do eat very little meat,” she added.
“Absolutely no red meat. A little poultry and fish now and then,
generally free range. But I eat mostly grains and fruits and
vegetables.”
“Are you some kind of health nut?” She was
some kind of nut. That had already been established.
She shook her head again, after taking
another bite. “No. I own an organic food store. I sell freshly
grown fruits and vegetables, some herbs, vitamins, natural
remedies, essential oils. That sort of thing. The name of the store
is Naturally .”
She grinned and Andrew returned the smile.
“Of course.”
Tasha finished her sandwich and took a drink
of tea. “What do you do for a living, Andrew?”
She’d turned the tables entirely and it took
him a minute to re-focus. “Oh, I’m in pharmaceuticals.”
A gurgle of laughter exploded from Tasha’s
throat.
“Why is that so funny?”
She covered her mouth with her hand. “It’s
not. Really. I guess I just should have known.”
“Should have known what?” Damn, but if he
didn’t hate it when she laughed at him.
“Oh, the laptop. The clothing. Your demeanor.
I should have known. All business. Haven’t you ever heard the
phrase, ‘All work and no play makes Andrew a dull boy?’”
Andrew felt the back of his neck getting hot.
“So you’re saying I’m dull?”
Tasha cocked her face to one side and stared
at him. Slowly, a grin spread across her face. “Maybe,” she
replied. “But if we work on it, we might be able to do something
about it.”
She tossed the unopened stack of literature
on Andrew’s bed. He glanced up.
“What’s all that?” He continued eating.
“Information,” she answered.
“About what?”
“About the resort. Aren’t you in the least
interested?”
“Oh yeah,” he yawned. “Let me have it. I
can’t wait to read about the advantages of walking around naked as
a blue-jay on the beach and in the rain forest.”
She leaned back on one elbow while leafing
through one of the pamphlets. The creak of the bed springs brought
his thoughts back to the present.
“Says here that nudity is the ultimate
oneness with nature. Huh. Whaddaya think about that?”
Andrew grumpily shrugged his shoulders and
glanced away. He didn’t give a damn at the moment about listening
to what she was planning. “Where did you get all that stuff?”
Tasha turned her face up to him and smiled
radiantly. “In the information packet. Want to hear more?”
“Not really,” he grumbled then sat up. He
stretched his arms up and around then stood. Stepping closer to the
window, he pulled back the draperies. Then he snapped them back
shut again. There were people, way down out on a distant beach.
Were they nude? He started to perspire.
How disgusting.
“This one says nudity is an incredible
invigorating experience. That it’s a growth of the body and soul.
That it perpetuates a loss of one’s inhibitions to find an internal
peace within yourself.” Tasha dropped the pamphlet to her lap and
looked at him. “How beautiful! Don’t you think?”
Andrew glanced back at her. “Beautiful?”
“Sure. Don’t you see? Being nude makes one
forget about all the external trappings of our society. We don’t
need fancy clothing or jewels or even incredible model bodies to be
at one with ourselves. All we need is what we were born with. And,
of course, an acceptance of yourself that you are what you are and
there ain’t a dang thing you can do about it. They’re even offering
a first-timers orientation tomorrow morning. We’ll have to sign up.
What do you think?”
Andrew felt his face pull into a grimace.
“What I think is that that’s all a bunch of hogwash! You know
they’re just saying that stuff so people will come out here and pay
good money to run around naked ogling each other under the guise of
a oneness with nature. Don’t you realize that those people out
there are all a bunch of perverts!”
Tasha rose, dropped the literature to the
floor and stepped
K. Sterling
Jacquie Rogers
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley
Shiloh Walker
Elizabeth Moynihan
Mary Balogh
Tara Fox Hall
Jonathan Maberry
Jane Hunt
James Kakalios