Jamie and Chris were kicking on some neon noodle things floating in the pool while Lukas splashed between them. Funny that he had to leave Australia to find anyone from his home who seemed to like him for him, and not because of his fame.
Of course there were people who no longer liked him after he’d been publically disgraced by his now ex-girlfriend and his former best friend. But Jamie and Chris seemed smart enough not to believe everything the tabloids said. Being able to hang out with ordinary people who weren’t in the entertainment business, order garrafas of beer, swim in the pool, take in the sights—he almost felt normal again.
The fact that Jamie was happily settled with Chris made it easier to remember that not all friends were out to steal his girlfriend and stab him in the back.
But he didn’t want to think about that. What was taking Julia so long? She probably wasn’t joining them. She’d be tired from the bus—it was a comfortable ride from São Paulo but still must have taken her most of the day. Plus he was a stranger, and for all he knew she wasn’t looking to meet anyone new.
But surely she wasn’t staying inside all afternoon. Not after the way that she’d flushed and glanced away…
Then he saw a pale glimmer catch the sun and resolve itself into two long legs and he had to keep himself—and other parts of him—from leaping straight up to greet her. She’d kept her hair down and it spilled in dark cascades over her shoulders, bare but for the thinnest strings of a bikini top. Those impertinent round mounds looked even more delicious without her thin shirt pretending to cover them, and the wink of her green bikini through that thing around her waist only made the question of what was hidden underneath all the more enticing.
Not that it was much of a mystery as her thighs flashed through the opening of the wrap. Down, boy. He did not want to give Chris any more reason to make fun of him.
“You made it.” He smiled as she gave a little wave. “Julia, these are the very responsible adults who will be your mates here at the hostel. Very Responsible Adults, this is Julia.”
He gestured toward the pool. Chris had Lukas in a headlock and was splashing water up his nose while he kicked up a storm. Jamie was pulling on Lukas’s leg, either trying to free him or drown him, it wasn’t clear which.
They paused in the middle of dunking each other long enough to introduce themselves, then got back into the fray. Blake was exhausted just looking at them.
“It’s so great that you have friends to travel with,” Julia said, accepting a glass of beer.
“Oh, we met here at the hostel,” Blake said. “Although I guess by now it feels like we’ve known each other for longer.”
“You’re traveling alone?” She sounded surprised.
“Yep, you?”
“I’m just here for a week, down from Chicago. What brings you here from Australia?”
That damned accent of his. He screwed up his face. Sometimes it would be nice to have a little air of mystery about him. He had gotten way too visible in his homeland. But at least no one outside Australia seemed to recognize him, even if they could immediately tell where he was from. Julia wouldn’t be refilling his glass and then her own with that effortless grace if she realized who she was sitting across from, and he was grateful for the normalcy. If anything about his life could be called normal anymore.
“I wanted to get out,” he said vaguely, looking at his friends in the pool while he thought about the subtle difference between the truth and the answer he gave. “I’d always planned on seeing some of the world, but it never seemed like the right time. Finally, I realized there would never be the perfect time—if I was going to go, I just needed to do it.”
It wasn’t a total lie. It was even more of an admission of his shortcomings than he usually gave when people asked. But something about the way she tilted her head as she listened made him feel like he could talk to her.
Even if he was sure she would never tell him everything about herself—not with the way her eyes locked into him and then darted away.
And then Jamie dashed out of the pool and whatever moment had happened between them was lost.
“Beer, beer, beer,” he chanted, making a beeline for the table. “Pleasure to meet you, Julia. So sorry you had to meet these wankers, too.”
“We’re not wankers!” Chris called, now straddling Lukas’s shoulders so he was forced under water again. “We’re delightful company!”
“Well, at least one of us is a delight,” Jamie agreed.
Lukas managed to push her off and bob to the surface again, and then the two of them roughhoused their way out of the pool to shake Julia’s hand. Chris was wearing a sporty two-piece that showed off a tattoo of a garden snake winding up her side. Next to her sunburned chest and tanned arms, Julia looked delicate and slight, all smooth skin and narrow bikini top straps.
Blake tried not to stare at the string pulled taught across her collarbone. Somehow all that made him think about was the knot behind her neck unraveling in his hands.
“So how long have you been in Brazil?” he asked, trying to make normal conversation that didn’t involve spilling his soul or encouraging a raging hard-on.
“Two whole days,” she said. “What about you?”
“Four weeks in Brazil, six days in Iguaçu.”
“And all of them spent at the pool,” Jamie said. “I think I’m turning into a prune.”
“Wow, you’ve been traveling for a long time,” Julia said as she accepted a refill.
“Three months so far,” Blake said. “I’ve got another four to go.”
Her eyebrows rocketed up, and suddenly Blake realized there was an unscripted woman beneath her composed exterior. It was only there for a second before her calm expression descended once more. But it made Blake want to draw her out again.
“That’s kind of how we do it Down Under,” he said. “It’s so far to get anywhere that when people travel off the continent, they tend to save up their time and money and do it all at once.”
“We’ve been on the road for six months,” Chris said. “We wanted to hit up the falls, and when we read about this hostel online, we knew we had to come. Now we just keep extending our stay!” She laughed.
“It’s amazing here,” Julia agreed. “Where’s your next stop?”
“We’re off to Santiago in a week,” Jamie said. “A few days in Chile, and then heading home.” He gave Chris’s shoulder a squeeze.
“And you?” Julia asked Blake.
“I came down through Central America and then across Colombia and northern Brazil. I’m supposed to be heading to Buenos Aires tomorrow.”
Julia blinked. “Wow.”
Blake had no idea what that look meant, if she was disappointed or impressed—or possibly excited?
Or maybe she just had something in her eye. It was hard to tell when she kept herself so contained. But the point was that he’d said it. No pussyfooting around the fact that he was leaving when the sun came up.
Wasn’t that the whole point of being newly single? No problems, no worries, nothing holding him back.
So what was that “supposed to” and how did it creep in like that? He was heading into town tomorrow to get his bus ticket over the border. Nothing was going to make him change his plans.
“Man, Buenos Aires is such an awesome city,” Jamie sighed.
“We could always go back,” Chris said, and Jamie laughed, even though as far as Blake could tell, Chris hadn’t been joking.
“Next time,” Jamie said.
“I’ll drink to that.” She raised her glass.
“To Iguaçu,” Jamie said.
“To travel,” Chris said.
“To not being on the bus,” Julia said.
“To new friends.” Blake couldn’t help stealing a glance at Julia as he said it. They all clinked glasses, sloshing beer on the table, and he went to take a drink.