“I don’t want to see it without you.”
“Thought you might be sick of me hovering.”
“Trust me, being stuck with a gorgeous man in the jungle for days or weeks is not something I’d ever get sick of,” Gabrielle said, giving him a wink.
“You’re dangerous, you know that, right?” Sebastian said, placing her backpack in the closet. He turned and followed her through the living room and back out on the deck. Gabrielle passed the dining table and sat on a series of oversized pillows clustered in the corner. She patted one next to her.
Against his better judgment, Sebastian sat down. A misty haze lifted from the trees, exposing a clear, pale blue sky and glowing orange sun in the distance. Gabrielle snuggled against his chest as she watched the horizon. Her journal rested on her lap.
He reached for it.
She slapped his hand. Hard.
“Ouch,” Sebastian said, laughing. “What kind of secrets are you hiding in there? Stories of all the hearts you’ve broken over the years?”
Gabrielle laughed, shaking against him. He dared to rest a hand against her thigh, which she didn’t move.
“Trust me, I never let anyone get close enough for long enough to break any hearts,” Gabrielle said, a hint of sadness in her tone.
“Why not? I can imagine you had men tripping all over themselves to be with you,” Sebastian said. He was on that tightrope again, delving for information he wasn’t sure he could handle. The thought of any other man being with Gabrielle caused his chest to seize.
“I had my fair share, I suppose,” Gabrielle said with a cute smile. “But relationships are complicated and messy and difficult. It’s hard to know a person. Trust that they are who they say they are and won’t turn into someone you don’t recognize. That’s why it was better for me to do short flings, quick hook-ups but not let anything get deeper.”
“Is that all you wanted from me last night?” Sebastian asked, almost choking on the words. “A quick fuck, then you’d brush me aside.”
Gabrielle stiffened. “You’re different, Sebastian.”
He shifted closer to her. “Different, how?”
She swallowed hard. “You make me feel things that I haven’t before. To want things I used to run away from. But like you said last night, I’m going through a lot now. I don’t know if I can trust those feelings. I don’t want to do something that I’d regret later.”
He trailed a finger up her thigh, then wrapped his arm around her waist. “What if you wouldn’t have any regrets?” The sun slipped lower toward the sea. Dazzling hues of orange shimmered on the waters beyond the black sand beach.
“Weren’t you the one who told me you were walking a tightrope and not to push?” Gabrielle reminded him as she shifted against him. She felt right in his arms.
“I think I’m hanging on to the tightrope with one finger,” Sebastian admitted. “But I’ll never do anything to hurt you, Gabs.”
“Gabs? You’re giving me pet names now?” Gabrielle turned to him with a playful frown.
“Sorry, it slipped out.”
“I like it. What should I call you? Bas?”
Sebastian frowned and shook his head.
“Seby?” Gabrielle suggested.
The nickname his mother had used for him years ago.
“Seby is nice,” he said, pressing his lips against her neck.
“You know what else is nice, Seby?” Gabrielle asked.
He murmured against her neck in response. His kisses trailed slowly up toward her ear. “What’s that?”
“All the ways you could help me … relax.”
And with those words, he let go of the tightrope.
