I quickly wiped the smile off my face, “I’ll make sure I don’t smile again then.”
“Try,” he said cockily.
“Is that a challenge?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Fine, throw your best one at me. Right now.” I folded my arms and looked at him, trying to give him my most serious, unshakeable look.
“Mmmm . . .” He looked me up and down. “It needs to be spontaneous. I’ll get you later. When you least expect it.”
“I’ll be ready,” I said.
“I’m sure you will be.” He leaned in a little closer and my eyes were drawn to his lips. An overwhelming feeling of wanting to kiss him rose up in me, but this would be the worst place and time for that.
“We better get going.” He broke the moment and stood up.
“Of course.” I started unbuckling my seat belt but stopped when I saw Ben reach up into the overhead compartment. His shirt lifted up and his jeans pulled down, revealing just enough of his stomach to make mine flip.
“Shit,” I whispered to myself. This man was harder to resist than chocolate. And that was saying something.
When we arrived at the National Park in Namibia after a two-hour-long drive in a shuttle, everyone was in high spirits, except me. It felt like I’d just opened some kind of sleep floodgate and every time I blinked it felt like I was going to fall unconscious. I was exhausted, more tired than I’d felt in ages. And of course when I saw the room I was staying in, the tiredness grew. We were staying in the most beautiful rooms perched high up on massive boulders that overlooked the national park below. All the rooms were separate and connected with wooden walkways.
“So meet for drinks on the deck at six and then dinner,” Ben had said. It was only three in the afternoon so I had a glorious three hours to bath and catch up on a little sleep. And when I saw the bath . . .
The bath was set up against the window that looked out over the plains of the savanna below. There was a watering hole at the bottom of the rocks and elephants were drinking from the water. The bath was one of those huge round things that was probably more suited for swimming than bathing. I walked past a complimentary bottle of wine on the bed and poured myself a glass while slipping into the bath. The water was warm and the bubbles were so soft that it felt like I melted into the back of it.
I sipped the wine and wondered how long it had been since I had had the time to do something like this.
My phone beeped and I peered over at it on the top of the closed toilet seat.
Ben: What are you doing?
I grabbed a towel, dried my hands and took my phone.
Sera: Bathing.
Ben: Dear God!!!
Sera: What are you doing?
Ben: On a recce with the photographer to look at the places we’re shooting at.
Sera: Cool. Have fun.
Ben: Not as much fun as I could be having if I were with you . . .
Ben: How was that?
Sera: Good. But I’m not smiling.
Ben: You’re lying.
Sera: Nope.
Ben: I don’t believe you.
Sera: Bye, Ben.
