She shakes her head, her voice soft but steady. “It was frozen until you fell in.”
“We still shouldn’t have gone out.”
“I’m fine, Boone.”
I nod and try my best not to examine every part of her body to reassure myself. “You scared the shit out of me,” I finally choke out.
“I’m sorry.”
“Fuck. Don’t apologize. It was my fault. I just… I’m so sorry, Rosie.”
Her head nestles into my chest. I brush a strand of damp hair away from her face, letting my hand linger on her shoulder to remind myself she’s okay. She’s still cold, her body trembling faintly against mine but it’s not nearly as bad as before. I hold her tighter, waiting, feeling the way her breathing slows and then steadies.
When I’m sure her legs can’t take any more standing, I reach past her, switching the shower to the tub faucet and plugging the drain. Warm water begins to fill around us, the sound of it soothing against the lingering panic in my mind.
Slowly, carefully, I shift us both, stretching out in the tub with her soft, delicate frame draped over mine.
She rests against me, her breasts to my chest, her head tucked beneath my chin, and I keep my arms wrapped around her, holding her up above the waterline. Neither of us speaks for awhile, the silence broken only by the lapping water as it rises around her shoulders.
When I know she’s finally covered and the shivering has subsided, I lean forward and shut off the faucet. She seems to be warmer now, but I’m still not convinced.
She props her chin under her fist, tilting her head up to look at me. Her eyes studying my face.
“We’re naked, in a tub together. I can’t say that I thought this would be how the night would end.”
Her teasing tone should make me laugh, but it doesn’t. I’m too rattled, my mind still replaying the moment she went under, the terror I felt when I thought I’d lost her.
What would I have told her brother? Her father? Beyond that, how could I have lived with myself without her here with me?
I would have rather been in the lake with her and if it’d come to that, I think I would have done exactly that.
“Hey,” she whispers, her voice softer now. “I’m okay. You look worried still.”
I shake my head; the words clogged in my throat. “That was bad.”
“I had fun,” she says with a small smile. “We’ll do it again once it refreezes.”
“The hell we will. We’reneverdoing that again.”
“It was a memorable date.”
It was hell for me.
She sighs and lays her head back down against my chest, but a moment later, she lifts it again, her lips twitching into a smirk.
“We’re naked in my bathtub and you’re soft.”
That gets a small, startled laugh out of me, breaking through my shit mood. “Soft as soft-serve ice cream,” I quip, though my voice still carries a rough edge.
She laughs. “That’s not what a woman wants to hear when she’s lying on top of you.”
I shake my head. “You almost just died. There’s no way I’m getting hard after that.”
Her expression softens, and she exhales a quiet sigh, her body relaxing fully against mine. “I’m okay, Boone. I promise.”
Her eyes drift shut, and moments later, she’s asleep, her breathing slow and even. I hold her like that, letting the warm water surround us until I’m sure that it’s done its job.
When her skin is no longer chilled and the trembling has stopped, I carefully lift her out of the tub, her body still limp with sleep.
