Page 47 of Forbidden Kilted Highlander

Agnes turned, squinting at him through the sun. "Ye could join me, ye ken."

"I’m nae daft."

"Could’ve fooled me," she said sweetly.

He didn’t move.

"What? Ye afraid o’ a bit o’ cold water? Or maybe ye dinnae want tae see me wet?"

He actually flinched at that. Just a little.

Agnes smirked, stepping back until she was chest-deep, her shift floating around her like a pale ghost. Her arms rippled on the surface, trailing small waves. "Suit yerself."

There was a long pause.

Then, with a huff, Tav stepped forward and began tugging off his boots.

Agnes tried not to look too pleased. She failed spectacularly.

"I swear tae the gods," he muttered, "if I freeze tae death, I’ll haunt ye."

"Ye already haunt me," she replied, voice low, so he couldn’t hear her.

He paused mid-lace. Looked at her. For a moment, neither of them breathed. Then Tav stepped into the pool.

The water parted for him like a lover’s sigh, rising in obedient waves up the carved planes of his body. Agnes’s breath caught. He’d kept his trousers on but the soaked fabric clung to every brutal inch of his thighs, the thick muscle there flexing as he moved. His bare chest glistened, droplets catching in the dark trail of ink that arrowed down past his navel, disappearing beneath the waterline, where her gaze burned to follow.

She hadn’t expected this. Hadn’t prepared for the way his skin would gleam like honed bronze in the sunlight, for the way his nipples pebbled under the cold’s cruel caress. The scar across his ribs only made him more obscene, a testament to all the ways he’d survived just to stand there half-naked and dripping while her pulse thundered between her legs.

His breath caught when the cold hit him. "Bloody⁠—"

His shoulders flexed as he adjusted his stance, water sluicing down the ropes of his arms. She could see the exact moment the cold hit him. His stomach muscles clenched, and he took a sharp inhale through his nose. She wanted to press her mouth there, to lick the chill from his skin and replace it with her heat.

Agnes realized she’d been biting her lower lip. She forced her gaze up, but it was a mistake—his eyes were dark as a stormfront, pupils blown wide. Looking at her like he knew exactly where her thoughts had wandered. Like he might drag her under the water and take her right here, with the current rushing over them and her back braced against the smooth rocks.

The shift floating around her suddenly felt too thin, the water too clear. She could see the way his jaw tightened when her nipples peaked against the fabric. Could see the way his broad, sword-calloused hands, twitched at his sides like he was imagining gripping her hips.

And then—he splashed her.

Agnes shrieked, water flying into her face. "Ye absolute bastard!"

Tav grinned. Grinned. It was like watching a crack spread through a block of granite. His eyes were lighter now, the tension in his jaw gone. "Ye started it."

"I didnae!"

"Ye dared me in. That counts."

She lunged forward and splashed him back, harder. Water caught him across the chest.

He blinked, wet now from forehead to sternum. Then he lunged.

They were both laughing by the time he caught her waist, and she shrieked again as he dragged her under with him.

They surfaced gasping, her hands clutching his shoulders, his hair slicked back, eyes bright.

Agnes pushed at his chest. "Ye madman!"

Tav didn’t let go.

Their breaths mingled in the narrow space between them. Her shift clung to her skin, transparent in parts. His chest was heaving. Every inch of her pressed lightly against him.

She should have moved. She should have said something sharp, pushed away, made light of it. But she didn’t and he looked at her like she was the only thing left in the world worth fighting for. And gods help her, she wanted to drown in it.

Finally, Tav spoke, voice low. "Ye drive me insane."

Agnes stared at him, "That’s mutual."

Then, to cover the fact her heart had just flipped inside out, she splashed him in the face again. He gasped and laughed, pulling her under again with him, both of them breaking the surface in another fit of laughter.

For now, the castle was miles away. And in the waterfall’s rush, they could pretend they weren’t about to break.