One-Shots: 8

He stood in front of the hotel entrance.  Before him lay the ocean and the beach and the prime summer sun he had been looking forward to since the last time he was there.  He held a beach bag in one hand, and a large novel in the other.  He scrunched up his toes against the flip-flops he wore.

“Uh, what?”

She stepped closer to him as she came off the boardwalk.  She was enticing, even from that distance.  It had nothing to do with her outfit either.  An open men’s dress shirt and shorts clearly used as a last minute addition partially hid the domino two-piece that left little to the imagination.

It had all to do with the interesting tan lines and the tattoo and the snake that was wrapped around her.

She came closer and he was able to clearly see her.  His eyes traveled first to the tattoo that wrapped itself round and round and round her torso and right leg and up to her right shoulder and arm.  It itself looked like a snake, though if he could take some creative liberties with it, he would call it a dragon.  It swooped and turned upon itself in dark ink that rippled under her skin.  She was mesmerizing with that tat alone.

His eyes then went to the tan lines.  They were recent, as the tanned skin around pale flesh were red and angry with recent sunburn.  These tan lines too went up and down her body, tracing an almost exact replica of her tattoo.  Only the pattern now lay on her left side instead of her right, and it crossed the tattoo at least twice in clear, distinct lines.  Between pale flesh and dark ink, it looked like she was the very recreation of the domino swim suit she wore.

And as she stepped only a few yards from him his eyes finally drifted to the snake.  The… thing was wrapped around her contentedly as it wound around her shoulders and her arm.  Its tail dangled like it was trying to pretend it was some scarf instead of a snake.  The snake bore an interesting pattern of light tan scales that dominated the thing, with dark brown splotches that popped up in a regulated pattern.  It was like owner and pet were trying to mimic each other in their appearance.

He finally looked at her face, where he caught her eyeing him.  He blushed.  He had been staring, evaluating her like she was a piece of art and not a human.  He shouldn’t have done that, but damn if he didn’t like what he saw.

She winked at him.

The snake flicked out its tongue at him.

He jumped.  He hadn’t expected that the snake to actually be real!  He thought it had to be some sort of new floaty that the kids used these days.  Who in their right mind would bring a six foot snake to a beach?

She giggled at his reaction and continued inside the hotel.  He stood there for a moment, gathering his senses back.  He shook his head and headed to the beach.  Try as he might, he couldn’t get way her tattoo and her tan lines intermingled from his mind.