To scale it back, he asked what she’d been reading as he added salt and pepper to his eggs.
“That?” She looked toward the paperback she’d set on the ground. “Oh, it’s nothing. About curriculum development and a new program for teaching algebra.”
“A little light beach reading?” He thought of himself as a voracious reader, but taking a break from writing had also turned into a break from books, movies, television…a break from pretty much all of his life. Except maybe for women and sunshine. Those he seemed to have in more doses than he ever could have imagined.
“It’s nice to have some time to read. Normally I’m so busy I only get to a few pages each night before I fall asleep.”
“Yeah, I can see why that would conk you out.”
“It’s an interesting book!” She put her hand on the cover protectively.
“I’m not saying it isn’t.”
“Tell me about you. What do you do?” she suddenly asked.
Shit. That question. See? he told himself. This is why you should have gotten up and left this morning like you planned. No more contact, no more questions.
No more seeing Julia brush the hair out of her eyes as she crossed and uncrossed her legs under the table. No sharing drinks with her, transfixed by her lips on the straw, imagining he could taste her through the sweetness of the juice. No opportunity to picture her lying in bed at home with a book in her lap and then turning out the light…
He shook the image from his mind. Falling asleep together, waking up together—those were things he didn’t do. Not since Kelley, and never again. At least not for a damn long time.
“A little of this, a little of that.” He grinned absently.
Julia crossed her arms. “That’s no answer.”
“I’m in television.”
“Acting? Production?” she prodded.
“I’m a writer,” he said reluctantly, hoping that would be an end to the questions.
But of course it wasn’t.
“Anything I would know?” she asked.
“Not unless you’re up on your Australian networks.”
“Unfortunately I’m a little behind.”
He shook his head. Not unfortunately—it was good for him that she had no idea. “I work on a show. Nothing major.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You get this funny frown when you’re lying.”
Blake roared with laughter, so loud he could see Chris and Jamie turn and look at him, no doubt wondering what was going on since—as far as they knew—he and Julia had gone their separate ways last night without speaking. “I’m not lying!” he protested.
“See? Frowning. Lying again.”
He composed his face, trying to force his mouth into a smile. “Totally. Not. Lying.”
“Lying like when you said you were taking the bus this morning,” she teased. “So from your non-answer, should I assume that you’re ridiculously famous, or that you work on something so embarrassing you’d die if I knew?”
Blake shook his head, his mind racing to come up with an answer. She was sharp and witty, and he couldn’t keep up. Suddenly her eyes widened.
“Shit, that’s why—” She realized they were being loud enough to draw the attention of the other tables and dropped her voice to a whisper, leaning forward over their half-eaten plates. “That’s why you were so amazing last night.”
“Because I’m a writer?” Blake was glad to be called amazing, but he wasn’t sure where she was going with this.
“You’re in porn.”
Blake nearly choked on his eggs.
“C’mon it’s okay, you can admit it. We hardly know each other. I promise not to give you a hard time.”
“I’m not—” he took a long sip of juice to clear his windpipe. “In porn.” He swallowed and tried again. “I’m not in porn.”
Julia raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Hot Australian TV ‘writer,’” she put the word in air quotes, “is total dynamite and won’t tell me what he writes?”
Did she just call him hot and dynamite? Blake couldn’t keep from grinning.
“As much as I would love for you to go around thinking I’m some stud writer, I actually write and produce a historical drama series called The Everlastings. You can, I don’t know, Google it or whatever. Except don’t,” he added quickly. “It’s kind of boring.”
“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Why do you believe me now?”
“No frowns, no lies.” She sat back in her chair with a smug little smile.
“On the other hand, maybe I should be a porn writer,” he mused, leaning in close.
“Why’s that?”
“Just think of the material I could test out on you.”
There, he had it again. That blush. He grinned, satisfied. He was back in charge, even if he knew he wouldn’t hold onto the reins for long—at least not while he stuck around to see what she’d surprise him with next.
He didn’t have to wait long.
“So, Blake, are you coming?” Chris strode over to their table, fanning herself with a wide-brimmed sun hat. “Catching the first bus out—isn’t that what you said?”
“I slept in—no real plans, you know how it is.” Blake mentally begged her to keep his cover, but Chris had a big mouth and no reason to protect him.
“You, with no plans? You’re the most scheduled Aussie I’ve ever met!” She turned toward Julia. “I mean, have you ever seen anyone like him? He’s got all the timetables and the map planned out like if he quits moving for a single day the world will stop turning or something.”
Julia laughed uncomfortably. “Um, I didn’t know,” she said, and Blake felt a funny pang at realizing how much more Chris knew about him, even though he and Julia had shared something so intimate. He willed Chris to put the pieces together. And then go away.
“Having a good time so far?” Chris asked, still fanning herself, and Blake realized from her smirk that she’d definitely heard Julia sneak out last night.
“It’s been nice,” Julia said slowly. Blake tried not to snort into his pineapple juice. “Nice” was putting it mildly.
“Well, if you’re sticking around, a bunch of us are heading over to the Argentine side of the falls. Blake’s already been, but they’re beautiful, and we thought if we got a car together it’d be plenty cheap and easier than figuring out the bus.”
“That’d be great,” Julia said, not even looking at Blake to see what his plans were. He had no idea what to think. Did she want him to be on his way?
“You’re invited, too, Blake,” Chris said. “But I figured you wouldn’t be coming?”
Blake shrugged slowly, trying to appear casual without answering the implied question she was asking. “Well, I don’t really—”
“Yeah, I thought you had plans.” Blake looked up to meet Julia’s eyes and saw that she was laughing, teasing him now that he was irrefutably caught changing his schedule to spend time with her. It wasn’t the laugh of someone looking to be rid of him, though.
He threw up his palms. “What can I say? I’m on vacation. Plans change.” Chris tousled his hair like he was her little brother—despite the fact that he was twice her size—and went to collect everyone who’d be going with them. He and Julia quickly finished their breakfast together, trying to stop looking at each other the whole time. It was hard to get ready to go when they kept grinning like that.
“Last night,” he whispered in her ear before she could slide into her room to pick up her things for the day trip.
“Yes?” Julia asked, spinning around at his sudden touch. He’d been trying to be good at breakfast—just friend stuff, no touching, even if the flirting drove him mad—but he couldn’t help brushing the small of her back with his palm. The dress was cut low and then tied at the top, exposing all that skin.