The clear cool water was such a contrast to the dusty hot dry desert. It was her favorite place to visit, and every weekend she'd beg her parents to drive the sixty miles to Balmorhea from Cupid. But they'd been raising five children on a shoestring budget. Such luxuries were few and far between.
She often dreamed of the springs, woke to the feel of water on her skin, the slow churn of waves as she swam through it, the mineral taste pleasing to her tongue, the clear depths that beckoned her to dive deep, the fish and plant life that lurked beneath the surface a world away from her ordinary reality.
And now, here she was, in Balmorhea with Ridge Lockhart as an adult. On a date. Something she'd never imagined would happen.
"So tell me," Ridge said idly, cradling the back of his head in his palms as he leaned back against the wide base of the metal support beams that held up the awning. "What does Kaia Alzate do when she's not working, tending animals, or going to school?"
"Hmm," she said, kicking off her sandals and digging her toes into the soft blanket. She rolled onto her back and stretched her arms over her head. "I just enjoy being alive."
"No special hobbies or interests?"
"After what I went through? I'm interested in everything."
"Movies? Music? Sports?"
"Yes." She turned on her side to look at him. He was still sitting up, looking down at her, a mysterious smile playing across his lips.
He laughed and stretched out beside her.
"What about you?" she asked. "What do you do when you're not working?"
"I'm always working."
"You're not working now."
"No." His smile was electric. "Not right now."
"Let's put it another way. What do you miss most because you're always working?"
"Swimming."
The conversation lapsed into silence, but it was easy, companionable. After a while, Kaia said, "I know it was you."
"What was me?"
"The one who paid the deductible gap on my hospital bill."
"Archer rat me out?"
"No. I figured it out."
"How?"
"You're the only one I knew who had the money and cared about me enough to bother."
"I showed up at the hospital," he said. "But you were in a coma."
"Why didn't you tell me?" She studied his profile, felt a twist of pure love for this man.
He shrugged. "It wasn't about me."
"I appreciate it more than you can ever know."
"Know what I appreciate?" he asked, reaching over and lightly running his finger over the shoulder strap of her bikini top peeking from the sleeve of her tank top.
"What's that?"
"Your astounding body."
She tried not to let his compliment go to her head, failed. "Now I know the real reason you invited me on a swim date. Not because you know how much I love the springs. You just wanted to see me in a bikini."
"Guilty as charged," he admitted with a wicked gleam in his eyes, and stripped off his T-shirt. "I'm going in."
"It hasn't been an hour since we ate."
"Complete myth," he said.
She was so busy staring at his magnificent chest that it didn't even register what he was saying. She sat up and watched him saunter toward the water, the sun dappling his bare back as it filtered through the leaves of the oak trees planted along the path to the springs.
The man was a god, ripped and leanly muscled. His swim trunks hung low on his hips. She bit down on her bottom lip. Have mercy! He was the finest thing she had ever seen and he was here with her. And according to his kisses, he was The One, even if he didn't know it yet. It was all too much to absorb.
But damn if she wasn't going to try.
"Wait for me," she said breathlessly, snatching up the towels he'd brought with them and running after him.
Chapter 20
A few other people were also in the springs, but they were in the shallows. He'd picked the deep end for privacy. Ridge floated on his back in the water, watching Kaia approach.
She resembled the women in one of those ads photographed near waterfalls and clear running streams. Strolling toward him in that short denim skirt and chicly shredded pink tank top showing peekaboo bare skin and her red bikini beneath, straw cowboy hat, and a pair of pink hiking sandals.
She could rock a man to sleep with her hips. Her hair was a straight, dark, mesmerizing curtain that swayed when she moved. Her elbows swinging in easy pumps against her side, two beach towels dangling from her fingers.
Sweat trickled down his brow.
He was not going to survive. He rolled over in the water so she couldn't see how aroused he was getting.
"I love to watch you walk," he said lazily, stupidly throwing gasoline on the fire. "You move with such confidence."