Page 40 of Veiled Fantasies

Jill was nothing like the rest of them. A class apart.

His base instinct almost growled audibly at a young man eying her.Mine.

The surfer-dude-wannabe skittered away, suddenly intent on the string of his shorts.

And Jill? Oblivious, until she caught his amused expression. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said, propelling her forward with a light touch on her back. The contact set off sizzling memories that jumped from synapse to synapse like a brush fire in a dry forest.

Good thing they were surrounded by pools.

With only two hours until closing time, Jill seemed intent on hustling through every attraction. They water tubed through a shark tank, then shot through white water rapids—twice. He was still blinking at the top of the nine-story water slide when Jill threw herself over the edge with a delighted yelp. It was like trying to keep up with his older brother back when he was a kid. Riding bikes, climbing trees, racing over fresh ice for a puck. He was thrilled, determined, and worried about falling behind, all at once.

The water park was environmentally unsound. It was garish and overdone, like Disney World, and it was so much fun. He was a kid again. Splashing, cavorting, occasionally using the water as a cheap excuse to brush against that irresistible figure in green and blue.

All right, not quite a kid any more. More like a teenager, running on a heady, hormone-rich cocktail. He followed Jill through a lap of the beach, a photo session as the sun dipped into orange, and then, a protracted kiss.

“I can’t believe it’s time to stop,” Jill sighed.

“Stop kissing? Or stop playing in the water park?”

Jill wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled in for another kiss. “Mmm, only the water park. Thank goodness.” She seemed to lose herself in his lips before eventually breaking free.

He bent his head to hers. He had a whole evening to look forward to, and by the looks of the uncrowded sky, no flights for Europe any time soon. So maybe he’d get another evening after this, and possibly even another.

He was getting greedy, and he knew it. And he couldn’t care less. She was his lucky break. A beautiful gift that put living back into his life, if only for a couple of days.

Then what? Goodbye forever?

A light squeak. “Erik?” Jill mumbled into his chest. “You’re squishing me.”

“Sorry,” he murmured, kissing the top of her head. The contact set emotions running in all directions. A flaring physical thrill. The warm satisfaction of a soul at home. And a worried, aching throb somewhere beneath. Because Fate gave, and Fate took away.

* * *

The grown-up part of their evening, the candlelight dinner by the sea, took place not too far away, at the Dubai Marina.

Yet another face of Dubai, Jill thought. Opulence in XXL. She skipped the fancy restaurants and followed her nose toward a sidewalk pizzeria instead. “Okay with you?”

Erik shrugged. His look said she could suggest eating out of the gutter and he’d probably agree. She hid her smile as she sank into her seat, facing him across a red-and-white checkered tablecloth. The outside world seemed to slumber, stretch, and turn in for an early night, leaving the two of them alone. A couple of kids feeling free and easy while the babysitter tuned out.

Except that she wasn’t feeling entirely easy and free. Life had never been better, yet something was gnawing at the pit of her stomach.

It was a feeling she recognized from after her first marathon, right out of college. She’d crossed the finish line thinking that would be it; a tick off the bucket list. But afterwards, another feeling had set in. The landing after an incredible high. Sure, she’d done okay, but she could do better because the experience brought a new discovery. There was more to the event than she ever imagined. Depth, dimension. Challenges to meet, rewards to reap.

So she’d gone back to the starting line five more times, always trying to achieve that elusivemore, dancing around the edges of it but never quite catching hold. Training, racing, trying to hone in on something deeper.

That was the last couple of days with Erik. They were only just scratching the surface. Not in terms of the physical. No way could that get better, but it was dawning on her that she’d glimpsed another layer hiding beneath the surface. Or was she imagining it, a desperate vision conjured up by thirsty eyes?

No, it was real. Her fingers twisted a corner of the tablecloth until the folds threatened to upset her glass.

“So, what do you think?” Erik swiveled in his seat and motioned toward a hundred-foot motor yacht.

I think this is love.

She studied his face for another few seconds. Could it be in his eyes, too? But no, he was just pointing. Right. The boat. She turned and crinkled her nose at sleek expanse of white and chrome polished to a blinding sheen.

“I doubt it leaves the dock much.” Like a racehorse that never gets to race, or a gardener cooped up in a city. A lover denied the enduring embrace of love after one sweet taste.

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