“Cliff jumping. Not skinny dipping.”
“Mmm. We’ll see about that.”
His charming air is disarming, and I pray to all the things above I won’t become a cliché, falling for the first guy I meet after Jared. Time is running out on his stay, and it won’t have the rom-com finale where he miraculously finds the meaning of life and love and starts wearing flannel shirts.
This time I won’t make the same mistake. The deadline gives me a sort of liberty I never had. It’s a lack of that pressure I never lived without and I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
CARTER
A branch nearly takes my eye out because Eliza’s ass is hypnotic in those very short tight pants. I do my best to pay more attention to the path.
“Aren’t you afraid of the bear stalking you?”
Oh, yes. The lame attempts to make her talk to me. I have no remorse for those. “It’ll take more than an ugly bear to scare me out of these woods.”
“Don’t hurt its feelings, it might be lurking around,” she chides, giggling, and I nearly trip on a root because she turns me into a fumbling idiot.
“Leave your stuff here.” She points to a large flat rock when we reach the shore. The freshwater smell and moss covering the water’s edge send a shudder through my limbs. I tell myself that’s why I keep my T-shirt on while Eliza undresses.
I’m about to make a snarky comment about dangerous creatures lurking in the lake but words catch in my throat. It is happening again. I’m certain I’m on the brink of another heart attack when Eliza slides her shorts off. Those bikinis are a safety hazard.
She dips her toes in the lake. “The water’s not bad,” she says.
The dark green two-piece makes her creamy skin look delicious. Something I would taste and graze my teeth against.
I start questioning my sanity for resisting going further with her. A rational adult, with a cleared-for-physical-activity note from his doctor wouldn’t hesitate.I don’t know if I can trust her. She just ended an eight-year relationship. She’s not the casual type.Themantra gave me valid reasons to keep my distance before she showed me I was overthinking it. But in the back of my head, a small seed of doubt sprouted the first time I made her come.
What if the heart attack makes me unable to—
Eliza threads her finger through mine before I finish the horrifying thought and drags me to a cliff towering above a darker spot in the lake. A large pine tree towers over the ledge, with a rough, thick rope dangling from a solid branch.
“Let’s do this before you lose your nerve,” she jokes, but I’m still reeling.
What if I can’t satisfy her?
“Want me to jump first? So you can see it’s not a carefully crafted plan to kill you?”
“Do you think I’m scared?” I ask, affronted.
She shrugs and waves her hands around, making a point of emphasizing I’m the one to say it.
I step forward, scowling at her audacity, ignoring the epiphany hitting me over the head. I am indeed scared of having sex because I might make a fool of myself. Preposterous.
The rope is harsh against my palm as I tug a few times, making sure it can hold my weight. I’m doing this. Breaking into a run, my feet leave the cold stone and I’m hurled intothe air. One moment I’m suspended, feeling weightless. The next, my grip slips and I splash unceremoniously and painfully on the surface of the lake.
My lungs burn in the cold water until I swim up and gulp in a few mouthfuls of air.
Eliza’s at the edge of the cliff, a bright smile on her lips, palms pressed against her chest.
“So graceful,” she hollers.
I beam back at her. “A solid 9.5 jump.”
She skips to the rope and lunges, dropping near me. Her face breaks the surface of the clear water, and she starts laughing. All giddy and unguarded joy. It’s contagious. The light filtered by trees fans around her, and she looks like a divine gift. I’m not a religious man, but this woman makes me repent for everything I might have done wrong.
The image barrels through my chest with the force of a tsunami. The impact cracks something inside and lets her light and warmth in.
