Maggie Moves On(84)

“Suit yourself, Mags. You can sit here in the sun and stay dry, waiting for me to take you back so you can pick up a paintbrush or a spreadsheet. Or you can come have a little adventure with me.”

“You’re diabolical,” she said, shaking her head. But those long fingers of hers were plucking at the hem of her shirt. She bit her lower lip.

He slid his thumbs in the waistband of his underwear, tempting her, teasing her.

She looked skyward for a moment before letting out a breath. “Fine. But if we get arrested for public indecency, you’re paying my bail.”

“Deal.”

She stripped off her shirt, and he slid his underwear down his legs.



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30



The water in the springs was almost hot-tub hot. It felt luxurious, decadent to just lean back and float. She hoped her sunscreen was up to the task.

She’d managed to hike up the short climb in nothing but a pair of outdoor sandals Silas had magically produced from his backpack. It was the least Maggie-like thing she’d ever done in her life. Watching Silas’s spectacular butt flex as he’d climbed the rocks in front of her—because there was no freaking way she was taking the lead naked, thank you very much—was a good enough celebration in her mind.

His confidence was a wonder of nature, she decided, watching him stand there, hands on hips, naked in thigh-deep water.

Of course, his body was perfection. He was strong and lean, tall and sexy. His back was all muscle definition that tapered to the vee of his waist.

But that confidence, that innate knowing, came not from the perfection of his exterior. It came from someplace deeper.

He slipped back into the water and swam toward her, like a shark circling its prey.

She sank lower, as if the waterline would protect her from him.

His hand snaked out and closed around her arm, pulling her to him. It felt like heaven, their wet bodies sliding over each other.

She shivered when he turned her in his arms so her back was to him. He stood her up and walked her to the rocky edge of the spring, where water spilled over and down to the lake twenty feet below.

He held her there, her knees pressed against the rock. Her entire body to the thighs was exposed to the sun. There was nothing but water and light and trees and earth as far as she could see. No one to witness it as Sy’s palms coasted up to cup her breasts.

It felt magical. Natural. With just enough danger to make it even more exciting.

She felt his cock stir against the small of her back.

She wanted him here like this. Wild and free. Wet and warm.

“Does anyone ever jump from here?” she asked, eyeing the lake below as his hands kneaded and stroked.

He dropped a kiss to her wet shoulder. “The brave or foolhardy ones, depending on who you ask. It’s deep enough.”

She bit her lip and peered over the edge again. “I’m up for it if you are.”

His hands stilled on her skin. “That lake water down there is cold as hell,” he warned.

“I’m feeling foolhardy,” she said.

“Well, darlin’, then I am, too,” he said. He let go of her and helped her up onto the ledge. Warm water rushed over their feet and sluiced down to the emerald-green water below. When he stepped up next to her, Maggie held out her hand, and he took it. “You are the surprise of a lifetime,” he told her.

“On the count of three,” she said, enjoying the way her heart hammered against her ribs. She felt alive. Awake. “One…two…three…”

He didn’t let go. Not when they jumped together, not when they hit water so cold it stole her breath. Not even when they went under, sucked into a world without sound. When they bobbed to the surface together, his hand was still clutching hers.

He let out a whoop of joy and shook his hair back from his eyes.

“Holy shit, it’s cold.” She laughed, ducking beneath the surface again just for the shock of it. Her body was still hot from the springs, but the cold was stealing it away bit by bit.

“Come here,” he said, towing her toward where the hot spring water formed a short waterfall, thundering down into the lake with a cloud of steam.

The force of it pushed them back, but Silas was more stubborn than nature. He maneuvered them behind the curtain of water, where a rock ledge sat back from the cascade. The water was warmer here.

“It’s like a secret room,” she said, delighted when her voice echoed off the outcropping above them. She braced her hands on the ledge and lifted her upper body out of the water so she could brush her fingers over the sparkle embedded in the wet rock.

She turned, grinning, to look at Silas. One look at his set jaw and hard eyes, and she knew that the easygoing, playful guy was gone. In his place was the hard, hungry man.

“Come here, Maggie,” he said. The command was low and raspy. Part of her wanted to escape, just to let him chase her down.

She swam slowly to him and watched his nostrils flare when she paused just out of his reach.

He crooked his finger at her, and there was nothing playful about it.

Closing the distance between them, she stood.

Without warning, Silas reached under her arms and boosted her up. Her breasts pressed against his chest, nipples already hard from the cold, reveling in the feel of his hot skin and the brush of chest hair. He wrapped her legs around his hips, his erection pinned between them.