Page 18 of Her Property

The light was dimming, but he still caught the slight pinkness in her cheeks.

“Might it be that you were a little shocked to see a guy out on the lake in his nothing but the skin he was born in?”

At this her blush turned into a full on rush of red. “I didn’t see much,” she said.

“Ouch!” Jake said, slapping his hand to his heart.

Catherine made a strange choking sound as she tried to cover up her laugh.

She cleared her throat. “I told you, I wasn’t looking.”

“It’s ok,” he said. “I probably would have cracked my jaw on the floor if I had seen you out there like that,” he said.

“You never would have seen me out there,” she said, a little primly.

“Oh, no?”

“Well, not in November! What kind of lunatic goes skinny dipping this close to Thanksgiving?”

“I swim in the lake until it freezes over. You should try it—the colder it gets, the more invigorating it is. It’s like drinking an entire pot of coffee, without the jitters.”

“You really are a daredevil, aren’t you?”

He shrugged. “It’s not too risky jumping into cold water. At least not this level of cold. Arctic ocean water, that’s bad. Bare naked, anyway.”

She couldn’t help it, she laughed. “Did you honestly just say bare naked?”

“What do you call it?”

“Most people just say naked.”

Something flickered in Cat’s eyes when she saidnaked.Heat exploded in Jake’s stomach and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to close the distance between them and take her in his arms. To lay her down on the grass and kiss her long and hard.

In that moment, he was pretty sure he’d never wanted anything more.

“Why would you want to go skinny dipping any time of year?” she asked.

Jake groaned inwardly as his cock stiffened in his jeans.

She’s going to kill me.She’s going to actually kill me.

“Are you telling me you’ve never tried it?” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. He looked her in the eyes.

“I’m not—this isn’t—” “It’s okay, I won’t make you confess or anything. What’s so unappealing about it?”

“What if someone saw you?”

“That is a risk I’ve heard could happen.” Jake winked.

Catherine threw back her head and laughed again. Jake knew in that moment there was nowhere else in the entire world he’d rather be.

To hell with Alfred Jones. He’d give him the whole damn property just to keep hearing this woman laugh next to him like this.

Cat

Cat pulled her coat around her, half for the growing chill in the air as the sun began descending, and half because she suddenly felt self-conscious after talking about skinny dipping with Jake. Could he tell she’d been getting turned on talking about being naked with him?

It was absurd how even just volleying the word naked between them was making her feel things she hadn’t felt in a long time. She prayed he couldn’t tell. She didn’t enjoy showing her hand to someone she barely knew.

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