by Carly Bloom
Well, hell. She’d been everything.
Why did Beau have to look so surprised? Surely not every kid in Big Verde had skinny-dipped here. Alice swatted at a fly that was buzzing around. “Anyway, who cares about high school?”
She grabbed a notebook out of her bag and opened it. She tried to write the letters she planned to work with, but her arm was sweaty and it stuck to the paper, tearing it. “Dang it!”
“Come on, Allie. Let’s cool off. Then we’ll work.”
How childish could Beau be? “That’s not how it works. First you work, and then you play.”
Beau raised an eyebrow.
Wait a minute. Had she just committed to playing? “Don’t look at me like that. I have no intention—”
“I’ll mess around with your rocks and acorns if you’ll go skinny-dipping with me first.”
“I’m not skinny-dipping with you, Beau. Get the idea out of your head right now.”
“Okay, fine. You can keep your underwear on.”
“I didn’t come all the way down here to go swimming. I came down here to tutor you—”
“Bucket list.”
“Pardon?”
“Write skinny-dipping on your bucket list, right below horseback riding, and then let’s cross it off.”
She stared at him. He was speaking her love language, and he knew it.
“Let’s cut a deal,” he said. “Twenty minutes of swimming followed by twenty minutes of reading.”
“I don’t think—”
“You teach me how to spell with rocks, and I’ll help you cross things off of your bucket list. And I bet I can even help you add some more stuff to it. Stuff that’s not boring.”
He winked.
“I don’t have boring things on my bucket list.”
Beau raised an eyebrow. “I bet you have a bunch of museums on it.”
“They’re mostly in Europe. And anyway, we’ve already cut a deal. I’m helping you with reading, and you’re going to Brittany’s wedding with me. That’s our deal. We don’t need to add silly things like—”
“Fun? And bucket lists? You might know a lot of things, Allie Cat. But I don’t think you understand the concept of fun.”
Ha! She had fun all the time.
“What’s the last fun thing you did?”
Dang it. She tapped her toe and thought. Surely, there was something. Sweat dripped down the side of her neck. It was hot. And the Rio Verde looked crystal clear and cool.
“There are snakes in the river,” she said. And snakes did not sound fun.
“Nobody has ever been bitten here. Stay away from the banks and the cypress roots, and you’ll be fine.”
“I have two words for you,” Alice sputtered. “Amoebic meningoencephalitis.”
Beau stood up. “That sounded like at least four words.”
“It’s a type of brain-eating bacteria that lives in warm water.”
Beau unbuttoned his shirt. “Ah. Well, you only have to worry about that in non-flowing water. This section of the river is cool, spring-fed, and briskly flowing. It’s perfectly safe.”
“It’s not perfectly safe. That would imply there is no risk at all, and statistically speaking—”
His shirt fell open, and it sucked up any and all words she’d been about to utter.
“If you’re looking for a risk-free environment, Allie, you’d better go back to your little bubble of a library. Although it flooded a couple of years ago, so maybe it’s not safe, either.”
Alice crossed her arms and nervously tapped her foot. Because there was his chest. The same one he’d answered the hotel room door with. Because of course it was the same chest. How could it be a different one?
“I’m going to get in the river to cool off so I can pay attention to you and your rocks and twigs and whatnot. You don’t have to join me if you don’t want to. But if you do want to, be sure to write it down on your bucket list first.”
Alice stared in stunned silence as Beau removed his shirt and tossed it on the table. Next, he unbuckled his belt and yanked it through the belt loops so he could step out of his chaps. Finally, he removed his hat and handed it to Alice. “Watch and learn, Allie.”
“Where are you going?”
“To the rope swing hanging off that old cypress tree.”
She clutched Beau’s hat. At least he hadn’t taken his pants off.
“Beau!” she called. But he was already climbing up a series of boards nailed to the trunk of the tree. He quickly disappeared in the branches.
“Heads up!” he shouted as a boot landed with a thud next to her. Then another.
Zip.
A pair of Wranglers landed right on the table.
“Yee-haw!” Beau shouted as he swung out over the river. He let go of the rope, did a somersault, and splashed into the Rio Verde. Water droplets landed at Alice’s feet.
She crossed her arms, expecting him to pop up like a cork.
Only he didn’t pop up like a cork. Surely, he should have broken through the surface by now. He’d said the river was low. What if he’d hit his head on a rock?
She stood and walked a few feet down the bank. She’d known this was a bad idea! Why did Beau have to be so impulsive? She was in the middle of nowhere with only a horse for transportation and a man, who was twice her size, possibly in need of medical attention. And that was if she could even find him.
“Beau!” she shouted.
Nothing. Not a single ripple on the water.
Alice stomped her foot. “Dang it!”
With shaking hands, she bent over and unbuckled her sandals before kicking them to the side. Then she slid the straps of the overalls down both shoulders, because the last thing she needed was to be burdened by waterlogged denim while she was trying to drag a heavy man out of a river.
Just as the overalls slid down her hips, Beau broke the surface of the water.
Chapter
Fourteen
Beau took in a huge gulp of air, filling his lungs to capacity. Then he let it all out with another “Yee-haw!”
He loved this river. And nothing felt better on a hot day. He kicked back, letting his feet float to the surface, and looked around for Alice. When he saw her—standing on the bank with her overalls down at her hips—he took in a mouthful of water. Then he sputtered and coughed. Alice was coming in!
Alice yanked the bib of her overalls up, flattening it against her chest. What was happening? Why was she getting dressed? “Aren’t you coming in?”
Alice stared at him. “What took you so long to come to the surface?”
“I was just swimming around down there.” He winked at her. “Big lungs.”
Alice let out a huge sigh. “I thought you’d hit your head on something and were unconscious.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because you were under for so long!”
Her hands were shaking. Her sandals were off. Holy shit, had she been removing her clothes so she could come in and save him?
The ponytail bounced and swung as Alice fought with the buckles on the straps of her overalls. Her face was red and splotchy and shiny with sweat—probably not a look Alice wore very often—and a fly buzzed around her head. She swatted at it, and Beau thought he might have heard the word dammit seep through her lips, which was also probably a rare occurrence.
She’d been ripping off her sandals and clothes to jump in the river and save him.
He grinned at the thought, but then something warm and heavy slid past his heart and settled in his belly. The grin slipped away. She’d been ready to save him.
“Allie Cat, I’m sorry if I scared you.”
She stopped fussing with her overalls. “It was very inconsiderate of you.”
“You’re right. I’m just not used to . . .” He paused and searched for the right words. “People being so easily alarmed.”
“Any normal person would have been alarmed.”
He wasn’t sure that was true. “You look reall
y heated. And you’ve already kicked off your shoes. Are you sure you don’t want to get in for a few minutes and cool off? It’ll clear your mind and put you in a better mood.”
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with my mood.” She swatted violently at another fly, nearly losing her balance in the process.
He shrugged. Then he put his hands behind his neck and floated on his back as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “Man, this feels fantastic.”
“You can’t always put off the hard things, Beau.”
A Mexican eagle soared against the backdrop of a few fluffy clouds floating lazily by. “And you can’t always put off the fun ones. Or at least you shouldn’t.”
He squinted at a cloud. “Look. There’s a hippopotamus.”
“Where?” Alice said, looking over her shoulder.
Beau laughed, and Alice rolled her eyes in exasperation, or possibly it was embarrassment. She’d only gotten one strap buckled, and seeing her standing there on the riverbank, barefoot and sweaty and irritated, gave Beau all kinds of weird feelings. Soft ones.
Allie Cat Martin was out of her element . . . And it was cute. Sexy. Driving him nuts.
Alice looked at the clouds. “That’s not a hippo. It’s a duck.”
“You’re looking at it from the wrong angle.”
Alice glanced at the river. Her bare toes were tapping, and it was obvious she wanted to get in the water.
He kicked his feet and just missed splashing her. “We both know you’re hot.” So hot. “And we both know you want to get in. So just do it.”
Alice took a delicate step toward the river, looking intently at the rocks, before sticking her toe in the water.
“You can cross it off your list,” Beau said in a taunting, singsongy voice.
“Fine. Turn around.”
“Really?”
“Yes. But I’m keeping my underwear on. And you have to promise not to look.”
Beau held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor.”
“You got kicked out of the Boy Scouts, if I remember correctly,” Alice said.
“Yeah, but not for lying. Also, our troop leader had no sense of humor.”
Beau turned around and stared at the limestone cliffs. He couldn’t believe Alice was actually getting in. Damn, she was really going outside of her comfort zone to have a little fun.
Maybe he could do the same thing when it came to buckling down and tackling dyslexia. When they got out of the river, he was going to try really hard and do everything Alice told him to do.
Alice slipped the overalls down past her hips and stepped out of them. Next, with a quick glance at Beau’s back, she slipped her shirt off. The sun warmed her skin, yet she still broke out in goose bumps. Why was she so stupidly nervous? She was a grown woman wearing modest-ish underwear. Her bra was padded, so it wouldn’t be see-through when it got wet. It was full coverage and probably showed less cleavage than her swimsuit.
The red panties were another matter, but still. No smaller than the average bikini bottom. She crossed her arms to cover her breasts and carefully picked her way across the rocks. She eyed Beau. He had his back to her, but he’d come closer to the shore and was no longer treading water.
Her bare foot stepped on a sharp rock. “Ouch!”
Beau jerked and started to turn around. “I’m fine!” Alice said. “Stay where you are.”
Beau froze, then returned to his previous position.
His blond hair was dark and wet, and his broad, tanned shoulders were dotted with droplets of water. The river came up just past his waist, and as she watched, he bent over and began wriggling around.
“What are you doing?” she asked, timidly taking another step. You can do this, Martin. It’s just a river. You’re just getting in a river. In your underwear. With Beau Montgomery, who is also only wearing underwear.
“Be careful on those rocks,” Beau said over his shoulder. “They can be slippery. You should have swung in on the rope.”
“It’s safer to come in this way.”
“Not true,” Beau said, tossing something dark over his shoulder.
Alice ducked as it went past to land with a splat on the rocks behind her. “What was that?”
“I don’t want to ride back in wet underwear. Those will be dry by the time we get out—”
“You’re naked?”
“That’s the local custom when it comes to skinny-dipping,” Beau answered simply. “Are you in yet?”
“No! I’ll tell you when.”
She was having second thoughts. But dang it, she’d started this thing, and she was going to finish it. She took another step. Beau was right. The rocks were awful slippery. They were also covered in moss, which was squishy and unpleasant. A small fish darted out from beneath one and swam away. “You said snakes tend to hang out along the bank?”
“Don’t worry. They’re hiding in the cypress roots. You’re fine where you are. Hurry up, I’m tired of standing here. I want to have some fun.”
Fun? What kind of fun? Because if Beau thought she was climbing on his shoulders for a game of chicken, he could think again. She intended to tread water for about five minutes in order to cool off and then get out.
In her wet underwear.
She took two more steps and then stopped to consider where she should put her foot next. She was kind of getting used to the squishy feel, and the little fishies swimming around were cute. The water was nearly up to her thighs now, and maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea.
She took a big step to make it to the next rock—a big, flat, and totally secure one—and missed. With an inhuman shriek, she hit the water.
Beau turned around just as she came sputtering up, gasping for air. “Are you okay, Allie Cat?”
He was grinning, and his blue eyes were absolutely ridiculous when surrounded by shimmering water.
“I’m fine. It’s a bit chillier than I’d thought it would be.”
“Come on,” Beau said. “You’ll warm up quickly. Let’s head to the deeper water.”
By the time they’d swum to the middle of the spring-fed swimming hole, she was smiling. This was exhilarating! And when Beau splashed her, she squealed and splashed him back. Before she knew it, she was laughing harder than she’d ever laughed in her life. It was the kind of laughing other people did while Alice stood awkwardly, watching the fun.
Holy guacamole, she didn’t feel like herself at all. And it was fantastic.
Beau dove beneath the water, yanked on one of her toes, and then popped up behind her. Alice squealed, and their voices rang off the limestone cliffs, echoing up and down the canyon.
Things eventually quieted down, and they treaded water, side by side, admiring the beauty around them. “Look, Allie. Isn’t that cool?” Beau gazed into the river. “You can see the bubbles from the spring.”
A lone ray of sunlight poked through a cloud, slicing the water and illuminating the sandy bottom where the bubbles popped up from the spring. It was beautiful. Indescribable, really. And to think, this bit of paradise was readily available, practically in her backyard, and she’d never taken advantage of it.
“Aren’t you glad you decided to strip down and, you know, fall in?” Beau asked. “I was going to say dive in, but that isn’t really what happened.”
Alice splashed him, laughing.
“I like the sound of your laugh,” Beau said.
“Do you? Well, I guess there are worse laughs than mine.”
“Yeah. Claire is a snorter.”
He wasn’t wrong, because Claire was a snorter. “I think I’ve laughed more today than I have in the past—”
“Week?”
“More like month.”
“Damn, Allie. We need to work on that.”
We?
His skin glowed. His eyelashes were all wet and stuck together. And his smile was so bright that Alice was afraid to look directly into his face. “Let’s see who can touch the bottom first,” he said.
“Wait—”
<
br /> “One, two, three!”
Before Alice had a chance to take in a lungful of air, Beau had flipped over to dive. She caught a glimpse of fabulous butt cheeks and froze. But then her competitive drive kicked in. If Beau Montgomery could touch the bottom, so could she.
Alice took a deep breath and dove beneath the surface of the water. Everything became muffled and quiet, and she timidly opened her eyes, watching the bubbles from her mouth and nose float lazily up.
Then she looked down, kicking in earnest to catch up with Beau. But he was already at the bottom, grinning and holding both thumbs up.
And holy guacamole. Folks weren’t kidding when they said the waters of the Rio Verde ran clear.
Chapter
Fifteen
Beau swam behind Alice as they headed for the shore. He couldn’t help but take in the view, which had nothing to do with the limestone cliffs, crystal clear water, and ancient cypress trees, and everything to do with Alice’s shapely long legs kicking as she did the breaststroke.
And speaking of breasts . . .
Wait. Nobody was speaking of breasts.
But Alice’s bra was waterlogged. It had slipped around quite a bit as she’d swam and splashed and generally had a good old time. Beau hadn’t stared or anything even close to it. But he’d caught a glimpse or two of side boob. There had even been a possible nipple sighting, but he’d averted his eyes so quickly that he couldn’t be certain.
Alice hit the incline of the riverbank first, and stopped swimming to stand. The water came up to her ribs, and she reached around and squeezed the water out of her ponytail. “How are we going to do this?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“Get out. How are we going to get out?”
Beau looked at the bank, where their clothes waited. “I figure we’ll walk out since flying isn’t an option.”
Alice rolled her eyes. “I mean, which one of us is getting out first?”
He wasn’t modest at all. In fact, he’d make a good nudist if cowboying accommodated such a thing. He liked nature. Loved being natural in nature. But he sure didn’t want to make Allie uncomfortable.
