“On the count of three,” she said, enjoying the way her heart hammered against her ribs. She felt alive. Awake. “One…two…three…”

He didn’t let go. Not when they jumped together, not when they hit water so cold it stole her breath. Not even when they went under, sucked into a world without sound. When they bobbed to the surface together, his hand was still clutching hers.

He let out a whoop of joy and shook his hair back from his eyes.

“Holy shit, it’s cold.” She laughed, ducking beneath the surface again just for the shock of it. Her body was still hot from the springs, but the cold was stealing it away bit by bit.

“Come here,” he said, towing her toward where the hot spring water formed a short waterfall, thundering down into the lake with a cloud of steam.

The force of it pushed them back, but Silas was more stubborn than nature. He maneuvered them behind the curtain of water, where a rock ledge sat back from the cascade. The water was warmer here.

“It’s like a secret room,” she said, delighted when her voice echoed off the outcropping above them. She braced her hands on the ledge and lifted her upper body out of the water so she could brush her fingers over the sparkle embedded in the wet rock.

She turned, grinning, to look at Silas. One look at his set jaw and hard eyes, and she knew that the easygoing, playful guy was gone. In his place was the hard, hungry man.

“Come here, Maggie,” he said. The command was low and raspy. Part of her wanted to escape, just to let him chase her down.

She swam slowly to him and watched his nostrils flare when she paused just out of his reach.

He crooked his finger at her, and there was nothing playful about it.

Closing the distance between them, she stood.

Without warning, Silas reached under her arms and boosted her up. Her breasts pressed against his chest, nipples already hard from the cold, reveling in the feel of his hot skin and the brush of chest hair. He wrapped her legs around his hips, his erection pinned between them.

“I don’t have a pocket.”

Which translated to no condom.

“I’m on the pill,” she said, licking water droplets off her lips.

He stilled against her, looking more serious than she’d ever seen him. “Are you okay with me inside you with nothing between us?”

Was she? It seemed like the day for out-of-character adventure. Her body responded with a resounding “Hell the fuck yes.” She nodded, wide-eyed and ready to die from anticipation.

“Hang on to me,” he said, his voice rougher than the rocks at his back.