“The boat ride is great,” Blake said to everyone. “You guys should definitely do it. I’ve already been on one, though, so I think Julia and I will go for a hike. But if you haven’t done it, you should. Getting up under the falls is terrific.”
“Terrifically terrifying?” Jamie asked with a queasy grin.
“You’ll be fine!” Blake clapped him on the back. “Chris will protect you.”
“Unless I push you overboard.” She stuck out her tongue.
“Not if I get to you first.”
Chris laughed. Jamie was such a nice guy that nothing he said could sound mean. They had the kind of relationship where they joked about everything, Julia realized. She wondered if that ever made it hard to know when one of them was being serious.
“You’re sure you don’t want to come, Julia?” Chris asked, eyeing both of them like she was perfectly capable of taking the hint but simply chose not to.
“I get horribly seasick,” Julia said quickly, the lie popping effortlessly out. She loved boats and had plenty of experience sailing on Lake Michigan. But time alone with Blake sounded much more appealing. Somehow she was certain that no matter where they were along the endless stretch of cascades, the view would still be spectacular. Not to mention the time together.
She didn’t care today if everyone else at the hostel knew what was going on between them—she was never going to see them again. And wasn’t that the whole point? She was a completely different person out here, assured that none of her actions would follow her back to her real life.
“I guess that’s not a good idea then,” Chris said reluctantly, as though sad for Julia that she’d be missing out. Julia smiled like it was a real shame but reassured everyone that she was fine with staying on land. For a second she was afraid that Jamie would elect to join them and their whole escape plan would be ruined, but at the end of the day he wasn’t going to take off without Chris.
It took a little bit of acting from both her and Blake to convince everyone that it was fine to leave them behind. By the time they were heading off on their own, they were buckled over laughing at the performance that had gotten them away.
“You really get seasick?” he asked, concerned.
Julia laughed and shook her head. “Could you think of anything else that would have convinced Chris not to drag me on that boat?”
“Quick thinking,” he said. “Poor Jamie should have thought of that first. You’re sure you don’t want to go?”
Julia might have surprised herself by not waiting for him to make the first move, but she already knew that this Julia, the one who bought tickets to Brazil and traveled by herself and climbed out of bed to fuck gorgeous Australians in a pool was hardly shy about getting her way. She pressed him back against the railing and kissed him as the water from the thundering falls coated them in mist.
“Pretty sure,” she said, pulling away. But his hands clasped her arms tightly, holding her close, preventing her from stepping back. His kiss was rough and fierce and made her feel like she was hurtling over the edge of the cliff, nothing but spray and water and the sweet, terrifying fall.
For a moment, lost in his touch, she knew how it felt to not worry about the crash.
But there were too many people around. Kids ran screaming as parents snapped pictures and groups pressed in heated throngs against the railings over the falls.
“Come on, let’s get away from here,” Blake said in her ear. “Some place quiet. I want you alone.”
Julia felt a shudder rise up her body and pulse between her legs. How could one little word do this to her? Alone certainly sounded different when it was just her on a plane, on a bus, heading for the unknown. Alone with Blake was turning out to be an entirely different story.
He took her hand and led her away from the masses at the top of the falls, following a trail that snaked away from the impressive Garganta do Diablo, the Devil’s Throat, and pushed toward the hundreds of smaller waterfalls tumbling over the cliffs.
As soon as they were away from the center the crowds started to thin. The path began winding downhill, cutting under the cliffs to the water below. The shade from the trees offered relief from the beating sun, and they stopped to enjoy the newfound quiet. Julia took a drink from Blake’s water bottle and after she handed it back to him she could only watch, transfixed, as he tilted his head back and drank, Adam’s apple moving with each glug. The stubble on his chin was blond and light brown, and she wanted to feel it against her cheek, her breasts. The thought rose from somewhere unbidden: the scratch of it against her thigh.
He caught her shameless appraisal and grinned. “Happy?” he asked, planting a kiss on her nose.
“This is better,” she admitted, her hands resting on his chest. “Did you come down here before?”
“No, but doesn’t it seem like there are all these trails that keep going?” Blake looked to where the path turned and disappeared.
“Let’s find out.” Julia bound ahead of him, delighted to have uncovered something he hadn’t experienced before. When she turned off the paved, main path and crept into a smaller dirt opening, she finally slowed down. “What do you think is down here?” she asked as she peeked through the overgrown foliage.
“Looks like another path, but not one that’s really used. Most people probably stick to the paved route.”
“If they even come here. Do you see anyone else around?”
Blake flashed her a grin that could only be described as naughty. “Not a soul,” he breathed, running a finger across her bare collarbone and hooking it around the strap to her dress.
She stood there, brazenly letting him caress her in the middle of the empty path. “Then I guess we should go exploring,” she said pointedly, well aware of how different she sounded from the girl who’d been in the cab with him last night. He tugged on the front of her dress to snag the view that had eluded him before. Her cleavage rose and fell with her breath. Yes, it definitely seemed like he wanted to explore.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” He raised an eyebrow, and Julia turned and started down the dirt path, pushing the overgrown brush out of the way with her hands.
The paved route wound farther down to the river but the path stayed level. It hugged the edge of the cliff tightly, turning sharply in as the sun sent dappled streaks of light over the leaves. All of a sudden it came to an end, tangled in vines.
“That was disappointing,” Julia said as she slowed to a stop. She’d been hoping for something exciting—another winding path, an unexplored part of the falls, something unique to discover. “I guess there’s a reason some paths are more used than others.” She turned to head back to the main, paved route down.
But Blake was busy pulling apart the vines, trying to peer through. “What do you think is through there?”
“Trees?”
“No wait, come here.”
“You think the path continues?”
Julia peered through the opening he’d made. Blake stood behind her and pressed his body against hers. She could feel the muscles of his chest and stomach pressed against her back, his breath warm in the shadowy air rich with the smell of dirt and green and clear running water all around. She used her hands to open the vines more.
“Watch out for the rocks,” she pointed, and carefully stepped through.
He was right—the path did continue, and although it was by no means cleared or well used, it wasn’t impossible to walk along. She thought he was going to kiss her—to take her right then and there—but instead he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along, saying he wanted to see what was ahead.
She knew what he was looking for. After they’d passed through the opening they’d made, the sound of water had grown. And now it was unmistakable: the steady rush that said they were heading for one of the falls. Since hundreds of smaller waterfalls cascaded over these cliffs, it wasn’t surprising that at some point a path cutting along the cliff would lead directly toward one.
It was around the
next bend that the narrow path opened and Julia stopped dead in her tracks. The path probably used to be for tourists, but it had since been closed down and fallen into disrepair. With so many tourists visiting the falls, it was impossible to keep up a winding network of trails that got this close to the water. The trail ended in a flat, round opening where the ground was tamped down and mostly still cleared, bits of green struggling through the soil in nothing but shade.
Along one side of the path was the cliff wall, slick and damp and dark. The other side was open to the river below, but it wasn’t really open at all. It was covered with a thick, undulating curtain, a constant stream of water cascading down. They were behind the waterfall, watching it from the inside. Compared to the water rushing through the Devil’s Throat, it was nothing, only six or eight feet wide. But still it rushed over them, surrounding them in the pulse of its incessant drive.
“This is beautiful,” Julia exclaimed, her voice echoing against the cliff wall. It was almost like being in a cave, but with the light still hitting them through the sheet of water. A dilapidated wooden railing ran around part of the edge of the opening, the wood soggy and rotting with much of it long crumbled down. Green vines with broad, leafy fans snaked up over the edge, taking over the enclosure year by year.
“I can’t believe we found this,” Blake said.
“Do you think anyone is coming?” She peered back down the path.
“Not a chance. People go to the Devil’s Throat, and then walk around the upper paths or take a boat ride like everyone else. I don’t think they’re coming down here.”
“It’s a shame to miss this.” She couldn’t get over the light dancing over her forearms, the glitter and pulse of the waterfall delicate and deadly at the same time. All that power from nothing but water accumulating into sheer force barreling down.
She could feel his eyes on her as she explored the area, running her fingers along the dirt wall of the cliff, the dark shiny rocks of the edge. Everything was rich and moist and vibrant to her touch. At the fence she felt the pieces of wet wood disintegrate in her hand from the spray that kissed her face more urgently the closer she got.
She extended her hand, as close as she dared to come to the edge. Maybe Blake was right and she was afraid of heights. All she knew was that she couldn’t trust herself if temptation got too close.
The tips of her fingers grazed the sheet of water and she gasped. The cold slap was almost enough to force her hand down. Dangerous. Exhilarating. Water splashed her dress, coating her hair in a fine mist that cooled down the heat building within her whenever she caught Blake’s hungry eyes.
She felt, rather than heard, his body sidling up behind her. He put his hand under the waterfall and ran his wet fingers across her mouth, kissing the spray that clung to her lashes and beaded on her lips. She collapsed against him, collapsed into him, like nothing was holding her up and nothing could keep her away. Her nipples strained through the thin material of her wet sundress, and she could feel his eyes taking in every curve she knew the clinging material hardly concealed.
When he pressed himself to her, she could feel how hard he was, pushing against the fly of his cargo shorts. She thought about how he had rubbed himself against her bathing suit in the pool and was amazed at how the slightest graze against her thigh threw her into such a frenzy. Melted her. Made her his.
“So here we are,” he whispered in her ear, running a hand through her hair, down her back, brushing her ass under her dress that now felt so flimsy, like nothing on her skin.
“Mmm, so we are.” She put her hands in his pockets and pulled his hips against hers to better feel that tantalizing bulge.
“We’re under a waterfall. There’s no one around. Our comrades won’t be off the river for another hour at least. Whatever do you think we should do?”
“I guess I can think of a few things,” she said sweetly, tracing lazy circles with her finger down his chest.
He grabbed her tighter. “Such as?”
She undid the button at the top of his shorts, not breaking eye contact with him. Watching him pant for her touch.
“Such as anything you had in mind.”
But he wouldn’t let her off that easily. “Tell me what you want,” he breathed as he ran a thumb over her breasts, making her nipples stand up and take notice.
It was hard to know what to say to a request like that. The whole idea of saying what she wanted was totally foreign to Julia. It took so much to get herself to say something, like she was still afraid that even now, when they were both so obviously aroused, he might laugh or say she’d misunderstood or he wasn’t interested and wished he’d taken that bus to Buenos Aires instead.
But of course that was ridiculous. She took a deep breath and made the words come out. “I want you,” she admitted, shy to be put on the spot even though they’d already done it all before.
“You want me what?” he asked, feigning ignorance.
She rolled her eyes.
“Say it,” he urged her. Soft and somehow sweet, despite what he was asking.
She chewed on the corner of her lip, trying to think of something good. She remembered what he’d said about how she shouldn’t do that because it drew his attention to her mouth and then she knew what to say. “I want you to kiss me.”
He brushed his lips softly against her cheek.
She shook her head. “On the mouth.”
The touch of his lips to hers was light as a feather, a tickle and nothing more.
“Harder,” she whispered, the word catching in her throat.
“What?” He cupped a hand to his ear. “The waterfall, I can’t quite hear you.”
“Harder,” she begged louder, and it was such a strange thing to give commands at the same time that she was completely at his mercy.
She got her wish, though. He grabbed her around the waist and crushed his lips to hers. Immediately Julia opened her mouth, seeking his tongue before he had a chance to pull away. The kiss was so much sweeter, so much hotter, so much more enticing because of how she’d had to build to it.
She had always been well behaved, always done what she was told. She never rebelled against her parents or experimented in college or got in any kind of trouble. Liz had done enough for both of them, and it sort of lost its appeal. Julia was the one who picked up the pieces, not the one who fell apart.
She’d had one serious, significant relationship with the man who was her best friend’s brother. They just kind of fell in together, more because they were both there with Liz during her hardest times than because they had any true spark. He’d been kind and sweet and safe.
Too safe.
Julia could take control in a classroom of rowdy teens but that wasn’t the same as taking control now, flexing her tongue against Blake’s, drawing his hand to her breast to feel the way her nipples responded to the heat radiating from him when they touched.
“What else do you want?” he whispered in her ear, rolling his fingers over the delicate curve of her breast.
“Touch me.” Her voice was throaty, hoarse, thick with desire. Thick with the heady, forbidden thrill of asking for what she wanted. Of telling him her need.
Blake bent his forehead down so it was resting against hers, one hand slowly working under the fabric of her dress while the other gently slid the straps off her shoulders, one side and then the next.
“Where?” His voice was quiet, a breath in her ear.
“Everywhere,” she exhaled, leaning into him. When she pressed her hips forward she felt him hard and wanting, pressing back. His hands grew bolder, firmer, grasping her around the neck as he kissed her, hard, everything he had kept pent up surging forth with the force of the river rushing around them.
“Like that?” he asked, drawing his lips from hers for a fraction of a breath.
But she could only whimper in response.
She slid her hand down the front of his shorts, reaching for his cock. Wanting the feel of him, solid and real. She co
uldn’t believe how much just touching him through the fabric of his boxers could make such warmth build deep inside her. If he’d asked her right now what she wanted, she would no longer have hesitated with her reply.
“Why don’t you find out how wet I am,” she whispered, sliding her palm down his shorts. He let out a low moan as she wrapped her fist around his full cock and helped draw his boxers down.
“I can do that,” he murmured, running his fingers under her dress, over her thighs, up to her hips, bunching up her dress as he crept north. At the ridge of her hips he stopped, a smile teasing across his face. “Is this what I think it is?” he asked.
She gave a flirty shrug. “Guess you’ll have to see.”
Slowly he lifted the bottom of her dress to reveal red lace panties hugging her hips. Julia had absolutely not planned to pack anything sexy—what would she need it for? They never got any use anyway. But at the last minute, when she’d been putting her new bikinis in her bag, she rooted through her dresser drawer and found them. It would be only for her, but sometimes it was nice to feel sexy, even if no one else knew. Maybe especially then.
Now, though, the secret was out. And she could see in Blake’s eyes that he was more than happy to have discovered her surprise.
“Well goddamn,” he said, eyeing her up and down. He ran his fingers over the thin strip of lace and then across the narrow V of fabric that burrowed down where her desire pooled. “I almost hate to take these off you.”
She spread her legs apart, granting him further access. He looked deep into her eyes and kissed her.
“Almost,” he whispered in her ear, then pulled the panties down.
Behind her, the waterfall roared and roared, a timeless falling. A barrier separating them from the rest of the world. In this tiny circle all their own, they could be anyone they wanted. Julia could be reckless, dirty, stepping out of the little lace things. And Blake? Well, she only knew him as the man who looked at her like he wanted to devour her whole.
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