Page 91 of Crazy for You

“Hoooly shit,” Emma whispered as she looked down.

“Not too late to change your mind.”

She glared at him. “How often have you known me to back down from a challenge?”

Hmm. “Never.”

“Right. So anything I need to know before I jump?” She reached up and yanked her T-shirt over her head.

“What?” Because he was staring at her breasts, perfectly cupped in a hot pink bikini top, and he’d all but forgotten where they were and why they’d come here.

“Pervert.” She giggled as she shimmied out of her jeans, revealing a matching pink bikini bottom that was holy shit hot. And her tattoo…

He shucked his clothes and drew her in for another kiss, and okay, an excuse to feel her up in that itty-bitty bikini.

“Ready?” she whispered against his lips.

“Shoes,” he said. They’d both worn old sneakers today to jump in. He’d jumped barefoot before, but the water hurt like a bitch when you hit. Better that they wear shoes.

She slid hers on and laced them up tightly while he did the same. “Anything else?”

“You want to stand a few feet back from the edge, get a running start, and jump as big as you can,” he said. “Keep your body straight in the air, arms above your head, toes pointing toward the water.”

“Got it.” She walked to the edge and looked down, and then she just stood there, oddly silent.

He put a hand on her shoulder and felt the tension running through her. “It’s better if you don’t look too long. Just spot your landing, and then go if you’re going.”

“I’m going, all right.” But her voice was soft, lacking the bravado she’d sported a few moments ago.

He took her hand. “Together?”

She looked up at him with a smile. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

They backed up to the tree line. “Ready?” he asked.

“Three. Two. One. Go!” She ended on a shriek, already sprinting for the edge.

21

Emma screamed as she leaped. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ryan jump beside her. Her stomach did a barrel roll as she dropped, and some last-second instinct had her squeezing her eyes shut just before…

Splash.

The water smacked her toes and slammed up her nose, and then it swallowed her whole. She went down, down, down, her ears popping the whole time. For a moment, she hung suspended in the water. She opened her eyes to a deep blue haze and the shadowy image of Ryan below her to her right. She looked up at the surface sparkling above her and started kicking.

She broke the surface with another splash, laughing and spluttering and gasping for breath. Ryan popped up beside her, treading water with one hand while he swiped water from his eyes with the other.

“That was awesome!” she shrieked.

“Yeah, it was,” he said, a wide grin on his face.

“I want to do it again.”

Now he was laughing at her, kicking toward the spot where they’d left her backpack. She followed, gliding through the water behind him. It had felt shockingly cold when she first went in, but now that her body had adjusted, it wasn’t bad at all.

He climbed onto the rocky shore, reaching out a hand for her. She gripped it and hauled herself up onto the rock beside him. Before she’d realized what was happening, she was in his arms, her body plastered to his, and he was kissing her like a man possessed.

“You were sexy as hell jumping off that cliff,” he murmured against her lips.

---