“I like a man with his head on his shoulders. Someone who isn’t fake, or trying to get me to like that under false pretenses. Do you know how hard it is to figure out if someone is being fake right off the bat?”
“Yeah, like the women who wake up with a full face of makeup? They want a guy to think they wake up looking that beautiful. I don’t think women realize that men are aware when they sneak off into the bathroom a half hour before officially waking up. I’ve dated four girls who have done this, and it boggles my mind.” I don’t even wear makeup half the time. I wonder what he thinks about that. “Then, there’s the type of girl who wants to play hard to get but doesn’t want anyone to play hard to get back with her. The mind games are just infuriating. I stopped asking women out. Now, I’m just waiting for a normal woman to fall into my life,” he says, twisting his head and looking into my eyes. The feeling of our gazes connecting startles my heart.
My cheeks are burning, and I softly gasp for more air than I’m inhaling. Whether he’s
referring to the possibility of me falling into his life, I don’t know, but the thought of his words is sweet. I’ve never been a big believer of fate, but this past hour seems pretty close to the idea of such a thing.
“How long are you in Cabo for?” he asks.
“Until Sunday, if my friends don’t disown me before then.”
“I know you are waiting on them to decide about excursions, but you should join me on a couple. Free of charge. The hotel won’t be happy to hear about a guest getting stuck out here anyway, so no one will raise a brow at the vouchers.”
“You’re sweet, you know that?”
“You didn’t think that a half hour ago.”
“A girl can change her mind,” I tell him.
“The rain stopped two minutes ago,” he says. I didn’t notice. I’ve been staring into this man’s eyes for the last two minutes, feeling no shame about it.
I lean forward and crawl out of the cave, trying to get my footing on the wet rock in front of us. Lincoln follows, but puts his hand around mine. “You have to be careful. One wrong step and this won’t end well. The rocks are like ice when they’re wet.”
“Why is this place called Lovers Beach?” We’re both staring out in the crashing waves, feeling the sun break through the last of the clouds. The scene is like the cover of a romance book and I feel the effects of the view in my chest.
“It’s been said that in the 18th century, there was a sailor who was found to be in trouble out there in the seas off-shore,” Lincoln points out into the ocean. “A local woman saw he was in trouble and rescued him. The two immediately fell in love and spent just a short, but beautiful time together on the beach. When the girl’s father found out about her relationship with the man, he killed the sailor. Much like Romeo and Juliet, the girl in her deepest moment of distress, took her life to be united with the man in her next life. Those who watched the sad scene marked the land as ‘Lovers Beach.'
My mouth falls ajar. “Really?”
“It might not be true, but many locals believe it is true.”
“So, a woman saved a man, they fell in love, then both ended up dead?” I summarize.
Lincoln thinks over my words for a moment before nodding his head with agreement. “Yup, pretty much.”
“Well, we shouldn’t fall in love then. It could end tragically,” I tell him.
“And, there you go. You just earned your funny badge.”
“How could anyone fall in love that fast, anyway?” I continue pondering the story. When I twist to face Lincoln, wondering what he has in response, he’s staring at me with a coy smile. “What?” I’m blushing again so I laugh to brush off the sensations running through me.
“I don’t know. I can see how someone might fall in love instantly after such a rush of adrenaline.” Lincoln traces his fingertip across his bottom lip, looking as though he’s lost deep in thought.
“I think you left out part of that story,” I add.
“Maybe,” he says with a soft laugh. “Come here. You have to see this.” Lincoln helps me down a couple of shallow rocks, which leads to an enormous boulder that is keeping us from seeing over to the other side where the hotel is. He crouches down and places his finger on the base of the rock. “See that?”
I squat down too so I can see what he’s pointing at. The words, “Instant Love” are carved into the center of what must be a thousand clustered names. “What’s this?”
“Supposedly, these couples fell in love instantly on this beach. Crazy, right?”
“Yeah, totally crazy,” I repeat.
“The sun is starting to set,” I tell Lincoln, interrupting the awkward tension I’m feeling.
Lincoln stares out into the horizon and smiles. “Another beautiful sunset.”
I correct my stance, pulling myself up by the rock to straighten my body, but my foot slips on a puddle, just as Lincoln warned about the ice-like rocks.