She picks at the edge of the blanket. “For Evie to always know she is loved and safe. For the library to keep growing. For there to be more days like this, where my brain is not constantly running numbers and schedules and worst-case scenarios.”
It hits me how much she carries. How rarely she lets herself want anything that is just for her.
“You deserve that,” I say.
She looks up sharply, like she was not expecting me to say it. “Some days it feels selfish to want more than what I already have.”
“It’s not selfish,” I tell her. “It’s human. It means you want to provide a good life for Evie and hopefully for yourself, too.”
She holds my gaze for a second, then she reaches for a strawberry. She bites into it, and a drop of juice slips down her chin. She laughs and moves to wipe it with the back of her hand, but I’m faster. My thumb catches the trail of sweetness at the corner of her mouth. Without thinking, I bring it to my lips.
The taste of sugar and fruit hits my tongue, and I watch her go still in front of me. The air between us changes, and for a second, all I can think about is closing the distance. I see the heat in her gaze, the way her shoulders rise with a deeper breath. It would be easy to tip this night into something fast and hungry. We’ve done fast. We’ve done hungry. Tonight, I want something else.
“Come on,” I say, letting my mouth curve into a small smile instead of a kiss. “Let’s put that swimsuit to use.”
She blinks. “What?”
I nod toward the water. “We’re getting in.”
Her lips part, surprise giving way to something brighter. “You want to go swimming?”
“I brought you out to the Falls,” I say. “Feels like a waste if we don’t at least get our feet wet.”
Chapter forty-two
Kate
I take a deep breath before peeling my shirt over my head, suddenly more aware of the fact that I’m undressing in front of Cam Wells than I have been any other time we’ve…whatever you would call what we do. Maybe it’s the setting. Maybe it’s the quiet.
My shorts come off next, leaving me in my navy one-piece swimsuit—simple, nothing special. At least it felt that way when I bought it two summers ago. Right now I feel strangely exposed, even though I’m covered.
Cam’s eyes soak me in. Slow, appreciative, eyes dragging over me like he’s memorizing every inch I’ve allowed him to see. When he pulls his shirt off, my brain empties like a shaken Etch-A-Sketch.
His chest is tan and broad, muscles defined just enough to make every breath I take feel unsteady. When the breeze hits, he looks wild and soft all at once—dangerously attractive in that dependable, hot baseball daddy way that always makes my pulse jump.
He tosses his shirt onto the blanket and grins at me. “Ready?”
No. Not at all. But I nod anyway.
We step into the water together, and the shock of cold punches a squeal out of me before I can swallow it. “Oh my—Cam! It’s freezing!”
He laughs, full-bodied and bright, then dips down into the water in one smooth motion. When he comes back up, the water sheets off him—over his shoulders, down his pecs, catching the sunlight and dripping in slow trails over the defined lines of his stomach. He runs his hand through his hair, then down his face. He looks like a freaking wet dream.
My entire bloodstream detonates.
“Come here, Katie,” he says, voice low and teasing. “I’ll keep you warm.”
I swear my knees wobble. Heat blooms up my neck, completely at odds with the chilly water.
Still, I wade toward him, each step sending ripples across the surface. By the time I’m close enough for him to reach out, my breath is already unsteady.
His hands find my waist first, big and warm.
The world narrows to the feel of his fingers splayed against my skin, the quiet thunder of the waterfall behind us, the soft shift of water as he pulls me closer.
“Hi,” I whisper, because my brain refuses to come up with any other words.
He studies me and something in that look pushes every guarded instinct I have right to the edge. I’m beginning to wonder if this is what safety feels like. Because right now, it feels like he sees everything I pretend not to need.
