Page 45 of Torin

“Everything’s perfect.”

Her gaze drops over my bare chest before coming back up again.

“You not joining me?” she demands.

“Course I am.” I open the top button of my jeans.

Then I remember—no underwear. The human world is generally not cool with that, especially considering the—uh—state I’m in right now.

But then she already saw me naked after she crashed.

Right. I’ll just be fast.

I turn away from her, strip off my jeans before she has a chance to see me at half-mast, take a running jump, and dive straight into the water.

It’s icy cold but crystal clear. I stay under for a while, swimming out into deeper water and letting the cold take care of what seeing Hannah in that bikini did to me. I push the wet hair out of my eyes and look back. She’s still standing on the shore, shading her eyes and staring out at the lake. Was she scared I’d drowned or something? A little warmth glows in my chest at the thought.

I wave at her, and, as though she’d been waiting for the encouragement, she steps into the water.

And screams.

“Oh my God, it’s freezing!”

“It’s not that bad once you’re in.”

She gives me a look that says I’m full of shit, but keeps coming anyway, picking her way carefully over the rocks. The water reaches her knees, then her thighs, and she sucks in another breath.

“You said it was warm!”

“I said it’d be warm this time of year.”

“That is not the same thing.”

I swim toward her. “Come on.”

She hesitates when I hold out my hand, but only for a moment.

Her fingers close around mine. The jolt runs straight up my arm. Hannah feels it too. I see it in the quick widening of her eyes.

I tighten my grip just enough to steady her as she comes deeper. The bottom drops away gradually here, and when the water reaches her waist, she gives a shiver that has nothing to do with me.

“Still want to swim?”

“Yes.” She looks determined now. “I just need to stop being a coward about it.”

Before I can answer, she plunges under.

She comes up several feet away with a shriek, wiping water from her face.

“Jesus Christ!”

I’m laughing too hard to be sympathetic.

“You’re a terrible person.”

“You’ll thank me in a minute.”

“I absolutely won’t.”