Seth finally stopped laughing. “I couldn’t resist. The look on your face was priceless. At least you weren’t eating fish sperm—”
Jayne put her hand to his lips. “Nuh-uh. Tell me about the most beautiful place you saw.”
Seth kissed her fingertips and shook his head. “That would be too hard. I saw a lot of beautiful places. Palaces, churches, temples, deserts, beaches.”
“Tell me your favorite. The place you want to go back to.”
“That’s easy.” For some reason, answering her questions, filtering out the memories of Tamar from what he told her of his travels, took some of the sting and regret from them. “Kapalai Island, near Malaysia. It used to be an island but now it sits at sea level and all the dwellings are on stilts above the water. I learned to scuba dive there. It’s out in the middle of the water and all the dwellings are connected by walkways. The chalet we—the chalet I was in had access to the water below from inside the chalet.”
Jayne placed a warm palm on Seth’s knee. “I figured you weren’t alone there. Stop editing. I asked, just tell me about it.”
“There’s no air-conditioning or cable television. The breezes blow right through the chalets and you look out at this beautiful expanse of blue water and sky. Some of the chalets had outdoor beds on platforms, draped with curtains so you could sleep outside—or other stuff—under the stars.”
“I’ll bet you loved it.” Her eyes sparkled and his heart clenched again at her generosity. She knew he hadn’t been alone and assumed he’d had incredible sensual adventures under the stars. Little vixen’s probably taking mental notes for a story.
Tamar would’ve been jealous to hear him talk about adventures involving another woman. She’d thrown a fit when she’d discovered that the chalets with outdoor beds had all been booked. He’d been secretly relieved because he hadn’t been interested in putting on a show for their neighbors. The thought of sharing one with Jayne was appealing, though.
“Nah. They were all booked up. The diving was excellent. Green sea turtles, coral reefs, and every kind of colorful fish you can imagine. At night I fell asleep exhausted.”
Jayne chuckled. “Yeah, right. Tell me about something funny that happened to you.”
Seth took a bite of his Mongolian beef and thought for a minute. “Japanese toilets.”
“Japanese toilets?”
“Yes. Top of the line. All the buttons are labeled in Japanese but they have interesting little pictures on them. The first time I encountered one, I tried all the buttons. You can choose between a warm or cool spritz, a squirt, a shower, or—um, a geyser, all aimed at different…parts.”
“Geyser?”
Seth nodded as she made a snorting sound. “Yup. About all it lacked was a squeegee and a spit shine. I thought the big orange button meant Stop, but I was wrong. It meant shoot-a-forceful-blast-of-water-straight-up-my—”
“Your butt!” Jayne fell back on the ground howling with laughter and he had to grab her Moo-shu pork before it spilled.
“Thanks for laughing at my trauma. I wasn’t the same for a whole day afterward.”
“Did you walk funny?”
Seth collapsed beside her and laughed along with her. “The bathroom stall flooded before I figured out how to stop it but I came out refreshed. I’m sorry. Did I ruin your appetite?”
“Are you kidding? It’s hilarious! Tell me more.”
He told her about touring the Khajuraho monuments of Madhya Pradesh in India. She listened intently as he described the intricate architecture of the temples and the erotic sculptures the monuments were world-famous for.
“I want to visit there someday. And Kapalai, too. I’d love to sleep on an outdoor bed with only the sound of the wind and water…” She played with a lock of her hair as she looked up at the tree branches above them.
Seth’s imagination took over and he imagined doing more than just sleeping with her on one of those open-air platforms as the gauzy drapes swirled around them.
He turned on his side, leaned forward, and kissed her. “I’d love to take you there.” She threaded her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck and stroked gently as she returned his kiss. He wanted to consume her, kiss her until her lips were swollen, and make love to her there, right out in the open, under the dusky sky. Recalling his good intentions and the fact that she’d been feeling sub-par when she’d arrived at the studio, he pulled back instead. “Finish eating. You need your strength.”
Jayne looked away and nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”