Wild Heart

The Butterfly Tattoo

"Do we really need to do this?" James groaned as they stood waiting for their horseback-riding-on-the-beach excursion.

"Yes," Camila quickly replied. "Your parents said it was really sweet and romantic."

"How? We're not even gonna be on the same horse. How is that romantic?"

"Because it's horseback riding on the beach! How is that not romantic?"

"This just doesn't seem very safe. What if they buck us off? What if they fall? I mean how much traction can a horse really have in the sand."

"Well forgive me for wanting to spend our time in Hawaii doing something other than sleeping in the hotel room all day," she snapped. James sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"We can still have fun while also being safe."

"Why are you acting like I'm asking you to jump out of plane or something? We're literally just riding a horse."

"Whatever," he shrugged. "Let's just get this over with."

What Camila had hoped would, in fact, be a sweet and romantic time riding horses on the beach ended up just being tense and uncomfortable for both of them. She was glad that her horse seemed to be trailing ahead of his because it made it easier to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.

She hated this. She hated that she was questioning a relationship with a man that she really did have a lot of love for and she hated even more knowing that the reason she was questioning it right now was because of his brother. The thing she hated most, however, was that for a split second she wished that Shawn was the one riding horses with her instead of James. At least Shawn would be enjoying it.

She just wanted to be adventurous for once in her life. Her entire life she had played by the rules; she had done exactly what she need to do to make sure that everything about her life was guarded and sheltered. But what if she didn't want to be guarded and sheltered? What if she wanted to be wild and carefree? She never even really wanted to be a nurse. But medical things didn't make her queazy and she knew it would be solid money so she did what was safest and went to medical school.

"I love you," James had reminded her after they got off of their horses and started walking back towards their room. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."

"It's fine," she shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"You know, if you want romance we can do romance. Maybe we can do dinner on the beach tonight? Just the two of us?" Camila sighed and smiled.

"Ok. That sounds nice." James leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the lips as they stepped back into their room.

They decided to spend the rest of their day by the pool until it was time for their romantic beach dinner that night. Camila really wanted to wow him. She slipped on a red silk dress that hugged her curves perfectly before doing her hair and makeup. She stepped out of the bathroom, eager to see her boyfriend's reaction to her sexy outfit.

"You done?" he asked as he looked up at her. The smile that had been on her face fell slightly as she nodded. He stood up from the bed and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Camila sighed as she sat down onto the bed. She wasn't sure what she was expecting but it was definitely not what he gave her.

Dinner was nice. The food was incredible and the view was even better. The conversation, however, was lackluster. James did most of the talking and 99% of it was about work and medical school. Camila just nodded along as she pushed around her leftover food with her fork. They got back to their room and she suddenly became determined to heat up their relationship at least a little bit. She slipped out of her dress and into a small tank top and a pair of pajama shorts to sleep in. Instead of sleeping, though, she walked over to the side of the bed where James was laying and swung her leg over him to straddle him. She didn't even give him a second to react before cupping his face in her hands and kissing him hard. As soon as she tried to add tongue, he pulled away from her.