Page 80 of Better Late Than Never

Alex pursed his lips. “Depends on what you’re in the mood for.”

“I think you know what I’m in the mood for.”

Even the sunglasses couldn’t hide the way he rolled his eyes. “Well, yes, that part’s a given. But during the day? Out in public?”

“Ooh, right. That part.” I took a swallow of beer. “I’m game for anything, honestly. What about you?”

He seemed to consider it. “Well, if you feel like seeing how much your liver can handle and how little sleep you actually need, we could do Ibiza.”

I thought about it, then wrinkled my nose. “The thought of being that hungover in this heat… Yeah, maybe not.”

His laugh made my spine tingle; God, this man was gorgeous. “It’s not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure. Alternatively, we could do our usual and go play tourist somewhere.” He met my gaze. “Anything you’ve been itching to see?”

I considered that. “Well, there was that place up in Córdoba. The mosque that was turned into a cathedral?”

I loved how Alex’s face lit up. “The Mezquita? It’s really cool.”

“Any chance you’d want to hit it again?”

“Absolutely. Córdoba is great in its own right, too. A lot of really good food.” He paused. “Do you like Turkish food?”

“Oh my God, yes. I love it.”

He grinned. “Well, one of my favorite Turkish restaurants outside of Türkiye is in Córdoba.”

“Okay, so amazing food and a cool mosque-slash-cathedral? Sold. Let’s do it.”

The excitement in his expression had me tempted to whip out my phone and start making reservations right here and now. “Yeah?”

“Fuck yeah.”

“Excellent. Do places book up out there? Like do you think we’ll have any trouble finding something?”

“Nah. This time of year, a lot of Spaniards are taking their vacations, and they head to the beach. Most people aren’t quite masochistic enough to go to Córdoba in August.”

“Arewethat masochistic?”

“Why not?” He flashed me a toothy grin. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. “So bring a lot of water and paint on the sunscreen is what you’re saying.”

“Probably a good idea.”

Yeah, it probably was.

Heat be damned, I couldn’t wait.

CHAPTER26

ALEX

On Friday afternoon, I took the 1500 train to Córdoba. Connor followed on the 1800, and he met me at our hotel not far from the city center. We were far enough from Rota that even though we didn’t travel together, we didn’t bother with separate hotel rooms. No one was going to find us in a tiny place tucked into a hidden corner of this city.

Of course, our activities upon his arrival were predictable. Thanks to duty days, being on call, and staying necessarily discreet, we hadn’t had a moment alone since that night in his pool a week ago. What could I say? My hand just didn’t get the job done the way Connor did. Judging by the odd looks we got from the older couple across the hall when we left in search of dinner, we’d been… loud.

We both chuckled as we headed downstairs. We tried to be considerate of people around us, but what could I say? Sometimes, especially when I hadn’t had him alone for a few nights in a row, we got carried away.

Ah, well. As long as no one from the base had overheard us or saw us leaving together. I could still be a little paranoid about that sometimes, but I reminded myself that relatively few people went more than twenty or thirty klicks away from the base. I usually thought that was a damn shame—what a waste of an overseas duty assignment to just stay home and never go explore the country!

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