Time Changes

Part Twenty Four

They collected his bag from the hotel the following day, but it was a late start, more lunch than brunch. Then they changed into beachwear and hit the sand. It was another hot day in Rio, but the Copacabana was quieter than other weekends, and they planted towels on the sand a few feet from the sea.

The sun was strong, and all too soon, Peter was dragging her into the warm blue Atlantic. She gasped as he grabbed her waist and snatched at the air before she was submerged under the surf. When she finally surfaced she was laughing, almost drowning, but laughing. With his hair swept back and water running off his body he stood in the waist deep water looking like some God from Greek Mythology, except for his blue eyes.

With a smile, she wrapped her arms around his neck, “anyone would swear you were trying to drown me!”

Peter looked down at her wet face, her hair scraped back from her eyes, and her delightful, perfect body in the most delicious cherry red bikini that set off her dark hair and tanned skin to perfection.

                “No! I want to swim with you...well that’s the official answer.” She cocked her head to one side and he wanted to zoom to the unofficial answer! “Woman you kill me!”

His hands ran up her body, skimming over her rounded buttocks, fingers sliding over her skin, which was an instant mistake, “can we teleport home? I’ve got a sudden urge for something more active than sunbathing!”

Alexis laughed then turned and dived underwater putting distance between them before she felt him swimming alongside her. They continued until they were quite far from the shore, stopping to tread water.

                “I’m going to miss this place when I’m finally back in Britain.”

He smiled, “but that’s the beauty of travelling, you can come back anytime and it’s instantly a holiday.”

She nodded, “I’m looking forward to seeing more of this country before I go back though, I’m trying to book a trip up the Amazon...then there’s the Iguaçu falls. Apparently they’re amazing!” She took a deep breath, “why don’t you come with me?”

He laughed, “This jaunt to Australia despite being work was more time away from my office than I could afford. It’s nose to the grindstone when I get back I’m afraid.”

She sighed, “one of the most beautiful places in the world?”

                “Lex. I can’t! This weekend is an indulgence; I can’t do any more than that.”

She looked at him for a moment, wondering how things were going to ever work between them. “So what happens when I get back to London?”

Peter had turned away from her scanning the horizon, “we’ll have to play it by ear, do our best.”

She thought of the commitment a junior doctor position would require, the long hours, night shifts, weekends. There’d be no time to make a relationship work; him meeting her in the middle over this was the sign she was looking for that this passion, this desire, the love that she felt would survive. She wasn’t sure she had it.

With a sigh, she turned for the shore cutting through the surf as she went. Back in the beach, she slumped on a towel and watched Peter swim parallel to the shore, a strong determined stroke as he moved through the water. Day two and already it was awkward.

Half an hour later he slumped onto the towel next to her, his body glistening in the sun, her desire was as strong as ever, but for Alexis she was now concerned, that neither of them could make this work. Could she deal with heart break at the hands of this man for the third time?