Page 28 of Charming
He’s heading toward The Arch, or El Arco, a landmark here in Cabo San Lucas. It’s a distinctive natural taffy-colored lofty rock formation that rises out of the water and is itself the extreme southern end of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, where the Sea of Cortez flows into the Pacific Ocean. It’s also knows as “Land’s End” and is a popular tourist attraction. When I won the vacation and did some research on Cabo, I read that The Arch is called Land’s End because as a crow flies if you were to follow its line south from Cabo, you would not touch land again until you reach the South Pole. In fact, it is the focal point of many souvenir pictures. Moreover, when Katie and I went shopping together there were several paintings, statues, and other trinkets depicting the landmark making it clear the residents are proud of their Arch.
Getting as close to it as we can, it’s very impressive and I feel very small and almost insignificant in its presence. “Ella, look!” Asher calls to me and I follow the direction he’s pointing.
“Are those…? Oh my gosh!” There are gray seals on the rocks at the bottom of the arch. Some are sunbathing, a few repeatedly diving into the water and resurfacing. They are keeping a happy distance from people, but seem to be undaunted by our presence. Asher and I move as close as we dare. “I wish I had a camera so I could take a picture.” I can see their dark eyes and whiskers from here. Asher’s floating so close to me our runners bump into each other, but we just glance at each other and smile before looking back at the seals. A few barks from them make me smile wider, “They are amazing.”
“They are.” With a final look at them, Asher gives me a sly look. “I’ve got a proposition for you.”
“Another one? I don’t know if I can handle more.”
“Don’t worry, princess, I’ll do all the handling. You just hang on for the ride.”
“Clever,” I tell him with a lift of my brows.
He simply smiles mischievously, “Come on! Race you!” Before I can reply he takes off spraying me in the process and I scream from the cold water. Pushing the hair out of my face, I race after him. I even get to my feet again, feeling more in control and instinctively aware that it will assist me with turns even if it doesn’t really make me go faster. He looks back for me a few times, and I can see he’s laughing. We continue on like this for a while – he shows off and does zigzags, and goes so fast I don’t even try to catch up. Eventually, we slow down and drift next to each other once more.
“I can’t believe you didn’t let me win!” I teased.
He grimaces but I can see his mouth twitch with humor, “Oh shit. Does this mean I totally won’t get to have my way with you now?”
I gasp in mock protest, “How dare you sir! I am a lady.”
“A lady, huh? Funny, I don’t remember you being very ladylike the other night.”
Gasping louder this time, I feign anger, “You offend me! See if you get a repeat now.”
“I can be persuasive,” he says with so much heat in his gaze that it ignites a fire in my belly. Without a doubt, those words are a promise.
“This is so much fun,” I tell him needing to switch topics - for now.
He gives me a long look before accepting the change in subject. “I have a couple of these in California, but I don’t take them out nearly as much as I would like.”
“Too busy?”
“Yeah, I have been lately. I forgot how much fun they are.”
“I can tell you’ve done this before. I’m too afraid to crank it as high as you are. You were flying.”
“What? How fast have you gone?”
“I’ve gotten it up to thirty five miles per hour.”
“Aw, come on. I bet you can get it up to at least forty, forty-five.”
I wrinkle my nose unsure, but shrug, “I can try.”
“Come on,” he says. Off we go again, racing in the opposite direction, being sure to stay within the several miles long perimeter we have to work with. I accelerate even more and push past my fear and get it to forty, but immediately back off the throttle and let it fall back down again. Such speeds make me feel as if I’m going to fly off. I have a vision of my body flying airborne above the craft as I do my best to hang onto the handles. Yikes, no thank you. I’d prefer to not fall into the ocean. Especially so far out here. With my luck…well best not to push it.
“How’d you do?” Asher asks when we slow down once more.
“I got to forty that time.”
“That’s my girl!” he laughs and pumps the air making me laugh.
“Oh! Asher! Look!” I saw a disturbance in the water and thought it was a fish jumping at first. I’d seen a few do that while riding, but realize it wasn’t a fish at all, they’re turtles. The water is clear enough that we can see them moving under the surface.
“Cool. I see three?”
“Four!” I say pointing at another.
