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Chapter Twenty
Nash’s second kiss caught her off guard.
The first she’d been expecting when his eyes had gone to hers, and she couldn’t catch enough air in her lungs to think straight. Then they’d fallen through the water, and she forgot the need to breathe.
Now, shock burst through her senses, freezing her fingers over his shoulders more than this glacial water could as he showed her how much of a ladies’ man that he truly was. Oh wow, she liked kissing him. He was all that was vibrant and fun and energetic! And now he was acting like he was way into her without witnesses, like he’d been using the fake boyfriend line as an excuse to get this close to her all along.
Wait. What?
Oh, they were careening towards heartache. “But there are rules,” she heard herself saying.
“Rules?” His mouth found her cheek, her neck, her ear.
She melted against him, catching his lips with hers to share a deeper kiss than before. His hands tightened against her back as he pressed her closer. Her wet shirt was the only thing that stood between her and the warmth of his chest—and her sense of self preservation.
She took a deep breath and lifted her chin to look up into the beauty of his blue eyes. They were more brilliant than the turquoise water. “Yes, rules.” She forced herself to sound stern. “Don’t think you’re getting out of building me a bonfire.”
“This doesn’t count?”
She couldn’t help the smile that overcame her at seeing the crinkle of humor near his eyes. “No.”
“Why not? You’re warm, aren’t you?”
Burning up.“But… there’s no one here,” she said. And she’d better get in lecture mode before he overcame all her sensibilities with his mischief. She’d always been a fool for Nash. She needed to change her ways. “There isabsolutelyno one here.”
“Good,” he said. “I like being alone with you.”
So did she. Too much. “Yeah, but… well, I’m not the kind of girl to kiss someone like… we’re kissing… and not mean it. This was all supposed to be fake, you know.”
As if he didn’t know.
The teasing glint in his eyes evaporated in an instant, and his brows drew in. “What if this isn’t fake?” he asked.
Her heart sped up, like her pulse was trying to keep up with the tumultuous thoughts whirling about in her mind. “What do you mean?”
“Hear me out,” he said. “I’m not playing with you, and I’m not doing this to tweak your brother, or mine. I just see who you are and… you fit into my life, Emily. I love your kind soul, your easy laughs, your attention to detail… your poetic side, your wacky side too, the way your lips twist. Like that. Yeah. What I’m trying to say is that I like you. A lot.”
She was filled with doubts. Sure, it sounded like he was in earnest, but this was Nash! Had he been fooled by the image that Mia was trying to make of her? “I’m not–not this wild woman you think I might be,” she said.
He startled her by laughing. “I know you, Emily. That’s why I can’t get enough of you. I never thought you were wild… well, sometimes, but…” Nash swallowed and his hands tightened over her arms. She realized that he was still working on keeping her head out of the water. “What if we make this real?”
Her mind flooded with the possibility of the memories that she’d thought would only last a few days stretching out to a lifetime together—jumping on the back of his motorcycle, riding horses, listening to him serenade her, snuggling on the porch while she wrote music. What would it actually feel like to call Nash hers?
And would it last a lifetime or burn out in a few weeks?
Lizardman dove into the water next to them and plummeted like a rock. He couldn’t swim, it seemed. Unable to get around Nash, she screamed out.
“Uh oh!” Nash let her go, diving after the puppy. He reappeared, breaking through the surface of the water and dragging out the sopping wet mat of fur. He set the poor panting Lizardman on the rock, then scooped Emily up next, lifting her out of the water to slide her next to the miserable pup. She probably could’ve gotten out of the water on her own, but Nash was on a roll.
Lizardman shook with fear, poor drowned rat!
She gathered the wet puppy into her arms, trying to comfort him while he whimpered. Nash hauled himself out of the water, the entirety of his bulk landing over them. Lizardman let out an outraged yelp.
“Sorry, Lizardman!” Nash moved to the side, so he could sit on the rock behind them. Then he tugged Emily closer, evaporating the cold with his touch. His hand trailed down the water dripping down her arm while she worked on drying off the shivering puppy with her discarded hoodie.
He was on a rescue mission to bring up their core temperatures. Along with the warmth of the sun-kissed rock, and the cheerful sun beating down over them, plus, the additional heat of his body, he was doing a fantastic job. The water trickling through the rocks played like musical notes, and sitting here at the base of the lake, so to speak, felt like visiting the aquarium, but instead of thick paned glass, the surface of the water seemed to be held back by an invisible hand. It gave them a great view of the marine life swimming freely through these clear waters.
“Sorry to mess up your yoga.” She felt his hand smooth through her hair and then the rumble of his laughter against his chest. “How about some couple’s yoga?”
