A Place Beyond The Horizon

11. GAME FACE

Mara is wandering around the place, naked. Her blonde hair is wrapped up tightly in a towel, but other than that, she's nude. Aidan is sitting on a lounger by the plunge pool in Mara's house at the back of Venice Beach in Los Angeles. It's more of a compound, with high walls on all sides and a gate out into the laneway next to the garage. She ambles over to him and plops down onto the foot of the lounger.

"Feeling better?" Aidan asks.

Mara stretches, and Aidan sees how her muscles move beneath her golden skin. She undoes the towel and shakes out her damp hair, smoothing it back with her fingers.

"How do I look?" she asks.

He has one of the most famous women in the world stretched out in front of him, wearing nothing, waiting on his judgement.

"Good."

Mara's nostrils flare and she slaps his foot.

"Amazing," Aidan responds hastily, "You look amazing."

Mara looks down at herself, smiling, tracing fingers over her taut abdomen. He sees that she's shaved herself.

"Is that part of the deal?" he asks, nodding at her crotch.

"No, that's just for me. I think it adds to the aesthetic."

Her fingers brush over the trim curve of her thigh.

"You did a good job, Aidan, considering what I gave you to work with."

She pats him on the leg, casually.

"And don't think I don't appreciate the sacrifices you've made to get me to this. I know you had to make choices."

"Really?"

"Your management accountant, Kat. The lifestyle makes it hard to keep up relationships, always moving around."

It niggles at him, but he tries to dismiss it. In reality, Mara's offer to come home with her had made his choice for him. That dangling thread still nags at him, but it isn't the only one. There is also the thought of Rosa and her new lover.

Sitting by Mara's pool, getting to be part of her life, there is still that dull ache in the back of his head when he thinks about Rosa. She had been unremitting on their last call, unable to yield an inch, and the intransigence still grates on him. Now, she was finding solace after her bastard husband had walked out on her in the arms of Davey. Aidan could imagine how Davey was feeling about that: he would be taking it as a win.

Rosa would too. She could sport him on her arm, showing the world that it was onwards and upwards after being deserted, that she was moving on. Her last couple of posts had shown that, with pictures of her and Davey at a new bar in the city. Of course, it had been opening night, an exclusive invite-only affair. They looked good together on the socials. His wife would know that Aidan would be watching; she would be doing it to spite him, or because she just didn't care.

Despite her capricious nature and the turbulence of her life, at this point Mara was simpler to deal with.

"Such is life," Aidan replies and they both smile: the phrase has become a thing between them, a memento of their secret Outback adventure.

"And you have access to me, if you need it from time to time," Mara continues.

Her blue eyes are sparkling with repressed delight, a smile on her soft lips. She strokes his thigh and then bend forward to place a kiss on his abdomen.

"Of course, I'll need to take it out of your pay," she says, "My hourly rate is considerably higher than yours."

Aidan reaches forward to grab at her wrists, but Mara struggles and writhes, giggling like a kid. She's trying to escape, but he holds her firm, easily overpowering the slender woman. She grimaces in frustration, but then stops wriggling and breaks into a sly grin.