Page 127 of One Last Chance

She scooted over, right next to the wall of water.

He braced himself, then reached the paddle into the falls, breaking into the curtain.

She flung out her hand for it. Missed. The action dislodged her from the rock, and suddenly the pool grabbed her, tugging her down.

No!

Her hands scraped the rock, and she kicked hard, slammed her head but scrambled up and came out inside her pocket. Free.

Her name rose above the thunder, Axel completely freaking out. “Flynn!Flynn!”

“I’m fine! I—think . . . I don’t think?—”

“We have to get you out of there! The lower your body temperature drops, the weaker you’ll get. I’m coming in after you?—”

“No!” The last thing, very last thing, she wanted was for him to die with her. But—“Let’s try the paddle again!”

He hesitated.

“I can do it!” Her voice tremored, but she blew out a breath. Another. Then worked her way back to the edge, the water fighting her. “Now!”

He had already rebraced himself against the rock and now stretched out the paddle.

She reached for it, but her fingers only skimmed it. Her end started to float away, caught in the current?—

She flung herself at it, blind?—

The water took her, forcing her under. But she got her hand on the paddle and held on with everything inside her.

Axel dragged her up, like a fish on a hook, pulled from the depths. She hit the surface, sputtered, but lifted her chin against the froth and got both hands on the paddle.

He towed her in with a jerk, grabbed her by the wrist, then dropped the paddle and hauled her body to his. “I got you. Igotyou.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around him, clinging to him as he pinned her to his body.

His breaths came hard against her, but so did hers, and she simply closed her eyes, buried her face in his amazing shoulder.

A full minute, maybe more, went by, and finally she lifted her head. “That was so stupid.”

“Yeah, well, stupid is my middle name.”

“No wonder your brother called you Lugnut.”

He grinned.

And she kissed him. Oh, how she kissed him, practically inhaling him, her entire body, her entire focus, on possessing this man who had become light and courage and the partner she’d always wanted.

Wow, she loved him. And that feeling simply exploded through her.

And then, like the drop over the falls, his words from the forest came back to her.

“I can’t . . .”

Oh.

Oh.She lifted her head, breathing hard, the truth breaking over her.

He was Jack. The guy for now, the adventure.

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