Until they were two, but it was the two under the camera lights, the two sneaking away to be alone. How had he missed so much that was right in front of his eyes?

Maybe things had never been as he’d imagined, and what he didn’t want was the old but something new, too, like Julia—the possibilities he’d never imagined, the dreams he’d stopped allowing himself to dream. In the warm sun and the rush of the jump still in his limbs, anything seemed possible. Anything at all.

What would he decide to do tomorrow, the start of the new year and the day that Julia left? He had no plans, no sense of which way the winds would turn. He could simply head to Buenos Aires and push his whole itinerary back a few days.

But the need to follow a schedule didn’t seem so important anymore. He would figure it out. For the moment, not knowing seemed okay. Because he had the rest of the day and the night and the following day with Julia. And if that was all he had before she took a plane back to Chicago and out of his life, then so be it.

“What’s your New Year’s resolution this year?” he asked as they headed back toward the hotel.

“Leave school no more than an hour after my students do,” Julia said immediately.

“I can tell you’ve been thinking about this.”

“It’s one Liz’s been trying to get me to do for years, but my heart wasn’t in it enough for the idea to stick.”

“And you think this year?”

“Consider it reflective of a larger change.” She grinned, her eyes alight and flecked with gold. “What about you?”

“Start my next project. Use the upcoming season of The Everlastings to transition the writing reigns to Anderson and then get a pilot up for this untitled thing I’ve been brewing.”

He hadn’t thought of it in such final terms, but now that he was saying it aloud he knew that was exactly what his plan was—and that he could do it. He didn’t need Kelley or Liam to make a show. People watched The Everlastings for the actors, sure, but everything started with the script, and it came to life through the producer. There was no reason he had to keep himself tethered to them when his whole imagination was wide open to new ideas.

“You’ll have to get a U.S. distributor, or however that stuff works, so that I can watch,” Julia said. “Are you on Netflix? Or Hulu?”

“I’ll send you links,” he promised. “I can usually get stuff before it airs.”

So that was it, then. He didn’t even need to ask what was next for them, because it was clear. Like Blake’s initial decision not to go to Rio, everything was decided without them saying a word. Their resolutions for the next year revolved around their jobs—meaning they’d be back to their regular lives, in Chicago and Sydney, moving forward and moving on, presumably trying to find someone who fit into the lives they’d already constructed in their respective homes. The real world was waiting, and while Blake had a few more months to be on the road, time was ticking down until Julia would be gone.

But he wasn’t going to dwell on it. Not now. They swung back to the hotel room to drop off the bag of clothes and changed into their bathing suits, a flashback to the first time they’d met and swum together. This time they would actually be swimming, since the beach was full of energetic crowds eager for the night’s celebrations to begin. They brought only a towel and enough money to buy coconuts and snacks on the beach from the vendors who came around with small portable grills, cooking skewers of meat and soft cheese. They talked with the vendors about the best places to go on the beach that night, but everyone said the same thing. They should just get out and cover the whole beach.

“Don’t forget to wear white,” one boy said as he pocketed Blake’s change.

“We will,” Julia said seriously, and then flashed Blake a grin. They were definitely getting into the spirit of things.

They spent the afternoon swimming and lounging on the beach. There was barely enough time to collapse in the hotel room for a nap with the windows open and an ocean breeze streaming through, and then they woke up and showered off the sunscreen and salt water and got ready for the night.

With a towel around his waist and water dripping off his hair, Blake pulled out their brand new, bright white clothes and tossed Julia her skirt and shirt.

“No peeking,” she admonished as she took the clothes and closed the bathroom door in his face.

Blake pulled on a pair of boxer-briefs and then the white pants, leaving a thin line of the band showing around the low waist where the pants hugged his hips. They were like dressy pajama pants, trim around his hips but with a loose, wide cut through the legs. He could easily get behind a New Year’s Eve party that involved being comfortable.

He debated whether he should wear his V-neck white shirt, but it wasn’t as new and bright as the pants. He decided to hang out shirtless and wait to see what Julia thought. What was taking her so long? It wasn’t like she had a lot of clothes to put on, what with how little fabric there was to that shirt…

He rapped gently on the door. “Everything going okay in there?”

“It’s a good thing it’s going to be dark when we’re outside,” she called back.

Finally she opened the door and Blake realized a major downside of his outfit: the fabric of his pants was so thin, there was no way to conceal the bulge that grew as she stood in the doorway.

She could see it and she pressed her lips together, trying—and failing—not to smile. “This will officially be the most naked I’ve ever been in public,” she said, running her fingers through her hair as Blake raked his eyes over her, trying—and also failing—to keep his hands and cock at bay.

“Hopefully it will also be your first officially fun all-nighter,” he said as he came toward her, brushing his hand down her side.

“To add to all the other new firsts.”

“Such as?” he asked, wanting to hear the list.

“Sex in a pool.”

“How about under a waterfall?”

“And don’t forget about hang gliding.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and there’ll be sex on the beach, too,” he murmured, gathering her hands in his and pressing his body to her.

“With two million people around?” she giggled, rubbing a hand over the head of his cock where it strained up against his fly.

“We’ll have to find a quiet spot.” He was breathing harder now, his lips brushing hers, bringing his hands to her breasts to run his fingers across the thin white fabric doing nothing to keep her nipples at bay.

The fabric was cut low into a V that showed off her cleavage but then stopped, leaving the rest of her midriff bare. There were small capped sleeves over her shoulders and a full back as though it were a normal shirt with the bottom half cut off, so it covered her more than if she were wearing a white bikini top or something similar.

But it was still cut so low that the top of her bra showed through, and she must have been saving it because it was one that he hadn’t seen before. A pale peach, lacy thing that he hoped matched her panties, just enough of the delicate fabric peeking over the top to make him want to tear the whole thing off.

The skirt was short and hugged her hips, the bright white drawing out the glow in her skin, her stomach and hips, her long, long legs. He bent down before her and pressed his lips to the skin below her belly button, running his hands over her hips and the gorgeous crest of her ass.

She tugged at him to get him to stand and he took the opportunity to run his lips up her bare skin, skipping over the small clasp of fabric between her breasts and then kissing the exposed line of her chest where her bra and the fitted shirt pushed her soft curves out.

She put her arms around him and ran her fingers under the waist of his boxer-briefs. He was getting way, way too excited, but the sun was going down and they could hear the music coming up from the beach, a low bass drowning out the whispers of the ocean and the high-pitched swell of the gathering crowds. It was definitely time for them to get out there. He tried to make his cock behave as he kissed her warmly on the lips.