inches away from mine, so close I could feel his motions transmitted through the water as he paddled his hands lightly to stay upright.
“I have no idea why Jane had that impression about us. I can only guess it’s an assumption she or Kendra made, not something you said.”
“It is, Sir, I would never have—”
“ Shhh . Either way, I’m sure she’ll be very happy for you when you tell her you may well need your Tiger Balm back when she’s through with it, after all. Although if you don’t want to need it too badly tomorrow, you should be a good girl for me and skip the undies when you’re dressing for dinner tonight.”
And he swam away with a wicked grin, leaving me treading water that felt infinitely less dangerous, and a great deal less interesting, once he was gone.
Chapter Six
Dinner seemed to take place in some scientifically impossible stretch of time that could expand and contract at will. At some moments, the whole thing seemed to be lasting for hours as idle small talk between the ten of us there dragged on and on, failing to quite pull my interest away from wondering what Jack had planned for after we got back to the suite. We had known each other too long, and this trip was too short, for the night to culminate in anything other than sex, so that much was a given. But the details, particularly those related to what happened before the sex…there were too many variables, and my mind reeled a bit at the possibilities.
Another few conference attendees, not interested in the beach earlier, had latched on for dinner—Elizabeth, an environmental specialist with a very, very large oil company, and Georges, a somewhat dapper little French engineer who, it turned out, also spoke Portuguese. When Georges and Jack dropped into their second language to chat, about what I had no idea, time seemed to actually come to a halt.
But then, as I sipped rather wearily at the caipirinha I had been nursing since before dinner, I felt Jack’s hand shift from the back of my chair, where it had been resting casually, to my shoulder. He traced lazy patterns with his fingertips while regaling Georges with what sounded like a tale of our hike up the Pica de Tijuca , and suddenly my heart was pounding and I considered ordering dessert just to have something else to do with my hands before we left the restaurant and returned to the hotel. That event now seemed to loom up all too soon in my future. I was ready, almost painfully so, and had been for almost two years if I was being honest with myself. But I still wasn’t quite sure I was ready .
Kendra and Jane, glancing furtively around, seemed to be plotting a break for the restroom. I considered joining them, though I hesitated to accidentally horn in on anything. But then Kendra caught my eye as she rose and gave a little nod my way, jerking her head toward the restroom sign.
I murmured a barely audible excuse to Jack and slipped away after the pair, cringing slightly as Elizabeth saw us and tagged along as well in the age-old accepted custom of all the women in the party adjourning to the restroom in a pack.
Just before reaching the door I had a sudden twinge of fear, wondering if Kendra planned to take me to task about the Tiger Balm. She didn’t, as it turned out. Instead she just gave me an appraising look when I walked in and then returned to repairing her lipstick, her regal face close to the mirror.
“So. ‘No, no, we’re not, right lifestyle, wrong relationship…’ What was all that again, sugarbuns ?”
“Oh,” I sighed, shrugging. “It was true at the time. Things have gotten, um, weirder. Since then.”
We both smiled sweetly at Elizabeth, who looked a little puzzled and borderline uncomfortable as she leaned toward the mirror too, making minute and unnecessary fixes to her hair while she waited for an empty stall.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Kate?” Kendra asked softly, obviously concerned. “Because you don’t really
“I have no idea why Jane had that impression about us. I can only guess it’s an assumption she or Kendra made, not something you said.”
“It is, Sir, I would never have—”
“ Shhh . Either way, I’m sure she’ll be very happy for you when you tell her you may well need your Tiger Balm back when she’s through with it, after all. Although if you don’t want to need it too badly tomorrow, you should be a good girl for me and skip the undies when you’re dressing for dinner tonight.”
And he swam away with a wicked grin, leaving me treading water that felt infinitely less dangerous, and a great deal less interesting, once he was gone.
Chapter Six
Dinner seemed to take place in some scientifically impossible stretch of time that could expand and contract at will. At some moments, the whole thing seemed to be lasting for hours as idle small talk between the ten of us there dragged on and on, failing to quite pull my interest away from wondering what Jack had planned for after we got back to the suite. We had known each other too long, and this trip was too short, for the night to culminate in anything other than sex, so that much was a given. But the details, particularly those related to what happened before the sex…there were too many variables, and my mind reeled a bit at the possibilities.
Another few conference attendees, not interested in the beach earlier, had latched on for dinner—Elizabeth, an environmental specialist with a very, very large oil company, and Georges, a somewhat dapper little French engineer who, it turned out, also spoke Portuguese. When Georges and Jack dropped into their second language to chat, about what I had no idea, time seemed to actually come to a halt.
But then, as I sipped rather wearily at the caipirinha I had been nursing since before dinner, I felt Jack’s hand shift from the back of my chair, where it had been resting casually, to my shoulder. He traced lazy patterns with his fingertips while regaling Georges with what sounded like a tale of our hike up the Pica de Tijuca , and suddenly my heart was pounding and I considered ordering dessert just to have something else to do with my hands before we left the restaurant and returned to the hotel. That event now seemed to loom up all too soon in my future. I was ready, almost painfully so, and had been for almost two years if I was being honest with myself. But I still wasn’t quite sure I was ready .
Kendra and Jane, glancing furtively around, seemed to be plotting a break for the restroom. I considered joining them, though I hesitated to accidentally horn in on anything. But then Kendra caught my eye as she rose and gave a little nod my way, jerking her head toward the restroom sign.
I murmured a barely audible excuse to Jack and slipped away after the pair, cringing slightly as Elizabeth saw us and tagged along as well in the age-old accepted custom of all the women in the party adjourning to the restroom in a pack.
Just before reaching the door I had a sudden twinge of fear, wondering if Kendra planned to take me to task about the Tiger Balm. She didn’t, as it turned out. Instead she just gave me an appraising look when I walked in and then returned to repairing her lipstick, her regal face close to the mirror.
“So. ‘No, no, we’re not, right lifestyle, wrong relationship…’ What was all that again, sugarbuns ?”
“Oh,” I sighed, shrugging. “It was true at the time. Things have gotten, um, weirder. Since then.”
We both smiled sweetly at Elizabeth, who looked a little puzzled and borderline uncomfortable as she leaned toward the mirror too, making minute and unnecessary fixes to her hair while she waited for an empty stall.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Kate?” Kendra asked softly, obviously concerned. “Because you don’t really
Similar Books
