My Once and Future Love (56 page)

“Around five. We have dinner reservations at
seven.”

“Aren’t you Mr. Thorough?”

He smirked. “Nothin’ but the best for my
girl.”

“Well, this girl needs to change into clothes
appropriate for this heat!” It was at least eighty still.

“Okay. You know we even have air
conditioning?”

I stepped back inside. “Awesome. I’m going to
unpack.” I rolled my bags into the room on my right.

More pleasant surprises were in my bedroom.
The king-size bed was dressed in crisp white linens, a pretty
contrast to the wood walls and flooring. I had a private bathroom
with separate tub and shower, a nice fluffy robe waiting on the
counter, and even an
outdoor
shower through a door to the
garden. Also a TV and mini-bar.

The resort sat on Moto Toopua, a tiny island
in the Bora Bora lagoon. Two restaurants, tennis courts, bar with
karaoke nights, a hundred-sixty-foot pool with snack bar, and
several excursion options. The list of amenities in the brochure
went on and on.

****

He felt pretty pleased so far. It’d been a
lucky break to find the only two-bedroom villa free, and now Beth
was humming happily in the other room. She only did that when she
was in a
really
good mood. They were here for ten nights,
and he had plans to explore everything the island offered. They
could feed sharks, hike, learn to scuba dive…

“Are you done in there, yet?” he called.

“No…”

He slowly pushed her door open and leaned
against the frame. “What are you doing?”

She was looking through her camera, standing
in her bra and jeans. She squeaked and dove into the bathroom.
“Jacob!” He heard her set the camera on the counter. “Knock
first!”

He grinned. “I figured if your door was ajar
you’d be decent, love. Not that I regret catchin’ the view.” It’d
been years since he’d seen a hint of her skin.

She threw a brochure at his head. He ducked.
“I got distracted, okay? Get out!” She charged for the door with
another object in hand.

He took his cue to step back across the
threshold. She slammed the door in his face. He heard her cursing,
and laughed.

‘Course, he didn’t think she had anything to
be embarrassed about. Her bra covered more than most bikini tops at
the beach, he mainly saw her from the back, since she was facing
the window, and he’d seen it all before. The little dimples in her
low back were cute, though. He’d forgotten about those.

He waited on the couch, sipping a soda. She
finally came out ten minutes later, dressed in a tank and long
skirt, camera in hand and scowling at him.

“Are you really still mad?” he asked.

She sighed. “No. So what’s so urgent?”

“Thought we’d familiarize ourselves with the
place since we have a couple hours to kill.”

“And I was blindfolded, so I have no idea
where our room even
is
.”

He handed her the extra key. “Hence the
exploration.” He gestured to the front doors. “Milady?”

She rolled her eyes, grabbed her purse, and
walked through the open door ahead of him. The wooden pathway
bridged a pond outside their bungalow. The palm trees and aquatic
plants gave the sense you were in the middle of the jungle, even
though other buildings were nearby. He went right, and they found
the tennis courts soon after. Luckily, there were nice little
wooden signs pointing where to go for what.

“See, we don’t need a map.”

“I didn’t say anything,” she said.

“No, but you were thinking it when we
left.”

“
No
.”

“Uh-huh…” They found the fitness center and
gaming room, and finally, the restaurants.

“Wait until you see the view from the
pool.”

“But the spa is that way.”

“You can see it later. We’re here for ten
days.” A hand on her back, he continued to guide her to the
pool.

“
Fine…
”

It was a huge pool, probably big enough to
hold every guest if the resort was full. From this end of their
tiny island, the center of Bora Bora could be seen, a green jewel
sitting in a sea of royal blue.

“
So
worth it,” she said

“I told you. That’s Mt. Otemanu on the main
island.”

“Hey, we can see it from our backyard,
too.”

“Yep. You swim in the ocean, don’t you?”

“Well…the salt stings my eyes…”

“Lots to do out there, Bethie. Snorkeling,
diving, jet skis…” He tugged on her ponytail. “Tiny deserted
islets.”

“I don’t know if I want to let you drive a
jet ski.”

“I’m a good driver!”

“Perhaps. But you also drive
fast
,”
she countered. “That pool is really deep.”

He peered over the edge. “Yeah, they use it
for scuba lessons. You can hang out over there with the kiddies,
though,” he teased.

“Ha, ha. I can swim fine. Just don’t do it
very often. Jacob…”

“Yes, love?”

“I don’t want to know how much this trip is
costing you, do I?”

“Probably not. But I can say that they were
very willing to negotiate. They don’t get reservations for this
many days that often.”

“Oh. Good.”

“Sweetheart, nothin’ we do on vacation is
goin’ to bankrupt me, alright? So put it out of your mind and just
enjoy it. Okay?”

She nodded, and smiled for him. “Okay.
Consider me a mushroom.”

He pulled her closer and kissed her nose. “I
love you.”

He took her hand. It was close enough to
seven to meander over to the nearby café for dinner. She looked for
people to recognize, and therefore mob him in public and only
relaxed when they were seated at a table without incident. It was
always possible a tourist would know him, but he’d picked Bora Bora
deliberately for its remoteness. With any luck, she’d be madly in
love with him by the time they went home in ten days and it would
be smooth sailing from here on out.

****

I was enjoying a sound sleep when Jacob
rapped on my door in the middle of the night. I groaned and
shuffled to the door.

“
What?
” Some vague corner of my
half-awake brain noticed he was shirtless.

“There’s something croaking in my room.”

“So? Find it and put it outside.”

“What if it’s an endangered species and I’m
not allowed to touch it? You watch
Animal Planet
.”

“Oh, for goodness sakes…” I followed him into
his bedroom and soon located the origin of the noise. “It’s just a
gecko on the bathroom wall. Look.”

“It’s a lizard.”

“Yeah…”

“Why is it in
here
?” Oh my god, he was
truly nervous over a
gecko
.

“Are you afraid of an itty bitty lizard?”

He squirmed. “It could bite me. I don’t know
where it’s been.”

“You big baby… here.” I scooped up the gecko
and put it outside. “There. If it bothers you that much, I suggest
you don’t leave the window open.”

“Thanks.”

I shrugged. “He was just looking for bugs.
Can I go back to sleep, now?”

“Sorry, love.”

I shook my head and trudged back to my
room.

****

It took until Wednesday for me to acclimate
to the eighty-eight degree temp and high humidity. It was a big
contrast to the chilly coast of New York we’d come from.

As of yesterday morning, we had the breakfast
buffet free at the “fancy” restaurant. Jacob proudly informed me it
was one of the perks he negotiated for. He wanted to go swimming
afterwards, so I sat on a deck chair with a book, letting my dark
glasses hide my ogling.

Jacob was sans shirt any time we were near
water.

I was fine with this, in principle…until
women started hitting on him. Yeah, he was devastatingly gorgeous,
and they were perfectly allowed to look, but did they have to start
slipping their room numbers into his pockets?

“Who was that?” I asked.

“I dunno.” He studied me for a second. “Are
you jealous?”

“Pffft, yeah. She was what, forty-five, at
least?”

He turned on the sexy grin, the panty-melting
one he was famous for. “Baby, you’re the only one that gets to
touch me.”

I chewed on my lip, looking up at him through
my lashes. “Yeah?”

His hand slid down my arm, then squeezed my
hip. He leaned close to murmur in my ear, “Oh, yeah…”

“Okay.”

He winked, paid for his drink at the bar, and
walked over to a deck chair sitting under a palm tree. When I
didn’t follow, he quirked a brow and stretched back on the chair,
showing off.

I snapped out of my stupor and hastily caught
up.

“Put some lotion on my back, love? It feels a
little warm.” He scooted forward so I could get behind him.

My hands shook as I reached for the sunscreen
in my tote. I admonished myself to get a grip. God, he was
evil
.

He flinched at the initial cold touch, then
relaxed into my hands. “Look up, Beth,” he whispered. “They’re
glaring daggers at you.” Sure enough, every woman around the pool
was green with envy.

“Always putting on a show, aren’t you?”

He glanced back, grinning. “You know you love
it.”

Not that I’d say so. In for a penny
…
I
cupped his jaw to tilt his head back and kissed him, laying it on
thick for our audience. His moan of pleasure was a delightful
bonus.

We forgot where we were, until someone
stage-whispered, “Get a room!” in passing. I broke off the kiss,
blushing, and stammered an excuse to go to the ladies’ room.

He dove in the pool to hide the tent in his
shorts.

Today, we were going horseback riding,
followed by a sunset dinner cruise.

I had my camera every time I left the
bungalow, and I’d already taken dozens of photos of him he wasn’t
aware of.
Thank you
, quiet little camera shutter. This
morning, I emailed Celeste a few photos of the resort and the
lagoon.

Friday

I sat on the foot of Jacob’s bed, going
through my shots of last night’s Tahitian dance show. We’d been
rained out, at least so far. He was flipping channels looking for a
movie. It was nice, enjoying the quiet, just the sound of the rain
outside.

“I expected this to be weird, but it really
hasn’t been.”

“Wha’s that?”

“Us, here alone. This trip has been a lot of
fun.”

He turned the TV off and gave me his full
attention. “I was just grateful you got on the plane. It’s always
easy to be around you, love, so I knew if we just tried…”

“Well, you were right.
This
time.” I
winked to let him know I was teasing.

He grinned. “I’ll take it. Sorry about the
torrential downpour.”

“It’s not that bad. Besides, we still have
lots of time.”

“Yeah…provided the rain goes away,” he said,
pouting.

I giggled. “How is it you lived in England
half your life and I’m less bothered about the rain?”

“I never liked being
stuck
indoors. If
I’m staying in, it’s because I chose to.”

“Ah, I see now.” I nudged his leg with my
foot. “What’re we going to do about lunch?”

“We could run for it.”

“The wind is blowing the rain sideways,
Jacob.”

“Then we call room service.”

“And make some poor employee go out in
that?”

“Beth, it has to be one or the other. We
don’t have a stocked kitchen.”

“Knew I should’ve grabbed a couple candy bars
from the game room…” I had a thought and left his room.

“Now where are you going?”

“I… Yes!” I skipped back in holding fruit in
each hand. “I saved a couple things from the welcome basket.”

****

He had one of those moments of
knowing
he loved her. Triumphant in her foraging attempt, she plopped back
on the bed and handed him the banana, glasses sliding down her
nose. She took a big bite out of her mango.

“What? Why are you smiling at me like
that?”

He tugged on one of her pigtail braids.
“Because you’re adorable.”

She rolled her eyes and took another bite. He
chuckled and started peeling the banana. The storm cleared out as
fast as it came in.

Saturday

Another glorious French Polynesian day.

Beth knocked on his door. “Wake up,
sleepyhead! I want to catch the shuttle to Vaitape before it gets
crowded!”

“It’s eight o’clock, Beth. Go away.”

“I’ll leave without you!”

She would, too. He groaned and sat up in bed.
“Alright, alright…”

He turned on the mini coffee maker and got in
the shower. When he came out, the coffee had been poured into a mug
and sweetened how he liked it. She wasn’t kidding around.

He peered out of his room. “Who spiked your
Wheaties this morning?”

“No one. I just slept well. Breakfast should
be here soon,” she said.

God, she was dressed already. She was going
to run him ragged today. This was
Beth with a plan
--a
creature he would do best to reply to with “yes, dear” until she
ran out of steam.

“Okay, so what did you find out they have on
the main island?” he asked.

“Historical stuff! And other things, but the
point is, we haven’t been over there, yet. Make sure you wear your
comfy shoes.”

A knock on the door signaled breakfast had
arrived, so he went back in his room to get dressed.

“Here. Eat while you primp.”

“Cereal! Come on, Beth!”

“It’s quick!”

“Well, I’m choosing lunch, young lady!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

****

Words couldn’t do justice to the beauty of
the view overlooking the azure lagoon, but I hoped my camera could
capture some of the magic.

“What is your favorite photograph you’ve
taken?” Jacob asked, curious.

I knew the answer right away. “We visited the
Grand Canyon when I was eight. There was a layer of fog or clouds
settled in the canyon and clouds above us. They parted suddenly,
and rays of light shone down and bounced off that lower layer. I
spotted it first and wanted to capture it. My parents said it would
never come out like I was seeing it, but sure enough; the effect
was there on film. I started trusting my instincts after that, and
I got a good camera for my thirteenth birthday.” I paused to adjust
a setting. “You know my dad. Don’t get anything without earning it.
What about you?”