Page 19 of Veiled Fantasies

Second of all, she was nothistype.

And third of all…well, he would think of another reason soon.

In the meantime, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He’d learned just the barest facts about Jill over dinner and that should have been more than enough. But all that did was pique his curiosity. How did one person amass so many interests? What fueled her fire? Why didn’t she run herself ragged with all that energy? Such spark. Such vivacity.

Such a deep pit he would dig for himself if he didn’t watch out.

Beside him, the mini bar hummed, offering to quench his many thirsts with a cool drink or two. A knock came at the door; a muffled swipe and a sharp click. She was back. Erik pulled away from the mini bar and spun to face the door.

“Hey,” he called, trying to sound casual.

“Hi!” Her smile reached out across the room. Cute sun hat. The blue played off her eyes.

Silence again. She started emptying her pockets on the bed. Little bits kept coming out: small change, ticket stubs, scraps of paper. Relics of another busy day for the intrepid explorer. He shouldn’t have been surprised.

“How was your day?”

“Nice,” she smiled.

There she went again. Somehow, he needed to find a way to loosen that tongue.

He tried not to think about the fun ways that might be done as he watched Jill run her fingers through her hair, shaking the single braid loose. Wondering the whole time how it would feel to do that for her.

He should say something, but what? He wavered between her and the laptop. He should get back to work.

“Have you been working all day?” she asked.

Trying. Not really succeeding. Too busy thinking about you.

“Yes,” he said.

“You work a lot,” she commented softly, shooting him a sympathetic smile.

And sometimes drink a lot.He knew what he had to watch out for. Though lately, he hadn’t been watching too closely. Time to change the subject. “What do you have there?”

She lit up and presented a crumpled scrap as if it were a lottery ticket. “A fifty-percent-off admission coupon to Aquaventure,” she said. “The water park—the new one.”

Erik had been through Dubai a couple of times without realizing there was a new water park, much less an old one. Another day trip in the making, he could already tell. Too bad he had so much work.

“Never mind that my bathing suit is with my luggage, somewhere in the Himalayas, or maybe Timbuktu.” Jill waved her hand vaguely and unfolded the next slips. “Thirty percent off admission to the Desert Botanical Gardens,” she announced. “And a two-for-the-price-of-one river cruise!”

He smiled. A woman with an eye for a bargain. His mother would approve.

She contemplated the coupon. “Cruises at four, five, and six,” she read, ever so softly.

Erik glanced at his laptop, then back at her, warming as her lively blue eyes meet his. He checked his watch and forced himself to let a full second tick by before answering.

“Too late for five, but how about six o’clock?”

She looked at him in what seemed to be stunned silence, then nodded.

It was a date.

* * *

They were at the dock with plenty of time to take in the views, snap a few pictures, and chat. Or just stand there awkwardly.

“How was your trip to Australia?” he tried and immediately saw Jill’s happy countenance fall. Was it a touchy subject?

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