Page 33 of A Bear's Secret

It was even colder than she’d imagined. It was so cold that it nearly knocked the breath out of her, and for one terrifying moment underwater, she felt totally paralyzed.

Then she thrashed her arms, her feet found the bottom, and she stuck her head above water.

“OH MY GOD,” she shouted, wiping water off of her face with both hands. “This is so cold!”

“Duh,” said Austin. He flicked droplets of water into her face, and Sloane flicked them right back. The water came to just below her shoulders, and it was just cloudy enough that she couldn’t quite see her own nipples.

Of course, that meant she couldn’t see much of Austin and Trevor, either.

“Okay,” she said, still moving from leg to leg, as though any level of activity could possibly keep her warm. “What now?”

Silently, Trevor sank below the surface of the water, maintaining eye contact with her until the very last second.

Sloane looked at Austin.

“What’s he do—“

Trevor tugged on her ankle underwater, and Sloane went over, flailing back into the water, then came up again, sputtering.

“Unfair!” she laughed. “I’m already in your ice bath.”

Trevor shrugged. “You asked what was next,” he said.

Sloane put her hands on her hips in mock anger.

“All right, fine,” she said.

Then she grabbed Trevor’s shoulders and shoved as hard as she could.

Nothing happened.

Trevor raised his eyebrows at her, then took her wrists gently in his hands.

“How’s this going for you?” he asked, teasingly.

“Unhand me,” she commanded.

“Nope.”

Something swept her feet out from underneath her, and she fell backwards again. This time, though, Austin caught her before her face went under. His warm skin against hers felt like it left stripes of fire against her flesh, and for a moment, she looked up into his face, only inches from hers.

“Two against one is totally unfair,” she murmured. “Especially when you’re both about twice as tall as me.”

“I bet we could make it up to you,” Austin said.

Behind his head, Sloane could see Trevor’s arm, dripping wet, curl around Austin’s shoulder as Austin’s face came closer to hers.

This is really, terribly, super dumb, Sloane thought.

Just as their lips were about to touch, there was a huge noise on the other side of the swimming hole. Men shouted, branches snapped, and it sounded like someone was sliding down a leaf-covered hill.

The three swimmers snapped to attention, Austin pulling Sloane up straight.

She crouched, making sure that all of her bits were covered, even as she wondered how the hell she was ever going to get out of the freezing-cold swimming hole.

The man who’d practically fallen down the slope stood up, brushed himself off, and Sloane realized that he was wearing a uniform. A brown-gray police uniform. Her heart squeezed in her chest.

“Sloane Garcia?” He shouted, as two other officers came down the hill behind him, neither of them very sure of their footing.

I knew we shouldn’t have gone skinny dipping,she thought.

---