Julia
This was the second time she had spotted him besides the pool and by God he was getting hotter. Julia had always mocked TV shows for the slow motion getting out of the pool shots, torso dripping wet. She’d always thought them a gross exaggeration. She had never been readier to eat her words. Serve them in a bowl and hand her a large spoon. Julia was ready to eat. She followed the water droplets as they slid down his lean torso and disappeared into his tight speedos. She swallowed, God help her. He met her gaze and smiled. She wished for spontaneous combustion like she never had before. Oh God, he walked to her. Oh fuck.
He stopped and spoke to a server. She breathed out in relief, hoping that meant he wasn’t coming to her. Then he turned and kept walking to her.
“Hey,” he said laying himself out on the seat next to her. “Great day for a swim, huh?” He asked even though she was dry as a twig, just sunbathing by the pool and lusting after her fellow travellers.
“Yeah,” she said.
He sprung up and turned to face her. “Sorry, I forgot to ask. Is it okay if I sit here with you?”
“Actually, no. I just wanted to sit by myself and there’s so many others all around us.“ She answered.
“Oh, okay.“ He nodded. “Anyway, I can convince you to save me a spot on your dance card tomorrow? Just to talk.“
“Okay.“ She said.
He got up to leave, and she smiled, shaking her head. “Sit, my plans have changed. You can earn your keep by entertaining me.”
“Challenge accepted. How about I start by feeding you?” He asked as a server set two tall glasses of the freshly squeezed tropical juice she’d been drinking all week.
“Thank you,” she said to the server as he left. She turned to him with a smile. “It’s a good place to start.”
“I’m Philip,” he said, handing her a glass so she wouldn’t have to stop reclining to take it.
“Julia.”
Two weeks later
Philip
“Quit fucking around and just tie it,” she said with mock seriousness. Philip stood behind her, fidgeting with the bottom string of her bikini top.
“It’s complicated,” he said, kissing her neck.
“Imma tie it myself,” she said with mock seriousness, pulling away from him, the surprise causing him to release the strings.
He dramatically raced after her. “Okay. Okay. I’ll do it.” He said, getting into position behind her. “Look what you did,” he admonished playfully, running his hands up her breasts, pretending to set the fabric right over her.
She leaned into him with a small laugh. He patted her gently. “There,” he said, then finally tied the string around her back. He went around so he was facing her.
“Damn. You are so damn beautiful, you know this, right?” He said playfully, to hide how seriously he meant it. It was only two weeks, and he hated the thought of parting ways in a week’s time. If he could get away with it, he’d have extended the trip to stay the extra day with her. She was leaving the day after him and they were both going to Kenya but had not said a word about meeting up back home. He got the feeling he was her holiday romance, and she wanted nothing beyond that. He definitely wanted more than that.
He turned to find her draping on one of the free-flowing Swahili dresses she’d worn almost every day they’d been together. Ugh, he hated to see her cover-up.
They were going to spend the day at one of the Cape Town beaches she’d been planning to visit, then the afternoon visiting museums.
“Chop chop, babe.” She said, heading for his door.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Julia
Julia let herself get lost in the stunning views. Cape Town’s beauty was arresting. She felt the impact in her heart in a way she’d only ever felt about her childhood puppy. She couldn’t believe something so beautiful existed and, even better, that she got to see it.
“It’s insane, isn’t it?” He said the wonder in his voice reflected on his face.
“Unbelievable.”
She couldn’t believe they’d spent every day and night together from that first day at the pool. After that first hook-up, she’d asked for his ID and passport. He’d walked over to his bag, retrieved them, and handed them to her with a questioning look.
“I need to send my people your details, just in case.” She said, taking pictures of his documents.
“Oh, okay.”
“Wait, you’re thirty-one?” she asked her jaw on the ground.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Woah, I’m… Jesus Christ.”
She buried her head in her hands with a groan.
“What’s wrong? How old are you?”
“Forty-two,” she answered, meeting his eyes, trying to read his reaction.
“Is… Is that a… Do you have a problem with that? Cause I don’t. I like you and I don’t care about the whole age thing.”
He didn’t look fazed at all.
“Can we just keep hanging out? It’s just vacation fun. I promise I’ll make it fun.” He finished with a wink.
“Well, I like fun.” She said, running her eyes down his torso, voice low.
They’d spent the evening exploring each other’s bodies, telling each other what they liked and how. The limits of their vacation meant there was no long learning curve to figure it all out along the way. For that reason, it was all perfectly magical. He took instructions wonderfully. That, combined with his eagerness to please her, meant she was on cloud 9 the entire time. This was quite literally the best-partnered sex of her life, which was a little sad considering she was forty-two. Better late than never, I guess, she consoled herself.
“We’re here. You okay?” He asked eyebrows creased with concern.
“Yeah, just thinking.”
“Don’t think if it makes you look sad,” he said, exiting the vehicle and going to the back seat to take the picnic basket he’d organized with the hotel.
“Never heard anyone campaign against thinking,” she said, following him out.
He locked the car, and they walked down to the beach.
“Just suspend those sad thoughts for the duration of this vacation. Let me distract you with happy thoughts.” He said, kissing the tip of her nose.
“Fine. All sad thinking is suspended forthwith.”
They sunbathed, listening to music and sharing their musings, then she walked back to the water, letting the water, rise to her knees, enjoying the push and pull of it, imagining all her ancestors who were carried off in those waters to far-off lands to be enslaved.
She looked into the distance at the expanse of the water, seeing in her mind’s eye the ones who jumped overboard, choosing certain death over an unknown future. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t see a huge wave approaching her, until it knocked her under and she was scrambling to find her feet beneath her as she coughed out bitter, salty water, tears running down her cheeks, mixing with the water that was trying to kill her. The water began receding, and she panicked, afraid it would drag her into the ocean with it. Then she felt his arm around her, anchoring her, his chest heaving behind her. She followed as he dragged her back to their little campsite.
“What the fuck? I told you not to go in. What kind of person walks into the ocean knowing they can’t swim?” He all but yelled at her.
Another bout of coughing hit her and she bent as it racked through her. He rubbed her back in circles, then handed her a bottle of water when it stopped.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he helped her sit on the spread Maasai shuka. He held her hand in his, rubbing then dropped it, covered her with another shawl, then resumed the hand rubbing.
“Are you okay?” He asked, peering at her intently.
She rubbed her eyes, still feeling the irritation of the salty water. She leaned over and rinsed her eyes with some of the bottled water.
“I’m sorry I yelled,” he said when she stopped washing her face. “I just freaked out, which is not an excuse…. Just, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she croaked out, then cleared her throat. He moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. They sat like that for about half an hour until her breathing was normal and she felt like herself again.
As the sun set on the horizon, they packed up, and then she walked back to the water, promising him she would stay on the very edge and look out for the waves. She did not want that to be her last memory of the water. She let the gentle waves push her back and forth as she looked into the horizon, letting herself be one with nature. Letting the water cleanse and heal parts of her she didn’t even know needed cleansing and healing.
When she turned to leave, he was standing close watching her, she gestured to him and he came to stand with her, embracing her from the back so she was leaning on him. They stood like that until it got chilly and they had to leave.
One Week Later
Philip
They’d spent his final night touching and making love and touching. They’d quite possibly spent every minute touching body parts, even at the restaurant where they ate, their feet touching beneath the table. Time felt like it was rushing and all he wanted was to slow it the fuck down. It would soon be morning and he’d have to board that flight and never see her again, and he just wanted to scream at the injustice.
He’d wanted to ask her a hundred times to meet up when they got back to Kenya and stopped himself a hundred times for fear of what she’d say. Part of him was ashamed to acknowledge he was afraid she was married or something like that. He’d told her why he was in Cape Town, hoping she’d reciprocate, but she hadn’t. He ran that conversation back, trying to find any clues to disprove his fear that she was married.
“What do you do when you’re not driving me delightfully crazy on vacation?”
“I suppose now that we’re spending most of our days genital to genital, we have to talk shop.” She said, lying on her belly as he massaged her back with sunscreen in their room.
“It’s not all genital to genital, you love hand to genital and are near obsessed with mouth to genital.”
“I will be the first to admit I am hooked. Your expertise at mouth to genital is unrivaled.” She praised.
He smiled, delighting at her praise. He cleared his throat, forcing himself to stop with all that blushing. “I am a landscaper. I work with an architect friend of mine.”
“Interesting.”
“What does that mean?”
“Explains all that skillfulness with your hands and your laudable attention to detail.”
He kissed the line down her back, hiding the smile cracking his face in two. “Happy to please. How about you?”
“Events Planner. I work at a soulless agency that plans events for the rich we should be eating.”
He laughed. “What brings you to Cape Town all alone?”
She tensed beneath his hands. He was certain he didn’t imagine that. “Just vacation things,” she said in a rush. “How about you?”
“Came for a friend’s graduation, a former classmate. He just completed his PhD.”
“PhD in Landscaping?” She asked.
“No, structural engineering. That’s what I did before deciding to disappoint my parents by spending the day digging in the dirt.”
She turned to face him. “Do you enjoy the digging in dirt?” She asked seriously.
“Yeah.”
“Do you think your work does more good than harm?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“I’m guessing you can support yourself financially, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”
He nodded.
“That’s all that matters. If you can support yourself doing something you like that is a net good in the world, you are luckier than most. Don’t feel bad just because it’s not the sexy job parents want to brag to their friends about.”
He leaned over her.
“Thank you.” He said, clearing his throat, unexpectedly moved by her words. “Now, can I give you some mouth-to-genital as a sign of my gratitude?” He asked, kissing his way down her cleavage.
“The answer will always be yes.” She said, caressing his shaved head. The feel of her soft hands turned him on so much, it freaked him out. Getting over this would kill him, he thought as he untied her bikini bottoms.
One Month Later
Julia
Julia cussed under her breath when she saw her ex, Jacob across the room walking towards her. She’d already told him she wasn’t interested in his effusive apologies, yet here he was, bugging her. Okay, in his defence, they’d both been invited to the birthday party before they broke up. She just didn’t want to have to interface with him, not for a second.
She spotted her housemate, Ally and thanked God for the diversion.
“Hey,” she said. “Hide me, Jacob wants to come talk to me and I cannot.”
Her friend laughed dryly. “Let’s go. My cousin’s dropping something off for me.”
They walked to the closed gate, tossing ideas about how to kick Jacob out of the bash.
Julia reached out to open the door but Ally stopped her. “He’s not coming in, he’s just dropping something off.”
They stepped out, and Julia’s jaw hit the ground. Philip stood there looking as delicious as she remembered.
“Hey,” He said, his face matching her surprise.
Ally squinted her eyes looking from one to the other. “You guys know each other?”
“Yeah,” Philip said, biting his bottom lip in the exact way that ignited all her dormant passion.
“He is Cape Town,” Julia said, turning to Ally for the first time since her eyes had landed on Philip.
“No,” Ally said.
“What do you mean?“ Julia asked.
“Come on, he was a kid like two years ago.”
“I’m thirty-one,” Philip said defensively.
“She’s ten years older than you.”
“Eleven, if we’re being pedantic.” Julia chimed in, feeling equally defensive.
“You can’t be serious,” she added, looking from one to the other.
Philip reached into the open window and handed Ally a box about the size of three stacked dictionaries. “There.”
He turned to Julia, “Can we talk, please?” He asked, voice soft, beseeching.
“Julia, hey,” Jacob called out waving at Julia.
Her face fell.
“Is that your husband or person or something?” Philip asked tentatively.
Julia turned to him. “No. Jacob.”
“Go away, Jacob,” she yelled, frustrated. Embarrassed, he turned and left.
“So, can we talk, please?” He asked, gesturing at his car.
“Listen, I’m cool, y’all are grown.“
Julia shook her head, amused. “Cool.“
Ally walked away, closing the gate.
Philip opened the passenger sit and closed it after her.
“Are you seeing anyone?” He asked as he pulled out.
“Nope.” She said, slightly amused.
“Me neither. Are you open to dating? Dating specifically me?”
She looked at his profile, unable to fight the smile on her face. “Mostly no on the first, but an emphatic yes on the second.”
“Good. Because I’ve missed you, terribly.”
“I missed you too.” She said, matching his earnestness.
He pulled over and kissed her.
“Is the ex going to be a problem?”
“Nah. He’s just a little salty. We were supposed to take the vacation together, then he fucked around and is now finding out.”
“Good.” He leaned in and kissed her again. “I’m so lucky he was such a fool.”
“You really are lucky.” She said, laughter bubbling in her throat.
“I know, right?” He remarked, getting back on the road.
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