Fantasy dates were the one thing Emily was looking forward to above all else. Aaron had made it through her best friends, and her father and sisters, all of whom seemed to adore him. Emily could swear her father was keeping something back, but he didn't seem willing to share. Emily knew better than to push. What had floored her was the way Chris had pulled Haley and her together at breakfast after the rose ceremony and announced that they both needed to be packed to head to Cancun, Mexico. Through all of her travels, Mexico was one place Emily had not been and she had been enjoying every minute in the nice, warm weather.
She'd spent her morning sunning herself by the pool and her afternoon was spent on the beach with Aaron building her very first sandcastle. She grinned as she glanced in her compact in the limo, double checking to make sure her makeup was perfect. He'd taken the chance once their castle was done to scoop her up in his arms and throw her into the ocean spray. Emily couldn't remember the last time she'd felt that carefree on the shore. But now it was formal, now she'd taken the time to curl her hair, and put on the dress she'd been deliberately saving for this far in the competition.
JJ and Penelope called it her 'man-eating dress'. It was black and fit her from shoulder to mid-knee, leaving absolutely none of her curves to the imagination. It had one strap over her right shoulder. She'd matched it with a solitary diamond and diamond earrings. Her heels were simple slip-ons, not fully sure of what they were actually doing and, upon his suggestion, she'd brought along a pair of flats. He'd kept suspiciously mum about the whole thing. She smiled at Aaron as he helped her out of the limo and bit her cheeks against laughter as his eyes almost bugged out of his head. Mission accomplished.
"You're trying to kill me," he said as he pulled her right against him, fitting her body to his as he kissed her thoroughly. His hand slid down her back, smoothing over the satin of her dress.
She couldn't stop her smile when she pulled away with a groan. "Not in the slightest. Though I'm not going to say it's not a thrill to know I'm doing it."
He laughed low in his chest and wove his fingers with her. "I have a surprise for you."
"A surprise?" Emily asked, excitement welling up in her.
"Mmhmm. Do you know where we are?"
"I've never been to Mexico," she admitted.
He looked surprised. "You haven't? Wow..."
"I know. I didn't do a lot of travelling in the Americas."
He laughed and nodded. "Okay. Well, this is Chitchen Itza."
Emily's eyes widened, her mind starting to whirl. "Ashley's been here."
"Your sister?"
Emily nodded, her eyes sparkling as she tried to look as many ways as she possibly could. "Her honeymoon."
"Ah, well, Emily... meet Julio, he's going to give us a quite private tour of the place before dinner."
She squealed, gripping his arm tight and just barely managing to restrain herself from actually jumping up and down at the opportunity."Where do we start?"
Aaron was looking forward to this moment more than anything else. She'd absorbed every moment of their tour with relish. More so, she'd fired questions at Julio as they went. Her intelligence shone through in their tour as they went from the ball court to the Group of Thousand Columns. She'd skipped her way around the entirety of the Mayan ruins, but as they emerged from the Thousand Columns, Aaron took the lead, tugging her gently by the hand.
"What about this pyramid?" she asked, looking up at the stones build up beside her.
"This is the Pyramid of Kukulkán," he said, pulling her closer and into his side.
"You know what it is?"
Actually, he'd been studying up on this since the decision had been made as to his fantasy date for the night.
"Oh?"
"Mmhmm," he replied. "They've only been able to restore two sides of it. The building was linked to astronomy and their Mayan calendar."
"You don't say," Emily said, linking their arms.
He moved it so he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Yes ma'am. It, and the rest of Chichen Itza was abandoned by 1400 AD."
"Any reason?" Emily asked easily tucking herself under his arm.
"None that anyone's been able to come up with. But, there is a mathematical point to this. Has to do with their calendar," Aaron said, beginning to lead her around the edge of the pyramid. "Each face of the pyramid has ninety-one steps and when you add that to the top platform, they all add up to 365, which-"
"Is the number of days in the year," Emily agreed.
"And the stairways divide the nine terraces of each side of the pyramid into eighteen."
"And eighteen is...?"
"The number of months in our calendar."
Emily grinned. "You looked all of this up."
"So what if I did?" he replied, kissing her temple. "What does it matter?"
"I'm impressed," she responded. "You looked up all of that information just for this."
He almost chuckled when her stomach growled loudly. It couldn't have been more perfect timing. She was blushing a bright red and then he couldn't hold in his laughter. "Lucky for you, it's dinner time."
Emily was swept away. Completely and utterly swept away. He'd completely swept her off her feet and more than that, she was absolutely, positively in love with him. No questions asked. And she knew this was her last chance to tell him before the engagement ceremony and the final rose ceremony. She was anxious, her stomach was in knots...
...And he was presenting her with some sort of envelope.
"I want you to have this."
She opened it carefully. "Emily and Aaron," she read. "If you choose to forgo your individual rooms this evening, please use this card to gain access to the fantasy suite."
"So?" he asked quietly, taking her hand.
She felt herself blushing, the heat rising up the back of her neck. "Yes," she whispered.
He pulled her up, pulling her across the grass and out of Chichen Itza. She felt adrenaline and anxiousness well up and start flooding her veins. He opened the limo door for her, allowing her to slip in first. When he slid in after her, she moved right against him. Her legs went over his, tucking herself against him. She couldn't stay away from him.
Emily was the one to lean over and kiss him first, her hand against his cheek. He responded in kind, his hand running up her side over her dress. She'd had a dream of a time with him and with the fantasy suite ahead of her, she had a feeling that it was only going to get better. Hours and hours of uninterrupted time with Aaron took her back to their date in his house. But this time, she wasn't sick. This time, she was a hundred percent and she planned to take advantage of the situation.
His hand cupped her neck as Emily pulled away slightly. "You, Aaron Hotchner, are utterly unexpected."
"Is that a good thing?" he asked against her mouth.
"Yeah," she replied, pissing him. "It's a really good thing."