Travis(41)

I smiled. True enough.

I took Haven’s trailing hand in mine, stepping deeper into the water. She offered a small amount of resistance. “Not too far,” she said on a breathy laugh.

“I’m with you,” I said. “I won’t let you drown.”

She paused only a moment and then took the next several steps with me, until the water was lapping at her waist.

“See?” I said. “You can still see your feet on the bottom.”

She nodded. “Yes. The water’s so clear.” She brought some of the water up with the hand not holding mine, running it over her arms and shoulders. “Ah, that feels nice,” she murmured.

I tugged her a little farther and she laughed. “This is far enough.”

“Just a few more steps. Here I’ll help you.” I let go of her hand and moved in quickly, slipping my arms around her waist and pulling her to me as I stepped forward, off the small drop-off that had been just ahead. She laughed, pushing at my chest but then quickly wrapped her arms around my neck when she realized that she could only touch the bottom with her tippy-toes.

Her face registered surprise, then a brief flare of fear, her arms bringing her even closer as she held on. “You tricked me, Travis Hale.”

No, you tricked me. How and why and when, I wasn’t exactly sure. But I felt bamboozled, as though she’d done something on purpose to make things, me, everything, seem one way when they were really another. I couldn’t even make sense of my own thoughts.

“I did, but only because I wanted you to feel the water all over you. I wanted you to experience what it’s like to float. I won’t let you go, I promise. I’ve got you.”

She gave me an exasperated stare, but the fear seemed to have faded, and after a moment, she leaned her head back, letting the water lap around her shoulders as we bobbed together in the water.

My gaze dropped to her breasts, her slight, round cleavage just showing above the water, her stomach pressed to mine. God, it felt good. She was warm and soft and slippery, and it was taking everything in me not to lower my head and kiss that sweet dip between her breasts, to drag my tongue over the swells, to trail my lips along her collarbone. I throbbed, growing harder. My blood coursing hotter.

Haven brought her head forward, her eyes meeting mine. Her face was so close, the way it’d been when we first kissed. Only that had been in dim lighting and so sudden that I hadn’t had the chance to look at her up close, to notice the details of her face…the almost invisible, fine hairs that made her skin look like velvet, the dark striations in her coffee-colored eyes, the perfect dip of her cupid’s bow, and the small beauty mark on her left cheek, barely as large as the tip of a pen.

My breath came shorter, body reacting to the soft press of her skin and the way she clung to me. A curl sprung free and hit me in the eye, making me squint and laugh in sudden surprise. “This hair,” I said, bringing one hand up and attempting unsuccessfully to tuck it behind her ear, “is a wonder.”

“It’s a curse,” she murmured. I attempted another ear tuck, the curl obeying this time, but likely not for long. I allowed my fingers to caress the side of her silken cheek. Her eyes flared, and I saw the same heat in hers that must be in my own. I could feel her heart beating against my chest and I noticed when her breath hitched. “It came from my dad I suppose because my mom’s hair was as straight as could be,” she said, glancing away, “though he could have been any number of men. My mom never really did pin it down.”

My hand paused briefly in its journey down her cheek, the statement catching me off guard. She was watching me closely as though waiting for my reaction. When I met her stare without flinching, she released a breath, shook her head, and lowered her eyes. “Sorry,” she said, “I’m a little nervous out here.”

“Don’t be. I’m not going to let you go.”

Her shoulders dropped and she relaxed completely in my arms, her body becoming pliant. She trusts me. It felt like a deep and sacred honor. Amazing. Undeserved even when trust was part of my daily life. This town trusted me. But Haven’s trust was different altogether. For a few moments we were quiet, her breath evening, my arms holding her steadily as we both looked toward the setting sun. The world felt beautiful and peaceful. All the worries, all the questions with no answers, all the complications, and the potential pain of the world, none of it existed in this watery refuge under the dipping sun with this beautiful girl in my arms. Nothing could touch us out here. It was only us.

This time the kiss began slowly, Haven’s eyes meeting mine, our mouths touching gently, the barest brush of our lips. It wasn’t clear who initiated it, maybe me, maybe her. But it seemed more likely that we’d both moved together simultaneously. For long moments I gloried in the feel of her body against mine, the cool undulations of the current drawing her away and then pressing her near. It was breathless, and it was sweet. I felt a shift. Me. The world. The order of things I could not name or maybe had misunderstood in the first place. Assumptions long held all suddenly proven wrong.

I drew in a shuddery breath as I moved my tongue languidly over the seam of her lips and she opened for me. The kiss went deeper, yet the pace remained the same. Leisurely. Dreamy. As though to rush things would dishonor this moment.

The kiss was as natural as the lift and fall of the water around us, as essential as the sky above, as searing as the fiery sun.