Page 35 of Always

“Yes,” Anika agreed.

She tried not to think about dorm rooms and snowflakes melting on hot flesh.

She tried to focus on the sea breeze blowing in from the balcony, and the handsome man lying next to her.

Eventually, if she kept trying, she would have to forgot.

Those memories couldn’t torment her forever.

* * *

14

The next morning, Anika awoke to a gentle tap on the door. A waiter was delivering the coffee, fruit, and pastries Marco had ordered the night before. Anika put on a robe to open the door for him, and when she returned to the bedroom, she saw that Marco had done the same.

“Good morning,” he said, kissing her gently on the cheek.

Anika felt slightly shy as they seated themselves at the outdoor table where the waiter had arranged the various plates, carafes, and cups on a fresh white cloth. Marco didn’t show any discomfort whatsoever—he looked perfectly happy and satisfied. And he didn’t seem to feel any need to discuss what had happened between them.

“Today I wanted to take you to a place I found a long time ago,” he said. “Are you up for a little hike?”

“Of course,” Anika said, sipping her coffee.

They showered in their separate rooms, and Anika dressed in a loose sleeveless top and shorts selected by Hannah, along with a pair of canvas sneakers. They weren’t proper hiking shoes, but Marco had said the path wasn’t too difficult.

He drove her to the east end of the island where they parked next to a trail marked only by a weathered wooden stake.

“Are you sure this is it?” Anika asked, as they began to ascend the faintly worn pathway.

“Definitely,” Marco said. “I came here many times, I wouldn’t forget it.”

It was only a mile or two as he had said, without much elevation gain. Anika wondered if it was entirely safe to be out in a tropical forest alone, but Marco had been here before, by himself and only a teenager at the time. She began to hear their destination long before they came to it. Once they reached the end of the trail, she was glad she had followed him.

They were at the base of a waterfall—not particularly tall, but pure white in color, falling in a single smooth swoop down the rock face into a deep green pool. The pool was surrounded on three sides with steep black stone, covered over in places by mats of velvety moss.

Aside from the roar of the water, the pool was utterly silent and private. Toward the edges, away from the turbulence at the base of the fall, the water lay smooth as glass.

“Come get in,” Marco said, stripping off his clothes.

Assuming they would go to the beach again at some point, Anika had worn her swimsuit beneath her clothes. She undressed, following Marco to the edge of the rocks. It was some distance down to the water, too far to slide in comfortably.

“How do we get in?” she asked.

“You can dive—it’s as deep as a well, no rocks underneath.”

Marco demonstrating, executing a clean swan dive into the water. Anika plunged in after him. It was cold, colder than the ocean had been the day before. Under the water, Marco pulled her into his arms, kissing her. As they surfaced, he continued to kiss her, pulling at the knot of her bikini top. He undid the string, throwing the top out of the pool, up onto the rocks.

“You don’t need that,” he said. “There’s no one around.”

He was right. The privacy of the pool was complete. She couldn’t even hear birdsong down in this grotto. After a moment, Anika pulled off her bikini bottoms and threw them out after the top. Marco laughed and did the same with his own trunks.

Anika had never swum naked before. Though a bathing suit comprised so little fabric to begin with, the sensation was quite different. She could feel the cool water lapping at her absolutely everywhere. The feeling was freeing, and also arousing.

This time it was she who turned to Marco to kiss him. Their bare legs entwined as they tread water, their arms wrapped around each other. Marco ducked to kiss and suck her bare breasts beneath the water. The contrast between the cold and the warmth of his mouth made her gasp.

Memories tried to intrude once more – memories of stolen kisses, laughing and talking, of being wrapped in another man’s arms…

They streamed through her head in a torrent of color and sound and emotion.

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