Her gaze is glued to mine, as if she’s trying her best to look at my face rather than what I’m doing with my hands. I open the snap of my shorts. Then I unzip them. I’m not wearing any underwear, so there’s nothing to obstruct her view of me when I step out of my shorts and throw them to the bank.

“See you down there,” I say quietly, smiling when her eyes flicker low and then back up to my face. I see her cheeks burn bright red and I laugh just before I turn around and jump straight over the waterfall.

And everything else disappears.

Except for the feeling that I’m flying.

And free.

And alive.

And that nothing else matters.

FIFTEEN: Laney

Oh sweet Jesus! He did it!

My heart is like a runaway train. His whoop of delight is still echoing in my head as I step onto the rock closest to the edge and look over, holding my breath until I see Jake’s head break the surface away from the white spray.

Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, I can’t do this!

Blood is rushing behind my ears even louder than the water. My pulse is racing and I feel short of breath.

I look left and right. The mossy bank looks a thousand miles away. Then I look down at Jake’s handsome, laughing face, and so does he.

“Your turn,” he calls up to me as he shakes his head one more time, making his hair stand up in spikes.

“No way,” I reply, feeling a little panicky that I’m up here by myself.

“Come on, Laney. You can do this. Trust me.”

“Trust you? You’re obviously insane. Why should I trust you?”

It seems an inordinately long amount of time passes before he replies. And, even then, I have to strain to hear his low voice.

“Because trusting everyone else has gotten you nowhere. Take a chance for once in your life. Take a chance on me.”

Common sense and self-preservation are locking horns with the lure of Jake and all that he represents as he stares up at me from the churning pool below.

I feel frantic. On edge. Literally and figuratively. But, again, something rises up and takes a dominant position. I don’t take the time to examine it. Or reason with it. Like I’ve wanted to do, I just surrender to it. To freedom. To escape.

To Jake.

Closing my eyes, I bend and pull off my boots and socks. I hear Jake’s holler of delight. “That’s my girl!”

I can’t help but smile.

He really is the devil.

I chuck them as hard as I can toward the shore. They land not far from Jake’s clothes. Swallowing every bit of shy, responsible, fairly chaste Laney, I pull my tank top over my head and throw it at the tree. Then my shorts.

When I’m standing at the top of a huge waterfall, wearing nothing but my underwear, staring down at a guy who takes my breath away, I shred the last little bit of reservation that I have.

Along with my bra and panties.

And then, without another second’s thought or hesitation, I leap.

The chains of who I’ve always been, of who my family is and what’s expected of me, break away as I fly through the air. Dropping, dropping, dropping, everything fades away but for the sound of the water, the feel of the wind, the thrill of the moment, and the man at the bottom.

He’s waiting for me there. All sorts of new and unexplored things are waiting for me there. This is an existential leap, as much as a physical one. There’s no turning back now. I might as well embrace it.

The cool water swallows me up, slowing my descent and stealing the air from my lungs. The muffled sound of churning water swooshes by my ears as the undertow pulls at my legs.

I swim for the surface and don’t stop until I feel the sun on my face.

And I open my eyes to see Jake. He swam to get me, just in case I didn’t come up. Just like he promised.

He’s smiling. And I am, too. All over. Every cell. I can feel it.

I’ve never felt lighter. Happier. More optimistic. And I don’t even know what I’m optimistic about.

He’s laughing when his arms reach around me and drag my body to his. All I can think of is how I want this moment—here, with Jake, feeling like this—to last forever. And there’s only one thing that could make it better, that could cement it in my head and in my heart.

Digging my hands into his hair, I pull Jake’s mouth to mine. His lips are cool and soft, and they taste of the water and the fresh air.

Brazenly, I slip my tongue into his mouth, asking him for things I don’t have the courage to say, offering him things I don’t have the strength to hold on to.

Then he’s kissing me back, his hands roving my back, tugging at my hair. His smooth chest is teasing my nipples, his firm thighs are tangling with mine.

And then I’m weightless again. I don’t even open my eyes to see where Jake is taking me. All I know is that my body is still pressed to his and the world cares only for what’s happening between us right this minute. Nothing else matters.

The grass is soft and cool against my back. Jake’s body is hot and hard as it covers mine. I groan into his mouth and arch against him, a silent plea for more. Just . . . more.

Spreading my legs, I reach around and dig my fingers into Jake’s smooth, hard butt and I pull him toward me, craving him in places that ache with want of him. With a growl, he drags his lips away from mine and kisses a fiery trail down my throat to my breast.

When his mouth closes around my cool nipple, I gasp. The sensation is stronger, deeper. Heightened. The sky swirls behind my eyes. The river rushes behind my ears.

Jake licks and sucks his way from my ni**les to my navel, and the earth collapses into a pinpoint of pleasure when I feel him move farther down to settle between my thighs. The first touch of his tongue to my throbbing flesh brings my h*ps up off the ground. Relentless, he lays his arm across my stomach to hold me still as he mouth plunders my every slick crevice and hidden desire.

Over and over, his tongue sweeps across my most sensitive part, bringing me higher and higher, further and further away from reality. Until, like the waterfall, my cl**ax crashes down over me.

His lips sucking at me, his fingers penetrating me, Jake perpetuates my orgasm until I can barely breathe. My head is spinning with it. My body is drenched with it. The world is alive with it.

“Are you on the pill?” he asks, his voice nothing more than a muffled groan.

I nod in answer, unable to find words in the midst of what he’s doing to my body.

“Do you trust me? I promise you I’m clean.”

Again, I nod. And, truthfully, I do. Or I wouldn’t have jumped off a waterfall and into his arms.

His fingers disappear as Jake shifts his weight. I want to cry at the loss, but then, reality splinters again when he enters me.

He’s so big, stretches me so tight, I cry out. Not in pain, but in the most exquisite pleasure I’ve ever known.

When he starts to move within me, I feel the tension return, stronger than ever and threatening to overwhelm me completely.

“Oh fuuu—” he moans into my ear as he withdraws and plunges into me again. “Oh my God, I never thought it would feel like this,” he says, his voice sounding nearly pained in his passion. “You’re so tight. And so wet.” More excited than I’ve ever been, I’m panting, almost delirious with what is happening between us.

“Jake, don’t stop.”

“I won’t, baby. I’m gonna make you come all over me again and again. I wanna feel you squeeze me. I want you to feel it running down your ass. And then I’m gonna lick you until you come again.” His words are an aphrodisiac, his body the sweetest torture device. Fiercely, he pumps into me, as if he knows I’m close. So, so close . . . “And then, I’m gonna put my c**k back in and you’ll come with me. I’ll fill you up, baby. I’ll fill you up with me.”

With one hard, deep thrust, just as his mouth covers mine, it happens again. Wave after wave of it, sweeping me further away from all the things that never really mattered. Right now, this matters. Only this matters.

True to his word, Jake withdraws from me and moves down my body, using his lips and his tongue and his fingers to send me tumbling from one orgasm to the next. My legs feel limp when he spreads them even wider, placing his hand behind one knee and pushing it against my chest. I’m convinced I don’t have anything left to give him.

But he persists. And I let him. I’m putty in his hands.

When Jake enters me this time, I feel it all the way in my stomach, like his body is merging with mine. I can feel every long, thick inch as he pulls out. And I can feel every long, thick inch as he plunges back into me. The friction is delicious, the pleasure undeniable.

Much to my surprise, as Jake manipulates my body, the tension builds once again. I’m convinced it will lead nowhere. Until I feel Jake’s hot, pulsing release. With a growl, he grinds his body into mine, triggering spasms deep inside me.

True to his word, he’s making me come with him. I can feel my muscles clutch at him, pulling him farther into me, milking him until I feel his shoulders shudder beneath my hands.

“That’s right, baby. Take it all. Uhhh,” he groans through gritted teeth as he strains against me. And then he collapses on top of me, spent.

We lie, joined together, for what seems like an eternity. My body feels numb, but it also feels like there’s a hum of tingling nerve activity right below the surface of my skin.

When Jake finally raises his head to look down at me, I feel him twitch inside me. He’s still hard.

“How is that possible?” I ask before he can speak.

His brow wrinkles. “How is what possible?”

I’m not even sure I know what I was asking. How can he make me feel this way, how can he make my body do what it just did, how can he still be hard after all that—I don’t know how to be more specific.

“This?”

He smiles, his eyes twinkling down into mine, and he kisses the tip of my nose. My heart melts, bringing with it a prickle of unease that I push to the side for later examination. “Hell if I know, but I can tell you I’m dedicated to finding out and doing my best to duplicate it.”

He runs his lips along my jawline as he flexes his hips. I feel the pang of something waking in the lowest part of my belly.

“You can’t be serious,” I whisper, using all my strength just to keep my eyes open.

“Oh, but I am,” he says, pulling out and thrusting back into me. A wave of awareness steals my breath. Again. “But you need to rest a little first.”

As sweetly as anything I could ever imagine a good man being capable of, Jake withdraws from me and rolls to the side, bringing me into the curve of his body.

“Jake, I—”

“Shhh,” he interrupts, pressing his lips to the top of my head. “Relax. Enjoy the sun. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

He doesn’t have to tell me twice.

SIXTEEN: Jake

I’m tired, yes. And I could probably use a little rest, yes. But not right now, I’m more interested in the girl curled up at my side, sleeping na**d in the grass. The one who just rolled enthusiastically from one orgasm to the next. The one who let me devour her in the bright light of day, out in the open. The one who let me come inside her, and seemed to enjoy the shit out of it.

Can this be the same girl I kissed at the fair all those years ago? The same girl who blushes if I stare at her too long? The same girl who never curses? The same girl who probably never even had more than that one sip of wine until I put a purple people eater in her hand? What a very perplexing, yet very welcome walking contradiction.

I knew she had a little fire to her. Probably buried deep down, something she was raised to squash or ignore. And I knew she was itching to take a little stroll on the wild side. Or maybe just at the edge of the wild side. But I didn’t expect this. I mean, damn! I want her again already. Right this second. My c**k acts like it’s seven a.m. on a Saturday morning after a two-month dry spell.

I hope to all hell that she doesn’t get attached and ruin this for both of us, because I could stand to have a little more of this coming my way over the next few weeks.

I glance down at her body—at the arch of her neck, at the curve of her hip, at the perfect pink nipple that I can barely see, peeking out from under her arm where she’s lying on her side—and my mouth waters. And my dick gets harder.

I’m debating waking her up the right way when she sighs and tilts her head up to pin me with her soft blue eyes. Judging by her expression, I know she still feels that lazy, bone-deep relaxed feeling that only comes after having some really good sex. And this sex? Sweet hell! It was that and then some!

But then they freeze, as if she suddenly remembers what happened. I watch her eyes round into Os nearly as large as the one her mouth makes. I hold my breath, not knowing whether to expect her to get up and walk out of my life forever or give me the coldest shoulder this side of Alaska.

True to what I’ve seen of her this far, though, instead, she surprises me.

“Can we do that again?” Air rushes from my lungs and my chest relaxes as a wide smile settles across her lips.

“Which part?” I ask, unable to help myself.

The blue of her eyes sparkle like stars in a midnight sky. “All of it.”

I find my own lips curving. “Hell yeah!”

“But maybe backward this time,” she says, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip in that shy way that I love. “Kissing . . . and . . . stuff first; jumping off the rock second?”

“Oh, hell yeah!” I murmur again as I roll my body onto hers and suck one delicious nipple into my mouth.

And then we do it all again.

Only backward.

* * *

It’s long past dark by the time Laney and I drag our tired asses up the stairs to my bedroom. “How ’bout a nice long, hot bath to ease any . . . sore places you might have?” I ask this with a mischievous wink because I know there’s no way on God’s green earth she’s ever had an afternoon like the one we just spent. As many “encounters” as I’ve had in the course of my life, I’ve never even had a day like today. To say it was spectacular would be a disgrace to the word spectacular. Makes me think it’s been far too long since I’ve had really good sex.