Chapter 21
Ian jolted awake with a start.
He was still on the bus. It was daylight. The space next to him was empty. He straightened in his seat and glanced around blearily. He didn’t see Maria anywhere. There was a woman with a white blouse and a blue scarf pushing a cart down the aisle.
“Would you care for a refreshment?” she asked him.
“Where’s my wife?”
The woman tilted her head toward the back of the bus. Maria came out of the bathroom. Her hair was twisted into a knot at the nape of her neck. She looked bright-eyed and fresh-scrubbed, as if she’d just washed her face.
Ian returned his gaze to the attendant.
“Orange juice? Coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
She dispensed two coffee cups with lids and two juice boxes before moving on to the next row. Maria sat down next to him. The shawl she’d been wearing was draped over the seat. She stuck a straw through the juice box and sucked prettily.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Better.”
“You slept ten hours.”
He removed the lid on his coffee cup and added a sugar packet. If she hadn’t been sitting beside him, he wouldn’t have rested so easily, and he’d needed the rest. He felt like a new man. Groggy, but that was nothing the coffee couldn’t cure. He downed both cups before he went to the restroom. Then he used the facilities and washed up, studying his appearance.
He needed a shower and a shave. The stubble on his jaw was so thick he couldn’t distinguish his beard from his mustache anymore. His pin-striped shirt was incongruent with his scruffy face, and too tight across the shoulders. After taking it off, he splashed his armpits with soapy water. Then he put it back on, securing one button before he returned to Maria.
“Do you have another shirt for me?”
She rifled through the backpack and handed him a ribbed undershirt. He eased the pin-striped one off his shoulders. The attendant chose that moment to offer them some breakfast pastries. She gave him a little smile before she moved on. He put on the undershirt and added the pin-striped shirt over it, unbuttoned.
“This isn’t San Diego,” Maria said.
“What?”
“You can’t take off your shirt anywhere.”
He glanced at the female attendant. “In front of other women, you mean?”
“How would you feel if I walked around topless?”
“I’d love it.”
“You would not.”
“Try me. We can go to a nude beach someday.”
Her lips parted in surprise. Then a flush rose to her cheeks, as if the suggestion intrigued her. “Have you been to one?”
“Yes.”
“Did you go naked?”
“No. I just enjoyed the view.”
She pulled her gaze away from his, seeming flustered. He watched a pulse flutter at the base of her throat. Her skin was so smooth and fine, like warm honey. He pictured her standing on the sand, breasts exposed to the sun. She’d be dazzling. She was a sensual woman, innocent but adventurous. He wanted to take her to all the places she’d never been.
