Page 38 of Colombian Chemistry

Marcus

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It took everything I had to keep my eyes focused on the path in front of me. All I wanted to do was turn around and stare at Irene. When I’d seen her standing there in her torn dress and her skivvies, I’d thought I’d never seen a woman more beautiful in my life.

Sure, her hair was tangled, she had mud on her face, and her underwear couldn’t be more matronly, but she looked beautiful. Like Irene. Innocent, soft, and sweet. Then she’d gone and put on my t-shirt, and now she looked so damn sexy I struggled to keep my cargo pants from exploding from the hard-on I couldn’t get under control. The same one I’d gotten from those few amazing moments I’d been between her firm thighs.

“My feet are killing me,” she complained from behind me.

Her constant talking and complaints didn’t even bother me anymore. I found them endearing.

“Almost there. It should be just around the bend. I can hear the river clearly now.”

“I’m swimming the rest of the way. It will be better than walking.”

“Hopefully the piranhas won’t get you,” I teased.

“Piranhas?” she gasped.

“Or the Caimans. Or Anacondas.”

“Oh my God. I hate snakes!” she shrieked. “Okay. I’ll keep walking. I’m fine.”

When I turned the corner, and the river came into sight, I stopped and started chuckling.

“What? What’s so funny?” she asked as she stopped next to me.

“That God of yours must really like you.”

She furrowed her brow.

I pointed. “There’s a little canoe right there. Probably some local fisherman’s.”

She looked around me and her mouth opened in a gasp when she saw it. “Oh my God! Yay! Wait. Can we take it? Isn’t that stealing?”

“Do you want to keep walking?”

She shook her head.

“Then we’re taking it.”

“Can we at least leave him some money? Like, stick some on the rock from where we take the boat from? I don’t like stealing.”

“You have any cash to leave?”

She bit her lip and shook her head.

“So, I’m footing the bill again, huh? Not only am I not getting paid, but I’m out a Jeep, I paid for two donkeys, and now I’ve got to buy a damn boat, huh?”

She smiled sweetly and shrugged. “I’ll pay you back?”

“You’re broke,” I said with a sigh. “But fine. It’s the right thing to do.”

I dropped my bag on the ground and pulled out some money inside. “This should do.”

We walked over and stuck the pesos in between two rocks right where the canoe would have been. The weather or a jungle critter would likely drag it away, but it made Irene smile when I did it. And somehow, making her smile had become the single most important thing in my life.

I pushed the canoe into the water and held it for Irene. Those long, toned legs of hers captured my eyes as she stepped in. When she sat down on the modest little bench, the t-shirt pulled up and now barely covered those adorable grannie panties of hers. I sat down across from her and pushed the paddles into the water, trying with everything I had to force my eyes to stay over her shoulder.