“SURELY, YOU ARE a prune by now?”
Rotating onto her back, Larissa pushed off the ledge with her feet, the water slapping the rock with a soft whoosh. “Possibly,” she replied. “I didn’t check.”
Okay, she had checked, but she wasn’t ready to dry off. So long as she stayed in the water, she could avoid dealing with what happened earlier. The tension between them seemed to grow stronger with each passing moment. At some point, the line had to snap, sending them in one direction or another. Her body knew what direction it wanted. Forty minutes in the cool water and it still tingled from his touch.
And, he’d merely brushed his fingers across her skin. Goodness knows how her body would feel if he actually kissed her. Her mind, on the other hand, wasn’t entirely sure finding out was a good idea.
Which was why, pruny fingers be damned, she stayed in the water while Carlos lounged on the rock shelf like a copper-skinned god.
“You have to remember,” she told him, “we don’t have underground rivers and caves in New York. We have sewers.”
“Mexico isn’t all cenotes and tropical lagoons, either, you know. We have our droughts, our poor sewage systems, our earthquakes—”
“Yeah, yeah. Stop being a buzzkill.”
“I’m simply trying to inject a little reality and remind you no place is perfect.”
Maybe not, but her current location certainly came close.
Using the backstroke, she glided across the surface and stared at the cloudless blue sky through the chamber opening. “I still can’t believe I’m swimming in my own private underground cave,” she said. Her favorite part was on the far side of the cavern. There, above two giant root systems, the water flowed from the source in a waterfall. She angled her body in that direction, prattling as she paddled.
“When I was a kid, I watched this movie about star-crossed island lovers. In it, the hero comes across the heroine bathing in a lagoon. I remember thinking how she rinsed her hair in the waterfall was the coolest thing ever.”
“Should I go ask Pablo for some shampoo?”
“Would you?” She leaned back and let the stream wash off her forehead. Somehow she suspected the host in him would oblige if he thought her serious. “Anyway, the princess falls in love with the hero. Or Bob Hope. I don’t remember which one.”
“Sounds like you watched a lot of movies.”
“Tons. My grandmother used to sew to the classic movie channel.” And God forbid she should change the channel. “While other kids grew up with video games, I grew up counting satin buttons and watching Errol Flynn rescue princesses.”
“I’m beginning to see where you got your romantic streak.”
“What can I say? I’m a sucker for happy endings.”
“Except life isn’t like the movies, is it?” A soft plop echoed through the chamber. It was Carlos tossing a pebble into the water. He sat leaning forward with his body hunched over his knees, his attention focused somewhere in the depths.
“That doesn’t mean happy endings don’t happen.”
“Don’t tell me you still believe happy endings are possible after what happened with your own engagement?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” She had to believe in them. Otherwise, the alternative was that she didn’t get a happy ending, and that idea was untenable. Surely after sitting on the sidelines for so long, she deserved some happiness, even if she failed this time around. “Look at Paul and Linda. They’re happy.”
“Si,” he replied. His unspoken for now hung in the air.
The waterfall’s appeal faded. Turning around, she began the slow kick back toward the ledge. “My friend Delilah has this saying,” she told him. “Every puzzle has its missing piece, and I think she’s right.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It means all of us have that one special person who completes us. Our soul mate.”
Carlos laughed and took a drink from the water bottle he’d retrieved from his cooler. “If that were true, La Joya wouldn’t have repeat customers.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I. Five years from now, at least a third of the people lounging by the hotel pool will be unhappy. What will you say about soul mates then?”
“I’ll point out the two-thirds who are happy, that’s what.” Why was he so determined to rain on her parade? “I have to admit, I really don’t understand why you’re so cynical. You were married.”
“An experience that taught me quite definitively that nothing lasts forever.”
He tried to sound casual, but pain still leaked from between the words. How deep his grief must run. The thought left an ache beneath her breastbone. Was that why he closed off his gaze? Was he trying to keep the world from seeing how much he hurt?
“I’m sorry,” she said in a soft voice.
Carlos set down the bottle. His eyes were black as he looked down into the water. “For what?”
For the fact he’d been left alone. For his anger. “You must have loved your wife very much.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Why else would you be so angry?”
She watched as his attention moved to an invisible spot on the rock. His finger scratched at the surface, each stroke leaving a wet streak, black against gray. “I fell in love with my wife the moment I laid eyes on her. I would have done anything for her.”
And she died leaving him alone. Larissa still didn’t understand the cynicism, but she did get the bitterness.
He reached down to grab her by the hand. “Your lips are turning blue. Come out and towel off.”
“My lips are not blue,” Larissa protested. She grabbed his hand anyway, marveling at how effortlessly he pulled her up. Once out of the water, the cold air hit her skin and the comfortable body temperature she’d been enjoying disappeared into a fit of shivers. Instantly, a fluffy towel settled around her shoulders. “See?” Carlos said. “Blue.”
He tightened the terrycloth cocoon, then brushed the damp hair from her face. The sensation of his fingers caressing her skin ignited a new set of shivers.
“You must miss her very much.”
“I miss— She shouldn’t have died.”
“No, she shouldn’t have,” Larissa replied. What were the words he bit back? Did he think she wouldn’t notice the sorrow in his words? The man could shutter his expression all he wanted, but clearly, he hurt and hurt deeply. With good reason. The love of his life died too young. Still, something about the way held back made her think there was more to the story.
“You stayed in too long, querida,” he told her.
“Did I?” Based on how her insides were trembling, she wondered if she should still be swimming.
“Si. You need to be careful. Too long, and you’ll grow weak from the cold.”
“I’m not cold.”
“Your shivering says otherwise.”
Larissa looked him in the eye, her gaze telling him what they both already knew: that her trembling had nothing to do with the water. His hands slowed, the touch becoming sensual. “I don’t...I’m not...” He struggled for words to caution her no doubt but the way his gaze dropped to her mouth even as he spoke left no doubt as to what he wanted.
“Me, neither,” Larissa whispered. This was purely physical. Two people giving into an attraction and nothing more. That her heart pounded in her chest in anticipation meant nothing.
Carlos cupped her jaw. “Tan bella,” he murmured. “Me vuelves loco.”
She wanted to ask the translation, but his mouth slanted over hers, erasing all thoughts of conversation. He kissed like he moved, confident and masterful, his lips coaxing a response without effort. Her eyes fluttered shut. Tom’s kisses never felt like this. Carlos’s kiss pulled the ground out from her feet. It made her head spin. She was dizzy, breathless, aching for more.
And then it ended, broken by a need for air. Carlos’s breath was ragged as he rested his forehead against hers. A solitary Spanish oath escaped his lips. Larissa didn’t need to translate the hoarsely whispered word. She felt the same way. Just what that feeling was, she couldn’t say for sure, but all of a sudden, to call their attraction purely physical, sounded very inadequate.
“We should go,” Carlos said, breaking away.
“You want to leave?”
This disappointment in her voice killed him, and it was all he could do to rein in his impulse to erase the tone from her voice. Of course he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to pull her back into his arms and kiss her senseless. But with his head spinning, going back to La Joya was the better option. He turned so he wouldn’t have to look her in the eye. Any kind of sad expression would be the death of him. “The evening shift starts soon. I need to go back in case there are questions.”
“What’s the matter, afraid the hotel won’t manage without you?”
He could sense her smile. “You sound like Jorge. He tells me the same thing, although this is the longest I’ve stayed away since our arrival. I’m curious to see how he reacts.” Originally, he planned only on taking a drive to clear his head, ironically enough, of his thoughts about her.
“I’m sorry if I screwed up your afternoon.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m the one who offered.” He was still trying to figure out what made him make the suggestion in the first place instead of driving her to the ecopark as planned. One moment she’d been talking about her childhood, fighting hard to keep her voice upbeat and positive while telling a story that was anything but, the next he was possessed with the urge to show her something unique gripped him.
To make her smile...
So what if he did want to do something nice? Larissa did him a great service today. Why not treat her to something out of the ordinary. His decision had nothing to do with how her story squeezed at the center of his chest. Nothing whatsoever.
As for the kiss... What could he do? She’d been stirring his blood from the moment she opened her hotel room door, and there was only so much resistance a man could muster, especially a man who’d been living as a monk for half a decade.
A soft sigh broke his thoughts. Turning, he saw Larissa folding her towel, a wistful expression on her face. She caught him looking, and blushed. His chest squeezed again.
“I know I’ve said it before, but thank you for an amazing afternoon,” she said. “This place is unlike anything I could have imagined.”
“I’m glad. Considering how helpful you were with the Stevases, showing you an underground river is the least I can do.”
“Anything to make a guest happy, right?”
“Naturally.” No sooner did he speak than he regretted his answer. “I didn’t mean—”
“Relax. I was making a joke.”
Then why did her eyes turn shadowy? Perhaps the fading light was playing tricks with his head. Too many years of weighing every sentence lest he say the wrong thing had turned him overly wary. If Larissa said she was joking, he should take her for her word.
“You’re more than a regular guest,” he told her.
“I should think so, unless you kiss all your guests.”
“No. You’re the exception.”
“Good to know.”
With his confession came a bout of nerves, bubbling up from place he couldn’t name. He needed to explain his actions fully. So she would understand. “It wasn’t planned,” he rushed to explain. “The kiss, that is. I’m not...” Again the words failed him. How did you explain to a woman who talked of island princesses and soul mates that the woman you thought was the love of your life drained you dry?
She rallied a smile, saving him. “There’s no need to explain. I understand.”
“You do?” Because he wasn’t sure he did anymore.
“Sure. Sometimes a kiss is just a kiss.”
Carlos let out a silent sigh. “Gracias, querida. I’m glad we are on the same page.”
Although he’d feel better if she hadn’t quoted another movie.
Or if a tiny voice in the back of his brain didn’t disagree.
* * *
It didn’t take long for them to pack their belongings and climb back to the surface. When they reached the top of the ledge steps, Larissa paused to snap a photo with her cell phone. Something to help her remember paradise. On a whim, she snapped a photo of Carlos as well, catching his profile as he looked down at the water. Another memory to hold.
She lied when she told him a kiss was just a kiss. Kissing Carlos was more like a carnival thrill ride: Exhilarating, euphoric, a dizzying freefall that left her insides trembling with adrenaline and eager to ride again. Would she, though, or was his kiss, like this afternoon’s surprise trip, a one-time deal?
Above ground, the weather was as hot as the cenote had been cool. By the time they walked back to the entrance and waited for Pablo to unlock the gate, Larissa had gone from refreshed to sweaty again. Perspiration ran down her back and between her breasts.
“So much for blue lips,” she said, pulling at the ruching on her swimsuit. “I have half a mind to turn around and head back to the cavern.”
“I’m—”
Again, she rushed to reassure him. She appeared to be doing that a lot this afternoon; reassuring saved her from hearing apologies. “Evening staff meeting, I know.”
* * *
They walked into the lobby to find a scowling Jorge pacing behind the front desk. “Don’t you answer your phone?” he snapped.
“We were in the jungle. You know what the reception is like. What’s the problem?”
“We?” His eyes switched to Larissa, and his expression softened. “Oh. I didn’t realize. Lo siento, Señorita Boyd. I’ve been trying to contact my cousin regarding an issue that requires his attention.”
Carlos shot her a look that said See? “What is the problem?”
Jorge learned close and spoke in low, rapid Spanish.
Larissa caught the words right before Carlos grimaced.
“I’m going to have to handle this right away,” he said, his eyes apologetic. “Do you mind taking the launch back on your own?”
She smiled so he wouldn’t see her disappointment. Foolish, but she’d hoped...
She didn’t know what she hoped. That goodbye might be more? Summoning a bright smile, she pretended the dismissal didn’t sting. “Of course not. I’ve already taken up way too much of your time as it is. I’m sure there are many guests that need your attention now.”
It took some effort, but she managed to slip her bag from his grip without brushing his fingers. “Thank you for a fantastic afternoon, Señor Chavez. I appreciate your attention.”
She turned away before he could respond.
* * *
Later, as she sat on her terrace nursing another twenty-dollar cola, she wondered if she reacted too dramatically. After all, Carlos had done his best to be honest. Any unspoken words were because she cut him off. Maybe the kiss didn’t have the same effect on him. It was entirely possible her reaction had more to do with his skill than any kind of connection.
What she should be pondering was how easily Tom had slipped from her mind. Six weeks ago, she’d been prepared to walk down the aisle and now here she was, kissing another man. Were her feelings for her ex so anemic they could be displaced that easily?
As far as comparisons went, the two men were like night and day. Carlos might look sleek and confident, but beneath the surface lay a sadness she’d yet to fully measure. One moment he made her pulse race; the next she wanted to hold him in her arms and tell him everything would be all right.
On the other hand Tom...Tom wanted to marry her. Oh, sure, he was a nice guy—intelligent, kind and successful—but mainly, he wanted her, and Larissa considered herself darn lucky to be wanted. Not once, though, did his kisses leave her insides trembling the way today’s kiss did. At best, his kisses were like the man himself: nice.
She sighed. Much as she hated to admit, Tom did her a favor breaking the engagement. The two of them were far from soul mates. Carlos’s kiss proved as much.
Listen to yourself. Sitting here acting like kissing Carlos was more than a bit of rebound entertainment. Larissa shook her head. Who knows what Carlos was to her? She didn’t even know if she’d see him again the rest of the trip. His kiss, however... His kiss would stay with her a long, long time.
On the other side the lagoon, the egrets had begun bedding down for the evening. Pairs and trios swooped into the foliage, their feathers dotting the canopy white. They called out to each other, other birds joining in until the entire lagoon was alive with squawking. Her own personal nighttime serenade, Larissa thought with a sleepy smile. Swimming had taken more out of her than she thought, and she could feel her eyes growing heavy. Closing them, she let the birds’ song float her away. Carlos was wrong. Flaws or not, Mexico was paradise. If she could, Larissa would never leave.
Seemed like only seconds later when she opened her eyes to dark gray and quiet. Falling asleep on the divan was becoming way too easy. Yawning, she padded her way inside to the darkening living room. From the look out her oceanside window, the sun had only recently set. Red and orange closed on the horizon line, the colors making a bright line between the black water and gray sky.
As if answering a call only it could hear, her attention moved to the walkway and the figure standing below her window. Larissa’s pulse quickened. Carlos. He stood in the shadows, but it didn’t matter; she knew what he wanted. She walked downstairs and opened the door.
“Hey,” she greeted, her voice barely audible over the surf. “Crisis averted?”
“A guest thought someone stole some jewelry. Turns out she simply misplaced the items.”
“So, there was a happy ending after all.”
Carlos smile flashed white in the darkening sky. “For now.”
He wasn’t going to give an inch on the issue, was he? At the moment, Larissa wasn’t in the mood to argue the point. Soon as she saw him, a twisting longing had begun spiraling through her erasing any and all of the very logical self-arguments she’d given herself earlier. “That mean your duties are done for the evening?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Are they?”
Smiling, Larissa opened the door wider and let him inside.
* * *
“Mind if I join you?”
The sight of Linda Stevas holding a plate of scrambled eggs and fruit wasn’t what Larissa hoped to see when she decided to take coffee on the terrace. She’d been scanning the walkway below for a familiar black suit, hoping to catch Carlos on his morning property check. To ask him how he slept, she thought, smiling to herself.
There were times when she thought the past two nights were dreams. Her body remembered, however. Granted, she didn’t have a long list of lovers for comparison, but being with Carlos made her feel alive in a way she didn’t know was possible. Like his kisses, his lovemaking left her breathless and unsteady. She couldn’t get enough. Neither could he. Both nights passed in a haze of lovemaking and pillow talk that lasted until gray seeped through the cracks in the mangroves, and Larissa couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. Then morning would arrive, and she’d wake up alone, the only sign she’d had company the rumpled sheets and love bites marking the back of her shoulder. She thought of asking him to stay, but fearing his answer, decided to accept what he could give.
It was, she told herself, a vacation fling in its truest form. Hadn’t both she and Carlos assured one another neither was looking for more?
Why, then, did she have this nagging feeling the rules had changed, at least where she was concerned? With each kiss, each whispered word of intimacy, she found herself hoping this would be the time she looked in Carlos’s eyes and found their depths no longer shuttered.
“Larissa?” Linda looked at her expectantly. “I’m not disturbing you, am I?”
“Not at all.” Swallowing her disappointment, Larissa smiled and gestured for the woman to take a seat.
“Are you sure? I thought maybe you were waiting for Señor Chavez.”
Truer words... “Carlos is working. I’ll see him later.” She tried to contain the thrill the thought gave her, and failed. “Speaking of eating companions, however, where’s your other half?” She thought the couple inseparable.
“I convinced him to take a run on the beach. We spent yesterday at the local hospital, and he’s a little stressed out from the experience.”
“The hospital? Is everything okay? It wasn’t anything serious, was it?”
“I was having some trouble catching my breath, but everything’s fine now. No big deal.”
Was it really no big deal? While the young woman certainly looked fine, the way she suddenly focused on her plate made Larissa wonder. It would be a shame if, after so much effort, Linda got sick and couldn’t enjoy her recommitment ceremony. It would explain why the young woman was downplaying yesterday’s emergency.
“Anyway,” she said, taking a bite of pineapple, “I figured he should mellow out a little before our parents arrive.”
“You must be getting excited.”
“You have no idea.” The woman’s eyes sparkled. “I found the perfect dress while in town yesterday. White with flowers hand-stitched around the neckline. It fits, too. I was so afraid I’d end up looking like I was wearing an oversize sack.”
Larissa understood. Growing up, she’d heard customers uttering the same lament too many times to count, and given Linda’s obscenely thin figure, she could imagine the challenge.
“I feel a little bad about how much it cost,” Linda was saying, “but Paul told me not to worry.”
“Listen to your husband. He clearly wants you to be happy.”
“Yeah, Paul’s great that way. He keeps telling me he wants me to have the wedding of my dreams this time around. I’m so lucky to have him,” she said, eyes growing damp.
The Stevases’ devotion to one another was enviable. Too bad Carlos wasn’t here to see the love on Linda’s face. Maybe it might change his cynical view to see two happy people.
“I bet if I ask, he’ll say he’s lucky to have you, as well.”
“I hope so. I hated to think he’s doing all this simply out of... Never mind.” The young woman shook off whatever she was about to say. “Tomorrow is going to be absolutely perfect. You’re still coming, right?”
“Absolutely. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’m kind of excited to see what the shaman will do.” After a bit of negotiation, Carlos convinced the man to compromise on his cleansing ritual, enabling the Stevas› to have the full traditional ceremony. And the man claimed he wasn’t romantic.
“Me, too,” Linda replied. She started to take a bite of food, only to drop the fork and rush to the other side of the table. “I’m sorry,” she said, pulling Larissa into a hug. “I’m so happy, I can’t help myself. You and Señor Chavez have no idea how much this ceremony means to both Paul and me.”
“No, but I think I can guess,” Larissa said, patting her back. Hard not to want to help the couple, what with the way they seemed so in love.
“I hope I’m not interrupting a female bonding session?”
Carlos? Larissa entangled herself from the embrace to see him striding toward their table. His black suit crisp as ever, his hair perfectly in place, he looked nothing like the lover who kept her up all night. That is, until his eyes dropped to her lips, and the flash of familiar possessive hunger she saw sent heat curling around the base of her spine.
He might as well have kissed her consider the onslaught of shyness attacking her. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she turned away with a smile. “I thought you made your morning rounds this hour.”
“Actually I was on my way to call Señora Stevas’s room when I spotted her on the terrace.”
“You were looking for me?”
Larissa’s heart started to sink, and she kicked herself. She had absolutely no reason to feel disappointed. Did she think he was the only guest at the resort Carlos thought about?
No, just the only one he was sleeping with.
“I wanted to let you know we were able to book a moonlight lagoon cruise for you and your husband Friday night.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And I’ve directed the launch driver to take you to the outmost point of the lagoon so your anniversary can be celebrated in private. The chef will call you later today regarding the menu.”
“Oh, my gosh, I’m so excited. I’m going up to the room and see if Paul’s back from his run. He’s going to be so excited.” Jumping up from the table, the young woman drew Carlos into a hug, which, Larissa noted with a smile, he awkwardly returned.
“She’s very...exuberant,” he remarked after Linda had bustled off.
“Can you blame her?” Larissa asked. “You know, for a man who claims to detest romance, you went out of your way to create a very romantic evening. Directing the launch operator to sail to a remote location?”
“We direct all the operators to sail to remote locations,” he replied, taking the seat Linda vacated. “Telling the guests lets them feel special. Those special touches are what lead to good reviews.”
And goodness knows reviews were important to him. “Well, I’m sure Paul and Linda will sing the resort’s praises to everyone under the sun.”
“Let us hope so.”
Judging from Linda’s enthusiasm, Larissa was pretty sure she could guarantee it. She smiled over the rim of her coffee. “You look tired this morning.” Dark smudges marked his bronze skin.
“I’m afraid I didn’t get much sleep last night. Seems there was a rather high-maintenance guest who required my attention.”
“Is that so? What a shame. Perhaps she’ll be less demanding tonight so you can sleep.”
A gleam appeared in his eye. “I certainly hope not. Her ‘demands’ have been the best part of my week.”
Larissa flushed from head to toe. He’d purposely dropped his voice to a husky timbre, making her mouth run dry. “Then she’ll definitely demand more.”
“Good.” The air stilled around them. Feeling bold, Larissa slid her leg forward until the inside of her sandal pressed against his wingtip. To anyone walking by, the position looked benign, but for them, the touch held unspoken promise. To Larissa’s pleasure, Carlos actually smiled.
“Señora Stevas wasn’t the only person I was heading to see,” he said.
“Really?” Her stomach gave another one of those flutters. “Did you want something?”
“It appears one of our guests canceled their dinner cruise reservation for this evening. I was wondering if you would be interested in joining me.”
“You want to take me on a moonlight cruise?”
He shrugged, as though the offer was no big deal. “I remembered you mentioning to the Stevases how much you’d been looking forward to going, and how disappointed you were to have to cancel your own. I thought I’d offer you the opportunity to indulge in another one of your itinerary items. But if you don’t wish to—”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t interested.”
Next to the wedding ceremony, the moonlight lagoon cruise had been the one item she’d most looked forward to. So much so, she actually contemplated having the dinner by herself. Having dinner with Carlos, however, sounded much more inviting.
He arched his brow. “But?”
“But...” She paused, wondering how to phrase her question. Going on a dinner cruise, was very much like a public date. “Your staff will see us together.”
“You have a problem with them seeing us together?”
“I don’t.” But a man who made a point of hightailing it from her room at dawn might. “I assumed when it came to your personal life, you preferred to maintain a low profile around your staff.”
“You forget, querida,” he said, leaning forward. “My staff knows how to be discreet. So are you interested?”
“Very.”
“Good. The launch will be in front of your dock at seven o’clock.”
Just in time to enjoy the sunset. If she said something, he’d probably tell her the boats always departed at sunset to increase the ambiance. She preferred not to know. “I’ll be there.”
“So will I.” He reached over and ran a finger along the inside of her wrist, trumping her foot move by spades. “’Til tonight, querida.”
Watching him walk away, Larissa rubbed the spot on her skin where his finger made contact, and tried not to think about how he completely dodged her comment about being public.