Just My Luck
laughed. “Nah. I’ve decided I like the honesty thing too. Women usually . . . perform for me. It can be a bit exhausting.”
    “Perform? Like a stripper pole?”
    He smiled again. “Nobody’s tried that. That one might actually work. But you know, being a sportsman and all, they . . . turn it on.”
    “Being the new captain of the All Blacks,” she guessed. “Bet that helps.”
    “Yeh. But that’s not me, is it? It’s just what I do. So even though you aren’t always flattering, at least you’re . . . real.”
    “Oh, I’m real all right. OK. Your turn. Tell me something fascinating about yourself.”
    “You already know it. I’m a rugby player. That’s about all I’ve got, fascination-wise.”
    “And it usually works, I’ll bet.”
    “Well, yeh. Usually.”
    “But you went to University too. I know that,” she pressed. “So what did you study?”
    “Law.”
    “Law?”
    “What did you think? Physical education? Basket weaving? Yeh. Law. I’m a rugby player, and I’m a lawyer as well.” He knew he sounded a bit defensive, but geez.
    “You’re a lawyer?”
    He sighed. “There’ve been All Blacks who’re doctors, lawyers, engineers. All the professions. You do have to have a reasonable brain to do this job at a high level, you know. It isn’t easy, and it isn’t all physical.”
    “OK. Sorry,” she said hastily. “Reassessing here.”
    And here they were, at the end of the track. “Careful,” he said, putting an arm out across the path, the brush hiding the edge of the hole. No matter how independent she wanted to be, he wasn’t going to let her fall in. “Fatal drop if you step too far.”
    “Oh!” She stood back hastily. “What is it?”
    “It’s a blowhole. Wait a sec.”
    Within a minute, he felt the ground shake. Heard the rumble, the boom, and felt the spray coming up out of the deep chasm below them. He’d judged the tide right, then.
    She laughed. “Wow! It really is! And no guardrail, either. Has anyone ever actually fallen in?”
    “Don’t think so. Not too many people up here anyway, from the looks of that gorse. And you get the idea pretty quickly round here that you’d better look where you’re going. Not too many guardrails in En Zed, other than the big tourist spots.”
    They stood a few more minutes, watching the spray, feeling the power, the force of water hitting rock through their bodies. Then turned to retrace their steps.
    “You want to lead this time?” he asked. He’d automatically walked in front of her the entire way out here, he realized. Another point lost.
    “Sure.” She sounded pleased, and he sighed with relief at getting it right. And this was a much better idea anyway. Because now he got to look at her. And she looked so good. Her snug black shorts were . . . short, and her slim legs looked just as good in them as they had the day before. Although a bit scratched up from the gorse, which still made him wince. But the way they curved out from her trim waist, and over that round little backside . . . that was something he could look at all day. Maybe he should have put her in the water yesterday after all. He’d like to see her wet again. He’d like to get her wet. All that honesty in bed . . . that would be a novelty. She was flexible, too. He’d seen that when she’d been climbing. He had a sudden vision of pushing those legs up over her head, and had to pull himself back fast. Getting way ahead of himself here.
    “What are you thinking about back there?” she asked.
    “Uh . . .” His mind blanked.
    She turned on the track to smile at him. A smile that faltered as she looked at him, read something of his thoughts on his face.
    He schooled his face quickly into a neutral expression. “Sorry,” he said. “Off someplace else for a moment there.”
    She nodded and turned back, the silence getting a bit awkward. They reached the steep section again, and she headed uphill at a good clip. He watched her climb, tried without success

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