“You stealing my lines?”
Everly chuckles. “Maybe.”
I swear she looks even more beautiful than yesterday. How the hell is that possible? My hungry gaze roams her curves, her big blue eyes, the way her warm brown hair shines when it catches the sunlight. She looks so fucking sweet standing there on the bank, watching me with a smile on those plump pink lips, and I have a sudden urge to climb out of this lake and take her right here on the edge of the water.
I want to claim her. Possess every perfect inch of her body.
It’s a dangerous thought. A savage thought. But it rages inside my head as Everly takes a step closer to the water and sits down cross-legged on the bank.
“I’m serious, though,” she says. “You shouldn’t be swimming alone.”
“Won’t be alone if you join me.”
The words are out before I can think better of them, tearing from my throat in a gruff voice that sounds more like a command than a question. I see Everly raise her eyebrows, her pink cheeks turning a deeper shade of red. I’m expecting her to say no. Hell, why wouldn’t she? I’m a grumpy old man with a bad shoulder, and she’s a beautiful young woman who barely knows me. But fuck, I’m desperate for her to stay. I can’t watch her disappear into the trees again like yesterday.
“Is it cold?” Everly asks tentatively.
“Only for a minute. Surface is pretty warm.”
She seems to consider this for a moment, worrying her lip between her teeth like she’s debating something with herself. She stands up, and my stomach clenches, convinced she’s about to turn and walk away. But this angel is full of surprises.
“A little privacy, please,” she says pointedly as she reaches for the waistband of her leggings.
I’m barely breathing as I turn to face the opposite bank, my pulse thumping in my ears. I hear the muffled sound of clothing falling to the forest floor, then a splash of water as Everly wades toward me. I can’t resist turning around. She’s already in up to her thighs, and I can make out her dark green panties, her plump breasts filling out her matching sports bra. It’s only a second before her curvy body is submerged, hidden beneath the water.
But fuck, that quick glimpse was enough to set my whole body alight.
Hell, I can’t even feel the cold water anymore. I feel like I’m on fire. Every nerve in my body is burning with a deep, possessive need as I watch Everly swim toward me, so beautiful, so fresh-faced and innocent. It should push me away, but it just makes me want her more.
She stops a few feet away, droplets of water sliding down her sun-kissed skin, and every instinct I have is screaming at me to close the distance between us. To pull her against me and never let go. Twenty-four hours ago, I didn’t know this angel existed, and now she’s the only thing that matters. The only thing I need. And I already know that nothing will ever be the same again.
5
EVERLY
I can’t believeI’m doing this.
Heck, I don’t even recognize myself right now—swimming in a lake in nothing but my bra and panties with a man I met yesterday.
I wasn’t expecting Gunnar to be here. Sure, Ihopedhe would be, but when I left Amelia’s cabin, I was full of doubts. I started to think I was being crazy, blowing my whole meeting with Gunnar out of proportion, and at one point, I even convinced myself not to come at all. But I only held out a few hours before I ended up back on the trail, heading straight for Lover’s Lake.
And suddenly, there he was.
I almost collapsed when I saw him standing in the water, looming out of the lake like an iceberg. Then I caught sight of his clothes piled up on the bank: plaid shirt, dark jeans…and his boxers. Gunnar is naked right now, and I’m swimming toward him, close enough to touch him. It’s terrifying and thrilling all at once—enough to suck the breath from my lungs.
The water is cold, but not as cold as I expected. And when Gunnar meets my eye, the temperature of the lake is the last thing on my mind. Only his shoulders are visible above the water, stupidly broad, his tan skin lined with ink. I spy a jaggedscar on his right shoulder, remembering what Amelia said about his physiotherapy sessions, and I feel a fresh wave of curiosity as I look at him.
God, he’s so handsome.
Up close, I can see the threads of silver in his beard and the sharp angles of his jaw beneath it. I can see the way his dark eyes soften to gray in the sunlight, crinkled with crow’s feet at the edges. His age only makes him sexier, ruggedly mature and so unlike all the boys on campus who my college friends used to date. Gunnar is all man. Big, burly, and built for the wild.
“You came back,” he says when I reach him, his voice so gruff that I can’t tell if he’s happy to see me or not.
“Yes.” I force a smile, but it’s hard to make my face move normally when all I can think about is that Gunnar is naked under the water. “I like this trail. It’s one of my favorites.”
He cocks his head, water dripping from his dark hair. “How come I’ve never seen you out here before yesterday?”
“I was away for four years at college. I only got back last week. Before that, I used to come out here all the time with my parents. They live up in Winterdale now, but we still go hiking together sometimes.”
