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I smiled, putting my hand on her back and rubbing it.

“That feels good,” she said.

“Yeah? Hold on. I’m actually pretty good at this.”

Unable to set my glass down on the hill without it spilling, I emptied the contents in one massive gulp. She smiled as I crawled behind her and placed my hands on her shoulders, kneading her flesh.

“Oh, wow…” she said.

“You’re so tense.”

“You don’t even know the half of it.”

“What’s a beautiful woman like you have to be worried about?”

She leaned forward. “Come on, you don’t want to be like Melvin, do you?”

“I’m nothing like him,” I said, working her muscles with my thumbs.

“Good.”

Now that I had gotten her mind off the mining operation across the way, I prepared to make my move. The fact that the Chinese operation would be in view had slipped my mind, but I would make up for it.

As I massaged her, I leaned in to kiss her neck.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” she said, pulling away.

“Come on, you can’t say you don’t feel something between us.”

“You are just like him,” she said, annoyed. She stood up. “What? You two got some sick bet on who can bed me first or something?”

“It’s not like that. Don’t get all crazy on me.”

“I am not crazy!”

I glanced over at the Humvee. “Stop yelling,” I hissed. “This area isn’t completely safe.”

“Are you kidding me right now? You brought me out here and it’s not even safe?” Her eyes widened. “You didn’t drug the wine, did you? Oh my God, I’m feeling faint. You fucking drugged me, didn’t you?”

“No!” I said, standing up. “I would never drug a woman. You think someone like me needs to be a Cosby?”

“Then why am I so lightheaded?”

“It’s the mountain air. You probably haven’t adjusted all the way.” I stepped forward and put a hand on her waist to steady her.

“Get away from me!” She stepped back and flung the rest of the wine in her glass to the ground. The parched earth soaked it up greedily.

I sighed. Why don’t things ever go the way I planned?

“We should get back,” I said, bending to pick up the blanket.

“Yes, we should,” she said as if it had been her idea.

I shook my head and proceeded to gather up the food, putting it back into the basket. She had already made it to the Humvee by the time I finished.

After throwing the stuff into the back, I climbed in.

“I freaked out,” she said as I shut the door. “I’m sorry. I’ve got nothing on this story I’m supposed to be doing, and now I’m being sent back even sooner than my short stay was originally going to be.”