Page 30 of The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold (The Blonde Identity #2)

Alex

Forty-five minutes later, they were still walking. The sky that had felt so bright when they left was now hidden behind a

dense canopy of trees. The ground was rockier, the undergrowth thicker. They were off the beaten path in every sense of the

word, and Alex could feel the group getting restless.

“You’d think we could do this a little closer to home,” someone grumbled, and someone else agreed, but Alex stayed quiet beside

King as they brought up the rear.

They were almost to the base of the mountain that sliced the island in two, and the trees were growing thicker. Everything

was so green, it was almost black, and even the birds looked brighter in the stillness.

“Keep an eye out for a good place to climb.” King slid an arm around Alex’s shoulders and whispered near her ear as they hung

back and let the group get a little distance.

“I don’t think there is a good place to climb.” Every now and then the trees would part and they’d look up at cliffs that seemed even steeper, sharper.

Deadlier. From that vantage point, it looked like they might as well try to climb the clouds.

They were alone—with the others walking ahead and the sounds of the forest all around them—but Alex wrapped her arm around

King’s waist, just in case.

“Think we can split off from the group?” he wondered.

“Get lost?” She couldn’t keep from smiling.

“We could say we got turned around,” he offered.

“We could say we got turned on,” she said, and he chuckled—too quickly and too loudly, like he’d surprised even himself. The cocoon of safety she’d felt the night before was still with her in a way that made her wonder if it wasn’t just the bed and the bungalow. If maybe it was—

“David!” Flora shouted from the top of a rise. “Donna!” She wasn’t that far away and yet it was hard to hear her because there

was a sound beneath the words—a low rumble that was turning into a roar, growing louder and louder with every step as they

inched up the incline and then looked down... and gasped. But Flora just beamed and said, “We’re here.”

***

So it turned out “trust falls” were less “clichéd team building activity” and more—

“OMG, Todd, take my picture!” Jennifer was whipping off her (white) cover-up and posing in front of the sapphire pool in her

(white) bikini, while looking up at the waterfall that cascaded down from a hundred feet overhead, falling like a curtain,

obscuring rocks and cliffs and mossy grass. A foamy mist caught the sunlight and turned the air to rainbows, but all Alex

could do was peer as the pool rippled before them, the water clear and deep and gorgeous.

Flora brought her hands together. “Welcome, lovers, to the first day of your Cupid Quest.”

“She really needs to pick a theme and stick with it,” King grumbled, and Alex didn’t even bother to shhh him.

“As we ask the goddess—”

“Is it a goddess or Cupid?” King whispered, but Alex had to wonder.

“I think Cupid is a god?”

“Then say god.”

He probably could have lived with the rest of it, but the inconsistency was going to be the death of him. King didn’t just

like order. He needed it, Alex was coming to realize. What she didn’t know was why.

“As we encircle our lovers and find our inner—”

“I’m sorry.” King’s hand shot into the air. He was almost at his breaking point and Alex shouldn’t have been enjoying it, but she was. “What—exactly—is the objective here?”

King had been the first to master everything they’d taught at the Farm, but he was going to fail Cupidism 101, and Alex wanted

to ask if there would be actual report cards. Maybe diplomas. Or transcripts. She wanted one framed and hanging in the house

she didn’t own. She wanted to cherish it like the best friend she didn’t have. She wanted it to be the pet she’d never bring

home. Watching King fail at Couple Camp was her mission now. Her reason for living.

But Flora just looked... concerned. And confused. And then she said, “It’s probably better to just dive in.”

She meant it literally, Alex knew. Why else would they all be wearing bathing suits after hiking to the most beautiful natural

pool she’d ever seen? Still, she wasn’t quite prepared for the sight of King whipping off his shirt and shoes and then jumping

in the water and holding out his arms like he might catch her. Maybe that was why she didn’t move.

“Don’t tell me you can’t swim.” He grinned up at her, a challenge in his voice—a dare in his eyes. Then he pushed his wet

hair back and droplets slid across his skin and—“Hello. Donna!”

Alex jumped so quickly, she surprised even herself, and when she came up, spitting and gagging, he was grinning in a way that

made her want to drown him. “ What? ”

“I didn’t say anything.” But he wanted to. He wanted to mock her and... tease her? Alex wasn’t certain. He was still the

most condescending man she’d ever known but there was something like fondness in his eyes. Like he was amused. With her. Like

she was the only part of this whole thing that didn’t make him want to scream.

Flora was pulling large pieces of foam out from behind a boulder and setting them afloat in the water. They were like a cross

between extrawide surfboards and yoga mats, and Alex could tell just by looking that King was in denial about where this was

going.

“Lovers, choose a mat and join each other in Cupid’s sacred embrace.”

“I could be climbing... something... right now,” King growled as he held the mat still while Alex wriggled onto it, and then climbed on behind her.

The mat dipped. She almost fell in. Together, they were trained in at least eight forms of hand-to-hand combat, but they were going to fail “trust falls” and Alex regretted ever mocking him.

There was no obvious current in the pool, but there was a massive waterfall, so the surface was choppy and unsteady and so

were they. Alex and King were young and athletic and agile. They were also two of the most competitive people on the planet.

King didn’t want to be here—doing this—but he’d rather die than be bad at it, and he wasn’t the only one.

“Lovers, bring your lovelies closer. Center yourselves on your mats and within your lover’s aura.”

“Are you the lover or the lovely? I’ve been meaning to ask,” King whispered.

“Shut up and spread your legs.”

“See... when you say things like that...” he grumbled while she scooted into the V of his thighs.

“No, Donna. Turn, lovely,” Flora said, and King cocked an eye as if to say, Well , I guess you’re the lovely , but Alex was too busy thinking... realizing...

“Lovers, entwine your bodies. Legs over legs. Arms around shoulders. Cuddle time is couple time. Donna, your legs should be...”

Alex knew. She knew and so she did it, but that didn’t mean she liked it. At all. They were wrapped together like a pretzel, mat floating in the water, bouncing with the not-quite-waves. They

were seated, at least. But close. Very close. If either of them moved, they might tip, and tipping would mean losing, and

they did not lose— ever . So Alex and King stayed on that floating mat in that ultimate paradise and tried not to look too much like people who had

never been in love.

A voice echoed from across the water. “It’s not my fault you never learned how to swim, Todd.”

“Do you think we should help...”

“Get over here.” King pulled her closer. “Are you going to let these people outcuddle us?” His big hand was on the small of her back, his big thighs were underneath her legs.

“Fine.” She scooted closer. Practically straddling him now.

“Lovers, breathe in unison with your lovelies. As one chest falls, another rises. Your breath becomes their breath.”

“Great,” King whispered. “Now you’re gonna kill me with carbon dioxide.”

“Is that a challenge?” Alex didn’t know how, but she got even closer.

“Cuddle time isn’t just about touch. It’s about contact.” Flora was walking around the shore like a very colorful drill sergeant.

“Legs gripping. Torsos touching. Gazes locked and arms entwined. Contact isn’t touching—it’s joining . Bodies. Hearts. Minds.”

Their mat had floated so close to the waterfall that Alex could barely hear Flora over the roar. She could barely see the

others through the mist. She could barely remember the Farm or Cartagena or any of the reasons why it was weird to be on that

mat in that place with that man. She wasn’t aware of anything but the feel of his chest brushing against hers, the caress

of his breath on her skin, so warm she was suddenly covered in goose bumps. They were closer. Their grips were tighter. They

were adrift somewhere in paradise, but she didn’t see a thing—not the rainbows or the couples or the cliffs.

Condensation pooled on her skin, and when King swiped a finger across her cheek, she felt it in her core.

“Well done, David! Donna!” Flora was saying, but Alex was too busy thinking about how she’d never noticed the little flecks

of brown in his eyes. And then those eyes moved—just a flash. Just a flicker—down to her lips, and she could have sworn they

both stopped breathing. His hands were warm on her back, pulling her closer. Holding her tighter—

“Sterling...” The word was more breath than whisper, and she couldn’t even scold him for the slip because they were lost

behind a curtain of fog and mist and—

“Watch out!” someone yelled, but it was too late.

They were too close to the waterfall, and a split second later, the water hit the edge of the mat, pushing it under and flipping them both into the water and under the falls.

For a moment, there was nothing but a constant, pummeling pressure, like a wave that never crested, pushing Alex down and holding her under.

Beating her like a fist. Like a hundred fists.

Bubbles floated all around her, but there wasn’t one to breathe, and Alex knew there was no coming up from this, no fighting nature or gravity or—

King. She had to get to King, and so Alex swam away from the bubbles, out from under the pressure of the falls and toward

the hand that was grabbing, reaching, pulling her to the surface.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m...” She couldn’t catch her breath. She couldn’t even think. “I’m—”

“Sterling!” He shook her.

Alex pushed her hair out of her face and looked at King, who was studying her like he didn’t know whether to curse her or

kiss her.

“David!” a voice yelled in the distance. They were on the other side of the falls, Alex realized. Trapped between the curtain

of the water and the stone of the mountain, alone in a cave—or grotto—that was hidden by the mist. The others were still on

the other side, yelling, “Donna! Are you—”

“We’re okay!” King shouted, but he never took his eyes off of Alex. It was like they were the only people on earth, wrapped

in a cocoon of silence and stone and—

“Sterling...” That time, the voice was low and deep. A warning or a prayer. He was just right there—kissing distance apart.

And he was drawing closer. And closer. Until—

He stopped. His gaze slid off her, and Alex pulled back. Even in the cool water, her face went red because... of course

he wasn’t going to kiss her. Kissing is for people who don’t hate each other. Kissing is for—

“Sterling.” That time, he laughed—a ha that echoed off the stone and was lost under the roar of the falls as King pointed behind her and Alex turned to see a circle of light in the shadows, bright and shining through the stone on the far side of the cave.

“Is that...”

“A tunnel,” King whispered.

“Wait.” It mattered. She knew it mattered, but her lungs weren’t quite working. Her brain wasn’t quite working. It took a

moment for her to realize—“If the sun is shining through there, then...”

“We don’t need to go over the mountain,” King said.

“We can go under it.” Alex didn’t know whether to grin or groan because the mission was on, but the moment...

The moment was over.