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He laughed. ‘No. Not you. I think that would be a disaster.’
She sent him a look of muted impatience. ‘I’m really not that bad. You must have a rope or something?’
Realising she was serious, he sobered. ‘Dio, cara, you’re going to give me a heart attack. Are you seriously suggesting scaling this volcano?’
‘Look at that water,’ she said plaintively. ‘It’s divine.’
He eyed her thoughtfully for a moment. ‘It does look nice. But there is nicer.’
‘Yeah? Where?’
‘Come. I’ll show you.’ He unhooked his rucksack and pulled out a water bottle. ‘Thirsty?’
She shook her head. She might have been before, but other needs had subsumed everything else.
‘Hungry?’
She shook her head again, but her tummy did a little squeeze.
‘Well, I am.’
His smile was rueful. Beautiful. She was lost.
He reached into the rucksack and pulled out an apple.
She arched a brow. ‘Really?’
He nodded. ‘What’s wrong with fruit?’
‘Forbidden fruit,’ she muttered under her breath, but his grin showed that he’d heard.
‘Want a bite?’
He held it out to her and she eyed it warily before shaking her head, more firmly this time.
‘Suit yourself.’ He shrugged, making short work of the apple before tossing the core into the undergrowth. ‘Let’s go.’
Another twenty minutes on the bike did little to calm her overstretched nerves, and by the time he pulled it to a stop in the middle of what seemed to be a forest of thick cypress trees, she was almost ready to burst.
He removed his helmet and stood, but before he could reach for hers she unclipped it hurriedly, adding it to his on the seat in front of her.
His smile was droll and she had the distinct impression he was laughing at her.
‘Well?’ she asked, with an impatience born of embarrassment. ‘What are you showing me?’
‘You wanted to see some spectacular water,’ he reminded her, his expression carefully blank of emotion.
She climbed off the bike, wishing she’d thought to pack some shorts and jeans. There was no neat way to dismount, and she stood pushing her dress down, only to look up and find his eyes arrested on her legs.
Heat flared inside her.
‘Which way?’ she asked, the question a husk in the middle of the forest.
He jerked his head slightly to the left but then his eyes met hers and Tilly felt it.
Inevitability.
She was fighting it, and so was he, but they might as well try to stave off night’s fall.
