“To do what?”
“To love something out loud.”
My breath hitches, and I have to fight to keep my racing heart at bay. “Is that something you want?”
Caleb is gloriously naked, and every hard-earned muscle and Goddess-given feature is highlighted by the moonlight and shadows.
At the sight, heat encompasses my body like a hot flash.
He drops into the water and dips his entire self under the surface. When Caleb resurfaces, he faces me, combing his hair back. He exhales. “More than anything. When I love something, I want everyone to know.”
There’s a heaviness that wafts through the air with his statement. I sit on the pool’s edge with my feet dangling in the water. I lean back on my hands, thinking over his words. “Say you decided to share this place with the rest of the pack. What’s the worst that could happen?”
His eyes drift to the natural ceiling, taking a thoughtful moment to think over his answer. “People will know about it, but they won’t appreciate it the way I do. They might even go as far as to destroy it when I’m not around.”
“You seem so certain, but how do you know for sure your people are going to disappoint you?”
For a moment, he’s silent, nulling over my question. He shrugs one shoulder. “I guess I don’t.”
“And . . . if you don’t share it?”
“Then I suffer in silence.”
I remember reading a parable about suffering in philosophical Buddhist texts. The first arrow symbolizes inevitable pain, suffering we can’t control. The second illustrates how we internalize and react to the first arrow. It’s what we can control—our emotions and actions. If we spiral, we can make the pain much worse than it is. Which begs the question: would he suffer for me?
“And you know you will? Suffer, I mean.”
“If it means protecting it, yes.”
The confidence in his tone shocks my core. “You’d rather risk your own happiness because there’s a chance that someone else won’t respond the way you’d like them to?”
Caleb shakes his head, rejecting my conclusion. “It’s—It’s more complicated than that.”
But something in my gut tells me it’s not. Perhaps the only thing that’s complicated is his worldview—the one I’ve challenged, and now turned upside down.
Before I can check my theory, he lifts chin in the direction of the water. “Get in. I want to show you something.”
There’s so much more to talk about, and I shouldn’t be trusted to skinny dip with this man, but logic isn’t driving me. I peel off my dress and ease myself into the natural pool. Inch by inch, deeper and deeper, I sink. The waterline rises up mybody, covering me like the clothes I left on the shore. Only my shoulders stick out from the water’s surface as I stand at full height.
Caleb extends his arms to me. As I wade toward him, his eyes flash gold. The world around me slows as I cross the threshold to place my hands—and trust—in him. He walks backward toward the waterfall that roars behind him. “Can you swim?”
“Not very well.”
“But you can hold your breath.”
I successfully fight the urge to combat my nerves with a dirty joke and nod.
“Can you trust me?” He beams with excitement behind his loaded question.
His eyes twinkle with mischief, and I’m intrigued.
I bite my lip. “Just this once.”
He stops us at the waterfall, and for a moment, we stand in the center of the mystical pool, speaking only with our eyes. Our gaze drifts to the full moon glowing from the cave above, as if higher powers had drawn us together. Our eyes return to each other.
“Ready?” he asks.
I don’t know what I’m meant to be ready for, but I trust he’ll make sure I can handle it.
