Staying On Top(66)

“You two ready?” The divemaster, a short Mexican woman, stepped out onto the deck with her wet suit hanging off her hips.

I smiled at Blair and helped her up, choosing to drop the conversation. Choosing to ignore for as long as possible the fact that I could hardly enjoy the good day for the sorrow over the thought of all of this ending. Choosing, as I had done my whole life, to be happy with what I had.





Chapter 16





“You’re better than you let on!”

Blair grinned from the other side of the net, resting her racket on her shoulder and striking a sassy pose. I’d been regretting not asking Head for some clothes, too, because her legs in a tennis skirt would have been a sight.

“Oh, come on. You’re taking it easy.”

“Well, yeah, but this is my job. You’re a great hitting partner.” It wasn’t a lie. She was quick on her feet, and had an early read on the ball and a killer backhand that had caught the deuce court sideline more than once.

“I’m having fun,” she admitted, breathing a little hard. “It feels good to exercise after days of sitting on my ass.”

“Diving isn’t for slouches, either. I’m going to be sore tomorrow. Can we take the rackets when we leave?”

“I don’t care. Don’t know if we’ll be able to play again, though.” Blair squinted up at the setting sun, then wandered over to the benches between the courts and checked the time on her cheap cell. “We’d better go. Xander’s expecting us for dinner, and we need to book our flight out of Athens tomorrow.”

“So, who is this Xander character?” I asked, trying to sound casual as we packed up our gear in the bag that had been at the post office when we returned from diving.

“Why, are you jealous?”

“As if.”

That earned me a snort. “He’s the caretaker for our house here. Has been since I was a kid. I trust him.”

“You trust him not to tell your dad we were here?”

“If we convince him we’re on the island for an impulsive romantic getaway? Sure. He’s my dad’s man as far as business stuff, but he supports my flights of fancy.”

“I have seen no evidence of flights of fancy.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You mean having sex in a boat that smells like fish doesn’t count?”

The quick response surprised a chuckle out of my gut, and I leaned down, drawing her lips to mine. Even though we were in public, it wasn’t long before she parted her lips for me, inviting my tongue to play with hers, and before we were both sweating again.

“Are we going back to the boat after this dinner? I mean, we did leave our blankets.”

“I do like those blankets,” she teased, dropping her arms from around my neck and shouldering her bag. “But I do think we should find somewhere to shower before dinner.”

“Agreed. How are we going to do that?”

“Do you trust me?”

I decided to not answer rather than lie, which made her laugh, which led to more kissing before we finally left the tennis courts and hailed a cab a few minutes later.

It dropped us off at the base of a narrow path that zigzagged upward. A man kept an eye on a group of five donkeys as people brushed past, some choosing to hike, others continuing on their way. My eyes went up, up, up the side of the volcano, then returned to find Blair watching the donkeys with a wicked grin.

“You ready, Bradford?”

“Really?” I wondered how many illnesses had been passed from donkeys to humans, like the bat-born supervirus that wiped out 80 percent of the world in Contagion.

“Okay, don’t pass out. I did that to freak you out. We’re taking the cable car.” Blair squealed when I smacked her ass, then scooted out of range and led me to the queue for the cable car.

I swallowed, trying my best not to look super relieved that I wasn’t going to trek up a bajillion stairs on the back of a donkey. “You know, I would have taken the donkey.”

“I know. You’re surprisingly adaptive, and I kind of love that about you.” Her hand reached out and grabbed mine, the motion smooth and natural and heartbreaking. “But they don’t treat the donkeys very well. I’d rather hike it than support them.”

The sentiment drenched me with affection for this girl, so hard and soft at the same time. The hardness was like a shell, designed to keep others from squishing her breakable parts, and I felt more than a little honored to be trusted with what was inside that shell.

We didn’t speak much on the ride to the top. The spectacular view of hillside, water, and sunset distracted me from the thoughts that had plagued me most of the afternoon—all of the worry over what would happen tomorrow—and for the first time in days I settled fully into the moment. With the exception of the time we’d spent naked.