Page 79 of Closer than Ever

Anna laughed. “I’m afraid to say it might be a bit of both.”

“Why are you afraid to say that?”

Anna tilted her head. She still hadn’t processed this yet. She didn’t want to think too far ahead. The look on Hayley’s face was so vulnerable, though. “I don’t know. Maybe more sex will help clear my mind?”

Hayley gave her a ravishing look and threw off the sleeping bag in one fell swoop. “Happy to help.”

***

Water rushed past Anna’s legs as she dangled over the edge of the river gorge. The wetsuit clung to her skin. The drop was steep. The water blazed down the large and smooth rock which led into the pool below it, where Hayley and a guide were waiting. Canyoning was much more fun than she had thought it was going to be when Hayley had surprised her with it yesterday.

In the gorgeous rock pool below, Hayley’s eyes were trained on hers. She had a focused and encouraging expression on her face. Anna didn’t want to disappoint her and she wanted to do this last slide. It did look like fun.

“Are you ready?” Beth, her young guide, asked.

“Yep.” Anna patted her hard hat. She was in position and fully briefed. She was to lie back, with her arms crossed at her chest, and let the water carry her down. Resistance was not only futile but potentially dangerous. “I’m ready.”

Beth, all muscles and good intentions, unclipped the wire above Anna and smiled. “Enjoy.”

Anna used to love water slides when she was younger. Her parents had taken her to a water park in Spain when she was about ten years old. She had flown down the steepest and longest slides without a second thought and loved it. There was no second guessing if she would be safe. She’d just climb the steep steps, wait in line in the hot Spanish sun with the other children, and throw herself down. It wasn’t until she became a teenager that she’d started to overthink everything and turned into a scaredy cat. But these days, that was changing.

“Go for it!” Hayley shouted.

Rob, the other young guide, had a waterproof camera ready for Anna’s slide.

“Here goes!” Anna called while pushing herself off the edge.

The water rushed up to her shoulders very quickly and her body bounced along the rock in a blur of speed and vertical descent. Before she knew it, her feet splashed into the frothy bit of the rock pool, and she was quickly sent underwater with the weight of the river that had so effortlessly carried her.

When she came back up to the surface, she gasped from the cold water her head had been submerged in. She kicked her arms and legs to float, not really knowing where she was for a second.

“Woohoo!” Hayley was there, swimming towards her already.

Anna grinned. That was such a rush. She loved it. Could she go again?

“You made that look easy, Missus ‘I will not be doing anything dangerous on this trip’.” Hayley beamed, holding onto Anna’s waist underwater. “I’m so proud of you.”

Pride swelled in Anna’s chest. She would never have done anything like this if not for Hayley. Her ten-year-old self was happy and felt nourished. Why had she ever stopped doing stuff like this? “Yeah, it wasn’t bad.”

“Oh, stop with the understatements, Anna, you loved it!”

“Okay, okay. I might have enjoyed it a little.”

“I got a good video of you,” Rob said, from the side of the rock pool. “Are you going to do the final jump together? Because I can go down and get it on video too if you want?”

Anna hadn’t checked how steep it was, but this wasn’t the time for health and safety checks. Beth and Rob had been so professional all day that it had filled her with confidence. She looked at Hayley, who was looking at her in what could only be described as wonderous awe and amazement. “Yes, together.”

Hayley smiled.

Anna shrugged. She was having a great day. Why shouldn’t she jump ten metres over a waterfall?

“Nice one. I’ll get into place. Beth should be down any second.”

Anna swam forwards to where she could stand up. There were slippery rocks underfoot. The water was so clear when the sun shone directly onto it.

“You’re glowing.” Hayley touched Anna’s chest, and leaned in for a kiss, but stopped just before Anna’s mouth. Hayley loved to tease her like this. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this relaxed before.”

“Do you mean inside or outside of the bedroom?”

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