It was then she fell apart. Right into his arms, right where she belonged. A sobbing mess, but so wholly, completely at home. “Ethan, if you love me, nothing would hold me back.”
“Good.” He kissed away her tears. “Because I love you. Imperfectly, but with everything I have. And I want to go just about anywhere with you right now and prove it.”
“That’s an offer I absolutely cannot refuse.”
Once the equipment was put away and the animals had been cared for, she emailed the rest of the photos to the charity for the Von Adler graphic designers to do the layout.
Three days later, tangled in bed with Ethan and already running forty-five minutes late for check-in on the first leg of her trip to the Galapagos, she got the calendar proof.
Ethan was on the cover.
Epilogue
Tinago Falls, Philippines
Ten Months Later
After a twenty-three hour flight that included a four hour layover in Shanghai and an airport reunion in Manila that had him spinning her in circles and a bunch of complete strangers clapping, Ethan had his girl. It wasn’t the first time since she’d left for the Galapagos—she’d come home to him between trips—but this one was different.
This time he’d gone to her.
After the epic flight and an array of questionable methods of transportation, he’d stood in the pouring rain at the top of the reported five-hundred slippery stone steps that led to Tinago Falls and had given his promise to follow her to the ends of the earth second and third thoughts. Especially after she’d failed to mention he’d be on the cover of her damned calendar. He’d yet to live that one down, and the worst part was the page hadn’t yet been turned to his month.
Maybe a twenty-three hour flight hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.
But still.
“Why are we doing this in the rain?”
“Could you just trust me?”
He kept his mouth shut, mainly because he felt the need to mutter prayers all the way down, and was so focused on not dying that he nearly ran into her a few minutes later. He lifted his gaze.
He was stunned.
Crystal clear turquoise waters filled an enormous natural pool while cascades of white water fell seemingly from steep walls of vegetation, creating a spectacular waterfall display that left his jaw unhinged.
“We’re the only ones here,” she said with a mischievous grin. “That could change because this place is a Mecca for tourists, but those steps are treacherous in the rain.”
“That, and it’s the ass crack of dawn.”
She mock-glared at him and showed him where to stow their backpacks. Then she dove in, slicing cleanly through the water at a near horizontal angle that didn’t have him too worried she’d break her neck.
He was coming around.
Hell, he was going in.
His entrance was a lot less dramatic than hers, but he was there.
“Come with me,” she said, eyes sparkling.
He swam after her, belatedly wondering what kind of water snakes they might have in the Philippines. But he didn’t wonder long. She led him to the base of the waterfall, and when they broke through to the other side, the fall revealed a small cave in a world that was theirs alone.
“Wow.”
“That’s it?” she asked playfully. “Wow?”
“I was just thinking about something,” he said, eyeballing the rock underbelly of their surroundings.
“What’s that?”
“A few months ago a certain beautiful woman wore a gown about the color of this water and told me she wanted to be fucked hard against a rock.” He punctuated with a soft kiss, but it didn’t last. With them, they never did. One little kiss turned into two, and the next thing they knew they were getting thrown out of a speakeasy in the West Village.
“That,” she said, “is a promise I think you can keep.” They climbed out of the water, but he stopped short of putting her up against the wall and making good on her fantasy. Rock wasn’t so much sexy as it was brutally hard. Instead, he shed his clothes and sat on them at the water’s edge, then tugged on her hand. He didn’t have to undress her. She knew what she wanted and she wasn’t shy about taking it.
He loved that about her.