Matt glanced sideways when she made a little bubbling sound. Her mischievous grin made him glad he’d donned an apron.
“I know you’d be happiest if I’d confine my waking moments to reading in the hammock, but after a couple of days that can get a little boring.”
Her smile softened the complaint. They both knew she’d spent the better part of those hours asleep in the hammock.
“Hey, I rigged that chair for you in the surf.”
In lieu of swimming, he had persuaded her to lounge in a plastic lawn chair that he equipped with an inflated mat to keep her feet floating. Sitting chest deep in the warm surf, she’d giggled with delight when little fish had nibbled on her fingers.
“True, but you spent the whole time hovering on the log behind me.”
She’d teased him about being her “strong silent lifeguard” comparing him to the large brown pelican that occupied a roost on an exposed rock a few yards away, but Matt had pretended to be engrossed in his book. It was the only way he could keep from giving in to the insane urge to take her in his arms and make love to her—right there on the beach.
He blamed it on the way her damn hair floated on the water like a mermaid’s locks.
“What were you reading, anyway?” Eve asked, taking a sip of juice.
Matt felt his cheeks heat up. He didn’t have a clue.
“Uh…some mystery.” He whipped the pan off the stove and slid two perfect eggs on her plate. The tortillas were already warmed and in a basket beside the tin of butter.
“Aren’t you joining me?” she asked as he added a helping of fried potatoes to the plate.
“My mother taught me to cook eggs two at a time. Three max. Perfect eggs require patience and finesse.”
Eve ate in silence a minute then said, “Your mom’s a cool lady. I really appreciate all she’s done to help me.”
As his eggs steamed, Matt recalled his mother’s parting warning. “Make her rest, Matthew. I mean it,” Irene had stressed. “If you care about her, you’ll see to it she gets a nap every day.”
Matt cared for Eve, but not in the way his mother hoped. He wasn’t as foolish as he used to be. He no longer believed that love conquered all. Even if he came to adore Eve, to treasure her, he wouldn’t commit his heart to a relationship that had no chance of success.
“Since we’re going out later, maybe you should rest this—”
“Oh, Matt,” Eve groaned. “Couldn’t we take a drive? Please.”
Her plea got to him. “Okay. We’ll go exploring then check the faxes and pick up lunch.” He served up his eggs and sat down beside her. “There’s a great little shop that sells barbecue pork dinners that come with tortillas, salsa, beans and cabbage salad. I’ll put the cooler in the trunk, and I found a big umbrella in the closet. How’s that sound?”
He took a bite of eggs and potatoes. When she didn’t answer right away, he glanced sideways. It was obvious she was trying to cope with her emotions. His throat tightened and he had to wash down his food with a gulp of juice. The bittersweet taste seemed fitting.
THREE HOURS LATER, Matt was pleased by how well his plan was unfolding. Eve had seemed content to stay in the car while they toured the nearby town of Akumel and barely complained when he wouldn’t let her swim with the dolphins at Playa del Carmen.
“Can we visit the ruins sometime?” she asked as they passed the turnoff to the national archaeological site. “I read about Tulum in the travel guide at the house. The Mayan culture was amazingly advanced in some areas.”
“Particularly in competitive sports.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I was here, our tour guide showed us a stone chopping block where the captain of the losing team lost his head. Literally. I think it was some ancient form of a salary cap.”
She looked both amused and skeptical but remained quiet the rest of the way to the beach. That suited Matt since he was having a hard time recalling the exact turnoff. He let out a sigh of relief when he spotted a parking area with half a dozen cars present. “Okay. Here we are.”
Three armloads of gear and a gallon of perspiration later, he collapsed on the blanket beside Eve. The umbrella created a teal-blue shelter that for some reason seemed relatively private, despite the scattered groupings of people up and down the beach.
“It’s beautiful here,” Eve said, shading her eyes with her hand. “Look at the color of that water. Isn’t it amazing?”
“Amazing,” Matt repeated. Only he wasn’t looking at the ocean. He was dazzled by Eve. Each day she seemed to blossom a little more. The brightly patterned cover-up she wore made her resemble an exotic bird—rare and priceless.
She glanced down and caught him staring. Matt scrambled into action, serving their lunch. The aroma of barbecue pork and spicy salsa made his mouth water. He passed Eve a plate.
With a bemused smile, she politely accepted his offering. They ate in silence. Matt had just popped his last bite in his mouth when Eve made a curious sound. He tucked his right leg beneath him and leaned forward to see what she was looking at.
A man stood ten feet away. His back to them, the man’s pale skinny buttocks were clearly visible. A hunk of pork became lodged in Matt’s throat. Between coughs he said, “Good Lord, this must be a clothing-optional beach now.”
“Is this what you meant by sight-seeing?” Eve teased, tearing off a bite of tortilla with her teeth.
Matt took a swallow of beer. He wasn’t a prude but a sudden flash of memory—helping a very naked Eve into bed—triggered an uncomfortable reaction.
“Time to go,” he said, handing Eve a paper napkin.
“It’s not a big deal, Matt. I’ve been on nude beaches before.”
Matt didn’t want to think about that. Eve. Nude. On a beach somewhere with hunky guys surrounding her. It was bad enough that he was lusting after Eve, he didn’t want to think about all the other men on the planet who had the same thoughts.
“Power-nap time. Nurse’s orders.”
She didn’t argue, but Matt could tell she was disappointed. So was he. It was time to cross picnic lunches on the beach off the list of things he could do with Eve. Matt was beginning to think there wasn’t anything he and Eve could do that wouldn’t wind up with him in dangerous waters.
EVE EXPELLED a long, noisy sigh the following afternoon as she adjusted the binoculars for a better view of the person snorkeling a couple of hundred yards offshore. Her elbows tingled from the rough surface of the balcony wall. A large floppy hat shaded her nose and eyes from the brilliant sun that warmed and, hopefully, tanned her bare back.
The new color was helping to take the edge off her terminal-patient look, she’d decided that morning when she looked in the mirror. One of the good things about her ambiguous heritage was the generous supply of pigment that turned tan rather than red.
The starved-waif look was another story. Maybe if she weren’t so pathetically thin, Matt would be interested in spending time with her instead of communing with the fishes.
A distant splash caught her attention. “Where’d he go?”
The crystal water reflected the brilliant blue sky, making the submerged patches of coral resemble big purple blotches. Matt’s long tanned body disappeared beneath a froth of turbulence kicked up by his fins then reappeared moments later. He expelled a blast of water from his snorkel like a whale’s spout.
“Damn!” Eve muttered. “I want to be out there, too.”
Worse than a mother hen, Matt strictly regulated her activities, but she hated to complain. In truth, he was the perfect…nursemaid? Housemate? Companion? She wasn’t sure how to label him. He cooked, cleaned, shopped, pampered, praised, scolded and fussed over her. The only problem was, he kept things very businesslike.
Frowning, she studied him in the water. A truly magnificent body—long and lean, but not thin. He was substantial in every sense of the word. Smart and well read, he entertained her in the evenings with board games and crossword puzzles. They’d
played two marathon rounds of Yahtzee—each winning one.
Their only major disagreement stemmed from their isolation. Eve was by nature a people person and she liked action. Which was why she’d been so enthusiastic when he’d suggested yesterday’s picnic.
“And we all know how well that turned out,” Eve muttered, turning from her outlook.
She set the binoculars on the ledge and stepped back, her bare feet tingling from the heat of the terra-cotta tile. The private, walled second-floor patio lacked the shady roof of the lower veranda.
Dashing to her padded chaise, she flopped into the towel-covered chair. The heat imparted a sense of well-being, but Eve knew she was a long way from being completely recovered. One look at her bra told her that. Glancing down, she frowned. You could fit two fingers in that gap, she thought, tugging on the orange and pink flowered material.
“Poor Matt,” Eve said, sighing. “No wonder we didn’t stay on that beach very long. He was probably afraid I’d want to get naked, too.”
Sighing, she pulled the brim of her floppy hat a little lower. On the table beside the chair was a sheet of white paper that Matt had handed her before heading for the water—a fax from Sara. He’d passed her the wrong fax accidentally but caught the mistake almost immediately.
“Is that from your daughter?” Eve had asked, trading papers.
When he’d nodded, Eve’s gaze had been drawn to his hair, uncombed and ruffled with a boyish artlessness to it. “Yeah. With the cell phone out of commission—” his phone hadn’t worked since their arrival in Cancún “—I decided to fax her hotel.”
“Is she having a good time?” Eve had asked, curious about the girl Matt obviously adored.
“She loves room service, and she liked Knott’s Berry Farm and Universal Studios, but not Disneyland. Too many bratty kids,” he’d said with a small smile. “She didn’t say anything about her stepfather’s new job.”
Sinking back against the sun-warmed pad, Eve took off her sunglasses and picked up the fax. She’d been reluctant to invite the outer world into her oasis but knew she couldn’t put it off forever.
The first paragraph was a quick update on her legal situation. Eve smiled at the line that read: Ren is confident he can serve you Barry’s male reproductive organs on a platter when you return.
Eve didn’t want anything from Barry—even something that small. She accepted her part of the blame for the present situation, although the media fiasco was all Barry. He should be held accountable for that.
But the Communitex deal was entirely her fault. She’d assured Barry that she would recover from the virus she’d picked up in Panama. Except for two earlier bouts of anemia, Eve had always been healthy as a horse. Because of that, she’d kept telling herself—and Barry—she could bounce back in time to make everybody happy—right up to the moment she no longer had the energy to pick up the phone and call for help.
Sara’s last paragraph made Eve’s throat close up with wistfulness:
Brady is growing up so fast—he’s into everything.
Eve didn’t have much experience with kids, but a part of her yearned for a baby. Maybe that had been Barry’s meanest trick of all. While wooing her for his father’s company, he’d also courted her heart, promising a long-term relationship, complete with hearth, home and family.
Maybe I will take those genitals, she thought.
“Whoa,” a voice said from the doorway of her bedroom. “Do I dare come out there or not? That’s a pretty fierce frown you’re wearing.”
Eve looked up, grateful for the distraction. “I was reading Sara’s fax.”
“Bad news?” Matt asked. He opened the screen and stepped outside. He was wearing navy blue, boxerlike swim trunks, leather huaraches, and an unbuttoned Hawaiian-print shirt that looked as if he’d donned it without drying off completely. His glossy hair was finger combed off his face. No hat, just sunglasses that were pushed to the crown of his head.
He carried something draped over one arm, but she couldn’t make it out because of the glare of the sun—and the fact that she couldn’t take her gaze off the slender V of curly black chest hair.
“Not really. I was just thinking about that rat Barry.”
“Ah,” he said stepping forward. “That’s enough to make anyone frown. So…” He paused. “I thought we might try another outing. Something closer to home.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “There’s something I want you to see.”
“Great. Let’s go.” She swung her legs around, discreetly slipping her cover-up across her shoulders.
“Don’t you want to know where?”
She shook her head. “Anywhere. You have all the fun—swimming, snorkeling, seeing all the great fish.” She looked toward the reef. “And all I can do is watch. It’s not fair.”
His grin made her start to stick out her tongue at him, but discretion prevailed.
“Here. See if this fits. It was the smallest they had.” He held up a bulky black object.
“A wet suit?”
“A shorty. No sleeves, but it should help keep your body heat in since you don’t have an ounce of fat on you, and it will be good buoyancy.”
“You’re taking me snorkeling? Really?”
He handed her the neoprene suit as she passed through the door then followed her inside and closed the screen. Eve was a certified diver, but the last time she’d donned a wet suit was three years earlier in Maui with Ren.
“In the cenote,” Matt added.
Last night at dinner, he’d expounded at length about the nearby cenote—a freshwater sinkhole created by the runoff undermining the limestone strata that made up the Yucatán. His description— “It’s like an outdoor aquarium”—made her drool with longing.
“Oh, Matt,” Eve exclaimed, barely able to keep from giving him a big hug. “I can’t wait.”
She held up the wet suit. A little big but not bad. At least it would help camouflage her thinness. “Where’d you get this?”
“The dive shop down the road. You’ll need a mask and snorkel, too, but you have to choose those yourself.”
He lounged in the doorway, waiting. But Eve didn’t want him to see her skinny body. “I’ll be down in a minute, Matt. I need to braid my hair,” she told him.
He frowned—he still watched her like a hawk on the stairs, but turned and started to leave. “Don’t bother with sunscreen,” he said. “It’s not good for the ecosystem and the area is pretty shady at this time of day.”
He took a step then added over his shoulder, “If you’re not too tired, I thought we might eat at Casa Cenote afterward. It’s right across the road.”
Eve’s heart lifted and fell. A date. Of sorts. “Great. I’ve been resting all day and I feel strong.”
“Good,” he said. His brown eyes were too far away to read, but his smile looked cautious.
“Don’t worry,” she said, impatient to get going. “I won’t overdo. I’ll be good.”
“Terrific. I’ll hold you to that.”
Eve knew how she’d like him to hold her…and it had nothing to do with her being good.
MATT WAS GRATEFUL for the water temperature—a notch above chilly. Being this close to Eve could fry even the strongest man’s good intentions, he thought, snugging the rubber strap of her fin tight to her small, shapely heel. “How’s that?”
“Perfect. Let’s go.”
Her impatience made him smile. He’d had his doubts about this outing, but her enthusiasm was infectious.
“Okay,” he said, putting out his arms to help guide her into the water. The rocky edge was concave and he couldn’t find purchase with his feet, so all he could do was tread water and get out of the way as she slid downward, her flippers splashing noisily.
“Ooo, it’s cool,” she said.
“Too cold?”
Her eyes—magnified by the lens of her mask—were alight with joy. “No, it’s great.”
The bottom half of her mask began filling with
water, but before Matt could react, Eve tilted her chin and made the adjustment.
“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”
“I used to dive, but it’s been a long time,” she said, steadying herself with a hand to his shoulder.
“Can we go all the way to the headwaters? Like the lady at the rental place suggested.”
“We can try. But you have to promise to tell me if you start to get tired. Okay?”
Eve placed the mouthpiece between her lips, then put her face downward in the water. A second later she looked up. Through the oval glass of the mask he saw her eyes alight with wonder and awe. She slowly nodded.
With a silent sigh, Matt adjusted his mask and put his snorkel into his mouth, then motioned for her to follow. He’d visited a different cenote on his first trip to the Yucatán and had been amazed by the variety of fish and plant life in the self-contained world created by water, rock and mangrove roots.
Eve stayed right beside him, close enough that he could hear her occasional exclamation conducted through the water.
Suddenly she grabbed his hand. Look at the colors of that fish! her grip said as a small fish adorned in brilliant yellow, orange and blue threaded in and out of the tangled roots. He squeezed back.
When she tugged hard, he stopped and looked where she was pointing. A large grayish creature moved languidly around the rock formations at the bottom of the pool. Matt squinted. Although the water was crystal clear, the sun cast long shadows across the water. He spat out his mouthpiece and said softly, “Manatee.”
Eve looked at him, her expression so alive and excited, he might have kissed her if they weren’t both wearing masks. Eve put her head in the water. Matt did, too, but he forgot his mouthpiece.
He held his breath until the beast disappeared into the gloom of an adjoining tributary. Eve started to swim in that direction, but Matt stopped her. Before putting his mouthpiece into his mouth, he said, “If we reach the headwaters, the current will carry us back.”
Matt knew he would never forget this magical interlude. Eve’s obvious wonder and joy filled him with satisfaction.
Something About Eve Page 15
