“Feeling hot and bothered?”
She wanted to hit him.
Wanted to make him hurt a little.
Wanted to drag her nails over his chest just enough to make him sting.
“Like you care.” It was childish and the best she could come up with at short notice. That and splashing him.
Jake laughed. Instead of splashing her back, he lunged for her, pulling her under underwater, ducking under with her.
She locked herself around him, letting him drag her into the deeper part of the river, the current a little faster, but he was solid for her to hold on to when they came up for air.
“Why are you here?” he said, still holding her.
His muscles were tense where she held onto him, firm andgrippable. Any worry she might’ve had about being in the river had never materialised; he wouldn’t let her hurt. Not like that.
“Went for a ride to clear my head. Before the storm starts.”
He didn’t say anything, just guided them to where the river was deep, but slower in its current.
“Why are you here?”
“Needed to cool down. The cold showers weren’t working.” He shifted her so she was pulled closer against him, his erection pushing against her.
“You didn’t need cold showers.”
“Didn’t I?”
“For fuck’s sake, Jake, all I said was that I didn’t want to be Severton’s latest gossip headline. You didn’t suddenly start to repulse me or make me break out in hives.” Her arms wrapped around his neck, allowing him to completely keep her afloat.
The expanse of the area around them, with only the trees and the birds and the animals, added to the intimacy. Lainey wrapped her legs around his waist, suddenly regretful that she’d left her underwear on.
“It was like we were only neighbours outside the bar.”
She shook her head, looking at the horrendously beautiful blue eyes that still sparkled. She wondered if that sparkle ever had anything to do with her. “I have to be someone here that isn’t your bit on the side first. I need my own identity.”
He pushed his forehead to hers. “I know. But I needed something. I didn’t realise till then, Laine, that I needed something.”
“How about this.” She made him look at her, the water starting to feel cold now. “I’m not intending on dating or sleeping with anyone else.”
“Anyone else other than?”
“You, you idiot. And,” she paused, “I don’t think you want to be seeing anyone but me. But you can’t be avoiding me.”
“What? Like you did?”
She nodded. “Like I did.”
“It’s shit, isn’t it. That’s not why I did it. I just figured you wanted to be with - not me.”
There was a flicker of vulnerability that she hadn’t seen before, something other than the pretty playboy who hid his depths below a smiling surface.
“I didn’t think you wanted to be with anyone?”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to be with anyone. Except I think I want to be with you.”
“I don’t want to be small town gossip.”
