Jill Shalvis - Just Try Me…

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, standing there just a little bit attitude-ridden and a whole lot more tough and less skinny than Lily had thought.

Like Rose, she took a second look.

And okay, maybe a third and a fourth, because, um, wow.

With a low oath, Jared tried to stuff Rose into his T-shirt himself. He was blinking rapidly, and without his glasses, still squinting.

Lily watched him shove Rose’s arms into the sleeves, wondering why the hell she cared if he had to touch Rose’s nude and extremely gorgeous, lush body to do it.

Because she absolutely did not care.

Not one little bit.

Nope, she had other things to worry about, thank you very much. Things such as the fact that for the first time, she’d come close to losing someone on her watch. What did that say about her ability to do this? Not much. Shoving her hair out of her face, she put her hands on her hips. “And what the hell was that, Rose? The taking-off-your-clothes-and-jumping-off-a-cliff thing?”

Rose smoothed down the T-shirt that now covered her to mid-thigh, clinging to every inch of her curvy body as if she’d just been in a wet T-shirt contest. “Yeah, sorry. That got a little crazy.”

“A little?”

She shrugged. “The water looked so inviting.”

“You might have gotten Jared killed.” The thought made Lily’s blood run cold, and she whirled on him as well. “And you…”

He blinked some more.

“I told you to stay.”

“Again, you’re welcome,” he said, squinting adorably.

“Damn it, your glasses. Did you lose them?” That was all she needed, him half blind for the next four days.

“No, they’re fine. I dropped them at the top with my pack.” He shook his head like a dog, and water droplets showered around him. He shoved his fingers through the short mop, but all that accomplished was to make the dark ends stand straight up.

Jack and Rock came running into the clearing then, having clearly made their way down the path. In Rock’s hands were Rose’s clothes, and he skidded to a stop in front of her, panting, sweating, utterly speechless at the sight of her in Jared’s wet T-shirt.

Apparently knowing exactly how stop-traffic-amazing she looked, and probably having caused more than her fair share of speechlessness before, Rose patted his arm in understanding and sympathy. Yeah, she seemed to be used to making men into stupid blathering idiots. “Thanks, sugar.” She winked at him as she stepped into her mini skirt and shimmied it up her hips. “Sweet of you.”

Lily looked up both sets of falls to where she could just make out Michelle’s outline, undoubtedly anxious. Not necessarily for Rose’s health, but her own, because she wouldn’t like to be alone.

Not that she’d risk a second climb back up the hill in order not to be alone. No, staying up there by herself was apparently the lesser of two evils. “All right,” Lily said wearily. “Let’s get back up to our stuff. We’ll just camp there for the night and regroup.” And take a bottle of ibuprofen. “Start fresh-” she looked at Rose “-and dry, in the morning.”

Rose had the good grace to look chagrined. “Yeah. Sorry about that, honey.” She snuggled into poor Rock for some of his body warmth, making his expression go from worry to looking as if he’d won the lotto.