The streams almost stung as they peppered bare skin on her legs and arms. Dizzy and breathless, she shrugged. “Just lucky I guess.” She raised her arms in a vee and bent one knee. “I’m an Olympic athlete! I’m a gold-medal gymnast! Perfect ten!” With a running start, she cartwheeled over the sprinkler to his side of the yard. When her sandals hit the wet grass, they slid out from under her, sending her reeling. The horizon lurched, grass and sky seesawing before her eyes.

Lightning fast, he shot out a hand and caught her, pulling her into his arms.

Her body pressed slickly to his, and she scrambled for balance, fingers driving into rock-hard biceps.

He tightened his grip, lifting her just a whisper off the ground and setting her back on her feet.

Breathing hard, she turned her gaze upward. Water trickled down his neck and disappeared in the notch of his throat. Sun-kindled droplets haloed his face.

His chest rose and fell in a quick, deep surge. “Are you all right?”

She nodded.

He twitched to release her.

Skin tingling, she locked her arms around his neck. She felt everything—from the single drop of water sliding down her left cheek to her belly moving against his with every panting breath. Blades of wet grass poked between her sandal straps.

“So much is changing in your life.” He dropped his hands. “I can’t…”

Another sheet descended, and she tightened her hold. Icy streams coursed down the backs of her legs. “Yes, you can. If you want to, I mean.”

One corner of his mouth lifted into a smile. “Mei wildi ros.”

She caught his gaze and tilted her head in question.

He settled his arms around her waist. “My wild rose.”

His embrace asked nothing. He held her close, but he didn’t smother her. He enfolded her yet gave her room to breathe. Her pulse slowed. She rested her head in the hollow beneath his chin and felt again how their bodies fit together like they were carved from the same stone. For one delicious moment, she stood, warm where she touched him and cool where jets massaged her limbs.

In an instant, he released her, stepping away but not leaving the arc of the sprinkler.

Free from his sheltering arms, she flinched as the water turn colder. An “oh” of surprise escaped her lips. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

“Tessa Rose?” He kicked wet grass and looked up from beneath his brow. “Would you like to go on a picnic with me?”

Her T-shirt clinging to her body and her hair spiraling in soggy ringlets around her face, she bounced on her toes and grinned. “I’d love to.”

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Tessa brushed a thorny vine laden with wild blackberries, and a pricker caught her sleeve. The morning sun was toasty, and she missed the cool shock of the previous afternoon’s frolic in the sprinkler.