“This is a great place,” I murmur, and turn in a complete circle, taking everything in. The forest is thick here, but with a clearing by a wide pool of water, which is being fed by a creek that empties into it via a beautiful waterfall about twenty yards away. Slabs of rock frame the pond, making a natural ledge to sit on and enjoy nature.

“This is where I’ve always come whenever I’m happy or mad or just need to think.” Josh wraps his arms around me from behind and kisses the top of my head.

“You brought me to your happy place?” I ask, half kidding, and turn my head to kiss his biceps. I can’t seem to keep my lips off this man.

And he doesn’t seem to mind.

“It seems that anywhere you are is my happy place these days, Carolina.”

I gasp and look up into his soft brown eyes.

“So, I brought the person who makes me happy to my happy place,” he clarifies.

Well . . . wow.

Before I can respond, he kisses my lips quickly and then pulls away to grab a blanket out of a saddlebag. He takes me by the hand and leads me up onto the rocks by the water. He spreads the blanket out and pulls me down next to him.

“Are you hungry?” he asks, and pushes my hair back over my shoulder.

“Not quite yet.”

He nods and his eyes heat as they rake down my face, my neck, and over my tank top, which I know shows off the girls nicely.

If he is going to keep me perpetually turned on today, I am happy to return the favor.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispers, and leans in to claim my mouth. His lips are gentle and soft, sweeping across my own rhythmically yet slowly, sending shivers down my arms and making my stomach clench.

He has only touched me with his lips and my panties are wet. I’m panting, ready for him to take me right here, in the middle of nature.

He cups my cheek in the palm of his hand and pulls me closer, sinking into the kiss, but then he abruptly pulls back, his brows pulled into a frown.

“You really are warm,” he mutters, and feels my neck and forehead.

I laugh at him as I rub my hand up and down his firm chest. “It’s hot outside, Josh.”

“Let’s cool off.” He smiles down at me wickedly and begins to peel me out of my clothes.

“We might give the wildlife quite a show,” I warn him mildly, excitement coursing through me.

“That’s the plan.” He winks at me and quickly strips out of his own clothes. He pulls me up onto my feet and peels my jeans and panties down my legs.

“Now what?” I ask with a wide smile.

“Now we cool off.”

Before I can think, he lifts me into his arms and tosses me into the pond. I immediately swim to the surface and sputter, gasping for breath at the shock of the cold water.

“It’s so cold!”

“It’s mountain runoff, of course it’s cold.” He’s treading water beside me. “We’re cooling off, remember?”

“You just wanted to skinny-dip,” I accuse him, and playfully narrow my eyes at him.

“I wanted to get you naked,” he corrects me. “It worked.”

He pulls me to him and kisses me hard and then dunks me under the water. He’s laughing when I surface and I swim after him. My body has adjusted to the temperature of the water, and it feels cool and refreshing on my skin. I latch onto Josh’s back, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, and he swims around the pond, carrying me around piggyback.

After playing in the water like kids for a while, Josh leads me to the edge of the pond and shows me where to step to safely climb out. Despite the canopy of trees, the air is warm. A light breeze blows across my wet body, sending more shivers through me and raising gooseflesh.

“Are you cold?” he asks as he guides me back to our blanket.

“No, I’m naked, wet, and there’s a breeze.”

We are standing in the center of the blanket, on the highest rock above the water, for all of God’s creation to see. He’s holding my hands in his, but has stepped back so he can look his fill, his heated eyes traveling up and down my nakedness, and I’m thrilled by the lust and the want I see on his handsome face. When his gaze meets mine again, I offer him a shy smile, and his breath catches as he swallows hard.

“Carolina,” he whispers, and steps to me, keeping his hands linked with mine, but now I can feel his body heat and I yearn to feel him against me. “I love your body. I love every curve on you, how soft you are, how smooth your skin is.”

He’s seducing me with his soft words, and if we weren’t standing so close, the mountain breeze would have blown the sound away.

“But the sexiest curve on your body is your sweet smile.”

My breath catches and I feel my eyes go wide as he smiles softly down at me, and in this moment I know without a shadow of a doubt, I’ve fallen in love with Joshua King.

He lightly pulls the backs of his knuckles down my face and cups my jawline in his palm. With my hands now freed, I link them around his waist at the small of his back. I can’t look away from his eyes. Droplets fall from his wet hair and run down his cheeks. I want him to kiss me silly. I want him to touch me everywhere.

I want him inside me.

“Josh.”

“Yes, love.” He kisses my forehead tenderly.

“I’m gonna need you inside me now.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.” He guides me down onto the blanket-covered rock and onto my back, but rather than cover me with his large, hard body, he kneels between my thighs and kisses the insides of them. He cups my right calf in one hand and runs his other hand up and down the length of my leg.