Come on!
I scan the shore in each direction. Can’t this person read the million signs around the lake? You aren’t supposed to be down here at night. And you’re definitely not supposed to be swimming.
Squinting my eyes, I try to focus on the night swimmer, but they’re still too far away. I stand from my rock and step in closer, squinting harder when I realize the person is topless.
Who the hell swims topless in the camp lake? Maybe it’s an adult from the other side who swam out too far.
I should go down and stop them, at least make sure they’re okay, but I don’t want to look like some kind of creep who’s approaching topless women on the beach. Then again, I might be a bigger creep if I just stand here and stare.
As my brain ponders the righteousness of the options, my cock has its own opinion. I’m rock hard. Her breasts are so perfect as they sway in the moonlight. There’s no denying that.
What the hell is wrong with me today? I’m ogling a college graduate in the middle of the day, tonight I’m drooling over a topless woman in a lake. Apparently, I’m hornier than I thought.
What the hell do I do?I can’t leave her out here all alone, and I can’t go down and startle her while she’s undressed. So, I guess… I’m good to just watch. A smile lifts to my face. Nice job, brain. I knew we’d figure this out.
The woman ties her hair back and dives beneath the water. I turn away as the rise and fall of her ass hit the surface. Whoever this is, she doesn’t have a care in the world, or she has too many cares and she’s diving below the surface for solutions. Now, who’s the psychiatrist?
I wait for the woman to surface again, but there’s a delay and then some bubbles.
Fuck. Is she okay?
My pulse picks up as I stare out at the mirror-like lake. There’s no current to get pulled under with. I’m not sure why she isn’t surfacing.
I move forward through the brush and get closer to the lake. I don’t have a lot of time to think. Either she’s practicing for Olympic breath-holding or she’s in trouble and the latter wouldn’t take long to go bad quickly.
Kicking off my sneakers, I wade into the cold water, swimming out to where I last saw her, but there’s very little out here to gauge direction in the dark.
A hand flies into the air and I swim toward it, diving below the surface to help pull the woman up. There’s tension as though she’s caught in something. The lake is dark and there’s zero visibility beneath the surface. I run my hand down her bare leg until I reach her ankle and feel the plant tied to her tight.
Fuck. I reach into my pocket and pull out my knife, cutting her free from the seaweed before pulling her to the surface.
It’s then that I see the face of the woman that nearly drowned, the face of the woman that’s wrapped around my neck panting as I hold her in my arms, the face of the woman who’s buck naked in the lake at midnight.
I guess Beth didn’t run away after all.
Chapter Six
Beth
I’m desperate to run. I’m not talking about a jog around the lake. I mean, I want to take off like a jet straight to the moon and never come back again.This cannot be happening! Who swims naked in a lake? Me. Who drowns themselves with seaweed? Me again. Who gets caught? Me. It’s me!
I guess I should be happy to have gotten caught. If not, I may have drowned tonight. Then again, life as an eternal mermaid may not have been as terrible as the humiliation I’m feeling right now.
Alex takes off his flannel and wraps it around my bare body as I hold my arms in place over top my breasts. “Your office is just across the street. You should hide out in there. I don’t see your clothes anywhere.”
I scan the shore for my sundress and the subsequent key to my cabin, but it’s nowhere to be found.
My eyes close and I wish myself away, but when I open them again, I’m still in the same spot, staring at the same hunk of a man whose body could be in a museum somewhere for people to admire while I look like a drenched rat. A rat that ate too much cheese and gave up on maze running.
I nod without saying a word, then race up the hill and across the street to my office like I’ve been lit on fire. I don’t know what I thought I’d do when I arrived, but I still need the key to get into the office.
Thankfully, Alex isn’t far behind me. He pulls his phone from his pocket and opens an app that unlocks the door in seconds.Technology is beautiful…sometimes.
“I’m so sorry!” I say, bundling my knees together as I wrap his wet flannel around me tighter. “I was stressed, and I thought I was in a secret spot. The foliage was all grown over. I’m not a weirdo, I swear! Swimming relaxes me.”
He grins coyly as he reaches up into the closet opposite my desk to pull out a dry blanket and hands it toward me. “In the nude?”
I bite the inside of my cheek, then rub my hand across my forehead. “I like the feeling of being free. It grounds me.”