Something Wilder
Watching him wasn’t helping; it was making her more terrified. All I can control is myself, she thought. Leo is capable, he is calm under pressure. Just stay still, and he’ll come for you. Lily tried to relax into it, pushing against the way her thoughts recoiled at dependency. She opened her eyes as she heard his pack land safely in a tangle of sagebrush, and he immediately turned, using his arms to propel his momentum quickly over the uneven riverbed.
Beneath her, something shifted, and in an instant her foot was free, but she had no solid stance; the river victoriously tugged her forward, pulling her legs out from under her again, dragging her away from Leo. The last glimpse she got was of his eyes going round in shock, the shape of her name on his lips. Icy water filled her mouth, her eyes, and she was fighting to remain at the surface, spluttering and coughing before slamming roughly against a rock. With a burst of light, the impact knocked the wind out of her. Water rose in a pummeling force, reaching her neck, pinning her to the stone.
Lily couldn’t see anything, couldn’t think of anything except maybe this was how she died. I hope Leo finds the money, she thought. I hope he finds it and buys the ranch in my honor and lives there alone with the horses and Nicole. I hope he never fucking gets over me. A laugh bubbled up and out of her throat, but it turned into a sob when Leo surged from the water in front of her, hair plastered half in his eyes, tiny stars of sunlight gleaming off the spiky tips of his lashes. He reached forward, dragging her away from the rock and hoisting her and her sodden pack onto his back as he trudged forward, one step at a time against the forceful current, determined.
They reached the shore in a tumble, and Leo rolled Lily over onto the grass, crawling after her and cupping her face as she coughed out water.
She felt hysterical now that they were on land, hiccupping and gasping for breath as the shock wore off and understanding hit her: if Leo hadn’t gotten to her when he did, she would have drowned.
He reached back, pulling his soaked shirt off and using it to carefully clean her up. “Lily,” he said gently. “Breathe, honey. It’s okay. You’re safe.”
Giving in to the crash of emotions, she reached for him, pulling him down and over her. His torso landed on hers, solid and warm through her wet clothes, and she spread her hands across his bare back, stretching her fingers wide to cover as much of the broad expanse as she could. The strong bum-bum-bum of his heart pounded with reassuring vitality against her sternum. Lily wondered whether he could feel her heart, too. She wondered if he was remembering the first time they’d made love—Lily’s first time ever—and the way he’d collapsed on her afterward, just like this. That night his heart seemed like it was trying to drum its way out of his body and into hers.
It all could have ended back there in the river, and for what? Some money?
“What are we thinking?” she managed. “This is so dumb.”
Leo pulled back, passing his hand over her cheek, over her hair. “We’re thinking a shot at getting you your ranch back is worth a little wrestling with a river.”
In spite of herself, she coughed out a wry laugh. “For a second there, I really thought I was going to die.”
From the way he looked down at her, gaze moving over every one of her features, Lily could tell he’d thought the same thing. “I had to let you go once,” he told her. “You think I’m letting that happen again?”
Chapter Twenty
A LONG BEAT passed, Leo’s words echoing between them before he grimaced, pulling away.
“We should get you dry,” he murmured.
They climbed up onto the bank, and Leo immediately began to pull together sticks and twigs to build a fire. Lily wanted to help, but it felt like she’d been paralyzed. By his confession, by the near-death experience in the river, by the reality of their present circumstances. For a second time that day, adrenaline dumped a relieved deluge into her bloodstream, and she was suddenly shaking so hard she could barely take another step forward. She closed her eyes, clenching her jaw, trying to get her shit together when she felt Leo’s body move closer.
He held the sleeping bag from his bedroll between them, shielding her.
“Take off the rest of your clothes. They’ll need to dry overnight. You can wear my dry clothes.”
Lily stared at him over the top of the bag. “Leo, you don’t—”
“You’re shaking so hard you’re going to fall over. You know it’s going to get cold as soon as the sun drops.” He turned away, jaw tight. “I promise I won’t look.”