Adam’s face was inscrutable as he indicated what looked to Olivia like a sheer incline.
‘Now the climb begins,’ he said. ‘You ready?’
‘Bring it on.’
The harder the better; the more she exerted herself the less she’d desire Adam. That was the theory anyway. But there was something in the thickness of the air, the fertile thriving of this mangrove woodland, that clogged her throat with want.
‘Off you go,’ he said, and for a second she heard an echo of her own feeling in the depth of his voice. ‘I’ll be right behind you.’
She was imagining things; she must be. The past few days she’d kept a physical distance, avoided so much as a brush of their hands. As for Adam—Olivia was sure that he no longer wanted her at all. So it must be the magical atmosphere of the forest weaving some sort of hallucinatory spell on her.
Olivia hoisted herself up onto a rock, relieved to see a hanging rope suspended to help her continue the climb up the steep incline. It was an ascent that incorporated not just slippery rock but solid tree branches that jutted out at improbable angles. Thighs aching and calves protesting, Olivia felt sweat sheen her forehead over the twenty minutes it took to reach the cave entrance.
Or at least what Adam called the entrance.
‘That’s not an entrance. It’s a crack in a rock. I’ll never fit in there.’
He grinned suddenly. ‘Sure you will. You fitted through that window a week ago. I watched you.’
‘That feels like a lifetime ago.’ Guilt smacked her; a flush rose to her skin. She’d barely given a thought to Zeb or her mum or the baby in the past days. ‘Have you heard any news on when Zeb may get here?’
Adam glanced away from her and reached into his rucksack for a bottle of water. ‘Gan called earlier. Friends of his met up with Zeb. He should be here tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow?’
Her dismay was embarrassingly apparent and shame coated her as actual disappointment weighed in her tummy. Meeting Zeb was her mission—surely she wasn’t shallow enough to care that his arrival heralded the end of their holiday? Even worse, surely it couldn’t have anything to do with Adam? She wouldn’t, couldn’t even contemplate that.
‘That’s great,’ she said firmly, and plastered a smile on her face. ‘Wonderful.’
‘Isn’t it?’ he agreed, his tone so noncommittal Olivia had no idea what he was thinking. ‘But why don’t we discuss Zeb later? Negotiating the cave is quite tricky, so it’s best if we concentrate on that right now.’
She nodded.
‘It’s pitch-dark in there, so you’ll need this.’
Adam handed her a headlamp and Olivia put it on before watching him angle the breadth of his body into the sliver of darkness between two overhanging rocks.
Sucking her tummy in, she followed, glad of the flashlight as inky darkness enveloped them. The torch illuminated a bamboo ladder leading down into the midnight depths. ‘Is there any lighting?’ she asked.
‘Nope. But your eyes will adjust. Once we get down the ladder make sure you stick close to me.’
‘Not a problem.’
A cast-iron excuse to do what she’d longed to do for days, and this time she wasn’t going to deny herself. Because tomorrow Zeb would arrive and this whole idyll would end; there would be no more opportunities to be anywhere near Adam after that. The chance of actually acting on this crazy, stupid attraction would definitively be over.
Life would return to normal.
Which was exactly what she wanted. Right? She would have accomplished what she came here for, made an attempt to ensure this baby had a father in his or her life. That was good, right?
Olivia waited for the anticipated buzz of enthusiasm and came up with a flat fizz of two-day-old champagne.
Ridiculous—she was being ridiculous.
‘Liv? You OK?’
‘I’m fine.’ Of course she was. ‘I just need to get my bearings.’
Truer words were never spoken.
Once down the ladder she looked round in awe, the light of her headlamp picking out the damp cave walls, the narrow passageways jutted with rocks.
‘Follow me, and if you’re worried, say,’ Adam said. ‘It’s a bit difficult in places, but I’ll be right here every step of the way.’
Olivia bit her lip and nodded. She had to stop reading double meanings into his words but somehow down here, in the very depths of a miracle of nature, every word seemed significant. It felt as though Adam were asking her to follow him somewhere else—or maybe that was wishful thinking on her part. She needed to get a grip; Adam was guiding her through a network of caves, not on some spiritual or sensual journey.