No Ordinary Love(6)

Alex inched closer until their bellies touched, Alex’s rock hard abs brushing against Maddie’s irregularly heaving abdomen while she recovered from the effort. “I love you.”

There was an intensity in the way she said it Maddie hadn’t noticed before, an urgency to her words previously hidden—or non-existent.

“I love you too, baby, but I’ll love you even more once you’ve gotten me off this mountain in one piece.”

“How much more are we talking about?” Alex nuzzled her lips against Maddie’s neck.

“Hey, lovebirds.” Nat’s voice cut through their tender moment. “If we want to see those surfers up close before dark, we’d better get going.”

Maddie’s mouth fell open in desperation. The surfers seemed impossibly far away.

“It’s mostly downhill.” Isabella could always read the distress on Maddie’s face. “Before you know it we’ll be listening to the roar of the waves with a cold beer in our hands.”

“Best not mention any alcoholic beverages.” Alex gently squeezed Maddie’s neck before letting go off her. “Come on, I’ll walk behind you. We’ll let them get away from us and enjoy a romantic walk down. Just the two of us.”

Butterflies flapped their wings in Maddie’s stomach. She searched for Alex’s hand and didn’t intend to let go of it any time soon. Her body was in ruins after too much wine last night and the unexpectedly steep climb over uneven, treacherous mountain paths, but she had Alex and as long as she had someone as strong and capable as Alex by her side, she would be all right.

Together, they made it down, Nat and Isabella mere dots in the distance whenever the path ran straight long enough. Maddie had already been convinced of her feelings for Alex before she’d climbed the Dragon’s Back, but came down the mountain with everything she felt reconfirmed and strengthened.

The disobedient curl that kept leaping free from Alex’s pony tail and jumped up and down on her forehead. Her athletic hands on Maddie’s back when they crossed a particularly difficult stretch of rocks. The way her abs stood out beneath her top when she twisted her body sideways and the immediate effect it had on Maddie. The sweet words of encouragement she had whispered in her ear on the final short climb to the beach. Despite her hangover, it was a gorgeous day and Maddie felt privileged to spend it with the most beautiful woman she knew—and she got to take her home afterwards as well.

Nat and Isabella had already started on their second bottle of San Miguel by the time Alex and Maddie arrived. Maddie crashed down in a chair, her gaze planted on the horizon, and she wondered what had caused her to experience this level of happiness so suddenly and unexpectedly. Mere weeks ago she was fumbling with a married woman in her office, deciding on whether to stay or not. Now she sat in one of the prettiest spots of Hong Kong, the sun setting behind her, after having climbed a mountain with the woman she loved more than anything.

She looked at Alex and she knew. She laughed away a tear—the sheer force of her smile enough to make it back down—and clinked the neck of her bottle against Alex’s. This was love, the real kind, the lasting kind. She’d come a long way to find it, but here she was.



ALEX



Alex tried to swallow the tightness out of her throat. It didn’t work. Rita’s upper lip still curved deliciously upward and the blue of her eyes shone as crystal clear as ever. Adrenalin sped through her veins as Alex approached the low table where Rita sat, one long leg slung over the other.

“Hey,” Alex said and everything that came before just fell away. Tears too strong to be ignored stung her eyelids as she crashed into the chair opposite Rita. “I probably shouldn’t have come.”

Rita clasped her hands in front of her mouth and pierced more of Alex’s resolve with those unblinking eyes. She breathed heavily through her nose and shook her head.

“You have no idea how sorry I am,” she said through spread-out fingers barricading her lips. “I am so sorry.”

Alex tried to hold on to thoughts of Maddie, of her radiant smile and softly whispered hellos in the morning, but they seemed to evaporate at the mere sight of Rita. As if Rita was the real deal and Maddie a copy, an expertly made one, but still just a copy of the woman sitting in front of her and tearing her heart to shreds again with a few words.

Alex scrambled for her bag which had fallen to the floor when she sat down and pushed herself up. “This…” She shook her head. “No…” It was all she could muster, all her constricted throat allowed to pass through.

Rita shot up out of her chair and curled her fingers around Alex’s wrist, squeezing with gentle firmness—the way she always did. “Please.” Her voice trembled. “Stay.”