Page 67 of Barbed Wire Hearts

“Please,” I rasp, thinking he needs more convincing. “Please.”

He looks behind him, as if searching for Wiley and Dakota but they’re probably still coming. The side-by-side is faster than the horses and they likely will need to make sure the cows are taken care of first. His face twists before he jerks off his hat and tosses it to the side. He kicks off his boots and pulls his shirt over his head, leaving himself in only his jeans.

“I’m gonna come get you,” he says, before easing up to the side of the river. “Don’t let go.”

“I won’t,” I croak, holding on tightly. My arms are starting to ache, and I don’t know how much longer I can hold on, but I’ll be damned if I give up now.

He eases into the water and hooks his arms around the log. It wobbles dangerously and he pauses for a second to make sure it doesn’t loosen. When it stays where it’s at, he eases in deeper, the water shoving him against the trunk. Only once he’s about halfway out do Wiley and Dakota appear on their horses, their expressions as panicked as Levi’s is.

“What the fuck are you doin’?” Dakota snarls. “You idiot! You’re gonna get you both killed!”

“Rope!” Wiley says, leaping off his horse. “Grab the rope just in case.”

I don’t know if they plan on lassoing us, but I remain focused on Levi as he comes out slowly toward me.

“Hermioneigh?” I ask over the thundering water, worried she got swept down the river, too.

“Safe,” Wiley yells, quickly unraveling his rope and getting it ready.

My feet aren’t touching the bottom and when Levi gets about three quarters of the way to me, I know his aren’t either. If the log gives away now, we’ll both be swept down the river. I cling tighter even if my hands are starting to slip, even if my grip is starting to fail.

“I’ve got you,” Levi pants, dragging himself along the log. “Just hold on.”

So I do. Because he asks me to. Despite the river dragging at me and threatening to suck me under the log, I hold on. More cowboys arrive to help, each trying to find a way to get us back to land without putting anyone else in danger, but I don’t focus on them. I focus on Levi as he pulls himself along the log, as he grunts against the force of the river. His muscles bulge as he pulls himself, his body tense.

He grabs onto the log right next to me and hauls himself to me. “I’m gonna wrap my arm around you,” he grunts. “You gotta let go of the log and wrap around me.”

“You’re sure?” I rasp, nervous to let go.

“I’m not going to let you go anywhere,” he reassures me. “I’ve got you, princess.”

He loops one arm around the branch I’d been clinging to and locks his grip there before he wraps his other around my waist. Beneath the water, his legs wrap around my legs as an added safety net for the transition.

“Okay,” he breaths. “On three, let go and wrap your arms around me.” At my nod, he tightens his grip. “One. . . two. . . three.”

I let go and immediately the river pulls at me. Despite being fast, it tries its best to sweep me away. Instead, I rely on Levi’s strength and wrap around him like a spider monkey, my arms wrapping around his neck and my legs around his waist when he moves his legs. He only moves once he’s sure I have a good hold of his neck.

“Good,” he growls. “Now don’t you dare let go.”

And then he turns and starts to drag us back along the log slowly. For a second, I think things are going to be okay, that we’re gonna make it. He’d grabbed me. I’m wrapped around him so tightly, I’m probably bruising him. He saved me. We’re gonna be okay.

“Log!” someone shouts and Levi curses. “Get them out!”

Those along the bank start to panic and that’s what has me panicked.

“Don’t look at them,” Levi says as he positions me with my back to the log we’re holding onto. “Look at me. I’ve got you. Good girl.”

I wrap myself tighter around him and focus on his face, on the way his brows furrow as he uses pure strength to drag us along the log, but we’re too far from the bank.

“Levi!” Wiley shouts. “There’s a log!”

We have all of three seconds before it reaches us.

There’s nowhere to go, nowhere to run to. Levi instead positions me against the log we’re clinging to with his back against the rushing river. He tells me to unwrap my legs from his waist and instead wrap them around one of his legs.

“Look at me, princess,” he says, but with the river rushing around us, it sounds like his whispers.

Our eyes meet and hold. We’re both wet, our hair hanging around us in wet strands, the river pulling at us. And then movement behind him draws my gaze away.

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