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“What?” Amber stared at me.
I walked back into the water, which didn’t feel too bad since I was already wet. Having the big beautiful pool of water all to myself was like receiving an unexpected birthday gift. I did breaststroke over to the water under the jumping rock. It was clear of big rocks or submerged trees. The deep section started a little way out—which meant I’d have to leap and if I missed it and fell in the shallow water, well, that could be fatal.
Floating on my back, I stared up at the sky. Why did I want to jump off the rock? I wasn’t just seeking thrills and fun. The answer was heavier than that. Joshua surfaced in my mind—he’d seemed to love me, but he’d also been controlling and obsessive. That last year with him had been awful. A swimming hole in the Oregon forest might as well be a million miles away from life with Josh—and he wouldn’t have let me jump. I would leap off a damn cliff if I wanted to.
On the far side of the pool, I got out of the water, finding my way over sharp-edged rocks to where Amber and I hadstarted. I used the rope to climb back up the cliff. Going up was easier than going down had been and I made my way through tall grass and blackberry brambles to the edge of the cliff. I glanced down at Layla and Amber and caught Clint’s eye as he stood at the edge of the water.
Swallowing, I looked down at the steep drop below me onto jagged rocks. One slipped step and the results would not be pretty. I closed my eyes as my chest rose and fell with shallow pants. Then I opened them, backed up a couple steps, ran forward and leaped.
Air rushed past me in that brief second and a half of falling as the water zoomed toward me. I kept my legs together and pointed down, my arms folded in at my sides, and my mouth closed as I silently shot down and splashed hard into the water, the momentum carrying me all the way to the bottom of the pool. My feet touched solid ground and I pushed back up, eyes cracking open underwater to see swirling green flecked through with sunlight and a fish darting away into deeper shadows.
My head broke through the water and up into the air and it was like waking from a dream. The pool had other people swimming in it. Forest stroked past me, swimming to where I’d jumped from. I floated toward the edge of the pool, out of the way of other jumpers.
Clint swam over, his big shoulder muscles bunching as his arms moved through the water. His hair was wet, and he flicked his head back, scattering drops onto the pool’s surface.
“Hey,” he said. “I’m glad you came out today.”
“You know what, I’m glad too. It’s been a long time since I’ve done something like this.”
“I tried to take you fishing with me, remember? You never would.” He stared intently at my face.
“Yeah, I was always trying to talk you into a real date. Ithink I threw down a few ultimatums about bringing me flowers.”
“And jewelry. You had a checklist for prom.”
I laughed. “I’m a list maker. How are you doing? I heard you might be going to another football program.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Come over here so we can sit on those big rocks.”
I followed him to the edge of the pool at the base of a cliff wall and we stood on the submerged boulders. He had freckles on his tanned skin. I’d forgotten about those. It looked like he’d spent a lot of time with his shirt off in the sun.
I sat on a rock with the water coming up to my chest. Clint found a lower rock and propped his shoulder on the cliff wall next to me. Our faces were level. It was shady, and a little bit private from the rest of the pool.
“Sally…” He swallowed. “I’ve been wondering—did you come out here to be with me?”
I sucked in a breath. How did it suddenly seem like we’d leaped back in time to when we’d been together? “Well, no. I mean I knew you were here, and Amber was here, and it was really far away from everything. I was hoping I’d run into you.” I swirled my hands through the water. “I don’t know what I wanted to happen. But there’s someone I care about back in Austin. Then I met somebody on the drive over here, and you had a girlfriend…”
“We’re both single now, right?”
I chewed on my lip. “Barely.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I have to leave next week, for Nebraska.”
“I bet they want you over there quick with the season starting.” My heart dropped, sorry that he was going, guilty about what would have happened if he’d stayed, and relieved that he would be far away after all.
“If you’d known I was going to be in Nebraska, would you have gone there?” He touched my knee, his fingers circling on the surface.
“I don’t know. I liked the sound of this place after a long dry Texas summer.”
His hand slid down my calf and he moved in closer.
One thing I’d always loved about Clint was that he understood how much I liked to be touched. Someone jumped off the cliff behind us, but we kept staring at each other. His hand moved up my leg, deep under the water, while he swam in closer, submerged up to his chin. He arrived in between my open knees, our faces inches apart.
“Babe,” he said, “I’ve never stopped thinking about you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Clint’s hands slid up my sides under the water. My legs hooked around his thighs, pulling our hips a little closer. He blew out a breath, his eyes fluttering closed. “Oh, God. I’ve been ready to knock on your door every night since I realized it was you.”
