I reached into my bag and pulled out my camera. Popped off the lens cover and then snapped a couple shots of just him, standing there like he owned the rock. One of his friends said something funny, and he laughed—and I got the shot.
When it was his turn to jump, he moved to the edge, then ran the last couple of feet, flipping in the air until he crashed into the water.
I got a couple shots of that too.
Once Constantine was out of the way, the next guy lined up and jumped. Constantine swam to the stairs and climbed up until he stood at the bottom of the stairs. He turned to me, saw me staring at him, and waved me to join them.
Yeah fucking right. I shook my head and gave a thumbs-down sign.
“Come on,” he yelled, waving me over again.
“Not gonna happen,” I shouted back.
A wave came and splashed the rock, but he remained steady where someone else would have slipped. “Get over here, or I’ll come get you.” He raised his voice. “What’s it going to be, sweetheart?”
I felt like a commander was giving me orders across the battlefield, and I knew there would be consequences for my insubordination. So I closed my pizza box and set my drink aside before slipping on my water shoes and heading into the water. It was still a bit cold because summer hadn’t kicked in quite yet, but after a couple steps, I got used to it.
Constantine continued to stand at the base of the rock as he waited.
I put my hair up in a quick bun, then started to swim, the waves coming to shore blocked by the rock. There were lots of small boats in the cove, people admiring the beach and the beauty of the hotels up on the cliffs.
I finally reached him, the swell of the waves making it difficult to grab hold of anything. “I don’t know ... it looks really slippery.”
He slid back into the water with me, then pulled me close, his hand moving to my ass. “When the next wave comes in, climb up.”
“I’m not really a rock-jumping kind of girl—”
“Yet.” He smiled, and then the wave came in. He pushed me up like I weighed nothing, and I made it to the stairs without effort. “Attagirl.” He climbed up despite the slickness of the rocks, like he’d done this a hundred times.
I grabbed on to the ridges of the stairs and climbed, and I felt his hand at my ass to support me until I made it to the top.
The guys all cheered when I got there.
“There she is.” Aldo clapped me on the shoulder.
“Gonna dive or gonna flip?” Francesco asked.
“Uh ... maybe just admire from a distance?” I said.
Constantine emerged from behind me, his hand giving my ass a playful smack. “All right, let’s do it.”
“How about you just do it ... and I watch?”
“Come on, sweetheart. You’ve got this.”
“I’ve never done this before.” It didn’t look that high from shore, but now that I was actually on top of the rock, I realized how far the fall was to the surface of the water. About thirty feet.
“I’ll do it with you.” He held out his hand for me to take.
But I stayed behind and crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t know. What if I break my neck?”
“You won’t.”
“What if—”
“What if you have a good fucking time?” He smiled at me, then walked back, and the other guys gave us some privacy by jumping into the water, their shouts fading once they were over the edge of the cliff. Then their bodies smacked the water loudly when they collided. “I would never put you in danger, all right?” He stopped before me, his body still glistening, breathtaking. “You don’t have to do it. I’ll help you climb back down. But I think you should.”
“Why?” My eyes flicked back and forth between his, his height blocking out the sun and shielding me from the brightness. All the adrenaline and the fear left when I focused on him and nothing else.
