"I haven't in a long time," I admit right before a distant scream slices through the thick air. I turn on the spot and spy Fisher sitting on a blanket with Abbey and Madison, and my anxiety spikes as my eyes frantically search for the girls.
"There." Trigg points. "On the other side of the lake by the tree line." My eyes immediately zero in, and I spot Laney and Asha running toward the lake.
Fisher rises from the blanket, his eyes panicked when they lock on mine. "Bees."
"Fuck," I curse as I immediately start hurtling toward the lake.
"It's just bees," Trigg says, hot on my heels.
"Laney is allergic to bees."
"How allergic?" he pants.
"Deadly." My heart thunders in my chest, its beat matching the pace of my feet.
"Is Asha allergic too?" he questions as they both dive beneath the water.
"No idea," I say before bounding off the dock and leaping into the water. I pop up for air and open my eyes, searching for Laney, who keeps bobbing below the surface. "Did she get stung?" I call out to Asha, who's pushing her hair back, eyes wide.
"I don't know," Asha says, wiping the water from her face.
"Are you allergic too?" Trigg’s labored tone breaks over the sound of his breaststroke feet behind me.
"No, I just didn't want to get stung."
I'm feet away from Asha, and Laney hasn't popped back up. My heart is hammering, my breaths are labored, and now I feellike I might drown as memories of the night she didn't come back up assault my senses.
"Laney!" I shout her name, panic gripping my chest. I have no idea how deep this old farm lake is or what may be at the bottom, creating obstacles that could cause her to get stuck. Hysteria slowly starts to rise as Trigg and Asha shout her name beside me, each of us treading water in circles. I open my mouth, ready to scream her name again, when the sound of a gasp breaking the water catches our attention as she pops up right beside the dock.
Her chest is heaving when her rich chestnut orbs connect with mine before she ducks beneath the dock.
"Christ." I slap the water, relief flooding my veins before I say, "I'll get her. It looks like a pop-up storm might be rolling in. Get everything ready to head back."
"Sure." A bee buzzes by, and Asha screams. "Oh my god, you have to stop screaming like that," Trigg informs her.
"Well, now that I know it annoys you. I might make it my new habit."
"Oh, I never said it annoys me," I hear him say before I disappear underwater to find Laney.
The next time I pop up for air, I'm under the dock.
"Ouch, shit," she hisses, releasing one of the beams and shaking her hand.
"What is it? Did you get stung?" I quickly grab hold of the beam beside her and take her hand.
"No, it's just a splinter," she manages with a sharp intake of breath as I carefully examine it myself, relief flooding through me as my racing heart slowly returns to normal.
"Wrap your legs around my waist," I command, my voice rougher than intended as treading water becomes secondary to keeping her close.
"I'm not doing that. I'll be fine." She attempts to pull her hand away, but I hold it tighter, my thumb tracing over her knuckles.
"You can listen, or I can make you listen." My eyes lock onto hers, and I see the exact moment her breath hitches. Thechallenge in my voice makes something flicker across her face—defiance mixed with something darker. "You just nearly gave me a heart attack. I'll be damned if I'm letting you go."
"And how exactly do you plan on doing that underwater in a lake? I'm not scared of you, London Hale?—"
Her words dissolve into a sharp intake of breath the second I release her hand, only to slide mine around her waist with deliberate slowness. The water makes her skin impossibly soft under my palm as I pull her closer, eliminating every inch of space between us. My fingers splay across her hip bones before trailing around to her back, mapping the curve of her spine as I sink lower, over the swell of her ass.
I take my time, savoring how her body responds. The way she trembles despite the warmer water, how her lips part slightly when my hand finally reaches the back of her thigh. When I lift her leg and guide it around my waist, her other leg follows instinctively, and suddenly she's wrapped around me completely.
