Page 49 of Below the Barrel

I lose myself in the sweet taste of her, every shiver, every gasp pushing me further. I can feel the tension in her body build as she tugs on my hair and her thighs squeeze around my head, as if she’s trying to pull me deeper. It doesn’t take long for her to come, and it’s like the world pauses for a second, her body trembling against me.

I pull back, a satisfied smile stretching across my face. Her chest is rising and falling rapidly, her face flushed, and I know I’ve done my job when she grabs the nearest pillow and chucks it at my head. I laugh, dodging it easily.

Before she can get too in her head, I reach for her hand and give it a playful squeeze. “Go shower and get dressed. We’ve got plans.”

She looks at me with a raised brow, not fully trusting me. “Plans? What kind of plans?”

I shrug. “Gabriel’s idea. Team building sessions. You know how he gets.” I keep my face as straight as possible, selling the lie, though I can see she’s still skeptical.

“Uh-huh,” she mutters, clearly not convinced but going along with it anyway. “Fine, but if this is some stupid prank, you’re dead.”

I watch her get out of bed and trot out of my room; my eyes glued to the way her ass jiggles as she walks.

That girl is going to be the death of me.

The city vanpulls up to the Christ the Redeemer statue, and I can feel Maliah’s excitement radiating through the car. Her eyes light up as she looks around, taking in the massive monument towering above us. I keep my hand on her thigh the whole time, a quiet connection that I don’t want to break. She doesn’t move it away either.

I follow her as she steps out of the van, her eyes wide while she soaks in the view. I lean back against the side of the van, watching her in awe. There’s something about the way she lights up in moments like this that gets to me every time. Without thinking, I take out my phone and snap a picture of her. She looks over her shoulder at me, catching me mid-snap, and rolls her eyes playfully.

“Really?” she says.

“Gotta capture the moment,” I say, pocketing the phone. “It’s not every day you’re standing in front of something like this.”

I glance up at the iconic statue, feeling small—like, really small. The statue towers over us, arms outstretched like it’sembracing the entirety of Rio. It’s way bigger than I expected. I follow her as she gets closer to examine the statue and I’m amazed at the details, from the folds in the robe to the serene expression on the face—it’s all so still, yet powerful. I glance at Maliah next to me and a feeling of pride fills my chest at pulling this off. She had always said she wanted to check off the seven wonders of the world and she definitely hadn’t checked this off yet.

It's peaceful up here, despite all the tourists snapping pictures and whispering. You can see the whole city, stretching out under a blanket of blue sky, but it’s the statue that holds all the attention. There’s something about the way it stands, overlooking everything—like it’s watching over us, reminding us of how small our problems really are in the grand scheme of things. It’s humbling.

We spend some time exploring the area, learning about the statue’s history, but my focus keeps drifting back to her—how she moves, the way her lips curve when she smiles, the sound of her laughter mixing with the murmurs of the crowd. I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to bring her here again in the future, to share moments like this without the weight of everything hanging over us.

After a while, the city van returns to take us back down to our car. We climb in, the only two leaving at this time, and begin the drive down Corcovado Mountain.

“Thank you,” she says, her voice low but clear, breaking the comfortable silence.

I turn toward her, eyebrows raised. “For what?”

Her lips curve into a small smile, and she shrugs. “Gabriel would never plan something like today as a team building event,” she says, turning knowing eyes towards me. “So, thank you…for today. For planning it. It was…nice.”

Nice? That’s an understatement. But I get it. I nod, feeling a strange mix of relief and embarrassment at being caught. I wanted to give her a perfect day, to take her mind off everything—to show her something more than the usual chaos we’re stuck in on this tour, to remind her how easy it is between us. I wanted to give her something real, something she could remember that wasn’t tied to all the messy stuff between us.

She leans her head back against the seat, her eyes still on the view, but I catch the way her body relaxes, just slightly. She’s finally letting herself breathe a little easier around me. I want to hold onto this moment. Hell, I want to hold on to her, to everything we have.

The van hits a curve, and I rest my hand on her thigh. Just a light touch, like an anchor, reminding her that I’m here. She glances down at my hand, then back up at me, and for a split second, there’s that spark again. But just as quickly, her body tenses beneath my hand and the spark dims. I see it in the way she shifts her gaze, closing herself off again, putting those damn walls back up.

She clears her throat softly, eyes still on the window. “Koa…”

I know that tone. It’s the kind of tone that comes right before something I don’t want to hear.

She sighs, finally turning to face me. “About last night…and this morning.” Her fingers fidget in her lap, like she’s trying to gather the right words. “I think we might be moving too fast.”

My stomach drops. The high I’ve been riding all day crashes down hard. I try to keep my face neutral, but inside, it’s like a punch to the gut.

“What do you mean?” I ask, though I already know where this is headed.

She lets out a shaky breath. “I mean, maybe we should take a step back. Try rebuilding the trust between us…as friends first.”

Friends.

The word feels like ice, chilling me from the inside out. It’s not what I expected. Not after last night, not after how she looked at me this morning. It’s like I was so damn close to getting her back, and now she’s pulling away again.

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