“In the ocean?”
“Yup. Want to join me?”
Was he serious? “Absolutely not. You shouldn’t do it, either.”
“Why not?”
“Because you might have a heart attack, or get hypothermia, or something.”
“A lot of oceanside communities do winter polar bear plunges. This isn’t nearly as cold as those are,” he said, as if that made his idea more rational somehow. “Some people even believe plunging into cold water has health benefits.”
“Do you believe that?”
He smiled at me. “Nah. I just think it’ll be fun.”
With that, he jumped up, shucked the last of his clothes, and ran naked to the water’s edge. While I admired his total lack of inhibitions—and enjoyed the view of his butt—this had to be a bad idea. I got up and was going to try to talk him out of it, but he let loose with a primal yell and splashed into the water.
I muttered, “Oh, hell,” and grabbed a towel before hurrying toward him.
He dove under a small wave, then immediately popped up and yelled, “Fucking hell, it’s cold!”
“No shit!”
Devon darted out of the water and exclaimed, “That was amazing!”
“Was it?” I unfolded the towel and practically tackled him with it.
“Absolutely. It made me feel alive.” He shook his head like a dog, sending water droplets flying everywhere, and I laughed and leapt back.
He returned to the blanket and took a seat. As he dried his arms and legs, I draped the other big, thick towel around him like a shawl. Then I sat down next to him and put my arm around his shoulders in an effort to warm him up.
Devon was grinning as he closed his eyes and tilted his face toward the sunlight. He looked so blissfully happy that I whispered, mostly to myself, “I kind of wish I’d said yes.”
His lids instantly flew open, and he met my gaze. I could see the true color of his eyes in the bright light—moss green, with flecks of gold and brown. They were as beautiful as the rest of him.
“There’s still time,” he said, tilting his head toward the ocean.
“But you said it was really cold.”
“It was also exhilarating. If you want to take a dip, I’ll go with you.” The fact that he was willing to do it again made me (wrongly) assume it must not be as bad as I thought. I peeled off my T-shirt and sweatshirt in one move and tossed them aside, and he said, “Really? You’re doing it?”
“Yeah, the same way you did. In and out, no lingering in the frigid water and courting hypothermia.” I pulled off my sneakers and socks and jumped up. “Get ready. Don’t give me time to change my mind.” While I removed my jeans and briefs, he leapt up with a delighted whoop and dropped the towels.
As soon as I was naked, I grabbed his hand and both of us started running. I kept up a steady chant of, “Oh my god, oh mygod, oh my god,” as we crossed the beach. When we splashed into the water, I yelped at the coldness, but I kept going.
A little swell was coming toward us, so I pinched my nose and ducked under it. The cold wasstunningand a shock to my system. I popped back up with a shriek.
Devon surfaced right beside me and started laughing. He grabbed my hand again, and both of us hauled ass out of the water. He was right about one thing—it really was invigorating. I felt wide awake, and my heart was racing.
As we dashed to the towels, I exclaimed, “That’s the coldest I’ve ever been! What do you think the water temperature was, about forty?”
“It’s probably just below sixty.”
“No way.”
“The Pacific doesn’t get much colder than that here, even in winter. That’s why true polar bear plunges happen in northern climates, where the water is about twenty degrees colder than this.”
“I would die instantly. I’d pop to the surface in a perfectly rectangular block of ice, like a cartoon character.”
