God, I knew it, though. Ifeltit, and I knew in my heart I would’ve done even if I hadn’t glanced up at just the right—orwrong—moment to see him standing at the very edge of the highest cliff at Berrydown Bay.
To see himjumpas if the earth beneath him was on fucking fire.
He didn’t jump. He dove.
Same thing. The fact that he’d folded and arced his body into a goddamn arrow seconds before he’d hit the waterhead firstwas beside the point.
Whatever the point was. Somehow in the last six seconds, I’d lost track.
Just like I’d lost track of him in the bottomless sea he’d just hurled himself into.
What if it isn’t bottomless? What if there’s rocks and—
“Look!” Ivy tugged on my hand and pointed her tiny finger. “There he is!”
Still choking on fear, I followed her gaze and zeroed in on the lone figure swimming for the beach about thirty feet further out than I’d expected him to be. Folk was in one piece as far as I could tell, his stroke sure and strong, the curve of his arms so graceful I had to look away.
Damn him.
Ivy climbed up my leg, sharking for a bunk up so she could get a better look. Dazed, I hoisted her onto my shoulders, wondering how long it would take her to notice the crazy man in the distance was someone she knew. Maybe she wouldn’t if he came ashore on the beach, but as I forced myself to resume walking, I realised we were heading to the same place.
The sea pool was edged by rocks on three sides, a paved path with steps and lifesaving equipment on the one that joined the ocean to the land. Folk swam to the furthermost corner of the rocks and pulled himself from the sea. A single, fluid movement that made his lean biceps pop, his T-shirt clinging to his athletic frame, hair dripping and hanging in his face.
He pushed it back with one hand, tilting his face into the morning sun. I wasn’t close enough to hear the deep breath he took, but I felt that as much as I had his body hitting the water. And I was close enough by now for Ivy to get the punchline of this bizarre morning walk and bellow her shock and awe right into my ear.
“FOLK! Daddy! It’s Folk!LOOK!”
There was zero chance of Folk not hearing. Pretty sure our brothers back at the compound heard her too. But he didn’t react right away, giving me time to swing Ivy down from my shoulders.
Her little feet were on the ground by the time he turned to face us.
Folk wasn’t a dramatic kind of bloke. Any surprise he felt at discovering us loitering behind him was fleeting. Gone in a blink of his beautiful eyes.
Then he smiled, and any concept I had of what beautiful meant went out the window.
Jesus Christ.How was I supposed to survive a minute in this man’s company without melting into a puddle at his feet?
Oblivious to my plight, Folk hopped down from the rocks, landing on the path with bare feet. “Did you hear me thinking about you? Or are you here for a swim?”
“Uh—”
“We’re here to swim.” Ivy rescued me. “Daddy doesn’t like the pool near my mum’s house.”
Course I didn’t. How could I when Lauren showed up every time we went there and swiped Ivy away from me?
“Indoor pools smell funny,” Folk agreed. “And they don’t teach you to swim like a real fish with salt in your eyes.”
“I can swim,” Ivy protested.
“Without goggles?”
That got her. She frowned, and I knew I was in for a morning of her screeching because the sea water stung her eyes, but refusing to wear goggles because the literal merman in front us had implied that she shouldn’t.
Cheers, mate.But it was impossible to be irritated with a dude who was yanking his wet T-shirt off in front of me, revealing a tanned torso that seemed to go on for days. Fair body hair. A smattering of scars.
No ink.
Once again, it struck me how little he resembled the rest of us. Bar Alexei, of course. There was no one quite like him.
