I was deeply honored he’d wanted to share this with me and as I kept watching, I found myself wanting to express that to him somehow.

I didn’t have any idea what I was doing, but I reached down to unfasten my wedge sandals. I set them on the ground and walked over to the crash pad barefoot on the warm desert rock.

“Okay, I lied,” I said. “I’ll try it.” I stood on the crash pad and waited for him to finish the part he was on, but he swung down and explained the things I couldn’t see.

“You’re going to work your way along this horizontal crack, getting a little higher as you go, but it doesn’t get that far off the ground. I’ll spot you, my lady.”

I felt like an idiot as I scrambled up to reach the start of the crack, but his delight was worth it. Goddess knew he’d been out of his comfort zone enough times with me in the last month.

“You sure you want to do this barefoot?” he asked, helping me to find a hold with my foot. “The rock is pretty rough. You might mess up that perfect pedicure.”

“I’ve got time to fix it before I see clients again.”

I wished I hadn’t brought it up. Clients meant the end of our contract and I wasn’t ready to think about that.

He had to help me get back up few times, and I didn’t move very fast, but I slowly made my way along the rock.

“You want to keep going up?” He pointed to the sharp upturn the crack took.

“I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead,” I said and jumped down onto the crash pad.

He took my hands and stroked his thumbs over each of my chalk-covered palms. “I’m impressed you gave it a try. Thank you for coming out here with me.”

“Thank you for sharing it with me.”

Over his shoulder, I could see a couple of guys standing taking pictures of us. “It seems the real world has caught up with us.” I nodded to the guys who weren’t even trying to be subtle.

He growled in frustration. “Then before we go let’s at least give them something worth taking pictures of.”

He kissed me deeply, grabbing my ass to pull me closer. I melted in his arms.

When he eventually pulled back, he said, “Let’s go face the music.”

37

Alex

I could feel Elena was awake, but she hadn’t looked at me yet. What would today bring? Would she look at me with the adoration I’d seen in the desert? Or now that we were home would we be back to the aloof woman who wouldn’t hold my hand?

She rolled on top of me and met my eyes, expression serious at first, then a smile more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen spread across her face. The glow in her eyes from the day before was still there.