The Wolves Catch Their Attorney(26)

Sierra wasn’t sure, but she thought the incredulous tone in Fergus’s voice was genuine. For a moment she almost considered saying she couldn’t swim, just to show him that he wasn’t infallible in his guesswork. But that wouldn’t be fair. She could swim, certainly far enough to get from wherever she landed in the lake, which was sure to be fairly close to the edge, over to the side. It’s just that they were a hell of a long way up in the air on this dune, and one hundred feet deep was a hell of a long way under the water.

“Of course I can swim. But I’m not at all eager to jump from here into a lake that’s so very deep.”

“When you were a kid, didn’t you ever swing from a rope or a tree branch out over a lake and drop into it?” asked Fergus.

“Sure. That was a drop of maybe six or seven feet into water likely not even four feet deep.”

“It’s no different, Sierra. Because you’re higher up, the water needs to be deeper for you to land in it, well, unless you’re an expert diver. But it’s just a matter of holding your breath. You’ll bounce straight up to the top again in no time,” said Cam.

“You knew about this?” Sierra was astounded. She’d thought he was as unaware of what was planned for today as she was.

“If I’d known about it I’d have practiced running up sand dunes instead of making an idiot of myself. But I have jumped into lakes before, and off diving boards at swimming pools. You’ll enjoy it, truly you will.”

Sure I will, you goatish, fly-bitten maggot pie. Pies. Both of you.

“You go first, Cam. You need to jump out a bit so your body doesn’t hit the side of the dune on the way down. Once you come up from the water you’ll see where to climb out of the lake. It’s pretty much directly under where we’re standing now.”

Sierra looked from Fergus, who was speaking, to Cam. Both of them looked as excited as if someone had offered them free chocolate. Evidently they couldn’t wait to jump into the water.

Sierra forced herself to take a deep breath. She had enjoyed the dune jumping. It was fun. She’d enjoyed just being with the men, spending time with them. And the views from up here were really pretty. I guess I’ll enjoy the jump into the lake, too.

Sierra concentrated and took several more deep breaths, aerating her lungs fully, while Cam took a step toward the edge of the dune, and jumped, screaming, “Ye haw!” as he went.

She shook her head. Boys will be boys. But she realized these men were not like some of the aggressively and violently competitive men she’d met through her work situation. The ones who thought spiking a woman’s drink was a perfectly reasonable means of getting her into bed, or just putting her out of action so she wasn’t competing with them for the clients that night. No, these two men were ensuring she was looked after, keen she did everything at her own level of ability, although they expected her to achieve it. Actually that was a key difference. They expected her to succeed. They weren’t hoping she would fail and determined to engineer her failure if it looked as though she’d succeed.

Some of the men she met through her work were far more wolfish than Fergus and Cam had ever been.

She watched Cam’s brown head pop out of the water, waved back to him as he raised his arm in the air, then he disappeared from her view, under the overhanging lip of the dune.

“Are you okay with this, Sierra? Would you rather we went down together, holding hands or just side by side?” asked Fergus.

She smiled at him. “No, I’ll be fine. I can swim and jump all right. I was just a fraction surprised at the suggestion. Such a thought had never occurred to me before. I must be losing my mental flexibility with my advancing years.”

“A fraction surprised, huh? More like totally shocked and dumbfounded, I’d have thought. And as for age, you’re not thirty yet, are you? So you need to loosen up a little and live.”

“I have a very important goal to reach before I turn thirty.” Sierra closed her mouth with a snap. She’d never told anyone about her private deadline for making partner, and now wasn’t the time to break her silence. Or her legs hopefully.

She took a short run up to the edge and launched herself into the air, deliberately emptying her lungs as she did so. For a few brief moments she was flying, as light as the air that surrounded her, weightless and free. It was an awesome feeling. Then she remembered she was about to go way down deep under water so she filled her lungs to capacity. And just in time, as her feet hit the water with a splash and the rest of her body slid down, down, down, and even farther down.