“That’s what all the boys say.” I manufacture an innocent shrug. “I guess you can say I’m finger-licking good.”
I step into a pair of flip-flops as Abel leads me out the door, and I don’t bother taking my purse, phone, or even my keys. I usually let myself in by way of the spare I keep hidden under a rock near the porch. It’s Loveless. Nothing ever happens here. It’s as if man had invented a bubble of drama-free living and somehow my family and I punctured the membrane. Of course, we brought all of the drama with us. Their death was as much of a great uproar as it was a great tragedy. My parents had marred the perfect track record of a community who boasted its safety as much as it did their wealth. But I do lock the door. I’ve never bought into the bubble. I know all about how cruel life can truly be.
Abel drives us wordlessly for ten minutes into the quickly dimming woods until the road snakes around and we come out on the other side to Forbidden Falls.
“I love this place!” It’s as if I were asleep and Abel had harnessed the power to rouse me. I hop in my seat like a child until he kills the engine and race out to the edge of the crystal clear lagoon at the base of the roaring monstrosity. The twin falls are beautiful as they rain down against the backdrop of emerald ferns that makes this look more like a tropical jungle than an evergreen laden mountainside. The water takes on an aqua hue and the entire feel of this blessed by God locale has a paradise like feel. The air itself is perfumed with the sweet scent of gardenia. “It’s beautiful!” I kick off my shoes and dig my feet into the cool sandy terrain, white as a powdered donut.
“I’d agree with you, but there’s a woman in my presence that far outshines the falls.” He takes off his shirt, and a jolt runs through me at the sight of those sculpted abs. Before I know it, he’s peeling off his jeans, revealing a pair of swim trunks.
“Smooth, McCarthy. Give a woman a backhanded compliment, then make her mouth water by dropping trou. Who’s the teacher here? You or me?”
He barks out a laugh, then winces as if he just realized a grave error. “I may have forgotten to tell you swimming was involved.” He gives a little wink.
“You damn devil.” I go to swat him and he ducks, only to end up in the water, flopping onto his back and taking a few quick strokes to the falls themselves.
“Catch me if you can!”
“You’re a pig!” I laugh so hard. “I don’t even have a bra on!” I pull off my shorts and splash my way into the icy water in my tank top and underwear. A shrill cry expels from me as soon as that arctic blast reaches my waist. “You’ll have to work harder than this to get me naked!” I swim over to him, diving under the chilly water, letting it invigorate me as it pulls me out of that funk I landed myself in this afternoon. I come up for air just shy of those sculpted abs. My adrenaline kicks in ten times harder than it did when we arrived. “You’re a god, but you already know that.” The water is so deep I have to tread to keep my head from going under. I wrap my arms around Abel’s shoulders, and we both sink a few inches.
“A god, huh?” His minty breath warms me as he pulls me in by the waist and holds me up as he treads for the both of us. His hair is perfectly slicked back and glossed, water beads off his features like teardrops and there’s something otherworldly about him at the moment, undeniably irresistible. “A moment ago I was a pig.”
“Nope. You’re Poseidon, and I am your willing nymph.”
He makes a face. “Play hard to get, Zoey. You’re worth the challenge and then some.”
“How is it that I’m selling myself short if all I want is to pleasure an exquisite specimen such as yourself?” I drag my finger across his lip, and he gives a crooked grin that makes my chest explode into a thousand heart-shaped pieces. The water drips from him like a sultry song that can only be heard by a beating heart, and everything in me warms at the sight of this sublime being.
“You are a wicked man, Abel McCarthy.”
“Why is that?” He frowns as he pulls me in, and I don’t hesitate wrapping my legs around the girth of his rock hard body. An insane rush of adrenaline courses through me as my skin adheres to his. It’s as if I’ve never touched a man before. It’s as if everything I do with Abel is the very first time I’ve ever ventured in that direction.
“Because you brought me to the most beautiful place on earth, with that face and that body”—my fingers strum against his washboard of a chest, searing and electric—“and you dare expect me to act like a lady.” My breathing grows erratic. “It’s been so long since I’ve been with a man.” I suck in my bottom lip, hardly able to contain the urge to take a bite out of his neck. “You bring out the vampire in me.” And the slut, the whore, the innocent schoolgirl all wrapped in one.
His head cocks back as he barks out an aggressive laugh. “Come here.” He speeds us closer to the falls, and the water sprays us with its delicate mist. “This may not be the ideal gentlemanly date, but as soon as I found this place, I knew I wanted to come back.” He winces. “With you. I don’t know the ins and outs of what makes you tick, Zoey. But if this place can make me feel somewhat human again, then it might work for you, too.” There’s a sadness in his eyes that lasts for all of three seconds until he rotates me so that the rushing power of the falls thunders over my shoulders and it feels like heaven.
“This is amazing!” The rush of the water swallows my voice, but I can’t take my gaze from those lucent blue eyes staring back at me. “I think you’re pretty amazing, too.” I don’t hesitate. I don’t ask for permission. I go for the kiss, and Abel inches back with a mischievous look in his eyes.
“One secret, first. Tell me something new, Zoey. I want a clue into this past of yours that you insist on holding up like granite.” His eyes pierce into mine, and a spark flares through me. Abel has a way of lighting me up from the inside without even trying. It’s funny because I don’t remember that particular perk with Holder.
“It does get exhausting.” I sink a little in his arms as I think this through. It’s never easy with Abel, but it’s always worth it. “A secret.” I give a few rapid-fire blinks as droplets of water dance across my lashes. “I have never sketched a nude,” I say it stone-faced, holding back the laugh begging to tremble from me.
“A what?” His head inches back, but those strong arms of his remain secured around me like steel cables.
“A nude—you know, sans clothing.” I reach down and flick the elastic waistband on his swimming trunks. “Any way you can help me with that?” My knee rides up his tree trunk of a leg, and I can feel him shudder.
That wicked grin of his expands, but I can already tell by that mischievous look in his eyes he’s not giving in. “So you want me to find you a hot girl to model for you?”
“You really are a pig.” I do my best to submerge him by the shoulders, and he laughs with his mouth just above the waterline. “I was sort of hoping you could get your brother,” I tease with a cheeky wink. “The one I haven’t met. Rumor has it, there’s yet another hot McCarthy roaming the planet, free and unattached.” I remember rumblings of the third heir to the McCarthy legal throne last summer.
Abel’s expression darkens as efficiently as if I reached into his skull and switched off the lights. “Solomon.” He forces a smile, but it doesn’t last long. “I don’t think I can help you with that one.” It comes out low, hardly audible.
“Looks like I struck a nerve.” A choking sound comes from me as I try to force an apology.
“No, it’s okay.” He moves us away from the rush of the falls, toward the fern grotto where it’s peaceful, silent in comparison to the thundering we just endured. “Sol’s a good guy. Good luck pinning him down for a sitting. He’s the forever elusive McCarthy.” His dark brows twitch to the sky, and I fight the urge to take a bite out of one. Typical me, most girls’ mouths water over abs, and here I’m craving facial hair. Hell, I’d take any part of Abel he was willing to gift me.
“Caleb’s taken.” I wrinkle my nose. “I’m pretty sure Kennedy would kick my ass if I asked her husband to drop his drawers.”
“It is for a good cause,” he teases. “The charity function was her brainchild to begin with.”
