Page 91

LEENA

I’m in the passenger seat of the Jeep, my eyes moving from the view of the lush beauty around us then sweeping towards Decker.

I’m not sure which one is more beautiful, him or Belize, though this country hasn’t made me feel a tenth of what Decker has.

After our romp in his bedroom, he came out dressed in another pair of board shorts, much like he wore the day before when we were on the trails, these ones black with grey stitching, and without a freaking shirt on.

Talk about torture. I was putting the finishing touches on the fruit while waiting for the bacon to cook, then to work on the eggs.

One of the easiest breakfast dishes in the world, but it’s also fast. A few slices of toast to top it off, and then we were eating together.

Of course, hearing that Decker didn’t drink coffee had me almost falling out of my seat.

I don’t think you could be a Hart if you didn’t drink the dark liquid, which would make sense with what he had to work with in his kitchen.

Milk in your coffee is, like, sacrilegious, so I opted for black with one sugar.

It wasn’t long after we finished our meal that Decker was grabbing a bag off the entryway table, which had me doing the same, and we were off.

“What do you think?” he asks as he nods his head at the app on my phone advertising zip line adventures.

“Oh, I’m definitely game.” This is one of the excursions the resort doesn’t offer. I wasn’t sure if I’d do something like this by myself, so I figured on my next vacation, I’d find something like this.

“Alright.” Decker whips the Jeep into the parking lot effortlessly, his wrist hanging over the steering wheel, baseball cap on his head, and a smirk tugging on his lips.

“Stay there. I’ll open your door,” he states after he’s found a parking spot.

I figured since we got a late start, this place would be packed with tourists, but it’s not.

That could be because we drove close to an hour before landing here.

“Okay,” I respond, doing what he asked. I leave my bigger bag with my clothes and towel inside it, grabbing the smaller sling one that in terms of other words is a fanny pack, except I wear it more like a crossbody.

Yes, all my sisters-in-law look at me like I have three eyes instead of two, but it really is perfect for vacations.

I secretly think they’re just jealous they didn’t buy it first.

“Ready?” My eyes never leave his form as he makes his way around the bright yellow Jeep.

When we walked towards the covered awning, I about died laughing.

Never in a million years could I see Decker in something that was canary yellow.

He just shook his head, laughed it off, and opened my door for me.

“Yep, I sure am.” When he put his shirt on after breakfast, I swear all the women of creation would mourn, had they seen him with all of his skin on display.

“Do you have shorts you can slide on? I didn’t plan for something like this. A skirt might not be a great idea.”

“Crap, I wasn’t either, but yeah, I have shorts in my bag. I wasn’t really sure what we’re doing, so I packed a couple of things.” I bend in my seat, rifling through my bag, finding the loose cut-off jean shorts to put on if we went in the water and walked around town afterwards.

“We can come back another day,” Decker offers as I pull out my shorts.

“Nope, you’ll have to cover me while I change, though,” I tease.

Seriously, women have been changing in and out of clothes without an inkling of coverage for eons now; it’s not like I couldn’t slide my shorts on without making a fuss.

I’m not going to tell Decker that, though, not after he walked around, helped me finish making breakfast, and ate without a shirt. Payback is a bitch, so to speak.

“Babe, I’ll cover you any fucking day of the week.” I slip my seatbelt off and pull down my skirt. Decker’s eyes are alert, darting from the parking lot back to me. Probably not the best place to do it, but there isn’t a whole lot of activity either.

“You’re not helping, you know,” I tease him as I shimmy out of my bottoms. My panties start to slide down with them, totally not part of the plan, and when Decker groans low in his throat, I right my mistake and pull them up, my skirt down, and then grab my shorts.

That’s when I feel the tip of Decker’s finger glide along the hem of my panties.

“Fuck, we should have just stayed at my place.” I’d love nothing more than to agree with him. Honestly, I don’t know what’s holding me back from saying screw the zipline and just go back now.

“You know what they say. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. In this case, maybe it’ll make us even more desperate for one another.

” My shorts are up, zipped, and buttoned.

Of course, in this strategic position, breathing isn’t easy, which is why I’m out of breath now, after propping my legs up, chin to my chest; it’s not flattering in the least, but it got the job done.

“If I grow any fonder of you, Leena, I’ll be poking a hole through my damn shorts.” Decker holds his hand out for me. My light canvas flat-soled shoes were easy to keep on while I changed and are definitely coming in handy for today.

“Decker, you can’t say stuff like that to me right now, honey.” My other hand moves to his chest, above his heart. His lips kiss my forehead, and a sigh leaves me.

“Alright, I’ll keep my comments to myself, for now.” We move away from the Jeep, Decker locks the doors, and then we’re walking towards the entrance.

“Hi, welcome to Belize Aerial Zipline,” the man at the desk greets us.

“Hello, we’d like to see what you have to offer,” Decker replies. I wave my hello, cozying up to Decker’s side to read the pamphlet he is handed.

“Tubing or ziplining?” I ask him, after seeing what all this place has to offer.

“Ziplining. We can come back to go tubing if you want.” His arm goes around my shoulder, pulling me in closer to his body.

“I’m good with that, as long as we also get some kind of snorkeling in.

It’s my absolute favorite thing anytime I’m somewhere tropical.

” Okay, it’s not very adventurous, even I can admit that, but there’s something about being in the water, all the outside noise is gone, and it’s nothing but you and the water, well, along with fish, turtles, coral reef, and the occasional shark.

“I promise. We’ll do that tomorrow.” That bottom lip of his, the way his teeth nip at it, it does so much to me.

“Okay, then let’s get this ziplining done. I bet I’m faster than you,” I joke.

“We’ll see about that.” He returns his gaze to the young man to ask him for the Jaguar pass for the day, paying so quickly I can’t even offer to pay my half. That’s okay because I figure Decker will let me repay him in other ways.

“Here you go. Enjoy your time. Javier will walk you through the steps and get you harnessed,” he says.

“Thank you,” I reply. Decker’s hand is on my lower back. Giddiness runs through me on this adventure we call life. I had no idea a much-needed vacation would include Decker, but I’m learning life is nothing if not an adventure.