Page 48 of Rio

We all get into the boat.As I look up, I see stars that take my breath away.Not just a few dotted around, but hundreds of them, sparkling brightly in the clear night sky.Beautiful.I’ve not seen a night sky like this before.

“Wow,” Raquel gasps, looking up.We’re sitting crushed up against one another, both staring up in awe.It is majestic.Utterly breathtaking.

“This is so beautiful,” she murmurs, her voice thick with awe.I have to agree.The construction site, the meetings, the noise the locals are making, all seem so far away.This is something I would never have experienced had I not begrudgingly come along.Now I’m glad I did.

The boat drifts to a slow stop in the middle of the lagoon, and the guy who’s in charge, cuts the engine.We float in near-silence.He expects us to jump into that, from this?

Alarm bells set off in my head.This is so irresponsible.There could be all sorts of creatures lying in water in the still, inky black water.I try not to think about crocodiles.Or snakes.Or whatever the hell else lurks here.

“You look scared, boss.”The main guy prods me in the ribs.“It’s safe.”

“You willing to bet your life on that?”

“It’s safe.I trust him.”The guy, Edwin, says.

There’s no dock.No shoreline to wade in from.Just still, black water stretching all around us, and a quiet that hums beneath the surface.

“This is it,” someone says.“Jump in.”

Around us, people are stripping down to their underwear and jumping in from the boat.

“I trust him.He’s a tour operator,” Vilma says.I turn my back to her, because she’s starts to undress.

“I didn’t have you down for being a scaredy cat, Knight,” Raquel says, shimmying out of her dress.

I catch my breath.She’s in her bra and panties, and she looks sexy as sin, the moonlight illuminating her body, giving her an almost ethereal glow.The swell of her hips.The line of her collarbone.Long, strong legs, the kind that look like they were made to wrap around someone’s waist.

Hot damn.

“I’m not a scaredy cat.I just like being in control.”

I hate unexpected shocks and surprises.I’m bearing the scars of the shock which ripped through our family all those decades ago, and I decided then that I like my life to be controlled and orderly.

Everyone has peeled off shirts and shorts, laughing and tossing clothes onto the benches.One by one, they jump in.

Splash!

The water explodes in glowing blue light.Trails of neon shimmer in the dark, like stardust.It’s otherworldly, and unreal.It’s magical.Almost as magical as the night sky with its myriads of stars.I start to slowly, reluctantly undress.

“Look at that!”Raquel cries.The water glows when people swim or move, every movement leaving a trail of electric blue light, illuminating the movement, like stardust suspended in the water, leaving a trail of suspended stardust in their wake.She gasps, bending over gripping the side of the boat.“It’s like they’re swimming through stardust.”She watches, mesmerized … but she doesn’t move.Not yet.

“You okay?”I ask, stepping closer.

She turns, lips parted, her eyes wide as she sees me in my boxers.“You brave enough to jump in?”

“I’m not scared.Just careful.”

She straightens her spine, and steps up onto the edge of the boat, pausing for a heartbeat, before diving in.The water explodes around her in glowing blue.Her body becomes a comet—blazing through the water, blue and beautiful, as she swims away.

I dive in after her and swim towards her.

“This is insane,” she murmurs, swiping her hands over her hair as she smooths it back off her face.Everyone has jumped in, and the once silent lagoon is a flurry of noise and light.It’s magical.Like swimming through the stars and the galaxy.

Raquel glides up beside me.“Aren’t you glad you came?”

I nod.“You look like you’re all lit up from the inside out.”

She circles me slowly, sending shimmering hallows through the water with her every move.I tread water, kicking off a wave of light with my movements as I watch her, the way her hair floats around her shoulders, the moonlight catching the droplets on her skin, her smile wide and unguarded.The kind of smile that steals my breath.The kind of smile in a moment I’ll remember forever.This isn’t the intense lawyer who incinerates her opponents in court.The woman in the sharp and sleek pressed business suits, with armor to match.This is Raquel, raw, soft and vulnerable.I think I like this version even more.