Page 92 of True Abandon

“What are you doing?” I squeal.

“Moving you along. You’re slowing me down.” He continues to chase after me like a panther in heat.

I start to jog, giggling every time he crouches forward and shrinking with every bit of contact. He gets my waist, and I nearly combust with laughter as his fingers get the sides of my ribs.

We race down the path, winding through the trees and laughing when he nearly trips only to right himself and go back to his pursuit.

There’s a thick brush up ahead, and when I swat my arms across, we run through and stop.

Our breath is ragged, and our hearts pounding as we take in the most gorgeous sight we’ve ever seen.

In the heart of the jungle is a waterfall. It’s about thirty-feet-high and pummels down loudly into a lagoon surrounded by dark gray rocks and lush greens. It’s not the widest or the tallest waterfall, but it’s intimate.

I kick off my boots, but leave on my dress. It’s really a cover-up over my bathing suit.

I’ve seen Jax without a shirt twice recently, and each time he was laying down. While the sight was incredible, nothing and I mean nothing compares to seeing him standing on a rock, in his shirtless glory with a cascading waterfall behind him.

Broad shoulders lead down to well-defined pectorals and a narrow waist of ripped abs and the contour of his pelvis muscles. He’s like a god standing strong amongst the stone and sky. His perfectly chiseled face only adds to the immortal quality he carries.

He clears his throat, and I quickly move my line of sight to a rock formation, pretending I was really looking at that and not how perfect his physical appearance is.

I seem to be failing miserably because he’s wiping his mouth to cover his smile.

“There’s a ladder on the side of the rock. You should climb up and take a dive.” I point toward the metal ladder that someone has bolted into the side of the cliff. Its rungs are slanted so I can only assume that once you’re up, you can’t come down.

He takes off his hat. “I’ll jump if you jump.”

“No way.” I cross my arms.

“It’s not as high as it seems. The ladder is there so people must jump off it all the time.”

I look up and my stomach clenches as I imagine that dropping sensation that comes with free falling.

Jax’s bare feet walk along the rocks toward where I’m standing. When he reaches me, he places his hands along my arms to rubs them gently and I’m enraptured by the soft gaze of his caramel-colored eyes and his warm skin just inches from the skin of my torso hiding behind the sheer gauze fabric. I almost forget to breathe.

“This isn’t like flying or sky diving. It’s only a couple feet in the air. You have all the control and pool of water to land safely in.” He leans his forehead against mine, and I close my eyes savoring the contact. “I vow to never let anything bad happen to you again. I jump, you jump. Together.”

His fingers linger up and down my arms with a feather-like softness that has my insides melting.

“Okay,” I whisper.

He spins me around and grabs my hands, wading me into the lagoon. The water is deep in the center, so he lets go of my hand as we swim toward the ladder. When we reach the side of the rock, he grabs onto the bottom rung to hold himself in place while he helps me grab on, too.

I start my climb, not looking anywhere but at the next piece of silver. I’m about halfway up when my body begins to shake.

“You got this, baby. You’re halfway there.” His words of encouragement have me moving higher until I reach the top. I climb up on all fours and give myself a mental pat on the back. That is until I turn around.

“Holy shit.” I back up until I smack into a rocky wall. Clenching my eyes closed, I pray that when I open them, I’ll see a way down.

I pry one open and look to my right. It’s an edge off the cliff, as is straight ahead. To my left is a wall of rock that wraps behind where I’m standing.

There’s a large tree growing out the side of the cliff. Its branches loom straight out, over the lagoon. I take a small step forward and look down before quickly launching myself back to the safety of the rock wall.

“You lied,” I say as Jax appears. “It looks much higher from here.”

I can’t breathe. The dense fog of the jungle, paired with the steamy water and complete anxiety I’m feeling over having climbed up a fucking one-way ladder has me gasping for breath.

My jaw quivers as my body shakes. There must be something I can do to get down. There has to be a trapdoor or an elevator or maybe a helicopter to come and rescue me off of this fucking—