arm.

“He’s not my- Mmm…”

Tahli battled against Vin covering her mouth. She shifted her head around to break free.

“He’s my ex-husband!” Before she could get it fully out, he’d swooped her over his shoulder like a towel.

“Woohoo! Even better!” The drunk girl called out, and Vin lugged them farther away.

“Dalvin…wait…” Tahli couldn’t stop grinning and giggling, as he lowered her back down.

“We have to…listen…to what Larry…told us.” She spoke between his kisses to her face.

And her throat. And her shoulder. He would pull back and visibly search for a new spot before blessing it.

Igniting the kind of fire in Tahli that he couldn’t see but she could feel.

The ethanol, clean-burning kind. “Ooh. Look at the jacuzzi over by that bar.” There were stairs leading up to a jacuzzi, another waterfall and a private bar.