It happens at noon when we walk through thick brush and she thinks I might have picked up tiny ticks. She has to check me for them, which involves running her fingers over my scalp, and then sifting them through my body hair.

At night, by the fire, we sleep near each other. We started doing this when I was helpless, and she had to protect me. As I got stronger, we never stopped. Maybe it makes tactical sense for us to be so close—we can guard each other and share information about snake hisses and growls from the underbrush. Or maybe we like exchanging whispers and feeling the warmth from each other’s bodies. There’s probably truth in both explanations.

Whatever’s happening, I struggle valiantly against it, but I can’t completely prevent it.

They’re such very different women. It made me feel manly to come to P.J.’s rescue, to find her and win her back and start leading her out of the rain forest. And to be fair to her, P.J.’s hardly a shrinking violet.

But Eko is superior to me in surmounting just about every challenge we meet. She’s braver than I am, stronger, too, and a far better swimmer. She radiates a mature, athletic sexiness and an unspoken confidence that I will come to my senses and we will end up together.

As we spend long hours in each other’s company, the temptations become greater and my defenses start to weaken.

One late afternoon, as we prepare to make camp, Eko suddenly stops moving on a rocky bluff above a freshwater lagoon. She turns her head and stands motionless, all her senses on high alert. I watch her face and try to figure out what dangerous predator’s scent she’s just picked up. Is a herd of peccaries about to burst from the bush, tusks gleaming as they charge?

Then Eko does something she almost never does—she smiles. It’s not a small, guarded smile either. She flashes a big, delighted grin that lights up her usually serious face. “Come,” she says, “time for a swim.”

“But we have to build a sleeping platform and finish getting the wood for the fire before it gets dark …”

Eko grabs the branches I was collecting and tosses them into the water. “We can do that later,” she says. “Now I want to introduce you to some friends.”

I start to ask what she’s talking about, and the next thing I know she’s pushed me off the cliff and dived in after me. I surface just as she hits the water. “What the heck was that about, and who are your friends … ?”