Her head comes up, and she wipes her grease-covered hands with a rag. “You need to talk to her and work this shit out. A project this big is going to hit a lot of snags if the two of you can’t communicate.”
“We’re communicating fine.”
“Really?” KT lifts her chin toward the Roxie Blue, and we both watch Laiyla leave the boat, head down, notebook in hand, then take an unexpected turn and head along a trail that leads uphill. When she disappears around a curve, KT says, “Do you know where she’s going?”
“That’s the path to Rainbow Falls.” When KT doesn’t respond, I turn my gaze on her. “What?”
“She told me this morning she had a new idea for that location. If I were the foreman of this job, I’d want to know what’s going on inside my client’s head.”
“What new idea?”
She tosses the rag aside and inspects some kind of gasket. “You’re the guy in charge. Shouldn’t you know?”
“Fuck.” I pull off my gloves and toss them aside. “I need a swim anyway.”
I make my way off the dock and follow the path to Rainbow Falls, one of the best-kept secrets of this property and a location Laiyla and I escaped to often so we could be alone. Memories assault me as I take the hike up the mild slope, weaving around corners, across a meadow, and into a rocky outcropping.
I haven’t been back here since Laiyla left town and I’m struck by the magical quality it still holds. Snow runoff from the Los Padres National Forest finds its way here, April through August, depending on the snowpack the previous winter, and the stream takes a sharp dive off a cliff and into a small pool that’s deep enough to jump into from the cliff edge. It’s as quiet and secluded as I remember. A little piece of magic hidden away from everyone.
I don’t see Laiyla, but I know where she is. Boulders are clustered behind the curtain of the waterfall, her favorite place to hide. And the only way to get there is to swim. “Laiyla.”
She doe
sn’t answer.
“KT said you have a new idea.”
“I changed my mind.” Her voice comes from behind the waterfall, just as I suspected.
“You want to tell me about it?”
“There’s nothing to tell you. Go back to what you were doing.”
Good idea. Only, I look around, and all I can see are memories. Laiyla and me stretched out on a sun-heated boulder or curled up on the shelf behind the waterfall like she is right now. We spent hours jumping off the cliff and whooshing into the pool below. We brought select friends here. People we knew would obey the rules because we didn’t want Otto to restrict our access.
And I don’t want to leave.
“Laiyla, are you coming out?”
“I’m not a kid, Levi. You don’t have to watch over me every minute. I’m fine. Sometimes a girl just needs some time alone.”
“That’s a no,” I mutter, even as I lean down to unlace my boots and take off my socks. I leave them beside hers, along with her notebook and pen.
There’s no easy way to get into this water. Even when the temperature outside is over a hundred, the iciness of this pool always bites, so I take the plunge and just dive in. The cold shocks my system, but I’ve adjusted by the time I make it under the waterfall and find Laiyla exactly where I knew she’d be, sitting cross-legged on the highest ledge.
I push up on the edge of a rock and climb out of the water. My jeans, now heavy, tug low on my hips. I’m about to pull them higher, but there’s something about the way Laiyla’s looking at me that stops me.
“You need to start wearing a shirt on the job,” she tells me, sullen and annoyed.
“I think that’s the least of our problems.”
“Maybe for you.”
I laugh, and it feels good, but not for long, because I’m reminded that we’ve both been miserable since we had sex on the boat. Fucking rocking sex too. I get hard just remembering. “Are you coming down to me, or do I have to come up to you?”
Her gaze goes from annoyed to surly.
“Up to you it is.” A few quick moves, and I ease to the large ledge beside her and lean my back against the cool rock. The ledge is five feet deep, so I stretch my legs out and relax. We’re both silent for several long moments, and I feel like I’m nineteen again, wanting her so bad, my teeth ache.