Page 52 of Natural Satisfaction

Splashing down a foot behind Heidi, I lashed an arm around her waist and tugged her into me. "I win."

She splashed me. "Cheater."

"I said I could catch you in less than five seconds. Never claimed I'd do it by swimming."

"Yeah, I should've written a contract that spelled out the rules of our wager." She wriggled around until she was facing me. "You're way too smart. I'll have to be more careful in the future when we make bets."

I cleared my throat. "You do realize that now you have to play miniten, clothes-free."

"Yep. I never welch on a promise."

We swam in the spring for a little while longer, but we didn't make any more bets. Instead, we did goofy things like diving in cannonball style, splashing each other mercilessly, and chasing each other just for the hell of it. I let Heidi catch me twice. Gotta give a girl a chance, right? It wasn't her fault I had masculine prowess on my side.

Heidi rolled her eyes and splashed me when I said that out loud. "Are all Ludar princes arrogant and sexist?"

"No, only the ones you beg to fuck you."

She splashed me again.

When we finally left the hot spring, Heidi didn't put her clothes back on.

I raised one brow. "Does this mean Heidi the hot naturism enthusiast is back?"

"Maybe. I did promise I'd play miniten in the nude if you caught me."

Had I expected her to renege on our bet? Maybe I had, but not because I thought she was a coward. Overcoming fears usually took longer than a couple of days. Didn't it? I couldn't say for sure since I'd never had any anxieties as strong as hers. I would've loved to believe I'd been the reason she came out of her khaki-clad shell, but even I wasn't a big enough dick to do that.

I threw our clothes over my shoulder, and we walked back to the resort while holding hands. When we emerged from the woods, both naked, and sauntered over to the lawn, everyone stopped to stare at us. Ollie grinned. Mara clapped and grinned. Eve waved and grinned. Val folded his arms over his chest and nodded appreciatively.

Sylvester Norris hollered, "Way to go, Damian! You got our girl out of her funk."

"Watch it, Sly," I hollered back. "Might use my mystical gypsy powers to curse you if you don't stop harassing Heidi."

"Harassing her?" Sly waggled his eyebrows. "Our boy Damian's in love, eh?"

I had no idea how not wanting Sylvester to make Heidi feel weird about going nude equated to me being in love with her. A screw must've popped loose in the old fart's head.

Heidi and I played against Sly and his wife, Ruth, and beat them in two miniten games. Then we whupped Heidi's friends Shelby and Taylor, and after that, we creamed Val and Eve. Heidi grinned and laughed and shouted cheerfully sarcastic comments at our opponents, like I'd heard she used to do. I'd met her during the peak of her get-Ollie-back craziness, so I never got to see her in full-on Heidi mode—happy, carefree, and enjoying life with zeal. Did I have zeal? I wasn't sure, but nobody had ever described me that way. "Zeal" seemed like the appropriate way to describe Heidi, though. I couldn't wait until she climbed out of her funk all the way and became the girl everyone had described to me, the girl who lived every moment to the fullest and burned with the brightest candle on earth.

After miniten, we got dressed and headed out to the horse pasture. Heidi had suggested it. She wanted to spend more time with Lenny and Georgie, not only to keep her immersion therapy going but also because she loved the boys and they loved her. Maybe Heidi wasn't ready for a trail ride, but she got more and more comfortable with the horses every day.

"Wanna brush them?" I asked about ten minutes after we got to the pasture. We were outside the fence, but Heidi had spent the entire time petting and talking to the boys. "It'll mean going through the gate, but I'll be right beside you the whole time. What do you say?"

She stopped blinking for a few seconds, her gaze trained on me, then she blew out a breath that relaxed her tensed shoulders. She smiled. "Yeah, I'd love to brush them."

"Awesome." I got a brush out of the shed and brought it to Heidi. "Here. You hold on to this while I open the gate."

I swung the gate open just enough to accommodate us and sidled through it first, then waved for Heidi to come in.

Georgie walked right past me and ambled over to Heidi to nuzzle her cheek.

She giggled. "His whiskers tickle."

"He's definitely in love." I scratched Lenny behind his ears. "At least this guy still likes me. I was starting to feel rejected."

Lenny walked over to Heidi and nuzzled her hand, the one holding the brush.

I shook my head. "Damn, Ihavebeen rejected. How can I compete with two big strapping males who could trample me?"

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