Laurel tugged at her knickers as she floated away on her back. The water felt cooler than ever because her skin was so heated. Gooseflesh appeared on her arms, but when she shivered, there was a vestige of pleasure in it that caught her unaware. She thought she was outside Call’s reach, but then she felt his fingers circle her ankle. She didn’t resist as he slowly pulled her toward him. When the sole of her foot touched his chest, she stopped floating and went vertical in the water. She didn’t try tofind footing on the same ledge where Call was standing; she treaded water instead.
She watched him push fingers through his wet hair and rub his beard with the back of his hand, removing all evidence of sparkling drops of water.
Call extended his hand, uncertain whether she would take it. She did. Further proof that Laurel Beth Morrison was no coward.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She nodded. “You?”
“Yes.”
She nibbled on her lower lip. “I wasn’t sure. When you threw me away... well, I wasn’t sure.”
“Threw you... oh, that.”
“Yes,” she said. “That.”
“I needed to withdraw. My back is to the wall. It was easier to put you away from me.” It didn’t seem to him that his explanation was helpful to her. “Pregnancy,” he said. “I was trying to prevent it.”
“Oh.” She nodded, understanding that he had spilled his seed into the water rather than into her. It seemed impossible now that she had been so naïve. She, who’d spent all her life around animals, had even bred cattle on occasion, had just proven how ignorant she was. “In my defense,” she said, “you rendered me senseless.”
Call lifted his eyebrows.
“Don’t look at me as if you’re surprised,” she said. “You know very well what you did.”
He smiled modestly. “One always hopes for the best.”
Laurel gave him a playful push. If he hadn’t had the wall of the pool behind him, she would have unbalanced him. It would have been fair, she thought, because he’d unbalanced her. Did he know? She hoped he didn’t. She was feeling unexpectedly vulnerable, and that was not comfortable in the least.
“Have you done this before?” she asked.
“I thought we established that days ago on the trail.”
“No, I didn’t meanthat. I meantthis.” She waved her free hand just above the surface of the water.
“Oh,this,” he said wryly, chuckling under his breath. “Making love in the water. No, never done it before. I don’t really swim, remember?”
Only one part of what he said gave Laurel pause. “Is that what we did? Made love?”
“Well, you didn’t like it when I called it pirooting.”
“But we’re not in love, are we?”
“That’s something best left to answer on our own, don’t you think?”
She nodded slowly. “Of course.”
“And,” he said, “as you insisted this would be just the one time, we really don’t need to find other words for it.”
Laurel had forgotten that, but he was right. She had said it, had even meant it when she’d said it. He’d teased her about the possibility of getting a taste for it, but then perhaps he hadn’t been teasing. She thought she knew herself and what she wanted and should have been able to dismiss that idea out of hand, but now she was fairly certain she’d spoken impulsively. She didn’t know if she had gotten a taste for it or if she simply wanted another taste. It probably didn’t matter; either was dangerous.
Call pulled her close, kissed her on the mouth, and was careful not to linger. He released her hand and gave her a gentle push.
Feeling bereft, Laurel drifted away. She watched Call turn carefully on the ledge and then find purchase between the rocks. He climbed up, pulled himself out of the water, and grinned at her as he unceremoniously yanked on his sodden drawers to keep them from falling to his ankles. She could have told him that every beautiful part of him was clearly outlined and she didn’t care if he stripped to his birthday suit and laid his drawers on a rock to dry. It was what she was going to do once he left. In the meantime, she floated on her back, paddling only when the current pushed her toward the edge of the pool.
Call folded his legs and sat on the warm slab of stone. “Aren’t you going to get out?”
“Not just yet.”
