Page 45 of Without a Trace
Everyone laughed.
But no one denied it.
Scarlett
The water shimmered beneath the sun, still, waiting.
I stood at the edge of the yacht, swimsuit clinging to my skin, my cover-up forgotten somewhere near a pile of half-drained mimosas. The lake stretched wide and calm, like it knew something we didn’t.
Sloane floated, head tilted back, eyes closed. Rhett and Kane jumped in, their laughter echoing off the surface.
Alden came up behind me, towel slung over his shoulder, voice low. “You going in?”
I didn’t look at him as I stepped forward, letting the sun slip across my shoulders, and dove.
The water swallowed me whole.
It was colder than expected—bracing, electric. When I surfaced, the lake was a different world. Quieter. Farther away from whatever storm waited inside the boat. Or in me.
I floated for a second. Just breathing.
Then Alden was there.
He swam closer, slower than necessary, his gaze skimming the water before it found mine.
“You always dive in without a word?” he asked.
“Only when someone’s watching.”
A hint of a smile curved his mouth. “I’m always watching, Love.”
I opened my mouth to respond —
But the shift hit me first.
The water changed, the current subtle but certain.
I didn’t have to turn to know.
Trace had entered the lake—silent and shadowed. A presence that didn’t need to speak to be obeyed.
My words to Alden dissolved on my tongue.
I swam farther out, toward the sun, toward the hush. My heart still beating too fast.
Alden stayed nearby.
Trace didn’t move.
And for a moment—one beautiful, breathless moment—I let myself float.
Between them.
Weightless.
***
The sun had started to dip when we climbed back on board.
