Cancun: Bad Boys on the Beach: A Standalone Romance Novel by Kimberly Fox

to the old man beside Tanya who has taken an interest in her. “That’s my father-in-law, my mother-in-law,” he says, pointing to the old woman who’s grinning beside me. He points to the beautiful woman across the table on Tanya’s other side. “My wife, this is my daughter.” He begins pointing to people all over the place. “My cousin, neighbor, brother, another cousin, my aunt…”
    I tune Manuel out as his father-in-law grabs a plastic flower from the vase on the table and gives it to Tanya. He’s hunched over and looks old enough that he could have been one of the founders of Mexico. He says something in Spanish and for the first time ever I really wish I had paid attention in Spanish class.
    The old woman next to me throws her napkin at him and starts yelling something that I don’t understand. Everyone at the table starts laughing but she looks pissed.
    I grab two plastic flowers from the vase and present them to her. She smiles shyly like she’s fourteen again and kisses me on the cheek with rough lips.
    The old man across the table looks at me and nods. He says something in Spanish and then tries to switch to English. “How you say…swingers. Sí?”
    “No!” Manuel’s wife, Adriana, says reaching over a laughing, blushing Tanya to smack her father. “Stop it!”
    Jorge comes back with plates of food stacked up his arm. He places them anywhere he can and before long every inch of the table is covered in fresh hot food. The food looks and smells incredible. I don’t know what half of it is but it has my mouth watering.
    We try a bit of everything, passing the plates around the table. Every bite is an explosion of flavor. It’s way better than the cardboard tasting food at the resort buffet. Manuel tops off our drinks as we talk and have fun enjoying the crazy atmosphere.
    His family is a riot and they have us laughing the whole time. They really don’t do it like this where I’m from.
    Tanya grabs a little roll off the plate and slathers it in the green sauce. Adriana’s eyes pop out of her head and she says “no no no no no no,” as Tanya bites into it but she’s too late. Tanya has already taken a bite.
    Her face goes scarlet red and she looks at me with panic brimming from her enormous eyes. She spits out the food into her napkin and chugs her glass of slush. Her mouth is open, breathing short heavy breaths when she throws the empty glass down and looks around in a panic for more.
    She grabs the half full pitcher and starts to chug it while everyone laughs hysterically around us. People from the other tables jump up and rush over to see what’s going on and before long the entire restaurant is surrounding us chanting ‘chug, chug, chug,’ as Tanya goes to town on the strong slushy pitcher.
    I join in, pounding my fist on the table to the beat of the crowd. “Chug, chug, chug,” I chant along with them. The pitcher was half full but she’s still going strong. A smile rips across my mouth as she finishes every last drop and then holds the empty pitcher upside down over her head.
    Everyone cheers as she slams it down on the table. I’ve never been prouder.
    A song that I’ve never heard comes on over the speakers and everyone gets excited and jumps out of their seats to dance.
    Tanya leans over the table towards me. “Holy fuck that was hot!”
    “That was amazing, is what that was,” I answer.
    The old man beside her gets up on rickety old legs and offers his hand. Tanya takes it and steps out of the picnic table. She laughs as the old man starts dancing. He moves with more grace than I thought he would and before long she’s dancing with him. The restaurant is alive with excited energy and there are more people dancing than eating.
    Manuel’s mother-in-law is watching Tanya and her husband dancing with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.
    “Let’s go make them jealous,” I whisper to her.
    She looks at me in confusion but then smiles when I step out of the picnic table