Page 91 of Ashley & the A-Listers

She crashed through, the water cold and perfect against her overheated skin, rinsing away the grime and sweat from the hike.

It breathed new life into her, and as their hands separated so they could swim to the surface, giddiness rooted in her chest.

She broke through the water and searched for Dylan, finding him not too far away.

“Hell yes!” she cried, joy threading through every vein in her body.

“That was fucking awesome,” Dylan said, a carefree grin on his face.

The rush of water was white noise all around them, and Ashley tilted her head up. From the bottom, the drop seemed so very far, and she couldn’t see River and Cam yet.

Ashley swam to the edge of the pool, out of the way, and sat on a cropping of rock. The water still came up to her shoulders, and it felt delightfully refreshing after sweating.

Dylan followed, and she tried not to stare as he swam, but his arms were pure muscle as he made his way over to her. With his hair slicked back, his face was totally open to her, nothing but an easy joy in his expression.

“This was a great idea,” he said, nudging her. His sun-dappled skin was warm even in the chilly water. “Maybe even better than what I had planned.”

Ashley tilted her head. “You had something planned?”

He shrugged. “I did.”

“You… remembered?” she asked. Her pulse was in her ears as she studied him.

His expression went unbearably soft. “Of course I did. I’d never forget.”

Ashley’s brain spun in circles trying to decipher what he meant. Had her birthday haunted him like it had her, considering it’d been the last time they’d seen each other for adecade? Did he replay that day more often than was healthy, like her? Analyze and regret and wish for a time machine?

Or did he just care for her so much that he’d never forgotten the date itself?

As he stared at her, both of them stuck in this frozen moment with the water rushing louder than their thoughts and the wake of the waterfall pushing him into her, Ashley was… caught.

Hooked on this moment like she’d been hooked on the same alpha her whole life.

He nudged into her again and this time didn’t lean away. He placed a hand on the rock beside her thigh, his hip brushing her knee.

“Dylan…” she warned, though she didn’t know what she was warning either of them about. Not when every neuron in her brain was telling her to lean forward.

Later, she’d blame it on the sun. Later, she’d be full of regret.

But now… in this moment, with Dylan leaning closer and that familiar grassy scent wrapping around her, in this little private cove by a beautiful waterfall, it feltright.

It felt like she didn’t want to get over him.

Ashley not only let him kiss her, but she met him in the middle.

If they were going to make this mistake, it would be together.

Funnily enough, Ashley couldn’t remember exactly how his lips had felt over a decade ago, not through the eyes of a teenager.

Not now that the memory had the adult version of Dylan to contend with.

His hand framed her face, cold at first from the water, but warming as their skin touched, and she melted into him. Their lips moved together effortlessly, the water pushing them closer, until their legs were slotted together and she was cupping the back of his neck to pull him closer.

He tasted like what she’d always imagined Dylan to taste of—alpha and desire–and, more realistically, mint from his toothpaste.

Fuck, it was like he’d awakened something in her, and Ashley was helpless but to fold far too easily to the whims of her pulse, urging her to?—

A high-pitched scream echoed out over the water, and Ashley pushed Dylan away reflexively. He went under the water and Ashley turned her gaze up just as River and Cam hit the foam of the waterfall.

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