The man took the paper with a smile, and slipped it into his pocket. “It would be my pleasure. Anything for love, eh?”
Dylan looked at Lacy. Lacy looked at Dylan. Then, as he always did, Dylan looked away like there was something worrying that beautiful head of his.
“Thanks again.”
He waved farewell to the man and wrapped his arm around Lacy’s shoulders, leading her slowly back down the mountain.
Chapter 7
By the time they made it to the bottom, even Dylan had reached his limit. There was sweat glistening off his muscles, and she could see his heart pounding through his shirt. With a little smile, she tapped his shoulder and cocked her head towards the lake.
“Care for a swim?”
He looked over in surprise. “Can we? Or is it too cold?”
It was a fair question. Most of the people enjoying the water were either just looking at it, or were kayaking across the smooth surface. Very few of them had ventured inside. Of course, Lacy had no intention of doing what everyone else was doing. She had no intention of spending her time anywhere around other people in the first place.
Her nefarious plans required somewhere a little more...discreet.
Without a word, she grabbed his hand and pulled him a little ways back up the trail. Only about a minute or so up, there was a hidden turn-off. One she’d found long ago as a child. One where they were guaranteed to have a little privacy. She thought it’d be a little fun to be spontaneous, to be different from the other women in his life.
He realized what she was doing at the last moment, and froze in his tracks. His lips parted slightly, before he glanced to the right and left—checking for any stray travelers.
“What’s the matter, Stone?” She backed away into the trees, taking off random bits of clothing as she went along. “You scared of getting a little cold?”
He followed after her with a grin, but had the sense of mind to at least be picking up the clothing she was shedding in the bushes as he went. Together, the two of them stumbled out onto a private beach. A secluded inlet away from the general population.
It was there, on the pebbly shore, that Lacy slid off her underwear and backed into the water. Grinning ear to ear. Completely naked.
BAD IDEA!
It was like stepping into a bath of ice. Then sticking that bath on top of a glacier. NO WAY was this enjoyable. Longer than a minute, and she was convinced she’d get hypothermia and die. Fortunately, the only thing stronger than her will to live, was her impossible ego.
She forced her grimace into a smile, shivering all the while.
“It’s...it’s g-great. Y-you should g-get in.”
It might have sounded slightly more believable if she’d been able to stop her teeth from chattering. Dylan cocked his head, lifting one eyebrow with an adorably sarcastic smile.
“Oh I should, should I?” His eyes drifted over her shock white skin and shivering legs, before returning to her face with a little twinkle. “You look like you’re having so much fun.”
“I a-am.” In an act of supreme dedication, Lacy lowered her arms to her sides, letting him feast his eyes on her naked body, as she took a step deeper into the lake. “But I’m prepared to have fun all by myself, if that’s what you’re going to make me do...”
This time, it was Dylan’s turn to make a decision. The will to see a beautiful woman naked, or the will to survive. Fortunately, his priorities were just as skewed as Lacy’s.
He didn’t wade in like she was doing. That wasn’t his kind of approach. Instead, he stripped off his own, then ran into it straight on—sending up sprays of icy water in his wake. Lacy shielded herself as best she could as he went barreling past her, jumping in with a breathless cry. For a second, she couldn’t see him. Just the still surface of the water. Not even any bubbles to indicate he was alive.
“Dylan?”
She took a step forward, growing more and more worried all the while.
Oh no—he went into shock. His body locked up and he’s drowning this very second.
“Dylan?!”
Terror took hold, and she was right about to dive in after him, when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her legs and dragged her beneath the water. She vanished with a piercing shriek.
The cold was INCREDIBLE!