Page 51 of River & Rue

“You should come in.”

“So you can dunk me at your leisure? No, thanks.”

“Chicken.”

I shrug. “Cluckity cluck.”

River forgets to kick and slips under. He comes up coughing and laughing so hard he can barely keep himself afloat.

I drift toward the water. “I’m not saving your ass if you drown.”

His laughter mellows… marginally.

“Tell that to your body.”

I glance down, frowning when I notice my toes curled over the edge and my legs bent. Ready to dive for him.

I straighten fast.

“Maybe I wanted a closer view of your demise.”

“Whatever you say, Princess.”

“Princess? Ew, no. I like that even less than Ruin.”

A roguish smile overtakes his face.

“River,” I growl.

“Too late. Princess.”

Before I can muster a threat, he’s underwater and moving in sure strokes toward the pool’s infinity edge.

He reaches the submerged shelf and sits. Water sloshes over the side, crashing into a catchment below. More trickles over as he drapes his arms along the narrow ledge.

The glowing waterline bisects his chest, everything beneath pale blue, everything above mapped by shadows and moonlight. His eyes flicker to me, then lift to the moon.

“You might want to jump.”

“What?”

“In three, two, one.”

Rippling water is the only warning before a gust off the ocean slams into me. My wet hair and bathing suit turn to ice. Shuddering, I wrap my arms around myself.

“Ocean’s always cold here. Alaskan current.”

“I know that, you ass.”

His soft laugh floats across the water.

I glance at the cabana, weighing my options. One is safe and familiar, an easy way out. But the other makes me feel like my veins run with moonlight.

“Water’s nice and warm.”

Fuck it.

The heated saltwater cocoons me like silk. Staying underwater, I swim toward River’s long, sculpted legs. Not that I study them or anything. They’re just a landmark, same as the swim trunks billowing over his thighs and the stacked ridges of his abdomen.