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I swim faster, desperate to get to the shore. When I reach it, I stop in the shallows and pull her round into my arms. I look down, and there she is.

“Nova…” Her hair is wet and clinging to her face. That face. Her face.

I’m holding her too tightly. I know I am, but she doesn’t seem to care. She strokes my jawline and whispers, “Hey, stranger.”

The sound of her voice forces a clot of laughter into my throat. Tears spring to my eyes as I press my forehead to hers. “Hey, yourself.”

She cups my face in her hands and pulls my lips to hers. Slowly, gently, she runs her tongue along my lower lip then parts my mouth. When she kisses me, she releases a small mewing sound, which is so delightfully quiet it could almost be a sigh instead.

I run my hands down her body. Flickers of electricity meet my palms as they skim her curves.

“You’re naked,” I tell her when we finally break our kiss, instantly kicking myself because, of all the things I could say right now, I’ve chosen to be pervy.

Nova doesn’t reply. She just scrapes her hands up through my sopping wet hair and smiles at me.

The smile does it. The smile and the fact her boobs are bobbing tantalizingly close to my chest. A pulse of arousal tugs at my balls. I try to ignore it, but flecks of orange flames dance in Nova’s eyes and she ducks her hands beneath the water.

“The others…” I can barely speak. Nova is unfastening my jeans.

“Take me to them,” she whispers.

25

NOVA

I wake underwater. I can’t see or hear. It’s dark, and I feel it pressing down on my limbs, but I’m not afraid; I know even the mighty lake cannot pull me under.

I wait, feeling the heartbeat of the falls pulse in my body. Then I feel him—Tanner.

He pulls me into his arms and drags me free. I want to see his face; I need to see his face, but he heaves me onto his back and swims like his life depends on it.

On the shore, four stoic figures are watching us. I’d know them anywhere. But they look so broken. Kole is on his knees. Mack and Sam are holding each other up, and Luther is bracing his hands behind his head as if he’s watching something he can’t bear to look away from.

When we reach the shallows, Tanner stops and pulls me round to face him. If I’d been gone a thousand years, I’d still know every inch of his beautiful face. He stares at me as if he can’t believe his eyes.

“Hey, stranger,” I whisper, surprised by the sound of my voice.

“Hey, yourself.” He is dripping wet, but I know some of the droplets on his cheeks are tears rather than remnants of the lake.

There are so many things I want to say to him; so many things I want to tell him. But words don’t seem enough, so I kiss him.

Small, cartwheeling fireworks break out on the surface of my skin the second his lips meet mine. My entire body wakes up. It is alive, and awake, and ready to feel again.

“The others,” Tanner mutters.

“Take me to them.” I meet his eyes.

He smiles a smile that dimples his cheeks, then nods. “Yes, ma’am.”

With a flourish, he scoops me into his arms and carries me from the water like a groom carrying his bride over the threshold of their new home.

When we reach the sand, he sets me down gently and stands behind me, hands on my hips as if he can’t bear to be physically parted from me.

Kole stumbles to his feet. Little Star… his voice fills me up. It surges through me and forces a blissful sigh from my lips.

My Viking.

I take a step toward him, but I don’t need to go any further because Kole closes the gap between us in one stride, slams his hands on the sides of my face, and kisses me. The force of his passion almost knocks me off my feet. Our mouths collide. He growls as he kisses me, his hungry hands roaming my body and leaving fire in their wake.