Not wanting to be showed up by a grown woman with freckles, Owen hurriedly undressed and got a good running start. He took a quick breath, sprinted toward the edge and said a prayer.
The cool water engulfed him, a refreshing feeling after the hour-long hike in the late August sunshine. He stayed under water for a moment, swimming a few strokes, then emerged to find Maddie treading water beside him, a big grin on her face.
“Isn’t it a total thrill?” she demanded.
He smiled at the jubilant tone of her voice. “Yeah, but I can think of better thrills,” he responded.
“Like what?”
Owen grabbed hold of her hips, brought her body to his, and leaned down to kiss her. Sighing in pleasure, Maddie wrapped those long legs around his waist and kissed him back, her tongue sliding over his in slow thrusts. Lord. It still sent his mind reeling, how sensual this woman was. She had no inhibitions, and no matter what he did to her, no matter what position they found themselves in, she threw herself into it with wild abandon.
He hadn’t expected that. Also hadn’t expected that nothing would change. Incredible sex aside, their relationship was exactly how it had always been. Filled with humor and good-natured bickering, along with the occasional heated argument. They were both too stubborn for their own good, so it probably shouldn’t surprise him that they would still fight like cats and dogs, even as lovers.
Lovers.
Christ, he still couldn’t believe how quickly they’d adapted to the new title, how comfortable it was. He’d never felt this relaxed with the other women he’d dated, which was why he’d made sure to keep everything strictly about sex. But with Maddie…it was so much more.
The scary realization had him breaking the kiss. He floated on his back, pretending he’d ended the intimate contact out of sheer laziness, but the perceptive look in Maddie’s brown eyes told him she hadn’t bought it.
“What’s wrong?” she murmured.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Liar.” She swam alongside him. “What’s going on in that brain of yours?”
“I…I was just thinking,” he answered in a reluctant tone.
“About?” she prompted.
“About us. About how normal this feels.”
She laughed. “Should it feel abnormal then?”
“No, but…but I just don’t understand how sex…well, why we can still be friends even though we’re having sex.” He felt like an idiot just saying the words, but for some reason, he’d never been able to lie to or hold back from this woman.
“Because we are friends,” she said simply. “Weren’t you friends with any of the women you dated?”
“Well, no.”
They treaded water for a moment, eyeing each other. Maddie wrinkled her forehead. “Why didn’t any of your relationships work out?”
Discomfort crept up his spine. “I don’t know.”
“Sure you do.” She slanted her head. “So why?”
She was touching on territory he didn’t like discussing, and maybe it made him a coward, but he found himself eager to get away from her. “I’m hungry. Let’s climb up and get our clothes.”
He took off in a fast breaststroke before she could answer, but Maddie was a damn good swimmer, and she reached the shore at the same time he did. They climbed onto the rocky bank, water dripping from their bodies. Owen glanced over and saw Maddie watching him with an intrigued look.
“Do you really think I’m going to drop the subject?” she asked with a faint smile.
After a second of silence, he let out a heavy sigh. “No.”
“Then quit avoiding and tell me why you think you’re not cut out for relationships.”
He blinked in surprise. “Who says I think that?”
“I do.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, which only directed his attention to the nipples poking against her sheer pink bra. His mouth grew dry, and his face—or maybe his groin—must have conveyed his rising desire, because she shot him a frown and said, “I’m not having sex with you again until you tell me the truth.”
Owen sighed.
“I mean it,” she warned.
Stubborn woman.
With another breath, he sank down on one of the large, moss-covered boulders. She joined him, tilting her head as she waited for him to explain.
“I think I inherited my dad’s adultery gene.”
Chapter Eight
There was a deafening silence.
Then Maddie burst out laughing. “What?”
As Owen’s jaw tensed, she realized that laughing at him while he was sharing his deepest, darkest secret probably hadn’t been a good idea. She couldn’t help herself, though. Owen’s abrupt confession was so absurd she wasn’t even sure how to approach it.
“Forget I said anything,” he muttered, starting to get up.
She clamped her hand over his bare thigh and forced him to stay put. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed. But…are you serious?”
He nodded.
“Owen, that’s crazy. Adultery doesn’t run in the family, for Pete’s sake.”
“How do you know?” he countered. “You’re not a geneticist.”
“Neither are you!”