Page 3 of Second Chance Spring in Paradise

As much as I don’t want to look away, I force my eyes back to the ground. “I’m guessing you want these back.” I hold the underwear a little higher. I picked ‘em off the tree branch a few feet back.

“Yes, please.” she squeaks.

I catch the fear in her voice, and I turn my back to put her at ease. Or, asat easeas possible for a woman caught naked and alone in the woods by a man. I’m embarrassed, but she’s probably flat-out scared for her safety.

“Listen,” I call back to her. “You look like you could use some help. I’m going to turn around real slow with my eyes closed and toss these to you.”

I turn while I talk, squeezing my eyes shut tight while I ball up the underwear so they’ll fly further when I throw them. Soon as I’m sure I’m facing her general direction, I give them a good toss, hoping they’ll make it at least half the twenty-foot distance between us.

About the time the panties leave my fingers, she yells, “No, wait!”

Half a second later, something soft and cloth-like hits me in the face.

I don’t have to open my eyes to know what it is, so I keep them shut and peel the panties off my nose.

“This wind is a son-of-a-gun today, ain’t it?” I say as I turn my back to her again.

“You could say that.” Her voice is tight and short, but some of the fear is gone.

“New plan.” I set her underwear on the ground and place the rock on them. “I’m going to leave these here and walk back through the trees, so you’ve got some privacy. If you don’t need any more help, I’ll head back to my truck and make sure no one comes up this trailhead until you come out clothed. That sound all right to you?”

She answers with a pause followed by an uncertain, “Yes.”

I take a step, but something tells me to stay. “Can you get to the rest of your clothes okay? I’m assuming you have more.”

Another pause. “I don’t know. Maybe? I’m not having much luck getting my towel out of this thistle patch.”

I suck in my breath. “Sounds dangerous in your current state.”

If I’d brought my own towel, I’d give it to her, but I hadn’t planned on coming to the hot springs today. Hadn’t planned on helping my cousin Dakota skip out on her own wedding either, but like I said, this day has been full of surprises.

“Okay,” I say and undo the top button of my favorite, pearl-buttoned shirt. “Newnewplan. I’m going to leave my shirt here, too.” I slip it off and hook it securely over a tree branch. “You give me a holler when you’ve got it on, and I’ll give you a hand with the rest of your clothes.”

“Thank you,” she answers with a nervous laugh.

“Whatever you need, I promise to keep my eyes to myself.” I cross my heart even though my back is to her, and mutter, “Hard as that may be.” I wave, then step through the opening in the trees and walk another ten feet. Even though I’m out of sight, I keep my back turned.

I take off my hat and rake my hands through my hair, then gently slap my cheek just to make sure I’m not dreaming this. I’ve caught people naked at the spring before. Sometimes they’re testing the old wives’ tale about the spring granting wishes, and sometimes they’re doing other things that make me wish my family had done a better job of keeping this spring a secret.

But this is the first beautiful woman I’ve caught at the spring by herself. Any other day I might have taken that as some kind of sign that maybe there’s asomeonefor me. A woman who appears out of nowhere, with no clothes on, in a place called Paradise, could get any man thinking about the possibility of matches made in Heaven.

And if I were the kind of guy who believed in love, I might be persuaded there was some divine intervention going on here. But, I’m not. Especially today when I’m supposed to be at a wedding reception celebrating the nuptials of my cousin, Dakota, and Adam Thomsen, the man she’s supposedly been in love with since she was fifteen years old.

Instead, just as I was parking my motorcycle in front of the church this morning, Dakota came running out, tearing the veil thing out of her hair. She dropped it on the ground, jumped on my bike, and told me to drive.

What was I supposed to do? Pretend I hadn’t guessed all along she’d bail on Adam? March her back inside to sayI doto someone she liked enough to date for a decade but didn’t love enough to marry?

True love doesn’t exist. People just like to talk themselves into believing it does because they’re afraid of ending up alone. No way was I going to stop Dakota from being alone if she’d figured out that’s what she wanted.

So I drove her to the airport in Salt Lake City, made sure she got a plane ticket back to New York City, and told her I’d send her things. She’s a strong girl with a life and friends back in New York. It’s not a life I’d want, but she’ll be just fine.

On the other hand, my back is killing me after being on my bike for nearly six hours. I stopped at the spring for a good, pain-relieving, soak. The hot, mineral waters are the best thing I’ve found to quiet the near constant ache from my back injury.

I was hoping the soothing waters would also melt away my worry over what helping Dakota may cost me. I’m going to get an earful from my boss, Zach Thomsen—Adam’s twin brother. He saw what I did, and I’ll be lucky if he keeps me on at the real estate brokerage. The Thomsens stick together, and I’ve only been selling homes with Mountain Homes Brokerage for a little over a year. Zach’s got no reason to keep a broken-down bronc rider around after I messed up his brother’s wedding.

Ex-bronc rider.

“I’m dressed,” the naked woman calls, bringing me back to the more pressing problem at hand.

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