Page 38 of Under The Twilight Rainfall
Don’t think about it. You can’t stay.
So, I shake it off and grin back at the guide watching me, then double-check my camera and just go for it.
Holy. Mother. Of. Fuck.
Yeah, that shit is cold but it isexhilarating.
Coming out of the water, my own laugh bubbles up, and I barely have time to look around before Valen’s arms are around my waist and his head is buried in my neck. He’s shaking as he smiles into my throat, and I know he’s on just as much of a high as I am.
I wrap an arm around him in return, faintly hearing the nearby splash of our guide.
“Ready to make some memories, SpecDex?”
I would be annoyed, but the teasing tone only makes me want to hold him tighter, makes me want to pull him up and cover that smartass mouth with my own.
I don’t think he realizes how deeply today will be carved into my memory: as the first day I realized my feelings for Valen Olaño have never gone away.
And I’m not sure I can lock them back up after this.
Twohourslaterwefind an open clearing of water surrounded by thick foliage that’s nearly deserted as pink starts to tint the sky. Our guide has meandered off now that we’re no longer diving off cliffs and wandering into caves.
We’ve settled against a nestle of rocks that make their own mini-waterfall trail, Valen dragging his fingers into the stream and me floating along the surface nearby. With the shade of the trees and the sun dipping further into the horizon, there’s less worry of burning under the tropical heat.
“Does this hit your top ten?” Valen asks, and I have to squint my eyes open as the question goes over my head.
“Huh?”
Valen chuckles and reaches for me, so I swim the few feet and let him twine our fingers together. “Destinations. Experiences. Does this breach your top ten?”
I’ve never really thought about ranking all the places I’ve been. They’re all like little pieces of myself I’ve dropped and scattered. Looking at the memories on my flash drive gives me some of those pieces back, but it’s hard to rank them.
“Think highly of yourself, do you?”
Valen’s smile turns sheepish, and I brush my thumb over the blush on his cheek.
“I meant the waterfall,” he says, and a nervous Valen is a rather cute one.
“The waterfall is up there, yeah.” I pull his hand up to my chest, and he cups the back of my head with his free one.
I want to touch him. Over and over. Endlessly.
I never knew something so fucking soft could feel this good, could make goose bumps rise in the dead of summer heat. It’s like I’ve let him in and every molecule in my body has rearranged themselves around him.
I can’t stay.
The fact that I want to is dangerous. Give your heart to someone and they can cradle it like the treasure it is or they can stomp on the ‘handle with care’ sign and throw it out a plane hundreds of feet in the air. Where you can scramble to catch it and be crushed when you hit the ground, or you can let it go and live with a hollow feeling in your chest while you spend years searching for the shards.
Love is a jaded topic for me.
“Where are you going next?” His voice is thick, and we’re close enough now that I can rest my forehead on his and feel the rapid pulse in his neck as I slide my hand from his cheek to a loose grip on his throat. He swallows, and it bobs under my fingers.
“Don’t wanna talk about it,” I mutter, bumping his nose with mine and wondering why I spent so long fighting this. The contact is intoxicating.
He laughs dryly, hot breath puffing into my face, but I don’t mind. “Oh, Vagabond Dex doesn’t want to share his fabulous endeavors? Whatever could be such a grand distraction?”
“You.”
There’s a beat of silence where we only breathe each other’s exhaled air, my eyes falling closed as Valen’s orbit draws me nearer and nearer until I wonder if I’ll become one of his moons.
