Just Try Me... Read online

  Lily leapt back up to her feet. “What about her?”

  Rock lifted his hand, from which dangled Rose’s mini skirt and halter top.

  Everyone gasped.

  “She went skinny dipping,” Rock said. “She jumped into the falls.”

  “Oh my God!” Michelle cried, whipping around to look down at the water.

  The river wasn’t wild or rough, but it wasn’t exactly low or smooth either.

  “She’s probably dead,” Michelle said, horrified.

  Lily turned to face Rock. “Show me where she jumped.”

  Everyone ran after them, stopping short at where Rose had dropped her shoes. They stared down at the falls, at the rock below it, and beyond that, the churning river as it flowed with shocking speed along its merry way.

  Then, before Jared could grasp Lily’s intentions, she toed off her shoes.

  “Everyone stay here,” she demanded. “Do not, and I repeat do not, go into the water.”

  And then, in a fascinating show of courage, she dove in.

  6

  IN DISBELIEF, Jared ran to the very edge of the cliff, his arms flapping to keep him from falling over in his rush.

  She was gone.

  Gone.

  As he watched in horror, a screaming—and naked—Rose appeared, then just as fast, disappeared over the second falls and into the river below.

  Lily surfaced in the first pool, tossing her hair and water from her face as she searched around her.

  Letting out his pent-up breath, Jared cupped his hands around his mouth. “Lily! She went over the second falls!” he yelled, pointing.

  Nodding, she swam toward the second waterfall.

  Jesus. No one admired bravery more than him, because bravery had been what had gotten him through the past year. Well, that and a healthy fear of dying, but that was another story.

  Lily had guts in spades, and it fascinated him. She fascinated him. “Wait here,” Jared told everyone else, and took off on the trail, heading back down.

  Because down was the way a screaming Rose was headed, and Lily would be right after her.

  He intended to be there as well.

  THE WATER closed over Rose’s head and her first thought was, uh-oh.

  Then she was caught in the current, which carried her over the second waterfall, tumbling her head over heels, again and again, until she couldn’t decide which way was up and which was down, and her next thought was Oh shit, now I’ve done it.

  Yeah. Jumping had seemed like a fun adventure to have, but maybe she could have thought this out a little better.

  Too bad thinking ahead wasn’t her strong suit. Just ask her ex-husband. If it had been, she wouldn’t be here…camping. But she’d been bored at work selling second homes to rich techies in the Bay Area, tired of flirting—and sleeping with—the same techies. She wanted to mix things up a bit, and going on an outdoor adventure had seemed like a good idea.

  Given the way Rock looked at her, it had been a great idea.

  She wanted him. She wanted to play with him for the duration, then say bye-bye and walk away.

  Her specialty.

  Walk when the magic fades, and you could never get hurt. She liked that, she thought, kicking to the surface and opening her eyes. Oh my God, the sky was a sharp blue, the rest of the landscape a glorious green-and-brown blur—

  Blur.

  Oh, shit, the river was moving fast, and because she was in it, so was she.

  Definitely not her best move. She grabbed for a branch, and missed. Two tries later she managed to grab onto a loose one. Shoving her hair out of her eyes, she surveyed the situation. She was naked in a rushing river, holding onto a branch that didn’t feel all that stable, and shore seemed pretty damn far away.

  So where the hunks were when she needed them? Jack with his quick smile, even if that smile was mostly directed at his sweet, spoiled wife. Jared with that laid-back, easygoing wit that was somehow much sexier than muscles, though he had those, too…Unfortunately for her, he hadn’t taken his gaze off Lily since they’d started this hike. Mostly, she hoped for Rock, because he had a body meant for nibbling, and eyes that made her melt, eyes that spent a gratifying amount of time glued to her ass, but at this point—that being she was getting cold and the branch had just cracked ominously—she’d take any of them.

  Leaning back, she let the sun beam down on her face and her breasts, and that felt good. She supposed she could just hang on and sunbathe for a few—

  Crack went the branch, and broke.

  LILY WENT OVER the second falls, plunging beneath the surface, held there for an interminably long moment by a vicious current.

  Pain blossomed through her body, each muscle screaming in protest at the activity.

  It’d been a while since she’d swum in pure snowmelt, and she was less than thrilled at doing it now as the cold seeped into her newly repaired bones, making them stiff, leaving them hurting like hell.

  She was going to kill Rose, if the river didn’t do it first.

  Kicking to the surface in the deep river, she gulped in air as she searched around her for the other woman. It wasn’t hard to find her, she simply followed the sudden scream echoing and bouncing off the rock canyon walls.

  Lily sped up her stroke toward the sound. Why couldn’t people follow directions?

  Then the scream abruptly cut off.

  Oh, God.

  Heart in her throat, Lily whipped around a curve in the river, nearly decapitating herself on a fallen log.

  But then she was treading water, in shock as she focused on Jared—not where she’d left him and told him to stay, but on the river’s edge—holding a naked Rose in his arms.

  Obviously he hadn’t listened to her any more than Rose had, an epidemic today, which really pissed her off. He’d clearly run back down the trail—at the speed of light if he’d gotten here that quick—and had jumped into the river to save the screaming, misbehaving Rose himself.

  Rose practically climbed up Jared’s body to glue herself against him tighter than shrink wrap. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she was saying over and over, kissing his face, still bare-ass naked, mind you, with breasts she’d most definitely not been born with bouncing all over the place.

  Jared, not seeming to mind, sank to the ground, his arms full. He’d lost his glasses and was squinting like crazy when he lifted his head and looked over at Lily with a smile. “Got her.”

  Yeah, she could see that. She wouldn’t have guessed he’d have the strength for it, but he’d proven her wrong. He’d probably laugh, and say she was judging a book by its cover again, and she’d definitely have to agree.

  She was going to have to start redefining what she saw as strength.

  It definitely didn’t have to come from muscles.

  Gritting her chattering teeth, she began to swim to the edge, her body protesting by shooting pain through every inch. The current was a bitch, and she could definitely see how Rose had gotten herself in trouble. She was breathing like a misused racehorse herself, though a good part of that was adrenaline.

  And temper.

  Oh, and pain.

  Setting her feet down, she made her way out of the water. Jared looked at her as he tried, unsuccessfully, to pull Rose’s arms from his neck.

  Probably Rose was practically strangling him. Good. “What if you’d fallen in, too?” she asked, collapsing exhausted to the shore before he could see she was trembly. “I’d still be out there, trying to save both of you.”

  “You’re welcome.” Jared had either dropped his outer shirt before he’d jumped in, or he’d lost it in the water. He pulled off the T-shirt that was clinging to his every inch, tugging it over his head with the one easy motion that guys were so good at, and then handed it to Rose.

  “It’s wet,” Rose said in a voice that said she wasn’t thinking about the wet shirt so much as his bare chest, which she was now practically lapping up.

  “It’s a cover,” Jared pointed out, stand