Chapter 22 Maya
MAYA
He held his hand out, steady and sure, and everything in me went still.
Jump with me, Maya.
My heart hammered hard enough to rattle my teeth, and every rational thought I possessed screamed this was a terrible idea.
But Nate stood at the edge with his hand out and his eyes on mine, patient and unhurried, like he’d wait all afternoon if that’s what it took. And, oh god, he was looking at me like I was still the girl who launched herself off this ledge without a second thought.
I missed that girl. I missed her so much it ached.
Before I could overthink it, I slapped my hand into his.
His fingers closed around mine instantly, warm and firm. The smile that broke across his face made my stomach flip in a way that had nothing to do with the drop below.
“There she is,” he said softly.
We skirted the railing and walked to the edge together. The water churned far below, white and wild where it hit the rocks, and the spray reached up like it was trying to pull us down. My pulse was everywhere. My throat, my wrists, the place where his hand gripped mine.
“Don’t you dare let go,” I told him.
“Not a chance.”
I heaved in a breath as his hand tightened around mine.
“On three,” he said. “One.”
My toes curled on the rock.
“Two.”
The wind pushed at my back.
“Three.”
We jumped.
The world fell out from under me. Wind tore at my hair and my stomach lurched into my chest and I was screaming, or laughing, or both, and the only solid thing in the universe was Nate’s hand locked around mine.
For two, maybe three seconds, there was nothing but air and noise and the terrifying, exhilarating certainty that I was completely out of control.
It was the most alive I’d felt in years.
We hit the water like a bomb. It swallowed us whole, cold and shocking, and the force of it ripped through my body and stole every thought I had.
But his hand stayed. His fingers gripped mine as the water tugged us under, and even in the chaos of bubbles and cold and the thundering pressure of the falls, he held on.
We broke the surface together, gasping.
I let out a scream. From the sheer, unfiltered, full-body rush of being alive.
It tore out of me like something that had been locked up for years, raw and wild and so loud it bounced off the rock walls around us.
Nate was laughing beside me, water streaming down his face, his other arm snaking around me to keep me afloat.
I laughed too, breathless and giddy and shaking with it.
“Oh my god.” I shoved wet hair out of my eyes with my free hand. “Oh my god, Nate.”
“There she is.” He said it again, softer this time, treading water close enough for every droplet clinging to his lashes to catch the light. How he looked at me in that moment, like I was the most incredible thing he’d ever seen, hit me somewhere so deep I didn’t have a name for it.
Mindless instinct took over. I grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him.
He made a sound against my mouth, low and rough, and yanked me to him so fast the water churned between us.
His mouth was hot on mine, his tongue tracing my lower lip before I opened for him.
The groan that came out of him when I did, sent a jolt of heat straight through my core.
My legs wrapped around his waist instinctively.
The second my body pressed flush against his, my pulse skyrocketed.
His cock was hard, straining against the thin wet fabric of his boxers, pressed right against the ache between my thighs.
We both stilled for half a second. A shared breath. His forehead resting on mine, his chest heaving.
“Maya.” My name came out wrecked.
“Please… Don’t stop.”
Whatever leash he’d been holding himself on, whatever careful, deliberate restraint he’d been exercising for weeks, snapped.
He kissed me hard, one arm banded around my waist, and started moving us toward the shallows. I barely registered it.
My hands were everywhere, sliding over the wet muscles of his shoulders, his chest, his stomach, glorying in the way his muscles clenched under my fingers.
His mouth dropped to my neck and I gasped, my head falling back as his teeth scraped the spot just below my ear.
We reached the shallows and he sat, pulling me down with him. I straddled him, my knees on either side of his thighs, and every inch of where we pressed together was a live wire.
“Fuck,” he breathed, his fingers digging in like he was trying to anchor himself. His lips trailed down to the swell of my breast above my singlet and I arched into him, my fingers raking through his hair.
I rocked against him and his whole body jerked. The sound he made was barely human, a guttural, desperate noise that vibrated on my skin and turned my blood to liquid fire. His hands tightened, guiding me, pulling me harder onto the rigid length of his cock.
“Jesus, Maya.” His voice was shattered. “If we keep doing this I’m not going to be able to...”
“I don’t want you to stop.” I rolled my hips, grinding on him through the soaked fabric between us. The friction was so perfect and so maddening that a moan tore out of me before I could catch it.
His head dropped back and he stared up at me, his eyes so dark they were almost black. His hands flexed, and for one breathless second I thought he might pull back, might try to be noble about it.
But no.
He dragged me forward, his mouth crashing into mine, and his hips rolled up to meet me. The pressure was devastating, hitting exactly where I needed it, and I cried out. We found a rhythm without trying, desperate and graceless, me grinding down as he pushed up.
His hand slid under my singlet and up my ribs, his palm rough and warm on my bare skin, and when his thumb found my nipple I nearly came apart right there. My back arched and my rhythm stuttered and he caught it, pulling me tighter, pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses to my throat.
“Let go,” he murmured. “Let me see you, Maya.”
Everything tightened at once. My thighs, my stomach, the coil of heat low in my belly that had been building since the second I’d kissed him. His hips snapped up harder, faster, matching the frantic pace I was setting. His hand fisted in my hair and pulled my mouth back to his.
The wave hit me like a wall, crashing through my body at once.
I came with his name on my lips, my whole body shuddering, fingers clawing at his shoulders as the pleasure lanced through me in relentless, shaking pulses.
He followed seconds later, his body stuttering and his fingers digging bruises into my skin.
The world went quiet.
Just the falls. Just our breathing, ragged and tangled together. Just the water lapping at us. Just his arms wrapped around me like he planned to hold me forever.
I buried my face in the crook of his neck and clung him, trying to remember how to think.
A heavy, comfortable quiet settled over us. His thumb traced lazy circles on my skin. My lips found the curve of his neck, pressing a kiss there that was more instinct than intention. His arms tightened around me, and his breath shuddered out.
The falls roared on around us. The late afternoon sun cut through the mist and warmed my back. His heartbeat thudded against my chest, gradually slowing to match mine.
We’d just crossed a line there was no coming back from.