Foolish.
Perhaps she should turn around and head to the beach. Before she could suggest it, Lee was dismounting.
Though she knew she would regret this, she set down the stand and got off the bike.
It was easy to see in the moonlight, and she picked out the rocky path that led to the water. She didn’t speak, knowing Lee would follow her. Carefully she picked her way across the rocks and around a bend where her waterhole stretched between the canyon in all its glory.
Lee’s sharp intake of breath was satisfying. He hadn’t found her place in his exploration of the ranges.
The water was a still hole in the darkness, with the moonlight glistening off one edge. She inhaled deeply and allowed the air to soothe her aching heart.
Here she would find the strength to harden her heart against Lee and put Stonefish away for good.
She sat and pulled off her boots and socks, then hesitated. She hadn’t considered what she would swim in. Her clothes needed a wash, and while the fresh water would remove the smell, there was nothing like the feel of the water on her skin.
She loved skinny-dipping. She glanced at him. Though it was night, there was enough light to make out facial expressions and bodies.
Though perhaps this was her opportunity to play him like he was trying to play her. Show him his words meant nothing to her.
“I brought you a shirt to swim in.” He held it out to her.
What was worse—wearing a shirt which smelled like him, or being naked in front of him?
He’d already seen her naked. But wearing his shirt seemed so much more intimate. The brush of the fabric against her skin, being surrounded by his scent, every breath reminding her of their night together.
No. She couldn’t do it.
“I’ll manage.” She turned her back to him and unbuttoned her shirt, leaving it on the rocks before taking off her pants as well. Dressed in her underwear, she slid into the water.
She closed her eyes as the cool water washed over her.
Bliss.
It had been days since so much water had touched her skin. Nhiari swam a few strokes underwater before surfacing and brushing the strands of hair which had escaped her braid out of her face. She kept her shoulders underwater, watching as Lee stripped out of his pants and shoes and changed into a pair of swimming shorts.
She was too far away to see the definition, but she knew from experience that his body was hard and lean. Nhiari had asked him about it. The bashful photographer didn’t seem to be the type to work out at the gym, but he’d said he had to be fit to hike the locations to get the photos he wanted.
It made enough sense, and she hadn’t complained. Now she knew it was from his time in the military.
Her fingers untied her hair and then untangled the braid, letting the water run through it and wash it. Then she rubbed her skin, removing the dirt and dust as Lee slipped into the water.
Perfection.
Her thighs tightened. It was only attraction. A physical reaction beyond her control. What she could control was whether she would act on it, and in this case it was a resounding no.
“Feeling better?” Lee asked.
“Yes.” She wouldn’t lie, but neither would she gush about how amazing the cool water felt against her skin. The less she shared with him, the less he could manipulate her.
He ducked under the surface and then brushed the water back from his hair, the rest of it cascading down his skin.
Nhiari looked away and scanned the area. The water level was high. Much of the runoff from the storm collected here and had had time to settle to form the large waterhole. It would shrink through summer sometimes to almost nothing, before the rains would fill it again.
This was what she was fighting to protect.
“This place is beautiful.” Behind her Lee splashed, probably washing himself as well.
“It’s not always this full.” Did he realise it was her special place she’d told him about during their night together?
