Hawaiian Vacation To-Do List:
1 Bikini up! Youâre in Oahu, and itâs time for fruit drinks with umbrellas in them!
2 Being obsessively organized doesnât work during a Hawaiian vacation. Relax. Seriously.
3 Scan the resort for hot dudes. Huh. That hot jogger who ran by looks a lot like your ex, Jeremyâonly fitter, harder and sexier.
4 Moonlit walks mean bumping into Hot Jogger Guy. Who is your ex.
5 Donât panic. Instead, think with your libido! Also debate the merits of ex sex.
6 Ignore the consequences. Go for it.
7 Revel in the afterglow. Go for rounds two and three.
8 Ooh, kayaking!
9 Round four. Oops!
10 Definitely do not think about why you broke up in the first place. Or that youâre having wicked-hot nookie with the man you were here to forget...
Acknowledgments
I couldnât have written Sex on the Beach (or its companion book, Mai Tai for Two), without the insight and assistance of my big sister. She has lived on Oahu (in fact she was born on Oahu) and kept me from making many a critical error regarding bird-watching details and foliage. Thanks, Dana! The drinks part I managed all on my own.
Thanks also go to my extraordinary editor, Deb Nemeth, who has the patience of a saint and always has something nice to say...even when she probably wants to be holding up whatever manuscript I just sent and asking me, âSeriously, what the heck?â Deb, you turned this from a pile of tropical-themed sludge into an actual book, and for that you have my undying gratitude!
Dear Reader,
Some vacations, we just canât afford. Thatâs what daydreams are for! But what would you do if your best friend won a dream vacation for two and invited you along?
If you were Amanda, youâd have trouble prying yourself away from work. Like a lot of Cosmo girls, she has to work her fun in around a demanding career. Sheâs thrown herself into it even harder since she and her fiancé, Jeremy, broke up a year ago, and she really doesnât have time to spare. Still, who could resist four free days at one of the swankiest resorts on Oahu?
The one thing Amanda really wants to get away from is all the reminders of her ex...but instead of finding a hot vacation fling, she finds Jeremy on the beach, and heâs determined to win her back. They broke up over whether to move from San Jose to Seattle, but now heâs willing to relocate his company if he has to. Amanda knows Jeremy is capable of making grand gestures, but sheâs starting to realize itâs the little things that make a relationship strong, and Jeremy canât seem to grasp that their real problem had nothing to do with which town they settled in.
Hot vacation flings? Probably a bad idea. Sex with the ex? Definitely a bad idea. Combining the two? Potentially disastrous, but theyâre going to do it anyway. And where theyâll end up is anybodyâs guess!
Enjoy their exploration while lounging on a sunny beach, sipping a frosty beverage from a coconut cup with an umbrella in it (or in the tub with a sodaâthat works, too!).
I love to hear from readers. You can find me online at www.delphinedryden.com, or on Twitter, @deldryden.
Aloha!
Delphine Dryden
Chapter One
They are totally eye-fucking.Theyâre eye-fucking, and they donât even realize it.
The limousine ride from the Honolulu International Airport to the north shore of Oahu should have been a pleasant trip. Plush leather, fresh flower leis, well-stocked minibar and hands-down the best scenery of all time. But Amanda had been fighting a headache since shortly after their plane took off after the stop at LAX. Sheâd lost the fight somewhere over the Pacific, and now instead of enjoying the lush tropical foliage and looking forward to the resort, she needed all her energy just to keep from barfing. Their current scenic route seemed to involve some drastic elevation changes as they traversed the island, which definitely wasnât helping.
And then there was the eye-fucking. Not a problem in theory, and she was certainly used to seeing her friends Julie and Alan make oblivious unrequited googly eyes at each other. But this time it mattered, because sheâd made her own plans for Alan during this Hawaiian dream vacation. Plans that didnât involve Julie, since Julie continued to insist she had no romantic interest in the guy. After three years, Amanda had decided to take her best friendâs word for it, ocular sex notwithstanding. Alan might not know it yet, but if heâd hoped for a vacation hookup he was already in luck.
âOh my God! Look at that bird!â Julie was kneeling on the limoâs side seat, all but hanging her head out the window. âDid you see it?â