The Dare

"Wow." Beth breathed. "That's gorgeous!"

The waterfall was at least thirty feet high with jagged rocks near the bottom. A pool was behind the waterfall and there were steps that led into it.

"Huh, that's kinda cool." I pointed. "People must come down here for — oh dear Lord."

"What?" Beth's eyes followed where I was pointing.

A very large hairy man had just appeared from the lagoon; he must have been taking a dip because when I had originally looked, the water wasn't really moving.

It sure as hell was moving now.

"Um..." Beth chewed her fingernail. "I'm trying to decide if being clean is worth it."

I looked down at my muddy jeans and dirt caked arms. "It's worth it."

"Okay," Beth peeled off her shirt, "but let it be known: if it makes the six o'clock news that you were bathing under a waterfall with a large naked man, I'm not coming to your defense."

"Thanks," I muttered. As I unbuttoned my jeans, a moment of panic hit me swiftly in the gut. Was I really going to jump naked into the water? And why the hell was I suddenly nervous about being naked?

"Last one in's a rotten egg," Beth yelled. I looked up. And nearly had a stroke as I watched her perfect body catapult into the water in a perfect dive.

"Well, shit," I mumbled.

A distant hee-haw from Donkey followed.

Great. My sidekick was an ass. At least he had good hearing.

I threw off my boxers and joined Beth in the water.

The man had disappeared again under the waterfall, leaving us alone in the main part of the pool.

Beth popped up out of the water, but in my fantasy-like state, everything was happening in slow motion. She shook her head. As water droplets fell across her body, she bit down hard on her lower lip and then blinked the water away from her eyes before giving me a come hither glance.

Hell yes.

I felt like I was experiencing my own version of Peter Pan when he gets rescued by mermaids. I don't care what guy you ask — the mermaids in that story were hot as hell.

Side note to parents:, The reasons kids like that story is because there are no rules in Neverland, and the mermaids are hot.

Screw Tinkerbell. Just give me mermaids.

Or Beth.

Beth as a mermaid.

Beth in a mermaid costume under a waterfall holding a bottle of—

"Jace?" Beth snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Are you sick or something? You're all flushed."

"Viagra." I nodded, "It's, uh, probably still in my system."

"You do know you can only use that excuse possibly one more time, right?"

"I'm aware," I croaked, reaching out to touch her smooth clean skin. "I'm also frighteningly aware of you."

"Frighteningly?" Beth repeated. "Is that a compliment? Or does that mean I look scary."

"You look beautiful," I said honestly. "Scary beautiful. The type of beautiful that guys are afraid to touch. The type of beautiful that makes men want to risk everything for one taste, one touch, one night. Mix that with your brains, and you're the epitome of why men fight wars."

Beth's smile lit up my world. "Are you saying men fight over intelligence as much as they fight over beauty?"

"Yes," I whispered, pulling her body against mine as I took us closer to the waterfall. "Because you wear your intelligence, it's part of your beauty. You can't separate the two. I admire both. I'm attracted to both."

Her breath hitched as a blush stained her cheeks. "Nice words."

"True words." I cupped her face. "You may be asking for the fairytale, but I wouldn't lie to you just to make you feel better."

She tried to jerk away from me. But I held her face captive.

"If you could see what I see," I traced her jaw with my fingertips, "you would fully understand why you are the most frightening woman I've ever met."

"I do see what you see." Beth sighed. "That's the problem."

"I disagree."

"Big shock."

"Listen to me." I pulled her flush against my body. "You see boring. I see brilliant. You see brown hair, I see brown hair with honey highlights. You see normal pale-pink lips, I see bubble gum."

"Bubble gum?" She smirked.

"That's what you taste like." I nipped her lower lip with my teeth. "Damn bubblegum that never loses its flavor. I could taste you all day and still crave your sweetness." I was struggling between my own honesty and feelings. I wanted her to see herself how I did, but at the same time, telling her these things? It didn't change what I would do. I would walk away. I would. I would. I had to keep telling myself that.

"Why don't you?"

"What?" I snapped out of it.

"Conduct an experiment."

She trailed her fingers down my chest. I felt it in all the places I was trying to ignore, so I kept her virtue intact. Knowing a hairy middle-aged man was most likely watching us was literally the only thread holding my arousal together.

"What kind of experiment?"

"A taste test." Her arms wrapped around me, which meant we were chest to chest, her softness against every plane on my body.

"I like tasting." My mouth collided with hers before I could form another thought. I wasn't sure if I leaned in or she leaned in, or if I was seriously hallucinating from being drugged by Grandma.

In that moment. I didn't want to be honorable. I really wanted to be a manwhore like Jake. I wanted to be the guy who didn't apologize all the freaking time. I didn't want to be the stuffy US senator, who half of the state hated. I didn't want to have to worry about someone watching me, or ruining my reputation.

I just wanted to have her.

And I was selfish enough to want to take her any way I could — even if that meant that I'd be giving her nothing in return. It made me the worst type of man to willingly walk into something, knowing that I wasn't going to stay. I may not be lying to her about my actions. But I knew that actions helped people form opinions, and my actions would lead her to believe I wanted more than the next few days — and that was the last thing I could afford. A relationship past the few days we had.

"Sorry to break this little love scene up," our guide said from the shore. "But if we're going to make it back in time for your di

I jerked away from Beth and grumbled, "Five minutes? Really, man?"

"At least thirty." Beth winked, bless her heart. "But we'd have to charge for the show, so we may as well get out now."

"Damn, I would have liked a little show," another voice chimed in from behind us.

I slowly turned to see the giant hairy man who, no doubt had a giant hairy spider like Frank as a pet. He was gri

"We'll just be going now." Beth grabbed my arm.

"Turn around," I snapped at the man who was still watching.

He laughed.

"I will drown you."

He stood to his full height of at least seven feet.

Gulping I pointed. "I will die trying to drown you."

He smirked but finally turned around, giving Beth a chance to jump out of the water and put on her clothes.

"Nice," she whispered, while I threw on my shirt and jeans.