"Do you?" His brow was scrunched. If I wasn't annoyed with him right now, I'd find it adorable. Why did men have to be so infuriating?
"I don't know," I said. "What I do know is I get a choice. The possessive mountain man thing is ridiculously hot, but I make my own decisions."
He blinked at me a couple of times, then smiled. "I've never been called ridiculously hot before."
I rolled my eyes. "Of course that's what you took away from that."
"I heard the possessive mountain man thing too," he said. Did he actually puff his chest out? "That's also accurate. We are who we are and we aren't going to change."
I resisted rolling my eyes at him. "I didn't say I wanted you to change," I said. "You don't get to control my life. Do you understand that?"
His smile didn't change. Didn't falter. "You say that now."
"I'll always say that," I insisted. Was he trying to imply that I'd surrender total control to him and Connor at some point? In the bedroom, maybe. Outside of that? Not a chance. The sooner they figured that out, the better.
"Okay," he said, clearly not believing or backing down a centimetre. "Anyway, I came to find you to see if you want to come with us. We're about to take the first group out on the white water."
"I thought you were booked out?" I said.
He shrugged one shoulder. "We are, but we have room for one more. And a picnic lunch after. You said you hardly knew us. This is a chance to get to know us and see what we do."
I always wanted to go white water rafting, and this seemed like the perfect place to do it. If I was honest with myself, I'd like to watch them both in their element. Like I had when we went up to the lookout. When the adrenaline ran through me like a drug. Once that rush faded, I felt flat, like I needed another hit. Why not take that hit today?
"Sure, why not?" I said as if I wasn't as excited as I actually was. "As long as you don't push me overboard."
"No, but you're going to get wet," he promised.
I bet I was.
24
RILEY
I grinnedas squeals and shouts echoed off the ravine walls. The raft hit a rapid and spun. The tourists on board cried out again. I righted the raft and faced us down the next section.
Most of my attention was on the river, but every so often I glanced over to Leah. Every time, she was smiling at least as big as me. Clinging to the raft, but enjoying every moment.
Connor, steering the raft in front of us, shouted out something to Charlie, who was controlling the raft with him. She worked for us for almost as long as we'd been doing this. The brunette was at least as out of her mind as we were. She'd come to Aurora Hollow from England for a holiday and never left.
She was also a constant reminder of what we had to lose if we ever shut the business. It wasn't just us, we had staff to consider.
Right now, none of that mattered. The only things that did were enjoying the rush, and keeping the raft right-way up.
"Hold on tight, folks," I called out. "Here's where it gets hairy."
I caught a glance from Leah and grinned. Her face and hair shone from water dripping down her, but she didn't seem to notice or care how wet she was on the outside. I'd bet an entire year of earnings, her pussy was just as wet.
She smiled back, then she was squealing along with everyone else as we hit a wild section of river. The raft was thrown hard left, then hard right, dipping and swishing, threatening to tip but righting itself at the last moment.
A laugh burst out of me, pure enjoyment, pure rush. This was what life was for. These moments. These risks. If I could have held onto this sensation forever, I would. The only thing better was mid-orgasm. Those seconds when the world disappeared and the only thing left was the rush of blood through my veins.
"This is insane!" Leah shouted, but she was laughing at the same time.
"That's why I like it so much!" I shouted back.
She tipped her head back and laughed, exposing the column of her throat above her lifejacket.
I wanted to lick the river water from her neck. To taste the salty sweat on her skin. To taste all of her. To watch and listen to her come.
