Reckless Abandon(7)

Looking around, I notice there is a man to each wooden rowboat and ushering tourists from boats like ours onto the wooden crafts, and then paddling over to the concession to pay an admission.

Leah asks Raphael why we can’t take this boat to see the Blue Grotto. He points to a very small opening in the rock. We watch as one at a time, the small wooden boats approach the opening that looks entirely too small for them to fit through. The man on the boat instructs the passengers to lay down on their backs as he pulls himself, and the boat through the opening by a metal chain that is mounted to the rock. The boat and its passengers disappear inside the sea cave.

It looks slightly frightening.

I glance at Leah with an unsure feeling. She shrugs me off and tells me to relax.

Our boat is waiting in a line of sorts. Tourist boats like ours are all gathered in a mosh pit, there’s no telling who was here first. When it’s our turn, Leah and I will board a small wooden boat and be swallowed up by the sea cave. My stomach drops at the thought.

We slowly inch up, getting closer to the mass of wooden boats. There have to be twenty in line before us.

Craning my neck, I look around at the sea around us. My eyes widen at the sight of a very familiar vessel.

I nudge Leah. “Look.”

She turns her head and gawks over at the yacht we were spying on yesterday. It’s about a two hundred yards from us, but it’s so massive, it feels like it’s on top of us.

“Looks like Mr. Sex-a-thon took a break for some culture this morning.”

“How long did you watch them yesterday?” I ask.

“Over an hour. It was enough that I had to FaceTime Adam for some afternoon delight.”

“Ugh! You did not do that while I was sleeping!”

“Actually, it was more like morning delight for Adam.” She grins. “Calm down, I went into the bathroom. You didn’t even know, so what do you care?”

I sock Leah in the arm and she laughs.

“Did they seriously go at it that long?” I am so curious. Parker and I never went longer than twenty minutes. And that was on a special occasion.

I once heard Seth Myers tell a joke. “A new study came out that women prefer sleep over sex. Who would want to sleep for two and a half minutes?” When I heard it I thought of Parker and me.

“Ems, he had her in every position. And I mean every position. We’re talkin’ crazy Kama Sutra stuff.”

My hand rises to my face, feeling the heat from my blush. I am not a blusher. Let’s make that clear. But just thinking about what I saw through those binoculars yesterday made me hot all over.

“You are so getting laid this week.” Leah winks and I glare at her. Getting in bed with someone is so far down on the list of things I want to do.

Thirty minutes later, Leah and I are still drifting in the boat, waiting our turn, when one of the wooden rowboats makes its way over to us.

Leah lets out a huff. “It’s about time.”

She gets up and waits for me to stand as well. The small boat pulls up next to ours and Raphael holds on to it, trying to keep it positioned as close to ours as possible. The man in the smaller boat holds out his hand and motions for me to grab it and come on board.

I rise and steady my feet to step over the wall and down onto the rowboat. Holding my bag with my left hand, I grab the man’s outstretched hand with my right.

“Nessuna borsa.” The man says, motioning to the purse I have clenched tightly to the left side of my body.

I blink back at him. There is no way I am leaving my bag and all of its belongings here with some strange man, no matter how nice Raphael may seem.

“Emma, leave the bag. You can’t take it with you.” Leah translates in case I didn’t get the message.

Still holding the man’s hand, I turn my head to face her. I try to give her an eye that reads over my dead body.

“Give me the bag!” Leah orders and starts to grab it from my hand.

“Stop it.” I bite back, pulling the bag back toward me.

Raphael releases the rowboat and stands to say something to the effect of why I can’t take the bag. The man in the rowboat is now only connected to our boat by the strength of our hands clasped to one another.

“Seriously, leave the bag. Give it to me.” Leah yanks the bag hard.

I release the man’s hand and swing my right arm over to grab the bag back out of Leah’s grasp. In doing so, I lose my ground and, more importantly, my footing and barrel ass up, backward toward the water.

I try to grab Leah’s hand on the way down but when I clasp my hand down on hers, the nerve in my palm bites back and the pain shoots up my arm, forcing me to let go.

My arms flail and I hit the water with a splash, and the searing pain travels from my hand up into to my head.

Black.

All I see is black.

My lungs feel heavy and my body is lifeless. Ashy blonde hair floats around my face. I adjust my eyes and see water . . . everywhere. In front of me, next to me, above and below. The light in front of my eyes goes black again and then backs into focus. My arms reach up to grab onto something, anything, but all I feel is water.

It’s dark.

My heart goes into panic mode. I try to spin my body around but there is nowhere to go. I move my arms erratically and try to swim up, but I don’t seem to be moving. A burning sensation settles in my throat and my chest grows heavier as the air locked in my lungs begs to get out.