Page 27 of Dancing With Temptation

“Almost. We’re staying at a hotel tonight, then traveling to the village tomorrow.” Lincoln sighed, clutching her close to his side with an arm around her shoulders. “You’ve done great, Roxie. We’re almost done.”

“Thanks.” She mumbled, wondering if she could just take up residence here and never get on a plane again.

The night turned into a blur and she opened her eyes the next morning to a smiling Lincoln with a cup of hot coffee in his hands. “Hi. Welcome to Cambodia.”

“Thanks.” She smiled and slid up in the bed, holding a sheet to her chest. “I guess I was too tired to do anything but strip off.”

“We both were.” Lincoln agreed and moved to pick up his own cup of coffee before he sat down on the bed with her. “Some of my team that work here will pick us up in two hours to take us the rest of the way.”

“Oh?” She asked, not sure she wanted to hear the news.

“No planes, just a four-hour bus ride, and then we’re done.”

“Thank fuck.” She thought back over the last few days, how she’d flashed that fraud of a passport without getting a second glance, and was relieved to know it had all worked. She was here at least. Exhausted, but here. “Then we get to work?”

“No, we’ll meet, well, I’ll meet up with the villagers and see what needs to be done first. I expect my team here will have all that information for me to look over once we’re on the bus, but I’ll make the final decision once we’re there. You can rest if you want to.”

“Cool.” She sipped at her coffee and wondered what kind of hotel there’d be in the village.

“Great, I’ll call for some breakfast.”

Roxie took a quick shower, put her hair up in a knot, decided not to bother with makeup since the temperature was supposed to be in the 90s that day, and put on a pair of denim shorts and a loose black t-shirt. A pair of Skechers completed the laidback ensemble, and she came out of the bathroom ready for the day.

“You look great for a woman who’s just traveled halfway across the globe,” Lincoln said with an easy smile.

“Good answer, buddy. Good answer. Oh, breakfast looks nice.” It was mainly fruit and some sweet bread, but she didn’t care. Her stomach wasn’t exactly happy and the fruit settled in her tummy nicely. An hour later they were downstairs, and Roxie couldn’t take her eyes off Lincoln.

He wasn’t in a suit and tie, or even trousers with a nice shirt. He was wearing black sneakers with a label she didn’t recognize, a pair of khaki shorts, and a plain white t-shirt. He looked so…ordinary. Sure, he was gorgeous as fuck, but he didn’t look…rich now. It suited him, she decided as a load of people on a bus got out and surrounded him.

She heard American accents and what was either British or Australian, or maybe both, as the group crowded around him. It was nice hearing the voices mix with the accents of the Cambodian people around them. Roxie had been surprised to learn that every Cambodian she interacted with spoke English very well and it was a relief to her at the same time.

“Shall we go, Lincoln? The village is waiting for us.” A man with dark hair spoke and Lincoln turned to Roxie.

“Are you ready?” He asked, a huge grin shaking away any exhaustion he must have felt.

“As I’ll ever be.” She was glad Lincoln had advised her to bring normal, somewhat modest clothes, not fancy or skimpy stuff, because everyone that greeted them was dressed in shorts and t-shirts. Most wore sandals and hats too. There was a wide-brimmed hat in one of her bags, she’d have to dig that out later, she decided.

The first hours on the bus Roxie spent quietly watching the scenery go by. Lincoln was looking at videos his team had shot and reading over damage reports while they all strategized and worked together to come up with the best approach. When they’d come to some kind of consensus Lincoln joined her at the front of the bus.

“What do you think?” He asked as he slid into the seat beside her.

“It’s so green. Everywhere, it’s so green.” She turned to smile at him. “And everybody waves.”

“They do, yeah. It’s one of the things I love about it here.” He paused before he went on, as if trying to pull it all together in his brain. “I came here during my undergrad years, on a summer program. I decided then that I’d help the villagers somehow. I came up with this program when I found out the one I’d been on had lost most of the funding they needed. Kids come over on my program now, but I have a team here full-time, year-round. There’s just some things I need to be here to approve, and it doesn’t do me any harm to get my own hands dirty does it?”

“No, I suppose not.” She gazed at him in wonder, proud that he’d spent one of his summers helping others. It made her decision to leave him all those years ago easier to think about now. If she’d stuck around, he’d never have gone on that trip, and well, it was best that he had. “I’m so proud of you, Lincoln. Even if I still hate you.”

“It’s okay, princess. You’ll probably hate me forever. I can deal with that.” He leaned over to kiss her cheek and smile at her.

“I hate you more after all those plane rides. And just wait until we get back home. It’ll be pure raw hatred by then.” She grinned and leaned into him, not meaning it at all. For a change.

“I don’t doubt it a bit, Roxie. Not one bit.” He put his right arm around her shoulders and held her close while the bus traveled on, until it finally stopped in a small village.

“This is it?” She asked, looking around. The drive had taken around four hours, but she had no idea where she was on the map. One of the women had said the name of the village but it didn’t ring any bells for Roxie. For now, it didn’t matter, they were sheltered under a canopy of tall trees and she could see the ocean out in the distance. A nice breeze blew around her, cooling her skin as she stepped off the bus.

She allowed the others to get off first, a little worried about how the villagers would greet her. She needn’t have worried though, some women from the village came up to her with smiles and spoke to her.

“Hi, Lincoln said we’re to make sure you get to your quarters. Could you follow us please?” The oldest one, in her late forties by the lines around her eyes, asked Roxie.