The air clung damp and heavy around them as they finally waded back to shore, clothes gathered in quiet, hurried hands. Neither spoke, but the silence between them was loud and thick with what had just happened, and everything that hadn’t yet.

His gaze flickered to her with quiet urgency. Her eyes occasionally dropped to his chest but he didn’t seem to notice. He was watching her like he couldn’t stop.

Their eyes met again as they reached the car parked near the treeline—dusty, inconspicuous, and too far from the lake to have heard anything. He opened the door for her without a word, and she slid into the back...