Chapter 9

I was building a sandcastle, wearing a thong and nothing else. Hal, one of the photographer's assistants, held a reflector to catch the sun; just a large oval of stretched canvas. The wind had started blowing hard off the ocean and he struggled with it. Rita, another assistant, finished wiping at the sand clinging to my lower back and the exposed cleavage of my ass where the red thong was riding low.

"Over your shoulder, Cindy ... Perfect ... More, cup your tits for me and turn ... turn ... wait ... nice..."

I did whatever Peter, the photographer, told me to do, but I really wanted to finish my sand castle and I kept going back to it. I had a small pink bucket and a little blue shovel. I was making a tower and pausing every now and again to give the camera my best come-fuck-me look. I'd arch my back and push out my breasts, covering my nipples with one arm and then the other. I let Rita move my hair, arranging it to clothe my tits long enough for a quick flurry of shots, and then the breeze would blow it away and I'd giggle at my sudden immodesty. Peter would take pictures of that as well, capturing forever the spontaneous joy illuminating my face.

I took a deep breath and held out my arms as Erin appeared, fixing my makeup real quickly and then pouring oil over my shoulders. She started massaging it into my deeply tanned skin, making my body gleam beneath the Tahitian sun. It was a beautiful day, a perfect day, and I felt impatient to finish my sand castle. When Erin was satisfied, I went back to it, digging into sand as white and fine as the sugar I put in my coffee.

The smell of the reef a thousand yards offshore was strong today, thick with brine, and I could taste the salt on my tongue and the oily flavor of cocoa-butter evaporating from my flesh. The tide was low enough so that we could see the uneven crest of the coral wall appearing and disappearing like the ragged spine of a sea serpent. The waves were pounding relentlessly against it and the dull roar was ceaseless and lulling me to sleep. To dream.

"I'm dreaming," I said, sifting the sand through my fingers, pouring it out of my child's bucket while Peter told me I was beautiful.

The sand glittered like tiny flecks of diamond as it ran between my fingers and there was something there. A flash of red in the center of my palm and I let my bucket go, picking up the ruby I'd found and holding it up against the endless blue sky. It was an earring, a lonely stud missing its mate, and I smiled at it even as the reef crumbled and a violent wall of seething water charged across the lagoon.

"Come on! Cindy! Run!" Hal yelled at me, tossing his bouncer aside and tugging at my hand. Rita had already gone and Peter was running along the beach, still taking pictures.

I was running and stumbling, being pulled along by Hal, but the sand was thick and soft, fighting every step I took. I realized I'd lost the earring. I'd dropped it and I tried to shake the man off me, turning so that I could go back and find it. The wave was rolling over my sand castle, wiping it away in front of my eyes and Hal still tugged at my arm, refusing to let me go. I was screaming at him. I had to go back...

"Let me go!" I sat up with a shout, sweating and breathless and I blinked at Sofia who held my hand, sitting on the floor next to me.

"You're alright, Cindy," she said. "It's just a dream."

"Oh God," I breathed, nodding my head and licking my lips. "What time is it?"

"Almost eight." Sofia reached for a pitcher of water on the nearby coffee table, pouring me a glass. "I didn't want to let you sleep too long, or you'd be up at midnight or something. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," I said, taking the glass with a grateful smile and finding the water nice and cold.

"We'll eat something and then you can get a good night's sleep," she told me. "Alone for a change."

"Heh!" I smiled at her as my heart finally began to slow down.

"What were you dreaming about?" Sofia asked, watching me change my clothes.

"Oh, ummm..." I looked down as I buttoned my blouse. "A girl I used to know."

"Hmmm..." she seemed to consider that, but didn't ask me anything else.

Eva and Wolfgang were waiting for us outside my door and I gave them a look. "You're not planning on guarding me all night or something, are you?"

"What?" Wolfgang chuckled. "No, we're just waiting for you."

"We eat now," Eva said with a smile.

"Okay," I agreed. "I just wanted to make sure."

"Relax," Sofia said as we walked towards the hotel proper, a large colonial structure painted white and brightly lit. "It's not so bad having them around, is it?"

"No," I admitted grudgingly, but we both knew none of the other models had any bodyguards with them.