khaki pants to his shiny dress shoes.
“Hell, no.” He grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked the whole thing over his head.
My jaw might have hit the ground if I hadn’t snapped it shut. I’d been right about the six-pack. Deacon Raines had a body earned by spending hours at the gym. A smattering of light brown curls covered his chest and trailed down, past the abs of steel, disappearing into the waistband of his pants.
He kicked off his shoes and reached for the button at his waist. “You coming in?”
I turned slightly, realizing he was serious. As much as I wanted to feast my eyes on the rest of him, I wasn’t sure I could handle it without bursting into flames.
“Come on, Tori. When’s the last time you swung off the rope?”
It had been at least a decade since I’d last visited the swimming hole. Back then, I’d probably been wearing my favorite polka dot tankini.
A splash sounded behind me. I whirled around in time to see Deacon’s head bob above the surface. “Feels good.”
I glanced to where he’d left his clothes. His pants and shirt covered his shoes. I didn’t see any underwear, which meant he’d either left them on or wasn’t wearing any.
My skin crawled with heat at the idea of Deacon with no clothes on. Suddenly even my lightweight sundress felt too hot.
Deacon swept an arm across the top of the water, sending a spray of droplets my way. “What’s taking you so long?”
A million reasons why I should sit down on the nearest rock and wait him out or even race back up the path and head home floated through my head. I was a middle school counselor. I had an obligation to the community to be a role model. I had on granny panties.
“Live a little, Tori. You want me to go to that wedding with you, you’ve got to get in.”
My head snapped up. “Oh, no you don’t. You already agreed to go.”
“You’re the one who wanted to meet at the swimming hole.” He gave me a wicked grin, then ducked under the water.
Good grief. What had I started? My fingers twitched. I’d already told Bailey I had a date for the wedding. Showing up without Deacon would be worse than never having said I’d bring someone in the first place.
“I won’t even look while you get in,” he called out from across the water.
This was a bad idea. I could feel it in the marrow of my bones. I didn’t do bad ideas. I toed the line, lived life by the book, and didn’t rock anyone’s boat. And where had it gotten me? Almost thirty and without a single memory of doing something daring.
I shook all the reasons I shouldn’t join Deacon in the swimming hole out of my mind. For once in my life, I wanted to take a chance. Then I pulled my dress over my head and tossed it on the ground.
Deacon
I don’t know what had gotten into me. Yanking off my clothes and jumping into a swimming hole in my boxer briefs wasn’t something I’d ever thought about doing. At least not since I was twelve or thirteen and snuck out for a midnight dip with my cousins and a group of friends.
Tori definitely didn’t seem like the type who’d follow through on a dare. I was ready to open my eyes, turn around, and swim back to the shore so I could dip into that pie when something splashed into the water. Scratch that… it wasn’t something, it was someone. I whipped around, expecting to see her standing by the water’s edge. Instead, her dress sat neatly folded next to where I’d tossed my clothes.
She surfaced a few feet away from me. Her hair stuck to her head, and she shook the water free, spraying me in the process.
I laughed, a little surprised, and a lot turned on at the turn our afternoon had taken. “I didn’t think you were going to get in.”
“I didn’t think I was going to either,” she admitted. Her head bobbed above the surface next to me and my dick stirred while I considered what she might have on underneath the water.
“Now what?”
“Now you show me the flips you used to do off that rope.” She nudged her chin toward the thick rope dangling above us.
“Think it’ll hold me?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
I grinned and broke into a crawl. Heat from her gaze ran over me as I climbed