Page 36

“Really?” I say, surprised. With sweat already running down my back and pooling under my boobs, I can’t help but ask why. “You’re so outgoing. So social. Doesn’t it get lonely out here, with just the birds and the bugs?” I imagine him alone in his camper van, driving off into the horizon.

But his smile is sweet, and he looks all too eager to let me in on his secret.

“I think I’d go crazy without a hobby like this to help me recharge.

Every day, I wake up full of all this pent-up energy.

” He clenches his fists as if wrestling an invisible pickle jar.

“But when I’m on my bike, or on a walk, it’s just…

” His fingers release the jar and flutter off into the air.

For the first time since I’ve known him, he’s at a loss for words—opening and closing his mouth, tilting his head to the side thoughtfully…

and then shaking his head. “I don’t know how to describe how it feels to me.

Here. It would be easier to show you. Stand up. Close your eyes, Sadie.”

I let Noah pull me to my feet, and my eyelids flutter closed. Standing behind me with his palms on my shoulders, he guides me forward until the soft blanket under my bare feet gives way to warm dirt and hard roots. With a squeeze of my shoulders, Noah holds me back before I can walk off the ledge.

“Listen.” His voice is warm against my neck. His beard tickles my skin.

It takes a while for my thoughts to fade into the background, for my breathing to even out.

The first sound I hear is of course the water, tinkling its way around rocks as it winds its way out to Lake Travis.

The birds are next. Every few heartbeats one will call out a few ringing, harmonic notes—and just when it’s quiet again, another will answer.

But it’s the wind that really grounds me.

It’s like the air is breathing. On an inhale, the breeze cools the sweat on my forehead and threads its way through my hair.

On an exhale, every leaf stirs, whispering against one another in one great shhh.

Noah begins to run his palms down my arms with an aching, gentle slowness. I keep my eyes closed, which sets my other senses on high alert. Grounded by his touch, the music through the trees, and the clear smell of everything green, I feel as if we are the only two people who exist.

Noah steps away to stand by my side. His big hand circles my wrist easily. I exhale one more time then open my eyes to look at him.

He’s discarded his shirt next to his backpack, but before I can fully process this wonderful new development, his gaze captures mine forcefully. There’s a wildness in his eyes, and they spark like wildfire. “Can you swim?”

My usual internal alarms feel numbed. In this space, I’m untouchable. Bold. I can do anything I want to.

“Yes.”

“Do you trust me?”

“…Yes.”

Noah jumps from the ledge. I hurtle after him.

It’s cold.

As I submerge, I nearly inhale a lungful of water in shock.

In this heat, I’d expected the water to feel like jumping into a cup of tea left out too long.

I can’t feel my hands or my feet, but I kick up to where I can see the sun’s warped shimmer on the surface.

As soon as hot air touches my cheeks, I suck in a breath.

As I begin to sink back under, I belatedly realize how deep the water actually is.

I tread the surface with only a little difficulty and scan for Noah.

I shriek a cloud of bubbles into the water as something brushes against the back of my thigh and comes to wind around my ribs.

Finally he emerges, broad hands scooping under my arms and kicking us toward shallower water.

Once he has both feet planted on the bed of the stream, I grab on to him like he’s a tree in a flood.

“You did it,” he laughs. His chest is pressed tight against mine, and it shakes with the rumble of his laugh.

“You make it sound like you thought I wouldn’t!”

He shrugs; circled in his arms, I am gently lifted and lowered with the motion. “I wasn’t sure.” He leans to rub the bridge of his nose against my cheek. “But I’m glad you did.” His hair has fallen out of his topknot, and it fans out on the water’s surface like a red lily pad.

Flush with adrenaline and breathing heavy now that I have the taste of air in my lungs again, I take a moment to just look at him.

Thankfully I didn’t lose my glasses in our leap, and the water droplets clinging to the lenses look like tiny orbs bobbing in the open air.

I push my glasses up into my hair, and suddenly he’s the only thing in focus.

The world fades into soft greens and browns, while Noah is in front of me with his sun-kissed skin, dripping beard, and lake-blue eyes.

“Me, too,” I say finally. And then I lean in to kiss him.

Within moments, it’s as though I’m drowning again.

I can’t get enough air; I can’t get enough of him.

As the water streams past us, I hold on to him as if he might slip away with the current, like the only things tying him to me are my toes pressing into the tops of his feet, my arms wound around his neck, my fingers tangled in his hair.

Just like with every greeting and enthusiastic “Sadie! It’s you!

,” Noah kisses me like it’s the first time.

Like I’ve been gone for ages, and all he’s thought about in the time I’ve been away is me.

It’s so good to see you, his hands say, gently cradling my face, his fingers sliding into my hair.

It’s been only days since I’ve tasted you, but I missed you.

His tongue swirls against mine, and there’s this contented, possessive hum that vibrates out of his chest and makes my nipples pinch.

Will you stay longer this time? One hand slides around to the back of my neck and grips hard, holding my head above the water.

The other pans down my lower back, squeezing gently as he passes over my ass and then holding tight as his fingers curl under my thigh.

I’m so happy you’re here. His kisses grow gentler as he sighs under his breath, gently tracing my jawline with parted lips.

As he climbs his way up to my ear, he murmurs, “Take a deep breath in for me, Sadie.”

I’m already panting, so it’s easy to do.

But the moment my lungs are full of air, he drags me under.

On instinct, I close my eyes. Some old high school biology lesson leaps to mind—something about infections and contaminants in freshwater bodies of water.

What the fuck? It’s the silliest thing in the world for me to think about when I’m tangled in the arms of a beautiful man, but I can’t help it.

And then, as soon as Noah’s lips meet mine again, all thoughts save for him evaporate like bubbles to the surface.

Swaddled in voluntary darkness, my body suspended in the water, my chest already growing tight, I’m a hundred times more aware of his touch—and a thousand times more aware of mine.

My hands paint him in the dark. My palms press against the muscles of his chest, fingers brushing through the cluster of soft curling hair underneath his collarbones.

Next I trail my hands across the expanse of his shoulders— god, he’s got to be as wide as at least two of me, right?

—and think about how easily he could snap me in half if he wanted to.

But instead, he just cradles me in the water, allowing me to explore.

Finally, as I press my cheek to his chest, feeling the way his heart thunders at the same frantic pace as mine, my arms wrap around him to allow my fingers to dance along the muscles of his back.

So many curves, divots, and bumps—so much definition.

Why a bard? I think again, wildly. Why play a bard, when he’s built like a barbarian?

Experimentally, I dig my nails into the meat of his shoulders, and it’s enough to send all the air rushing from his lungs.

Just before we crest the surface, I allow myself one tiny peek.

Noah floats above me, ringed in light, sunbeams stretching warped lines through the surface of the water.

His hair flows around his face like a halo, and his face is all laughter as bubbles of air flow out of the corners of his mouth.

He reaches for me where I still hover at the bottom of the stream.

I reach back, and he pulls me up with him, back toward the sun.

We both break the surface with gasping laughs.

“I could do this all day,” he pants.

“You can. If you can catch me.”

I manage to swim exactly two strokes away before he grabs my ankle and tugs me back to him with a delicious jerk.

Within moments I’m caged in the circle of his arms again as he envelops me from behind.

Even as I squirm, his grip is like iron.

He drags us back and away from the middle of the stream until we’re swallowed in shadows.

I look up to see the gigantic root system of the tree that leans over the stream; Noah’s tucked us underneath its ledge.

Even as the water grows shallower, Noah draws me with him until he’s sitting with his back pressed to the rock and I’m firmly caught in his lap.

“Good try. But you’re no match for me, Sadie.

” His voice is a low rumble in his chest, and his lips draw back in a smirk before he captures my mouth with his again.

I let my head crane back as his lips move against mine, reaching above my head to twine my arms behind his neck.

I press my back against his chest, and as soon as he’s sure I’m not going to run again, he relaxes his hold.

His hands glide over my sports bra, circle teasingly around my belly button, and trace over the curves of my hips.

Finally, his fingers play along the waistband of my shorts, curling against my skin.

He’s waiting for me. He’s asking for permission.

Again I surface for air, drawing back from his kiss just enough to beg, “ Please. ”