But she was looking up at him expectantly, holding her palm out for the shampoo, and he knew this wasn’t the time to ask about what “home” meant for the two of them.
“I think I know just the thing,” he said, trying to sound happy despite the heaviness that had settled in his chest.
“What is it?” she asked, eyes wide, but he shook his head.
“It’s a secret.”
“Damn,” she pouted, and turned to rinse her hair. “I hope it involves breakfast, I’m starving.”
“Find a café, and then coconuts?”
“Perfect,” she agreed.
He rushed out of the bathroom to check the address in her guidebook before she had a chance to come out, naked with her hair wrapped up in a towel, wheedling him for hints.
“Secrets,” he whispered in her ear as he pulled the towel from her hair and wrapped it around her body, holding them close.
It seemed impossible to leave the hotel room when every step she took toward putting her clothes on made him want to take them off again. But the sun was bright through the curtain, and Blake couldn’t wait to execute the new plan that he had up his sleeve.
Chapter Sixteen
They had finished a breakfast of pancakes with fresh berries, coffee, and a sweet, tart pink juice from the small acerola fruit, and the promised coconut while strolling along the beach, when Blake hailed a cab and gave directions to a part of the city Julia had never heard of.
“Oh, are you going to—” the driver said excitedly, but Blake cut him off before he could finish.
“Shhh,” Blake silenced him, pointing toward Julia. “It’s a secret.”
The driver roared with laughter, and Julia suddenly found herself feeling apprehensive. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to put so much trust in Blake. He hadn’t steered her wrong so far, but the driver obviously found something funny in where he was taking her. She was always so in control—in Chicago, at her job, in her personal life. It was freeing to be reckless this week, like it wasn’t just a vacation from Chicago but a break from her whole life. A new way of being thirty, for the brand new decade to come.
She hoped she wouldn’t regret it after today.
Blake squeezed her hand as they looked out the window at the city rolling by, the northern hills along the coast getting closer with every block.
“Something new,” he reminded her.
“I guess all of this is,” she laughed, trying to keep her nervousness in check.
They pulled up at a nondescript street corner, and Blake ushered her out if the cab. Julia looked around, unsure where they were. But as the cab pulled away, Blake set off resolutely toward a cluster of green where the road ended and the hills began.
She followed him into a park and then along a wide path that climbed steadily up. Julia matched her stride to his as they headed deeper into the lush green foliage. She figured they were climbing the hill and imagined the view they’d get at the top. They’d be able to see the whole city, both Christ the Redeemer and the Sugar Loaf Mountain they’d seen yesterday and the ocean curving around the whole city as it jutted out from land.
A different view—not exactly a wild deviation from their day yesterday, but the short hike was a nice way to get moving after lounging all morning in bed, and it was sure to be beautiful to stand up on such a cliff and look out over the sea.
The thought of their morning made Julia’s pulse leap. How was it that no matter what they did together, she still wanted more of him? More of his smooth chest, his sweet smile, that look on his face when he rolled his eyes back as she sank down on her knees. As he plunged inside her. As her own orgasm made him come so hard, it was like he was memorizing her body and not just capturing it. She slid her hand in his, heart beating from more than the climb.
But along with the thrill of touching him came the fear of that thrill, a voice of warning in the back of her mind. This wasn’t allowed to be more than it was. She couldn’t afford to let herself forget that.
As the path began leveling off, Julia realized there was starting to be something of a crowd. More people were hiking on the path, alone or in couples and groups, and it was louder than she usually associated with hikes. Everyone seemed to be chatting animatedly as they breathed hard through the climb. Julia shot Blake a questioning look. She knew why the tourist sites they’d gone to yesterday had been so crowded, but there were plenty of hills right here along the coast. What was so special about this one?
“Almost there,” he said, flashing a smile and squeezing her hand. “Come on, let’s try to get ahead of this group.”
They sped up to pass a cluster of middle-aged men and women with thick New York accidents who screamed tourist! with every bounce of their neon fanny packs. They were talking loudly, marveling at the heat and the climb, gulping at water bottles as they stopped to point out the different flowers along the path.
“I can’t believe we’re really going to do this!” one of the women squealed to her friend as Julia walked past.
“I don’t think I can,” the friend said.
“You have to! You promised!”
“I’m too old to die,” the woman gasped, and her friends erupted into laughter.
Julia clutched Blake’s arm. “Where the hell are you taking me?” she demanded, but Blake leaned around to cover her ears.
“Don’t listen to them, it’s going to be amazing.”
“It?”
But she didn’t have to wait for an explanation. At the top of the hill the path opened into a clearing. And at the far end of the clearing was a van.
“Oh shit,” Julia said, and stopped in her tracks.
Conrado Hang Gliding Company, it said on the side of the van, next to stacks of colorful harnesses laid out on tall racks. Everywhere people were milling about, duck-walking with harnesses cinched around their legs and waists, helmets perched awkwardly on their heads.
“No.” Julia shook her head. “No, no, no, no, no.”
Blake flashed his most charming grin, and she practically growled.
“Hang gliding? Are you kidding me?”
“You said something you’d never done before!” Blake paused for a second and frowned. “You haven’t done this before, have you?”
“God no!”
“Good, me neither,” he said, at the same time that she added, “Because I like my life!”
Laughing, he dragged her toward a tall Brazilian man with a dark ponytail and a company T-shirt who was signing people up.
“Come on,” Blake urged her. “Do something with me you’ll never forget.”
She almost said, I couldn’t forget you even if I wanted to, but she bit her tongue. If Blake wanted to have one last hurrah before they went their separate ways, then she wasn’t going to ruin things by getting maudlin about it.
“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, and gave the man her information. The next thing she knew, she’d signed away her life and was being outfitted in a tight harness, bobbing around in her own round blue helmet, alternately laughing and, to put it mildly, totally freaking out.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Julia said, watching the other groups anxiously waiting to jump. The atmosphere atop the mountain was jittery and frenetic as the anticipation grew.
Blake kissed her nose, their helmets bonking as he leaned forward. “You look adorable in a harness,” he whispered, and then laughed as Julia’s cheeks colored.
“You weren’t sure where to find one in a hotel room so you took me here instead?” she teased, trying to keep cool and act like harnesses and sex was totally a combination she was familiar with.