Page 83 of Breaking All The Rules
Maybe, but tonight, the lake seemed like the perfect destination for the force of nature that was Beatrice.
“You ever heard of delayed gratification?”
She shot him an impatient look. “Only a twenty-five-year-old would think that was a good idea.”
It was the first time she’d mentioned their age difference in a while, and with his irritation at the guys from the bar still fresh, it picked at the scab a little more.
“Humor me,” he said as he reached across her to open the glove box and grab the flashlight for when it got darker.
Hand in hand, they walked along the shoreline, away from the jetty and the few remaining people, following the arc of the narrow, rocky beach. To their right, a wide stretch of long grass delineated the beach from the woods that stood farther back. Tiny purple wildflowers that had sprung among the grass waved in a light breeze as dainty as the trunks of the nearby towering pines were solid.
As they wandered, the grassy area started to narrow until it disappeared altogether, and the tree line thinned out as it merged with the shoreline. The road was visible through the woods in places, and the headlights of cars heading back to town poked through the trunks.
They talked about inane things as they wandered. And all the time, the lake lapped against the shore and the last beams of sunshine faded from the sky and the pinks and purples fused to a dusky kind of mauve, which deepened and darkened, giving way to night and the first pinprick of stars overhead.
It felt as if they were the only people in the world and, as a lone bird cry rang around the lake, Austin flicked on the flashlight.
Suddenly the beach widened and became sandy. Patches like this were few and far between, which made them popular, as evidenced by the well-worn track through the woods to their right.
Austin drew them to a stop, and Beatrice turned. “That is some dress, Beatriss.”
“What? This old thing?” she demurred, a smile on her mouth as she let go of his hand and performed a little twirl. “You like?”
“Oh yeah.” He shone the flashlight straight at her, pointing it at her feet and slowly raising it, his eyes devouring every inch of her body. “You still a rule breaker, Beatriss?”
She raised an eyebrow. “What do you have in mind?”
“Town statute four three eight subsection fifteen,” he said, plucking numbers out of thin air.
“Which would be?”
Austin reached for his belt and undid it, pulling it through the loops and tossing it on the ground. “Public nudity.” He reached for the button on his pants next and undid it as he kicked out of a boot. “I seem to remember skinny-dipping was something you wanted to try?”
He kicked out of his other boot as the suggestion floated between them. Her rule breaking seemed to have gone by the wayside this past month as she’d settled into her work routine for Greet Cute.
Was she still interested?
For a moment, he thought she might decline and he was going to have to go all WWDD on her ass, but then she smiled. “Is that why you brought me out here, Officer Cooper?”
He smiled back. “Maybe.”
She didn’t do anything for a beat, then, in the beam of the light, she reached behind to the tie that circled her bodice several times and had trailed enticingly just off the ground. It loosened as she undid the bow, and Beatrice unwound it from her body before pulling it from her neck, the tails pooling against the sand at her feet.
Austin, his pulse thumping, his hands trembling, yanked his shirt off over his head and threw it down on the sand. Beatrice followed by peeling the dress off her body, taking her underwear with it. Stepping out of it, she stood before him in nothing but her red cowgirl boots.
“Jesus,” he whispered, his gaze roving over all her lush curves, the swell of her breasts, the tight scrunch of her nipples reacting to the cooling night air, and the dark patch of her pubic hair.
She nodded at him. “Now you.”
Fumbling for a second, Austin managed to step out of his jeans and underwear in a far less elegant fashion than Beatrice. But, when he stood, his boner bobbing out front like a fucking divining rod, her low, appreciative hum made him forget everything but her.
Bending over slightly, she slid her legs and feet from her boots and pushed them toward the pile of clothes on the ground. With one last glance at his erection, she said, “Race you to the water,” then bolted.
Austin was far less capable of sudden movement, and it took him a beat or two to respond as he watched the red fan of her hair across her back and the flash of her lily-white ass as she legged it into the lake.
Her gasp followed by a “God, it’s freezing,” galvanized him into action.
Despite the chill of the water, she wasn’t turning around, and Austin, finally getting signals from his brain to his muscles, tossed the flashlight on the ground, gave a loud whoop, and followed her in. The water hitting his testicles was excruciating and should have given him an instant soft-on, but not even a plunge into polar ice was going to kill that fucker.
