“I haven’t missed electrolyte sachets,” I said, and he laughed.
He turned in his seat and then ran his hands through my hair suddenly. “No knots to brush out anymore. In some ways, that’s a pity. Even though it looks really good.”
“I could sleep badly, roll around on the pillow all night and tease it, if you want knots?”
“I want knots,” he said, meeting my eyes again.
“I still have some knots in my neck,” I said, remembering how good his massage had been.
“Can I kill that guy, please?”
I laughed and he grabbed my shorts and then pulled me closer to him, my bum sliding all the way to the edge of my seat. He kept his hands on my legs. I looked down at them and then laced my fingers through his.
“Can I be a total Neanderthal here and tell you that the idea of you being with any other man makes me want to walk around hitting them over the head with a stick?”
I gripped his fingers tighter. “Is it ridiculously jealous of me to say that when I think about all the women you’ve probably been with, it kind of makes me feel sick to my stomach?”
“It makes me feel sick to the stomach too,” he said, bringing our hands up and holding them in the air between us. “That’s over, Ash. After you, after what we experienced together . . .” He moved, closing the gap between us. I quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching us, but we were alone. He took my face between his hands and pulled my face to his, resting his forehead against mine. “If it makes you feel any better, I feel like I was a virgin before we made love the other night. Because sex has never been like that for me, ever. You are my first as far as I’m concerned, and if you’ll let me, I would like to be your last.”
“Max.” His name fell from my lips onto his. I wanted to slip and fall into this moment with him, but my constantly beeping phone reminded me of the work I still needed to do. I pulled away gently.
“Work!” I stated.
“I love how passionate you are about it,” he said, making me want to slip and fall even more.
“I think I’m a bit too obsessed with it, to be honest. I think I’ve had to be.” I looked at him meaningfully.
“Me too.” He echoed my statement. “Maybe one day, hopefully soon, both of us will no longer need to use our work as a distraction anymore?”
“Maybe.” I smiled at him. “But that time is not now,” I said as I answered a call from Sebastian. Max ordered me a burger while on the phone, as well as a glass of water and a Coke. He made me drink the water first before letting me have the Coke—he wagged his finger at me when I reached for it. I smashed the burger, speaking on the phone with my mouth full half the time, and every now and then, Max wiped my chin with a serviette when a dollop of something ran down it. When I hung up, though, Max stood up with a strange finality to it all.
“I have to get going now,” he said.
“You do?” My stomach dropped and every fiber in my body screamed a silent “don’t go.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, though. That’s enough time to finish your work, right?” he asked.
“I’m actually almost done. I’ll probably finish later this afternoon, with only one shot to work out in the morning light. We’ve agreed to keep the shots here to an absolute minimum, so it’s easier to plan.”
“Well, then I will see you tomorrow morning and we can get out of here.”
“You’re flying all the way home, and then all the way back? Just for me?”
“No, actually. I’m staying here for the night.”
“Wait, you’re staying here? How did you manage that? I thought it was fully booked?”
He smiled. “No, there.” He pointed out into the bush, past the river and the elephants that were drinking by it.
I looked, and in the distance I could just make out another lodge, further up one of the hills.
“The thought had also crossed my mind to swap rooms with you tonight, but I knew you would say no anyway. If I’d told you I’d been swapping rooms with you all trip, I knew you would have said no then too.”
“You’ve been swapping rooms with me all trip?”
“Did you think you always got the bigger, nicer one by accident?”
“No, Max, you didn’t,” I protested. “I didn’t ask for that.”
