Page 106 of Wrecked on the Mountain

Oh boy. She's got no panties on. Not a stitch.

"Wait for me!"

I jump up so fast I knock over my beer. But I don't care. I'm at her side in a flash, undressing even faster than she did, nearly tripping over my own boots as I kick them off.

She wades into the pool created by nature beneath the falling water, gasping as the cold water hits her waist.

"Argh! It's freezing!"

"You're crazy, you know that!"

She beams back at me, a smile so bright I just can't help myself.

Fuck it.

If she's going in, I'm going in. No way I'm letting her freeze alone.

The water hits me like a shock to the system, but Brooke's laugh makes it worth it. It's the first time I've heard it all dayand I feel like I should have been recording it just in case it disappears again.

She splashes toward the waterfall, letting the cascade soak her completely, and I follow, mesmerized by the way the water runs over her skin.

"This is payback?" I call over the sound of rushing water.

"Hmmm, maybe not. This feels more like foreplay," she calls back, reaching out to pull me in until she's kissing me, her cold lips warming under mine as the waterfall crashes around us.

By the time we make it back to the blankets, we're both shivering and laughing as we wrap ourselves in the heated throws I left in my truck after our sunrise adventure.

Brooke curls against my side, her head on my shoulder, and for a moment everything feels perfect.

Then she gets quiet again.

"Jamie?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?"

She lifts her head to look at me, and I see it again—that conflict, that fear, whatever's been eating at her since last night.

"We need to talk. The hospital… they…" She swallows and slams her eyes shut, like the words are painful. "…they want me back. To head the department."

She's leaving. She's actually leaving me.

I sit up straighter, the heated blanket falling away from my shoulders. The sound of the waterfall that seemed romantic five minutes ago now feels like it's drowning out everything important.

Rebecca's voice echoes in my head like a ghost…"I can't waste my life in this dead-end mountain town."The image of that ring dropped on my kitchen table resurfaces, the feeling of my heart shattering in that moment making my chest feel like it's about to combust all over again.

"Your dream job."

She doesn't look at me, instead just stares down at her hands.

"I guess so. At least, it was."

Was.Past tense. Like maybe it doesn't matter anymore, but we both know that's bullshit.

This is what she's worked her entire life for. Head of Trauma Surgery at one of the most prestigious fucking hospitals in the country.

"So when do you leave?"

My chest feels like someone's wrapped a rope around my ribs and yanked it taut. This can't be happening again. Not after everything I've done to make sure she stays.