Page 8 of Nothing to Do

When she worked at home, she liked to spread out too. Usually on the floor or the bed. Building a new training course meant tying together a bunch of strands. Increasing intensity without scaring participants, making sure everything was covered, was a complicated process. One that required concentration.

“Lunch!” His exclamation startled her. Sitting on the far away couch, he stretched to flex his back. “Damn,” he said. “Shouldn’t have doubled my run this morning.”

She frowned, breathing out as her head dropped to the side. “Was that a humblebrag?”

He laughed. “Could’ve been.”

When he surged to his feet, she bowed back, an inhale catching in her throat. Even from twenty feet away that body was impressive.

“What are you in the mood for?” he asked.

Mmm… Loaded question given her current line of thinking.

Somewhat reluctantly, she dragged her mind from the gutter. “Work. I’m in the mood to work.”

“Someone very smart, much smarter than me, taught me that breaks are important. If we don’t take breaks, we lose perspective. We forget what’s important… So what’ll it be? Sushi?”

“Sushi?” she asked, perking up as her mind shifted gears.

Her interest put another smile on his face. He wasn’t shy about showing his feelings.

“Absolutely. We’ve been sitting in here all morning. Why don’t you go out and get some air? I’ll arrange lunch.”

“Maybe we should go back to the hotel. I don’t see a kitchen anywhere around here.”

And definitely no sushi, she’d have noticed that.

“Go back if you want, but I guarantee the servers have enough going on with Roman’s entourage.”

Good point and with Zane being staff, his colleagues wouldn’t appreciate serving him in the dining room. As she was a guest, it was probably against some health and safety rule to let her eat in the kitchen.

“Okay, here is good,” she said, slipping off her shoes and kicking them under the desk. “I’m going to breathe.”

The doors to the terrace had been open all morning, teasing her with refreshing sea air and the whisper of waves. Just after one p.m. was a good time to give into temptation. Striding out, she opened her arms wide, and her head fell back. But she didn’t slow down. Nope. How often did she have her lunchbreak in such a beautiful setting? The semi-circular terrace was surrounded by a broad waist-high wall. That was the obstacle holding her back from the beach.

The grass bank below was just a few feet wide and a clear path to the sand. On either side of her view, gray rocks extended into the water and trees hung low in the lush tropical forest surrounding them. It felt like the last place on Earth. The last paradise.

“You like the beach.”

His voice, low and deep, rumbled like the distant waves out there on the horizon. It washed over her in a cleansing tide.

“I like forever,” she said, curling her fingers around the far side of the terrace wall. “I like looking out there and imagining all that will be, all that could be… all that’s ever been.”

“That’s a lot of imagining.”

Spinning around, she caught the wall to jump up and sit on top of it. “These are the same waves people have looked out on for millennia. And these rocks we stand on? This land, it’s lush and fertile, borne of volcanic commotion rooted deep beneath our feet. It doesn’t blow your mind?”

He dropped down onto one of the outdoor sun loungers, extending his legs and tossing his arms over the back behind him.

“You blow my mind,” he said. “How do you switch from whatever you were doing in there to these broad existentials in less than two minutes?”

“It’s the air,” she said, opening her arms and leaning back. “Don’t you just feel cleaner here?” Sitting straight, curiosity got the better of her. “How long have you been here? You know there’s more to the world than this, right? It’s not all clean nature and sea air.”

“Unfortunately, I do,” he said. “I like seeing it through your eyes though… You’re so… open.”

“And you’re used to guarded people?”

“I’m used to people being less… impressed… Sincerity is a trait I value.”

---