Page 150 of Alpha Mates

The only thing I didn’t expect was for me to be just as excited.

“Nothing dangerous,” I say as I curl my trembling fingers under my shirt hem and tug it off. “The hotel encourages it.”

“Do they encourage stripping before jumping in, too?” he asks as he watches me strip.

“Well, yes,” I snort. “Believe it or not, they’re big advocates for skinny-dipping.”

He cackles as he shakes his head, reaching for his own clothes.

Plans aside, I’m not usually a fan of things like this, but Aiden’s excitement is oddly contagious, like his spontaneity. Now here I am, stripping down to my boxers, and itching to jump off a cliff.

It’s official. Aiden Calderon has corrupted me.

“Together?” he asks as he hurries to tug off his cargos.

“Nope,” I call, jogging back as far as I can. My stomach drops, but Iignore it and break into a run. “I’ll see you at the bottom.”

I catch a glimpse of Aiden’s mouth hitting the ground as I flip him off and launch myself off the cliff’s edge.

Air tunnels past me, pushing against me, but not strong enough to keep me from falling as I soar down. I howl as I manage a single flip before I dive straight into the icy water.

The chill ripples over me, waking every nerve as if I’ve been sleeping this whole time, and a wave of adrenaline follows, buoying me up as I kick for the surface.

The sound of the roaring, crashing waters greets me as I gasp for air, a smile already on my face as I look up in search of my mate. Aiden’s peering over the edge with a grin to match my own, and my heart rages in my chest for him.

“You coming?!” I shout.

Laughter is all I get before he disappears, and I take that as the warning it appears to be. I manage to paddle back a few feet before a loud warrior cry echoes through the valley, and then, there he is, jumping off a cliff with a smile so big it might tear his face in half.

He lands in a cannonball that drenches me and the nearby rocks, and disappears beneath the surface. Laughing, I wipe at my face, waiting for him to reappear, and he does, but in the most Aiden way possible.

I yelp when my body is hoisted out of the water as he appears below me. I go reeling back, and his laughter is the last thing I hear before the water swallows me whole, but Aiden’s grip on me remains throughout.

As I surface again, he’s pressed right against me and curling my leg around him tightly so that I’m forced to wrap both around his waist.

“That was fucking amazing!” he says with that smile of his, the one that’s so bright it challenges the sun.

“It was fun,” I agree, chuckling as I take in the pure delight in his eyes. That’s what I wanted—throughout this trip and after, I want that look in his eyes, all the time.

“Just fun?” he retorts. “It was amazing, Jewels.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Aiden kisses the tip of my nose, making me giggle before I shove away from him. He treads water nearby, watching me. “Never thought I’d see the day when Julian Heil jumped off a cliff in his boxers.”

“Yeah, well.” I grin at him. “You make me do crazy things.”

Aiden looks at me with something warm, and my poor lungs try their very best to keep up.

“You can go again,” I say, clearing my throat. “One more time, and thenwe’ve got to keep moving for part two.”

“Can’t we stay here a little longer?” he asks as his smile fades a little.

I lift my wrist to check my watch, but he swats water my way to cover it. I frown at him.

“It’s more fun if everything is not planned down to the exact second, Julian.”

Is it? I found it fun when things went according to schedule, but this isn’t about me. I did this all for Aiden, to make this time special, and if he wants to take his time, then I could be late.