Page 27 of Impossible Thrills

The water in the stream flowed faster. The rushing of water plummeting a fair distance reached them, and Darcy’s anticipation grew. She’d love to see a beautiful waterfall.

Jagger glanced over his shoulder at her. “Do you like to swim in waterfalls?”

“I’m horrible at swimming,” she reminded him.

“I can hold you up.” Nick’s hand rested on her back. She glanced back and up, getting lost in his irresistible deep-brown eyes.

“Would you?” she asked.

“It would be my honor,” he said softly.

It was as if her turning him away last night hadn’t even happened.

Jagger let out a soft guffaw that they both chose to ignore. Darcy wondered if any woman could penetrate Jagger’s hardened heart. If a woman did, though, at least she’d know she was special. Darcy had never been special to anyone, except her grandpa who had left her for heaven when she was eight.

Nick kept his hand on her lower back as they grew closer to the pounding water. Could she possibly be special to him? She didn’t dare let herself hope. He was enchanting, and the disappointment of him rejecting her would take her under. She couldn’t let him any deeper into her heart.

They crossed through thick trees and entered a small clearing.

She stared up at the cascade of clear water dancing over mossy rocks. It was beautiful as it pranced from one boulder to the next before doing a freefall descent forty feet to a wide pool beneath. The water from the pool overflowed, tumbling over more large boulders and down the stream they’d been walking next to.

Jagger slid off the backpack, his shirt, socks, and shoes, and immediately started climbing the boulders next to the waterfall. “You guys coming?”

“Sure,” Hays answered, setting down his water bottle next to the backpack, taking off his shirt, socks, and shoes, and following Jagger.

Nick looked at her. “What do you think?”

“Cliff jumping?” She looked up at the big, scary cliff and down at the pool of water. Her stomach hopped just thinking about it. “I’ll watch you all jump.”

“You’re certain? I can jump first and help you swim when you land.”

“I’m happy to watch you do it,” she insisted.

“Okay.”

Nick pulled off his T-shirt. Darcy gaped at his defined chest. Yesterday they’d been in wetsuits and she hadn’t been able to study the lean muscles. It was intriguing the way his chest muscles were sculpted and protruded slightly but his abdomen muscles were indented, almost as concave as her chest. She smiled to herself at the silly analogy. She fully appreciated the broad curve of his shoulders, bumps on his biceps and striations on his triceps. The medallion hung between his chest muscles. It was a family crest of some sort. She wanted to ask him about it. When they were alone. Maybe tonight? She hadn’t worn her locket again, not sure what the day would bring. She didn’t like being without it.

“You can stare for a while,” Nick teased. “I don’t mind.”

“Oh my. Go jump off a cliff.” She shoved at his warm arm and grinned to show she was teasing.

Nick gave her a knowing and intimate smile. It warmed her much more than the tropical sun.

He untied and slid off his shoes and socks, then followed Jagger and Hays. They all went up the precarious climb—over boulders at first, then clinging to roots and rocky outcroppings to maneuver far higher than she was comfortable with. Maybe forty or fifty feet? She wasn’t a great judge of height, but she did know she wouldn’t make that climb, or jump, any time in her life.

Darcy sat down on a smooth rock to watch the men.

Nick ascended like a mountain goat. The striations in his back and arms made her mouth dry. She took the last drink from her water bottle, crumpled it, and put it in a side pocket of the backpack.

How could she stay impervious to Nick when he was so appealing? She almost wished she was the type who could just have a fling, flirt and kiss and move on. As damaged and alone as she was, she didn’t know how to do anything like that. It would wreak havoc on her already unstable emotions.

She missed her little ones. They were safe, loving, and they needed her. Her arms felt empty and her heart heavy. She reached for her locket, forgetting again she’d left it on the dresser.

Just a couple more days and she could get back to Tecate. She loved to visit and help improve all of her homes, but the original home in Tecate had her heart—it housed Samuel, Izzy, Missy, and many other children she considered her own.

Jagger reached a rock that jutted out. He climbed onto it and scooted to the edge. Nick and Hays paused in their climbing to watch.

“Are you sure the pool is deep enough?” Darcy yelled up at him. Nerves assaulted her simply watching the large man hover on that precarious ledge.

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