Page 26 of All The Way Under
“They do, but not the same kind you go to.” I pause. “Do all car mechanics look like this under the prison jumpsuits?”
He stops hammering and holds out his hand again. I oblige.
“I don’t know. Are all software engineers this deprived of a true male body?” He says it coyly, wearing a half grin.
Jesus, this is borderline flirting, and I started it. Nery and Ravelo are on the bank of the lagoon below us. They glance up every once in a while, but for all intents and purposes, it’s just Brody and me.
I watch him tie pieces of bamboo together with skinny rope and pull them tight. More muscles move and twitch. After he binds it, he lets his gaze flick up to meet mine.
Chemistry. Pure and simple.
Probably because he’s mean and nasty and out of my league. Men like this don’t look at brainy women like me. If he met my family, he’d run far, far away. But why am I even thinking about this? There is no purpose or endgame to my thoughts. Exceptwhen he wipes the sweat off his brow and slams the mallet hard, my stomach tips and spins.
“I wasn’t deprived of the male body. I was deprived of ones that look like yours,” I say, answering honestly.
He raises one brow.
“The weird zoo animal kind of male body? Gives off those bad vibes?” Brody says, hammering in the last nail.
Standing to his full height, I make a point to look away after I notice his jeans hang low on his waist.
“Makes me scared to think what you’ve been accustomed to before now.”
“Yeah, I guess I did put it that way,” I finally reply.
The men in my circle are long and lean. They have a little belly pooch from drinking too many Negronis. It perches perfectly on top of their wildly expensive belts. There’s nothing else to say that wouldn’t make my ogling less awkward.
“I designed this repair, your manpower finished this work, now are we allowed to go swim in that waterfall? Is that too forward for our first day of freedom?”
“It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission,” he says, kicking off his boots and heading down the embankment, sliding on his heels in the sand.
The men stand and rush over as soon as there’s movement. Brody takes off his pants and dives into the water before they can reach him. Nery stands at the edge of the water watching, his dart not even raised. It only takes a couple of beats before I realize this is an opportunity I may not get again soon, and I take off my socks and shoes while they watch Brody and enter the water on the opposite side.
The temperature of the water is frigid, causing my entire body to go rigid for a few seconds as I adjust. I don’t know what could possibly live in this water, but for the moment, I don’t care. Let the rare tropical fish eat me alive if they want. I feelclean, washed free from the sweat that’s caked my body since I got here. I take my time under the water, scrubbing at my hair and body. I wait until my lungs burn before sliding above the water.
Ravelo and Nery are watching us, hands on their hips, like a pair of mothers watching their naughty toddlers. I don’t see their weapons, so I take that as a sign they aren’t going to punish us yet.
Swimming over to the waterfall, I pull myself up onto the ledge behind it and slide off my clothes so I can wash them. The water is too cold for bacteria to grow, of that fact I’m confident. But I still let my eyes dart around to see if there are any obvious creatures as I ring out my clothes.
Brody pops up in the water the next second, causing me to squeal and jump.
“Where did you come from?” I shriek.
The moving water splashing against the still creates a loud, constant whir, so I have to talk loudly.
“I’m trying to clean my clothes,” I explain, sliding into the water to conceal my black bra and panties on display.
His blue eyes look extra blue next to the sapphire water of this lagoon. His long lashes stick together as he focuses on my face. I blink once and then again, shaking off this haze he’s put me in.
“A little privacy?”
He grins, biting his lip.
“Just checking out the zoo animals,” he says, then disappears under the water like some sort of marine creature, swimming away.
Swallowing down the moment, I roll my clothes on the rock, trying to get the dirt out of my shirt and his face out of my mind. Some soap would help, but I’m not complaining. This newfreedom feels exhilarating in comparison to the cave I’ve been encased in.
I hear yelling in Portuguese, so I dress quickly and swim under the waterfall, letting the water pressure push me under further as I kick toward the embankment. When I surface, I see Brody talking to the men. He’s only wearing a pair of boxer briefs, his jeans hanging over one arm. I guess he washed his clothes too.
