Untethered

23 | Moonlight Kisses

"Wait, you were serious?" she asked incredulously. "That water is going to be frigid!"

"Are you scared, Em?" he taunted.

"No!" she retorted, "I just don't want to freeze to death!"

"I'll keep ya warm," he winked at her, and then, not giving her nearly long enough to admire his drool-worthy masculinity, jumped off the end of the dock. He surfaced a few feet away, and splashed her. "Get in here, woman—I'm going to get you wet one way or another."

"Oh, you think so, huh?" Emma arched an eyebrow at him, fisting her hands on her hips, and not missing his innuendo. "I don't think you'll get near enough to get me wet in any way if you keep this shit up."

"Such a dirty mind, Em!" he was chuckling loudly now, and shot another stream of water at her. She barely dodged the stream of water, before sitting down on the end of the dock, and gingerly dangled her feet in. "Get in here, woman!"

"No way! I'm not getting in there. The temp has dropped like ten degrees from earlier."

"Come, on... Please?" He swam up to the end of the dock and started trailing his wet hands down her legs. "I could just pull you in, you know."

"If you do, your 'equipment' will be malfunctioning for at least a week," she warned, sending him a deadly glare.

"Okay, okay," he held his hands up in surrender. "I won't pull you in... come keep me warm?" his pleading eyes wore her down, and she sighed.

"If I die of hypothermia, I'm going to kill you, Ryan."

"You'll be dead, so I'm not too worried."

"You should be. My ghost will haunt your ass for the rest of your miserable life, and then I'll kick your ass once you finally croak," she grumbled. Standing up, she began stripping out of her clothes. When she was down to her bra and panties, she heard an audible gulp.

"I think you better leave those on," Ryan's strained voice came to her from the water.

"Oh really? Why is that?" Teasingly, she lowered her bra straps only to be splashed with a bucketful of cold lake-water. Shrieking, she launched herself into the water in the direction the assault had come from. The sounds of their voices and the water splashing carried over the water and bounced off the thick wall of trees. As soon as she broke through the surface, he swam up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"You are gorgeous; you know that?" he mumbled into her neck, rubbing his rough stubble against her silky, soft skin.

"Pfft..." Emma tried to pull away, feeling self-conscious, but he kept his arms firmly locked around her. "I'm not gorgeous."

Ryan looked at her sideways, dumbfounded. She always seemed so comfortable in her own skin, and she wasn't the type of girl to fish for compliments, either. Suddenly he realized, she was just being honest. She really didn't see herself that way.

Keeping his arms looped around her, Ryan twisted in the water so that they were facing each other. "You are the most beautiful woman, to me," he asserted. Drawing her toward him, he kept his hands on the curve of her waist, and met her lips in a leisurely kiss. Their tongues played together, luxuriating in the taste and feel of each other. Breaking off the kiss, he glided around to her side, and gently applied pressure to her shoulders, "Lie back for me, Em," he commanded in a low voice. "Just close your eyes, and trust me."

Emma did as he urged, and her body floated to the surface of the water. The cool night air made her nipples pebble under the lacy fabric of her bra, and tiny goosebumps puckered up all over her exposed skin. Then his other hand skimmed down to the small of her back. He stood there, watching her—waiting until he felt her body relax, the tension draining away, becoming malleable in his hands. Little rivulets of lake water trailed over her curves, beading on her cleavage and thighs, glittering in the moonlight, like so many diamonds. He had the urge to lean forward and lick them off of her slowly, but resisted.