"I'll eat later, " he called back.
He finished brushing the horses and let them graze on the sweet
grass.
The sound of the water rushing down the rocks was soothing and too
enticing to resist, and while she ate, he went to the edge of the
waterfall, stripped out of his clothes, and dove into the crystalline
waters.
The cold water did help him take his mind off of Jessica, and he was
able to remember why he didn't want to touch her. Strings, he thought
to himself. The woman was definitely desirable, but she came with
strings.
Besides, she wasn't the kind of woman a man could bed and leave. She
deserved better than thatţsomeone better than he was, he qualified.
Why, then, did he get so hot and bothered when he pictured her with
another man? He had no right to be possessive, and yet that was
exactly what he was.
"Are you going to stay in the water all night? " The question pulled
him out of his dark thoughts. He got out of the water, haphazardly
dried himself off, and put on his pants. When he returned to camp, he
moved their bedrolls closer to the rock ledge as a precaution in case
of rain, restacked the kindling she'd collected, struck a match to
light the fire, and then sat down on his bedroll to eat.
Since he knew that Josey had prepared the food, he wasn't surprised it
tasted terrible. Jessica hadn't complained about the taste, but from
the amount of food left over, he knew she hadnwt eaten much.
She did eat most of the peppermints Josey had packed. She was chewing
on one while she gathered clean clothes, a towel, and soap. She
removed her clothes, got into the water, and "-s l used the gently
cascading waterfall as a screen to shield her from Cole.
It was cold but not unbearable. She lifted her hair away from the nape
of her neck and backed into the running water with her legs braced
apart, her head back, and her eyes closed. The gentle massage soothe
the tension out of her, and in no time at all she was completely
relaxed. It was sheer heaven.
He felt as if he were in purgatory, and he had no one to blame but
himself. He shouldn't have been watching her bathe. It was wrong and
intrusive. He couldn't make himself turn away, though, and if that
made him a voyeur or a lecher, so be it. She was incredibly lovely.
She stood waist high in the water, and her every movement was so
sensual and graceful. He watched her lather her neck and arms, then he
had to close his eyes while he battled the urge to dive into the water
and join her.
Maybe strings weren't so bad after all. He pushed the thought aside
and opened his eyes again. The erotic scene was so compelling he could
barely breathe. His entire body reacted, and every muscle felt hard
and coiled with the need to touch her.
His mind was flooded with one lustful intention after another, and he
realized he was going to be in real trouble if he didn't control his
thoughts soon. With a loud groan, he stretched out on his bedroll and