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“Nope. Three days.” Jamie looks quite pleased with himself, and I don’t blame him. He and Oscar seem to go deep, despite being so fresh. I fall silent, contemplating this, while preparing myself to tell Mike my update. I’ve been wrong. But at least Anna is still his.
While we hang out at the sandbar, drinking and talking, I keep watching the guys interact, and it becomes clearer and clearer that my stupid assumption blinded me. Aniston is off with his new girl, laughing his ass off. Oscar and Jamie can’t keep their eyes- or their hands- off each other. Only Anna is alone. Alone on the cruise she was supposed to be taking with her husband for their anniversary.
There’s something like a vise in my chest, squeezing my heart tight. For the first time in my P.I. career, the wrong partner hired me. I hope Mike made an innocent mistake because I still want that job on his team. At least I think I do. But if he has abandoned his wife for work? There’s a tightness between my eyes. I have to call Mike.
“I’ll be right back,” I say, striding downriver along the sandbar till I find a few bars of reception.
I’m about to dial Mike when I see Anna climbing out of the water on the other side of the river and disappearing into the trees, heading towards the waterfall. No one else from our group has noticed. They’re still laughing together, lounging on the sand like nothing is wrong. I tear off my shirt, drop my phone on top of it, and plunge into the water to cross the river after Anna.
CHAPTERTEN
ZOEY
Everyone is underestimating me.I’ve done bigger jumps than a little twenty-foot waterfall. The only reason for the no-jumping rule is that we’re on a cruise excursion with a bunch of incapable people and a lot of insurance liability. But I saw those other guys do it, and they were fine. I can almost taste the buzz of the jump already, that metallic twang in my mouth when I’m flying, hurtling down towards the churning, unknown water below.
I hurry along the dense jungle path, trying to get out of sight of the sandbar as fast as I can. The guys are annoying me. Jamie, I can understand being a little protective. But I didn’t expect Sebastian to be such a rule follower. At least, not till last night. I still thought he was a scumbag trying to sleep his way through the Love at Sea cruise.
But today, I can’t help seeing Sebastian differently. He apologized last night. He was romantic about that couple’s honeymoon, even if he was skeptical that it would last. There’s something idealistic about him. So maybe the fact that he’s into rules shouldn’t surprise me either.
I shake my head, as if that might clear him from my mind. All this insight into Sebastian’s brain makes me trust him, and I hate it. I shouldn’t trust him. No matter if Anna thinks I should give him a chance, now that I made the mistake of sharing what happened yesterday. She doesn’t know what she doesn’t know, and I’m certain he’s bad news. The only men you can trust show you how terrible they are right up front; the ones who put all their bad cards on the table. Not the men you think might be nice. They turn out to be darker than all the bad boys combined.
I almost trip over a root running across the path. The track through the jungle curves upwards, winding around the cliff face of the waterfall. I slow down to pick my way more carefully. The rocks ahead form a steep, but neat, staircase. I’m almost certain the locals climb this to make the jump all the time. Rules are for Boy Scouts, like Sebastian.
You know, maybe he showed me his bad cards already. He’s cynical about relationships, and it’s so obvious it’s because of his cheating parents. Has he never heard of therapy? But if he wants to stay anti-relationships his whole life, that’s up to him.
As I near the top of the falls, the spray cools my face and the water roars louder. The path is so steep I have to scramble with both my hands and my feet. At the top, it flattens. Above the waterfall is another pool, and above that, long, leafy branches hide yet more falls from viewers below.
Perfect. A private waterfall. No one will see me leap down that one. No Jamie to scold me. No river guide to yell. No Sebastian to make up stories about me. I pick my way around the edge of the pool, across algae-slick rocks. In the stone cliff face beside the upper falls, tons of small cracks will be perfect for a little free climbing to the top.
Sliding my hands along the cracks, I find a decent hold. I lift my stronger leg, trying to squeeze my toes into a crack at about knee height, when I feel my weak ankle tilt on the algae of the rock below me. And then I’m sliding into the water with searing pain firing from my foot to my knee. The falls pummel me deeper, heavy and hard. Kicking as powerfully as I can, I gasp at the acid pain burning through my ankle and inhale a huge gulp of water. As I choke and scramble with my hands, water weeds tug me down.
And then, through the adrenaline and fear and pain, my training kicks in. I let the water push me lower, seeking for the bottom with my good leg. I find the muck, and root around for firm ground. And then, with one powerful push, I surge to the surface. Gasping for air, I give myself a moment of recovery, treading water with my arms. But the current pushes me towards the next set of falls. I don’t have long to rest.
“Anna!” Sebastian bursts from the trees, plunging into the pool.
“Stay at the edge!” I rasp. “The current is dangerous!”
He leans forward and grabs my hand, pulling me to the rim of the pool, wedging us between two rocks. He wraps an arm around my waist, while river water dumps out my nose, rather indelicately. When it’s all out, and I’m breathing normally again, I balance on my good ankle and clamp my gimpy leg over Sebastian’s hip so the current won’t wash me away while I wipe my face with my hands.
“Are you alright?” he asks.
“I’m fine. And, um, thank you for rescuing me.” Although, I’d like to think I would have been fine without him. I know what I’m doing. “How much did you see?” I look up at him through my eyelashes, hoping the answer is zilch. Zero. Nada.
“I saw you about to scale that rock over there,” he says, glowering at me. “You shouldn’t even be up here. I mean, I get it. You probably need to blow off some steam, given everything. Can’t you let me and the guys take you out drinking or something? Go to the casino? Something a little safer?”
“Why should I blow off steam?”
Sebastian hasn’t let me go yet. His arm is still tight around my waist, our chests pressed together, warm in the cool water. The smoothness of his waxed chest makes him slippery and satin soft against me. This close, I can look through his clear green eyes like seeing to the bottom of the ocean on a sunny day. Cloudy yellow rocks and little brown seaweeds sway under deep turquoise water. Sebastian’s nostrils flare as he watches me explore his face.
“You’re alone,” he says, his breath warm on my cheek. At first I don’t understand him. I continue exploring his gaze, and he draws closer. “Alone, on your anniversary cruise.”
“Oh.” Of course, he’s explaining why I need to blow off steam. “Right.” Shifting away, I drag myself up the slippery rocks with shaky arms. I wobble to my feet, but hiss at the pain in my ankle and have to sit back down. I’m screwed: if I have to take time off these last few weeks of filming Meghan’s current movie, I’ll lose the sequels. Groaning, I squeeze the bridge of my nose. Why am I always so stubborn?
“I’ve got you,” Sebastian says. He scrambles from the water and beckons me to stand in front of him. I do, this time holding onto his arms while keeping my weight on my good leg. “You ready to jump?”
“What?” But he’s already bent his knees, grabbed me around the waist, and hauled me over his shoulder. As he straightens, I land on my diaphragm and let out a weird huff of breath.
“This is so dangerous,” I gurgle. Using my butt as leverage, he adjusts me so it’s my waist his shoulder punches into. Wrapping one hand over my thighs, the other gripping at a tree limb, he takes a step forward, back towards the path. “Put me down,” I say, beating my fists against his loaf-like buns. They’re so firm my hands bounce off.
