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

far I can take this. “Actually,” I say, “we’re going to head back to the resort.”
    Tanya drops my hands and steps in front of me. “We’d love to go, Jorge!” She turns back and looks at me with a grin. “Right?”
    She makes me laugh. “That’s right!”
    “Come, come,” he says, pulling Tanya’s arm towards the exit.
    “I’ll go pay our tab,” I say, heading to the kitchen.
    Uncle Chef Boyardee is in the tiny kitchen chopping tomatoes so fast that I wouldn’t be surprised if he moonlighted as a ninja. He drops the knife and waddles around the counter with his arms stretched open when he sees me.
    “Good?” he asks, standing in front of me with food stains all over his huge belly.
    “Very good,” I say, nodding.
    He claps his hands together and smiles. He looks thrilled that I’m happy.
    “How much for everyone?” I ask, speaking slowly. He doesn’t seem to understand. “I pay for everyone,” I say, waving my hand around the patio.
    “Everyone?” he asks, rubbing his bushy mustache. “No, too much.”
    “Everyone,” I repeat, pulling out my wallet. “I insist.”
    The Chef looks uncomfortable but when he sees the way I’m staring back at him he knows that arguing with me will be a losing battle. He reads the handwritten bills tacked onto the cork board and moves his lips as he calculates. “About ten thousand pesos or six hundred dollars,” he says. “But it’s too much.”
    I pull out fifteen hundred dollars from my wallet and stuff it into the pocket of his apron. “There,” I say. “I pay for everyone tonight. They can get more drinks and food on me.”
    He moves fast for a big guy and his big arms are wrapped around me in a bear hug. I try to keep him at arms’ length because of all of the food on his apron. I have to look sharp with Tanya and having smeared salsa on my shirt won’t cut it.
    Chef Boyardee is too big, too strong and too relentless and I cave in. Fuck it. When in Cancun…
    I hug the big guy back. He smells like cilantro.
    He walks me out to the taxi and Tanya leaves him smiling like a drunk man when she kisses him on the cheek.
    Tanya pulls out her wallet when we’re back in the cab. “How much was it?” she asks.
    I place my hand on hers and stare at her with a serious look. “I don’t know what your previous boyfriends were like but with me, you never pull out your wallet.”
    “Really?” she asks, her eyes challenging me. “Or what?”
    “Or I’ll insist on seeing your driver’s license picture.”
    She stares at me for a moment and then puts her wallet away.
    “Yeah I thought so,” I say. We both laugh. “That bad huh?”
    “That bad.”
    Jorge jumps in the car. “Next, we go to the beach party.”
    Tanya looks excited. “I’ve never been to a beach party,” she says.
    We drive for about fifteen minutes through side streets, seeing the different communities and how they live. Tanya watches out the window the entire time. It’s not usually the part of Mexico that a tourist sees when they’re getting shuttled from the airport to their resort and back.
    Jorge pulls down a dark, secluded road in the woods. “Where are you taking us?” I ask. The headlights from our car are the only lights in the heavily wooded area.
    “Beach party,” he says, glancing back in the mirror. I’m about to respond when I hear the faint music coming from somewhere in the distance.
    Jorge parks the car and jumps out.
    “Where are we?” Tanya asks as we step out of the car onto the dirt road. We seem to be in the middle of the forest but we can hear the music louder now.
    “The party is this way,” Jorge says, pointing to the thick bushes. “Follow me.”
    He squeezes through the thick bush and quickly disappears.
    Tanya looks at me, shrugs and follows him in.
    “Where are you taking us?” I ask, staying close to her.
    “Come, come,” is all Jorge answers.
    Tanya turns back to me. “Are there alligators or snakes in here?” she asks.
    I laugh.