He scrambled down the embankment and froze. Sweet fucking Christ. He’d prided himself on having a halfway decent imagination, but he hadn’t made it out of t-ball. Pepper Knight was a major-league home run. And practically naked, water beading on every sexy curve. Except the scowl plastered on the pretty face peeping out from beneath her pink ball cap could douse the most raging hard-on.
Almost.
“Looks like you went and got yourself stuck up a creek without a paddle.”
“Don’t ask.” She was more irate than a feral kitten plunged in a cold bath.
He’d be happy to keep watching her try and fail to cover herself all day, but Mama raised him to be a gentleman. “Let’s get you out of here before anyone sees.” He strode down the riverbank and held out his hand. “Can you swim?”
“How do you think I ended up in this situation?” Her dark hair shone even in the shadows while that lush mouth compressed into a prim line.
“Trust me, that’s high on my list of questions.”
Her eyes narrowed at the humor lacing his voice. “I can’t come out. Not like this.”
She was right. They weren’t going to have much time before another car came along, and hell if he wanted anyone else seeing her this way.
He loosened his tie and unslung it from around his neck before unbuttoning his shirt.
“Are you insane?” she hissed, bouncing on her toes. “We can’t both be naked!”
“This is called being chivalrous, part of my Southern charm.” He stuffed the tie in his pocket and shrugged out of his shirt, holding it out. “Get over here and stick this on quick.”
Her gaze lingered on his abdomen. Her eyes were large and round.Well, how’d you like that, she is perving.He subtly flexed, not about to turn away from her probing stare. Confusion etched in her face. This time his muscles tightened of his own volition.
“I’m not checking you out or anything.” Her glance rose to his mouth, and her bewilderment grew even more pronounced.
“Guess that makes one of us.” He winked, baiting her like a cranky kitten.
His reward was an outraged squeak, one he’d like to hear again somewhere more comfortable, like his king-size bed. A fast-sinking sense of self-preservation warned him that this situation would be a serious bite in the ass, but he was in for a penny now.
She licked her lips. “Can you at least try to be mature about this?”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black,” he muttered. He couldn’t stop poking at her, like a kid with a first crush.
A splash bounced off the underside of the bridge and a moment later she snatched the shirt from his proffered reach. “Ouch.”
He turned as she winced, barefoot, from the gravel. Her toes were painted a bold red. Something about that shade was a major turn-on.
“My shoes and phone are upstream.” She shoved her arms through the holes and leaning forward to do up the buttons from the bottom. The swell of her breasts teased him through the half-open gap before vanishing from sight.
“I’ll drive you to them.” His body tensed from both anticipation and nerves. He stepped forward. “Let me help.”
“What are you doiiiiiiiing?” she cried as he swung her off her feet. “You have two seconds to put me down.”
Her skin felt even softer than it looked, and the strands of her hair tickling his forearms killed him slowly. She smelled like apples, ones that had been bobbing in a river for the afternoon, but apples nevertheless.
“I said put me down!” She twisted this way and that. “I don’t need help.”
“That’s not how it looks to me.” He readjusted his grip.Shit.That was her ass. He’d accidently grabbed a damn near perfect handful. “And this would go a sight easier if you’d stop wriggling.”
“I can take care of myself. I have two perfectly good legs.”
God help him, they were better than good. He knew every square inch of those two particular appendages better than the back road to Hogg Jaw. “High school kids party here. There can be broken glass around. You don’t want to get cut.”
“Okay, but…” She raised her chin a fraction, visibly searching for another excuse. “The hill is steep.”
“Pepper Knight, you are the most headstrong, stubborn, bullheaded woman I have ever met, and even that is an understatement.” And he meant it as a compliment. She was also smart, direct, and trouble with a capitalT. But if he told her that, he might let other truths slip out, too, like how his gaze swung to her front door every time he left his house. How a man could melt in those dark eyes, pools of bittersweet chocolate. “But you need to accept help when it’s freely offered.”
