An Excerpt From: SEX ON THE
BEACH

Copyright © AMBER
SKYZE, 2011

All Rights Reserved, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

Chapter
One

The wind blew wisps of Allie’s long blonde hair back toward the road she’d just traveled.
She sped along the California coastline in her yellow convertible Spyder, enjoying the sunrise in the distance. The sun
sparkled across the ocean, glimmering orange as it rose. The rays would threaten
to scorch her skin later in the day. The weatherman had said the temperatures
would reach well into the nineties again.

She
pressed her flip-flopped foot harder on the gas pedal. Allie allowed the car to
accelerate because she knew no one in their right mind would be on the road at
this ungodly hour. Not everyone woke before the crack of dawn. While most were
still sleeping soundly in their beds, the air conditioner cooling their skin,
Allie was up grocery shopping.

It wasn’t
unusual for her to be up and going at four in the morning. She loved those first
few hours of the day when life was quiet. She could sip her coffee leisurely.
The hustle and bustle came later when she left the house to fight the highway
traffic on her way to her job as a marketing executive for a pharmaceutical
company.

At least
that was her life before she’d lost her job. She punched the steering
wheel.

“Fuck,”
she cursed to the open wind. While she missed the craziness of her old life she
had to admit the last six months were the most stress-free she’d felt in years,
right up until she returned to work.

The long
hours and stress related to her job contributed in the onslaught of health
issues she hadn’t known existed. After three consecutive months with a bout of
what she thought was the flu Allie finally sought the advice of her doctor. He
put her through numerous rounds of testing and came to the conclusion she
suffered from acid reflux and Crohns disease. Both
were brought on by stress, food choices and not taking care of her
body.

Allie
spent five agonizing days in the hospital while her doctor tried to get her
disease under control. It was the worst experience in her life. There were times
when she thought she’d die and sometimes she silently prayed she would. It was
devastating and debilitating, but she swore she wouldn’t let it control her
again.

Once Dr.
Robinson managed to get the disease under control she looked pointedly at
Allie.

“Look,
your job is slowly killing you. Your body can’t handle the stress or long hours
you’re demanding of it. You need to make some lifestyle changes or I’m just
going to see you back here in a few months,” she’d said.

The
reality of the doctor’s words was like a knife being twisted in her chest. She
didn’t know how to not be on the go 24/7. That was the way she’d lived her life
since turning sixteen.

Allie
pressed even harder on the gas pedal.

She
couldn’t get to the beach house fast enough. The idea of spending two weeks of
quiet, soaking up the sun and sand appealed to her on so many levels. When her
friend Pam told her she could use her beach house, Allie had immediately jumped
on the offer.

The next
few weeks would give her time to readjust to being unemployed and hopefully
clear her mind. Eventually she’d have to decide what direction she wanted to
take with her life. She had enough money saved to get her through six months of
unemployment, but Allie didn’t want to totally deplete her savings. It was there
as a safety net, nothing more.

Quitting
had never been a word Allie thought she’d use, but her boss left her no other
choice. She’d had a career as a marketing executive for almost five years before
she’d up and resigned.

“Asshole!”
She gripped the steering wheel, fighting back the tears stinging her eyes. She
refused to cry. She wouldn’t give that shithead the satisfaction of beating her
down. She wiped away the drop with the back of her hand.

“Screw
you,
Marty.”