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water was cold, but not unbearable. She walked out until she could no longer see her feet, then took a couple steps back and began to wash up.
    She had a washcloth and a small, half-empty bottle of body soap, both stolen from a motel she’d stayed in a few nights back. That had been the last time she’d bathed, and with a small measure of embarrassment, she realized that she probably did stink.
    Taylor was usually a bit of a clean freak, but cleanliness was one of the many things she’d had to put on the back burner when she became a fugitive.
    When she finished washing her body, she used the last of the soap to scrub her hair. She was starting to get comfortable in the water when a toad swam by, signaling that it was time for her to get out.
    The only clean clothing she had with her was a tunic-style dress. Not ideal for hiking, but now that she was clean she could tell how grody her other clothes were.
    They had made camp near the river; at least, that’s what she thought they were doing. Alder hadn’t actually said they were stopping for the night, but it was sunset and they had just made it to the foot of the mountain.
    He wasn’t there when she got back, and neither was his bag. Trying to pretend that she didn’t have abandonment issues, she sat down on a tree stump and waited for him to return. After all of two minutes, she got restless and decided to look for him. She didn’t have to go far.
    He was bathing in the river. She shouldn’t have looked, but once she did, she couldn’t look away. Only his head and shoulders stuck out of the water, but the way the late-afternoon sunlight played against his bronze skin and the gold tones of his hair was mesmerizing.
    She pressed herself against a tree, unconsciously licking her lips as she watched Alder stretch his arms behind his head. The muscles in his arms were magnificent. They were a perfect blend of bulging and sinuous, and Taylor closed her eyes, imagining what it would be like to run her hands over them.
    When she opened her eyes again, Alder was staring at her. She stared back like a deer in the headlights, knowing there was no acceptable excuse for what she was doing.
    His eyes never leaving hers, he began to walk from the river. The water fell away from him, exposing his body one inch at a time.
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    A lder approached her , twigs crunching beneath his bare feet. Since they’d met, Taylor had been sending him mixed signals. Oftentimes he would catch her watching and staring at him, but every time he tried to gauge her interest, she would rebuff him in one manner or another. It was damn frustrating, but this time he’d caught her in an unambiguous position.
    She had been watching him bathe. Her fresh, clean scent was ripe with arousal. Arousal for him.
    He leaned over her, droplets of water falling from his hair and splashing onto her face. One drop fell onto her bottom lip, and Alder reached up, intending to brush it away with his thumb. Changing his mind, he hooked a finger under her chin, tilting her head up. Her hazel eyes widened as he leaned down, his tongue flicking out to lick up the water.
    A human male might have stopped at that, but Alder was a wolf—a predator. When she made no move to pull away or stop him, he pressed the advantage, running his tongue along the seam of her mouth. The flesh of her lips was soft and plump, begging to be sucked and bitten.
    Cradling the back of her neck with one hand, he brought her closer, pushing his tongue into her warm mouth. She opened for him, barely, but just enough, and his hand fisted into her hair.
    Their scents began mingling together, heightening his arousal. Aching and swollen, his cock pressed against the cotton fabric of her dress. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted a female so badly.
    When she finally began to reciprocate, it took every ounce of self-control he had not to throw her onto the ground and bury himself inside of her. Her hands began an exploration of his body, shy at