Page 81 of Twisted Beauty

“The owner of the palapas where we’re staying.”

“Oh my god.” Liv had a huge grin on her face. “We’re staying in a palapa? I’ve never been in one. That’s so awesome.”

“Yep,” Zach said. “Nate rented two of them on the same piece of property, somewhere in the jungle. Not too far from here.”

“Wait, the jungle?” Katie didn’t look happy, and Matt could see why. Everyone else was in shorts and bathing suits, but Katie wore a sundress and strappy sandals. So damned high maintenance.

“It turns to jungle almost as soon as you get away from the beach,” Zach said. “Don’t worry, Kitty Kat, you’ll love it. We’ll have our own pool and a fully stocked kitchen. Nate’s bringing a ton of food, and we’ve got a chef with us. It’ll be fun, you’ll see.”

“Hola, amigos. Buenos dias!”

Matt turned toward the voice to see a dark-haired man approach. A tan-and-white dog bounded along beside him. “I’m Pedro and this is Toro.” He leaned down to ruffle the hair on the dog’s head.

As soon as Liv stood up, Toro made a beeline for Matt, putting sandy paws on his shorts and shirt and covering him with slobber. Matt laughed as the dog tried to lick his face.

“He’s always a good judge of character,” Pedro said. “Welcome to Yelapa, everyone. Let’s go. It’s about a fifteen minute walk from here. Can I take some bags for you?”

“I think we’re good,” Zach said, but Katie and Jana handed him their bags. Pedro reached out and took Liv's as well before Matt could grab it.

He led them down a dirt pathway along the water, with a cliff rising up on one side and the sea on the other. Eventually, the path turned inland and wound through a forest of tall tropical plants. Liv pulled her camera out and lagged behind to take pictures.

“Come on, sweetheart.” Matt placed a hand gently on her lower back. Any excuse to touch her worked for him. He leaned in and kissed her below her ear and heard her gasp. “We’ll come back here to take photos another time. Let’s keep up so we don’t lose the group.”

They caught up to everyone where the path disappeared into a shallow river. They’d all come to a stop. Zach had mentioned something before about a river, and having to cross one to get where they were going. It was much wider than Matt expected it to be, maybe twenty feet across, but not much of a river. The water was barely moving, and ankle deep, if that.

Katie stood behind Zach like she was hiding from it. “Oh my gosh. We're stuck.”

“It’s shallow, and very safe to cross,” Pedro said.

“There’s no way I’m walking through that.” Katie stomped her foot. “We’re going back!”

“Don’t be such a party pooper.” Liv parroted Katie’s last insult, and it made Matt smile. “It’s not much more than a puddle. Besides, Zach will carry you, right?”

“Matt?” Zach held out his duffel. Matt took it and slung it over his shoulder, along with his own. Zach lifted Katie up into his arms before wading out into the water. Katie shrieked and wound her arms around his neck.

Yep. Way too much of a drama queen for him.

Jana followed closely behind them, and didn’t seem concerned about the water at all.

“You need me to carry you too, princesa?” Matt asked Liv, knowing full well what kind of response he’d get.

She narrowed her eyes into slits of green, slipped off her sneakers and walked out into the river without him. She stopped several steps out to face him. “You need a hand, caveman? If you’re scared, I’ll protect you.”

“I may take you up on that.” Matt waded out toward her and took her hand in his. They sloshed through the rest of the river together.

The path picked up again on the other side and led them to a wooden gate that was propped open to another long, dirt path. This one cut through a canopy of tropical plants and trees, which they followed to an opening with several small buildings clustered together. Two were obviously palapas, with white walls on two sides and thatched roofs made of some kind of dried palm leaves. They were completely open to the outside on two sides, which meant only one thing to Matt. No privacy. He’d have to wait until dark to get Liv naked, and he wasn’t sure he could hold off that long.

The third structure distracted him for the moment. It was a spacious open-air kitchen with modern appliances, situated inside rustic stone walls and a ceramic tile roof. Pedro told them it was shared among all the guests, but since Nate had rented the whole place for the weekend, there was no one else here. Besides Pedro and Toro, of course, who lived on the property.

“We’ll be cooking at least a few meals while we’re here,” Matt said. “You and Toro are more than welcome to join us.”

Toro wagged and leapt up into the air, apparently understanding English as well as Pedro.

“Gracias, you’re very kind,” Pedro said. “The rest of your group is already here, down at the pool. They came on the first boat of the day. Dragged me out of bed early this morning.”

Zach shook his head. “Sorry about that.”

“No, I’m very used to it.” Pedro led them through the courtyard and toward a large pool area surrounded by trees. A rock waterfall cascaded down into one side of the pool, but Matt was more interested in the hot tub on the opposite side. He hoped it would cool off enough at night to use it.