He laughed. “I thought you were sleepy.”
“I was, but then I remembered we have the lake to ourselves.” She grabbed a towel from the bag and wrapped it around herself.
He knew a lot of wild women, but there was a huge difference between wild and Willow. She was her own brand of wild. The very best brand.
She peered into one of the bags. “You didn’t by any chance pick up soap, did you?”
He reached into the bag and tossed her a bar of soap wrapped in pretty tissue paper. “They didn’t have lilac.”
She put it up to her nose, inhaling deeply as she unwrapped it. “Mom’s lavender and chamomile. One of my favorites.”
He grabbed a towel and stepped out of the tent, reaching for her hand. “Come on, sweet cheeks.”
Her eyes dropped to his cock. “Um, don’t you want to put on that towel?”
“Not really.” He grabbed her sandals and set them in front of her. “Better wear these so you don’t hurt your feet.” He shoved his feet in his boots, and she laughed. “What?”
“You’re buck naked and wearing black leather boots. You look like you belong on an X-rated Tumblr page.”
He scoffed. “Not a chance. I’m not stupid enough to let anyone take compromising pics of me.”
The amusement left her eyes, and just as quickly she was smiling again. “I’m going to get a picture of you like that. The perfect blackmail.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Wanna bet? I have no idea how you managed to get me naked and let you do all those dirty things to me,” she said with a taunt in her voice. “You probably drugged the wine or something. A girl needs assurance, and a picture is the perfect way.”
“You have no idea, huh?” He tugged off her towel, and she ran toward the water, shrieking and laughing.
He chased her down the beach, dropping their things in the sand. She kicked off her sandals at the last second and ran into the water, squealing. He tugged off his boots in record time and followed her in. His arm swept around her waist, and he carried her toward the deeper water while she laughed, struggling to be set free.
“You want to blackmail me?”
“Yes!” She laughed harder, turning in his arms and clinging to him like a koala to a tree. Her smile was as radiant as a summer sun. She tightened her legs around his waist, trembling and clinging to the soap. “How did we end up here?”
“Standing in waist-high water in the middle of the night?”
She shook her head. “Naked. Together. In this crazy fake relationship.”
“Oh, that.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m serious. I have been anti-Zane for a long time.”
“That’s a little cruel, don’t you think?” He walked into deeper water to try to warm them.
“True, though. Self-preservation.” She pushed away, floating on her back. The tips of her breasts broke the surface, and her hair fanned out around her like a halo. She was stunning.
He swam to her and took the soap from her hand. “Let me.” He began washing her. “Self-preservation? Is that why every time I came back for a visit you made sure we were never left alone?”
She grabbed the soap and swam away.
“Wills,” he called after her. Moonlight glistened off the water, threading over her skin. “Do you regret it?”
“Tonight?” She rubbed the bar of soap from shoulder to wrist.
He wanted to ditch the soap and run his hands all over her until he’d memorized every dip and curve of her body. “All of it,” he said. “Any of it.”
She disappeared beneath the surface. He felt the current change seconds before she broke the surface in front of him and wound her arms around his neck. She was going to be the death of him. Every time she touched him, his entire being wanted more.
“Is it possible to regret it and cherish it at the same time?”
Hell, that couldn’t be good, but he understood what she meant. “Yeah. I think it is.”
“Then that’s how I feel. I don’t regret the first time, because until tonight it was the most wonderful experience of my life.”
“Wills . . .” Her name came straight from his heart.
“I just regret how I handled it afterward—back then, I mean. And I don’t regret tonight. It was bound to happen, and I think I knew that when you first propositioned me about this plan of yours. Maybe we both did.” A sexy smile lifted her lips, bolstering the emotions he no longer wanted to hide.
“God knows I must be crazy,” she teased. “But I actually like you. I’m more myself with you than I’ve ever been with any other guy, which is why I’ve tried to keep you at arm’s length. You’re too easy to get swept up in. And despite knowing that I might regret this when these two weeks come to an end, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t want this. I want to feel and crave and take, and I want those things with you.”
Her honesty was almost too much to take. It wasn’t fair to either of them to have let them go so far. But if he’d been weak then, he was ten times weaker now, after having tasted and felt and experienced Willow. There was no turning back. He didn’t want to turn back. Not now, not ever.
His chest constricted with the magnitude of the realization, and his response came without hesitation. “Then let’s not let it end.”
A soft, confused laugh slipped from her lips. “What are you saying?”
“It all makes sense now, Willow. Why I remember everything you have ever said or texted to me when I’m too wrapped up in my own life to care what any other woman says or does. Why we’ve never let go of each other after all these years.” His pulse raced as the pieces of his reckless, stubborn life became crystal clear.
She pushed away, treading water to keep afloat. Her smile crumpled right before his eyes, and she turned angry and sad at once. “You’re losing your mind. This is a ruse, a game.”
“But it can be so much more. Don’t you see?” He swam out to her. “We’re not scared kids anymore. We’re not trying to find our way. We know who we are.”
Sadness tugged her beautiful mouth down at the corners, slaying him anew.
“Right, Zane, and I know you’re a player. You don’t do monogamy, and I don’t do . . . whatever it is that you want.”
She swam toward shore, but he grabbed her hand, pulling her to him. He planted his feet firmly in the lake bed, needing the stability to combat her tears, which were shredding him into a million little pieces.
“I fucked up, baby. I never should have followed your asinine rules. I should have told you how I felt then.”
“Who are you kidding? You went back to LA and forgot all about me. You didn’t feel then, and you don’t now.”
“You’re wrong, Willow. Dead wrong.”
She pushed at his chest, and he held her wrists so tight he feared he’d leave marks, but she needed to hear the truth, and damn it to hell, he needed to say it.