Beachcombing in the Bahamas (Once Again #11)

Chapter 12

12

Y vette concentrated on her breakfast the following morning. God. The food. It was as delicious as making love with Brock. Closing her eyes, she savored the flavors bursting on her tongue. They dined on delicious banana fritters, as well as plantain tarts, which were like a crusted popover filled with smashed plantains, the fruit a bright red. Augmenting the meal, Olive offered them a sweet and creamy cornmeal porridge made with condensed milk and cinnamon, sort of like the Cream of Wheat Yvette sometimes had at home.

“Did you all have a wonderful evening in town?” Yvette asked, mainly for Jodi and Kacey, but her gaze flashed over all the young people.

“Hell yes,” Darryl jumped in first. “We?—”

With an elbow to Darryl’s ribs, Ethan cut off whatever he’d been about to say.

A smile creased Brock’s lips. “I take it you did things we adults wouldn’t approve of.”

Malcolm and Ethan both waved their hands. “Of course not.” The slight blurriness in their eyes attested to a minimizing of what they’d done last night. But they were all adults. Neither she nor Brock, not even Adeline, had the right to say a thing.

Though Adeline tried anyway. “I hope you have all your faculties around you when you do whatever you’ve got planned today. Of course, count me out.” She glanced at Lorna. “Perhaps Lorna and I will go for a drive.”

Lorna didn’t so much as groan, and Yvette wondered if that’s exactly what her sister-in-law wanted. Maybe she thought the more time she spent with Adeline, the more she would ingratiate herself. And that was probably a good thing.

“Speaking of which,” Brock raised his voice over the table’s chatter. “What do you want to do today? It’s Christmas Eve, so let’s do something special. Even if it’s a warm Christmas, not a white Christmas.”

“Is anything even open today?” Yvette asked. They hadn’t talked about that this morning. They’d been thinking about other things.

“I checked. Open today, closed tomorrow.”

Malcolm jumped in. “Zip-lining. I looked it up, and you take a chairlift up through the jungle, then there’s like seven platforms to get you back down through the canopy.”

“But the waterfalls sound pretty awesome too,” Garth said. He looked at Jodi seated next to him, and she nodded.

“All right, let’s vote.” Brock waved a hand. “Zip-lining?” Hands went up. “Waterfalls?” Jodi and Garth raised their hands, but the others outvoted them.

Brock looked at Yvette and Trevor, neither of whom hadn’t taken a vote. “What about you?”

Yvette answered quickly, “I’ll do whatever the majority chooses.” Just as she’d told Brock this morning, before that deliciously sexy quickie, she just wanted to be with the girls. Brock, of course, would do whatever she did.

And they’d have another glorious day together.

Trevor smiled, taking Lorna’s hand in his, kissing her knuckles. “I’ll stay with my wife.” Even across the table, Yvette saw the stars in his eyes.

She wanted Brock to look at her that way right now. If she’d let him, he would. But she couldn’t. Not with Adeline here.

“In fact,” Trevor added, “I’ll take you ladies for a drive around the island.”

“That’s so thoughtful of you, dear.” Irritation bristled in Adeline’s eyes, despite the words. Lorna could no longer be her victim with Trevor there to intervene.

Although Yvette’s talk with Lorna last night had shown that the woman could handle her mother-in-law.

“Then it’s decided,” Brock said. “Zip-lining today, and the day after Christmas, we’ll do the waterfalls.” He glanced at Garth and Jodi, and they nodded agreement.

The result made everyone happy. Including Darryl.

The makeup of the two parties suited Yvette. The kids would naturally gravitate together, and even as much as she enjoyed her daughters’ company, that would still leave her and Brock with more time together.

With ten of them, they drove three Jeeps through the small towns. Here on the wet side of the island, the foliage sometimes seemed to grow right into the houses.

Over the Jeep’s roaring engine and the sound of the wind, Yvette called to Brock, “It looks like all the houses are under construction. And yet it seems like people are living in them.”

Brock noted that in every house nestled close to the roadside, one room was of plain cinderblocks and lacked any windows. He called back, the wind through the Jeep making it necessary to shout, “I read that the taxation is based on completed construction. So they all leave one incomplete room to avoid the higher taxes.”

Yvette’s laughter curled around his insides. He wanted to hear that laugh for the rest of his life.

“Of course you would have read that somewhere,” she shouted. “And I love it. A nice way to get around the government.”

They arrived at the park fifteen minutes later. The kids tumbled out of the Jeeps, racing up the stone steps as if they were all under the age of ten. Brock stayed behind, helping Yvette out of the Jeep even though she needed no help. But he wanted the excuse to touch her. And that touch was electric. Even though he’d made love to her twice in the night, then again in the early morning, he wanted her again. Right here under the jungle canopy.

He would have leaned in for a surreptitious kiss, but Yvette gave him the evil eye, glancing over her shoulder, in case one of the kids had turned back.

“No one’s looking,” he muttered.

But she fended him off with a hand on his chest. “If you wait now,” she said in a seductive voice that made him hard, “you’ll get double later.”

He laughed even as he ached. “That definitely sweetens the pot. And worth a bit of blue balls now.”

She pushed past him, laughing.

They joined their children, pretending they were just the slowpoke old folks.

On his phone, he pulled up the tickets and waited for the attendant to scan them all.

A lovely young woman with dark skin, she smiled widely after the task was done. “Hello and Merry Christmas. Thank you so much for joining us on your holiday. Since there are so many of you, we will take you all in one group. I am Nacheline, and I will be one of your guides. Now please follow me.” Her English was excellent. Brock had found that most people here on the island spoke excellent English.

Christmas ornaments hung from the palm trees and foliage surrounding the hut she led them to. And carols played softly from a speaker mounted above them. But it was warm and slightly muggy, nothing like the Christmases of his past.

No. This one was better. He felt almost as if it were his first Christmas with Yvette.

“I am glad none of you are wearing flip-flops or open-toed shoes,” Nacheline said. “And those of you with long hair, please tie it back. We do not wish for you to get it caught in the zip line.” The young women obeyed, and Nacheline went on. “Now, if you line up, we will hand out your gear.”

Two other attendants assisted Nacheline, a young man handing Brock a harness, while the other provided one to Yvette. The kids were already scrambling into theirs as Brock stepped into the contraption. But Yvette looked nonplussed as to what to do. He’d been zip-lining before, and after buckling his harness, he said to her, “I can help.”

Ahh, the perfect cover for touching her wherever he wanted. She put a hand on his shoulder as he bent down, holding the harness for her to step into. Once her feet were both on the ground again, he slowly stood, dragging the harness up her body. He almost laughed when he realized how fast his breath had become. Standing tall again, he noticed the rapid rise and fall of her chest and knew she felt the same. With her arms in the harness, he busied himself buckling her up, his fingers brushing her breasts until her nipples peaked. She licked her lips, and if ever there was an invitation, that was it.

As he leaned in to strap on her helmet, though she needed no help with that, he whispered, “You’ll pay for that tonight.” And he shot her a wicked grin.

She laughed, perhaps a little too loudly. Jodi turned to look at her, and Yvette covered their display by saying, “This will be so much fun.”

Following a group of noisy tourists, their guide, Nacheline, led them along a steep path to the cable cars that would take them up to the zip line. The young woman turned. “Be sure to look at the gardens we have here. You might even see a python in the bushes or the trees.”

The kids naturally turned that way, but Yvette clung to his arm. “You’ll protect me, won’t you?”

God, how he loved her flirting. Nacheline said to Yvette, “You need not wear the helmet until we get to the actual zip lines. The cable cars are perfectly safe.”

Yvette took it off. Brock had only put it on so he could touch her, and he murmured close to her ear, “Now I’ll have another excuse to touch you.”

“There’s one,” Darryl called out, grabbing the railing and pointing.

A fat python coiled at the base of a tree, having found a sunny spot, its body as thick as his arm. Darryl picked up a broken branch from beside the path and once again leaned over the railing as if he intended to poke the snake.

Nacheline shouted at him, her voice sharp, “Never poke a python. And get back on this side of the railing.”

Brock wanted to smack the young man upside the head, but Nacheline’s voice was chastisement enough, and seemed to embarrass even Darryl. He snapped the stick over his knee, throwing it on the ground before he marched up the hill.

Jodi muttered, “Idiot.” And Garth added, “What a dick.”

Brock heartily agreed. But Kacey rushed to join her boyfriend and furious whispers ensued between them. Brock hoped, as he was sure Yvette did, that Kacey was chastising for him for his reckless behavior.

The lift was a cross between a cable car and a chairlift, the car open air, with three rows, enough to carry six. Two groups waited ahead of them, and Yvette stepped over to photograph a cable car coming down. The car swung slightly as it chugged down the hill on the cables, then turned around the small terminus and disgorged its occupants, a mixture of kids and adults, two of the children hooting and saying, “Can we go again? Please, please!”

A man ruffled a blond boy’s head. “Maybe another day.”

Full once more, the car rumbled up the hill, just as another was coming down through the jungle canopy. The surrounding vegetation was lush, with blooming rhododendrons and magnolias.

Nacheline followed his gaze. “Something is always blooming up here. All year round. It is a beautiful spot.”

“It’s gorgeous,” Yvette said. “And it seems like you have a lot of tourists.”

The girl smiled. “This is our busiest time of year. But during the rainy season and the heat of the summer, everything calms down.”

Brock could imagine. The summer humidity and heat would make the day untenable for northerners.

Finally their turn, Ethan and Francine, Malcolm and Iris, along with Kacey and Darryl, scrambled onto the cable car, and Nacheline said, “We will get on the next one and meet the rest of your party at the top, where we can all do the zip line together.”

Off they went, Darryl sitting in the back and punching his fist in the air. “Too bad, suckers!”

When the next car arrived, Garth and Jodi sat together in the two front seats, leaving the back for Brock and Yvette. Nacheline took the middle seat.

“Are you the only one guiding us on the zip line?” Brock asked.

She shook her head, smiling a perfect, bright smile. “Oh no. You will find guides on each of the platforms.”

Fragrant blooms filled the jungle canopy. The greens were so green, the pinks of the flowers brilliant. He turned to Yvette and thought the vivid jungle was almost as beautiful as her.

Nacheline jutted her chin beyond them. “Look at the scene behind you.”

Both he and Yvette turned. The ocean was a surreal aquamarine, another mountain below them outlined against its crystal waters. A massive cruise ship steamed by, much too big to dock in the island’s small harbor. Puffy white clouds drifted across the sky, hiding the sun for a moment, then moving on to allow its brilliance to shine again.

“It’s unbelievable.” Yvette held up her phone to capture photo after photo, finally turning the camera on Brock and taking one of his face. “Look at the ocean. I want a profile.”

As soon as he heard the shutter click, he pulled out his own phone. “Let me do the same with you.”

As she stared out at the amazing colors of the Caribbean Sea, he snapped a picture that made his heart flutter. She made his heart flutter with everything she did.

When they reached the top, the rest of their group waited at the upper turnaround.

“We have a quarter-mile hike to the first platform,” Nacheline informed them. “It’s just down the trail.” She pointed the way.

Darryl bounded ahead before she stopped him. “I will take the lead.” Her voice held a sharp edge, as if, after the python incident, she’d figured out Darryl’s nature and didn’t like it.

The overhanging trees covered them as they walked the narrow path, and without the clamor of the cable car, Brock heard birdsong in the branches, even over the jingle of their harnesses. The snug fit between his legs made him think sensual thoughts about Yvette. Having taken the last position, with her in front of him, he enjoyed the sway of her beautiful rear end. People always added for a woman of her age after a description of a lady passed her fiftieth year, as if she was somehow less beautiful than someone ten or twenty years younger. But Yvette was toned, her calves taut as she walked in her sturdy boots. There was no for a woman of her age about her. She was flat-out beautiful. She always had been, always would be. Especially to him.

Five minutes later, they reached the first platform, where two sturdy young men helped the girls climb the steps. Once they were all on the platform, Nacheline stood on the block from which they would launch themselves. In a raised voice, she said, “First, we will give you a short list of safety instructions.”

At the groans from the younger generation, she asked, “How many of you have been on a zip line before?”

Everyone raised their hand except Yvette. Brock had taken all five, his kids and Yvette’s, to the Mount Hermon zip line in the Santa Cruz Mountains, then the steam train at Roaring Camp after that.

Yvette hadn’t gone on that trip, but he couldn’t remember why.

Nacheline didn’t single her out. “The safety training is for everyone, not just those of you who have never done it before. Everyone needs a refresher.”

She went through the same the drill he remembered from Mount Hermon: wait until the previous person is done before starting, lift your legs high before touching down on the opposite platform, don’t let go or you’ll start to rotate, and so on.

She finished with, “Now that you are all up to speed—” Brock realized she must have learned a lot of American colloquialisms because she used them often. “—put on your helmets. Who would like to go first?”

Yvette secured her helmet with no help from him this time—too bad—and Jodi turned to her. “You should go first, Mom, since you’ve never done it before.”

Yvette backed up, bumping into him and holding out her hands as if she were warding off Jodi. “I’ll watch some other people do it before I get up there.”

Darryl called out, “Chicken.”

If anyone else had said it, Brock would have laughed at the good-natured ribbing, but from Darryl, it made him want to smack the boy.

But Yvette wasn’t cowed. “You go first, Darryl, so I can watch your expertise.”

Darryl smirked, completely missing the sarcasm in her voice, and jumped onto the block. “Don’t mind if I do.”

The guys hooked him in and he launched. It was a straight shot down the steep slope to a massive tree at the other end. He shouted all the way. Letting both hands go and spreading his legs, he twirled, flying faster and faster. It was exactly what Nacheline told him not to do. But of course, Darryl did whatever he wanted.

Jodi muttered, “What an ass.”

Two guides stood on the platform at the other end, and he barreled right into them, his momentum taking him past the block where he should have stopped. But the two were seasoned, and they grabbed him, setting him on his feet.

“I’ll go next,” Kacey said. “Since Darryl’s already there.”

Her flight was more sedate, though her delirious laughter filled the canopy. Yvette snapped pictures as she went, then zipped her phone back into her pocket so it wouldn’t fall when she was flying down the line.

“I’ll do it next,” Brock said before anyone could step in. “You come after me,” he said, jutting his chin at Yvette. He wanted to be on the other end to catch her if she needed him.

She smiled. “That would be great. Then I can take a picture of everyone else coming in.” Her smile grew. “Instead of having all your backsides as you go down.”

The family chuckled with her.

Brock got up on the block and launched. It was an amazing ride. Flying through the air, the wind beat at his face, the jungle sounds pounded against his ears. And Yvette called out, “Go, Brock!”

He’d forgotten the delirium of flying suspended only by the harness, the sense of being airborne as if he were a bird in flight, the sense of being secure yet nothing between him and the ground but air.

All too soon it was over, and he landed on the block, the two guides helping him unhook his harness from the line. He stepped out of the way, turning to wait for Yvette, needing to watch her sail through the air as if she were flying right into his arms.