AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Just a few more days. I swear I'll confess then.
If I think the words "a few more days" again, they won't even sound like words anymore.
We amble over the bridge and find a nice little spot near the waterfall where we can enjoy our picnic. I gaze up at the sky, wondering again how it can be so deep blue, untainted by any kind of pollution, not even contrails from airliners. The pristine skies only add to the mystique of this place, which has begun to feel like an alternate reality to me. Vanessa doesn't hate me. We're both naked twenty-four seven. We went zip-lining. That's definitely some sort of alternate universe.
Just as we finish our meal, I glance at Vanessa and see something that robs me of breath. She sits there smiling at me, her eyes sparkling, with the spray from the waterfall misting up behind her and casting a faint, shimmering rainbow. I've never seen anything more beautiful in my life, and I'm not talking about the rainbow. How could I ever have walked away from this woman?
I can't resist reaching out to trail my fingers down her cheek.
She grasps my hand, turning it flat so she can kiss the palm. Her sweet smile makes my throat tighten. "Let's jump into the waterfall pool and swim around."
"Love to."
We dive into the waterfall pool. It feels comfortably cool, and when we tip our heads back, we get a stunning view of the forest canopy and the sky. A bright yellow bird flies by, above the spray from the falls. Vanessa grins and laughs when she sees the bird, and I get that pang in my chest again. I love her, but I won't tell her that again. I've said it at least twice since we came to this island, so she knows how I feel.
As we paddle around in the pool, I notice there seems to be a shadowed area behind the falls. Could there be a cave behind the curtain of water? Nothing in the information I have about the resort mentions anything like that.
"Hey, Vanessa!" I call out, trying to get her attention. She's been infatuated with a clump of flowers that hangs over the edge, almost touching the water. When she turns to look at me, I shout, "Come over here! Think I found something."
She swims over to me. "What is it?"
I point to the thundering cascade. "Does it seem to you like there might be a cavern or something behind the waterfall?"
Vanessa holds her hand up like a visor and squints at the shadows behind the waterfall. "You know what, I think there just might be a cavern back there. Wanna check it out?"
"Absolutely." I wave toward the falls. "Ladies first? Or would you rather send me in to make sure there aren't any bears hiding back there?"
"This island doesn't have bears."
"Snakes, then."
Vanessa wrinkles her nose. "Good point. You can go first."
"What happened to woman power?"
"The woman code has a clause that states men will go first into potentially snake-infested areas."
"Is that so."
I slap her ass under the water, which is surprisingly difficult to do. Then I swim to the edge of the falls, where there's a gap behind the curtain of water. This does look like a ledge. I set my hands on it and push up, hoisting myself onto the mostly flat area. Mist from the waterfall billows around me, and the rumble of the falls is louder back here, of course. Vanessa would give me an exasperated look if she heard me say that. If we were in our twenties, she'd tell me "duh."
Actually, I think she did say that to me back when we were in college. I was a computer geek in training, and she was the sexy biology major. And yeah, I'm pretty sure she used to employ the "duh" word every time I said something goofy.
Vanessa swims up to the edge of the falls, right beside the cascade. Her lips move, but I can't hear what she said.
I cup my hand over my ear and shake my head.
She hoists that beautiful body up and onto the ledge, then jogs over to me. "Is it safe? I don't see any snakes."
"Seems pretty safe to me."
I clasp her hand as we move closer to the rock wall and tiptoe along it, searching for...who knows what. Maybe this is a forbidden zone, off limits to guests, but nothing in the welcome packet mentioned anything like that. Halfway across the ledge, I pause to study a darker area that seems like a fissure in the rock wall. Vanessa leans around me to peer into that spot too. I hold up a hand in the universal gesture for "don't move."
She nods.
I release her hand so I can feel around inside the fissure. It's much wider than I had realized and clearly doesn't go more than six feet up, nowhere near as high as the cliff itself. The waterfall acts like a sort of sunshade, turning this hidden ledge into a twilight world all its own. Vines have grown inside the fissure, and thanks to my cautious feeling-around, I can now tell the vegetation has hidden just how wide and deep this fissure is.
But I need confirmation from a science expert. So, I twist around to speak directly into Vanessa's ear. "Mind taking a look at this fissure? I'd love your opinion on whether it's bigger than it seems."
