Page 31 of Entangled

“Don’t.” He takes a breath. “Come to Cahuita with me instead.”

My mind races as excitement and trepidation at the prospect rise within me with equal ferocity.

“What do you have to lose?”

Everything.

I have everything to lose here. All it would take would be one misstep with him, one drop of my guard too low, one crack of my wall in just the right place and I would fall. I know it, can practically see it. And here’s the thing about falling… you always hit the ground at some point.

“Let’s play a game.” I stand, echoing his words from the other night to buy time before making a decision.

That savage grin flashes across his face. “What game do you have in mind?”

“I’ll give you an answer to your question,” I tell him, letting my eyes drift over the pool below as if in thought before I back up a step and cock a brow at him. “But first you have to catch me.”

With that I turn and launch myself over the side of the waterfall. Heart hammering as the feeling of weightlessness takes over for those few precious seconds. The water slaps hard against my feet when I hit, wrapping around me like a cool second skin. I let myself sink for a few seconds, eyes open in the underwater world, waiting to see what he’ll do. The explosion of water not far from me a moment later has me smiling and I start to kick my feet.

I break the surface to the hollers and applause of the other hikers in our group and give them a wave as I tread water. About two seconds later, Coop’s strong arms wrap around my middle and he pulls me to him, turning me along the way so that we’re face to face. I wrap myself around him without hesitation, letting him take my weight and dropping my forehead to his. My grin wide as I ride the wave of exhilaration and look into his narrowed eyes.

“Are you trying to kill us?” His voice drops low but I feel him start to harden against me despite his reprimanding tone.

“Nope. Just the opposite.” I can’t help but roll my hips against him, breath hitching as I do. “Showing you how to really live.”

“Trust me.” His lips ghost up. “I need no instruction in that department. Allow me to demonstrate for you.”

He lets us sink below the water and I unwrap my body from his as he grabs my hand and tugs me along. I quickly realize where we’re going when the water in front of us turns white with the pounding it’s taking from the falls above. Tensing my body, I kick hard to make it through, the tug Coop gives on my hand helping considerably. I come up on the side and inhale a deep breath, eyes scanning the shadowed cove hidden behind the waterfall.

Coop lets go of me to brace his hands on the rocky ledge and push himself out of the water before turning to help me do the same. I plant my foot on the ledge for leverage and push as he pulls, coming up to land hard against his body. He lowers his hands to my hips, running his thumbs along the waistband of my elastic shorts as he turns us and backs me up against the rock wall.

He drops his mouth to my ear. “You going to break this deal too, Princess?”

The taunt in his voice is apparent and his eyes are dark when he lifts his head to look at me, every bit of it sends fire racing through my veins in anticipation.

And despite the alarms blaring in my mind, I decide to give him an inch because this temptation... it’s the apple in Eden. Impossible not to take a bite.

“There would have to be rules.”

“Undoubtedly.” A low sound of amusement leaves him as his eyes flick down to my neck and he brings his hand up, running his thumb against the spot where he marked me. The bruise almost completely healed now.

“I’m serious, Coop,” I scold, trying to grasp onto some form of control.

Bringing his hand up, he threads my ponytail around his fist and meets my gaze. “So am I.”

He drops his mouth to mine and kisses me with that demanding dominance of his and I meet him with my own desperate need. Fuck, I’ve never experienced something like this before. I’ve had great sex, sure, amazing sex I might even argue. But this… need for someone else, like everything in the fate of the universe is subject to their next move is completely foreign to me.

I go to wrap my leg around his hips, wanting to feel him against me, but he stops me with a hand on my knee and lifts his head from mine.

“There’s something I didn’t get to do the other night that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since.” He brings his head down to my neck, gently kissing his way up to my ear and whispering. “Can anyone see us?”

My eyes scan the fall of water in front of us, trying to peek through the occasional flash of the pool beyond.

“I-I don’t think so.” My pulse pounds in time with the echo of the waterfall, stomach fluttering with excitement.

“Good.” He drags the lobe of my ear through his teeth before dropping to his knees.

Coop’s hands go to the waistband of my shorts and he drags them down my legs, holding on to my hip as I step out of them and making sure I don’t fall, which is probably for the best considering that my body is practically vibrating in anticipation. I’m bare to him now, my elastic shorts not allowing for underwear. Not that I’d wear them anyway. Elastic shorts basically are underwear.

He loops one of my legs under his arm and drapes it over his shoulder, kissing his way up until he makes it to the dip between my leg and pussy. Stopping, he lightly drags his teeth over the sensitive spot before lifting his head to look up at me. There’s something so inherently powerful, sensual about having a man on his knees for you and I’m filled with awe as I look at him. It’s an addicting feeling.

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