CHAPTER THIRTEEN

REAGAN

“Oh my God, look!” 

My half-closed eyes shot open, just moments away from kissing Pepper. 

When I looked she was pointing at the tree canopy right above us, her eyes and mouth wide with childlike excitement.

“What?” I asked, not seeing anything in particular for her to point at. 

“There’s a rope swing wrapped around that tree branch!” She returned her gaze to me and I wondered if she had any idea what I was about to do. “Someone else did make it here before us!”

In a flash, she scrambled up the bank toward the truck with Bonny hot on her heels. I followed at a slower pace, pausing to adjust my massive hard-on that just wouldn’t quit when she was lying next to me. 

By the time I caught up to her, she had already climbed up to the first big split in the tree and was unwinding the thick rope from around the branch. 

“The rope is really soft. It’s been here a long time,” she observed. 

“Think it can actually hold weight?” I asked skeptically. 

“Only one way to find out,” she replied with a devilish, sexy grin.

“I dunno, Pepper,” I said, looking at some of the frayed strings around several of the knots. “It doesn’t seem safe.” 

“The water is deep right here,” she said, looking over the edge of the bank. “I’ve swum across this entire lake as a kid. It’s not very rocky.” 

“You can’t even see anything,” I argued, peeking over the edge. The water lapped gently at the land below us. 

“Yeah, that’s how you know it’s deep,” she shot back and tugged hard at the rope a few times. “Seems pretty sturdy.” She giggled. “I can’t believe we found this, I feel like a kid again! If only there was a tire attached to it.”

“Pepper,” I snapped. “You’re not actually thinking of swinging on that thing, are you?” 

“Why not?” Her eyes flashed as she swung the rope back and forth between each hand. “It’ll hold for at least one or two swings.”

I shook my head. “Please don’t. It’s not worth risking a broken a leg. Or your neck.” 

“Aww, where’s your sense of adventure, Reagan?” she teased, bouncing on her feet. 

Just as I was about to argue again she bit her lower lip in such a sultry way, it made me shut the hell up.

“I know what you won’t say no to,” she said in an equally sultry voice.

Without warning, she flicked open the button on her shorts. 

And then pulled her T-shirt over her head. 

My jaw dropped as I stared openly. Her body was absolutely mouthwatering.

Sun-kissed skin covered her gorgeous chest, stomach, and hips. As she bent over to step out of her shorts, her large, round tits threatened to spill out of the purple bra that held them back.

She was no runway model but her body was absolutely perfect. I didn’t know if the alcohol gave her the courage to strip out of her clothes or what, but I was absolutely mesmerized by the sight of her.

Her ass was round and luscious, her thighs thick and strong. I watched as if in a trance as they wrapped around the thick rope, nestling the knot right against her crotch. 

I blinked, feeling panic suddenly rising in my chest as I realized what she was doing. 

“Pepper, don’t!” I shouted.

Sitting her full weight on the rope now, she rocked back and forth on her feet looking like Jane from Tarzan. 

“You’ll have to come get me if you want me, Reagan!” she cried gleefully as she backed up for momentum, ready to swing out over the water. 

Shit. She's really fucking doing it. 

"Goddamn it, Pepper," I muttered as I yanked my T-shirt over my head, quickly kicked off my shoes and started peeling out of my own shorts. 

When I glanced back up at her, she hadn't moved yet. But her pupils dilated as she watched me strip down to my snug, silk boxer briefs that left nothing to the imagination. 

My erection pitched a tent pointing directly at her, which she did not miss.

Her lips parted thirstily before widening to the biggest, naughtiest grin I'd seen on her yet. 

We both stood frozen for a moment, silently daring the other person to move first. Her teeth grazed over her lip as she dug her heels into the ground and tightened her grip on the rope. 

I moved first. 

With a loud battle cry I lunged at her, but she was still out of my reach. My arms wrapped around nothing as she simply lifted her feet off the ground and sailed out over the cliff.

My momentum nearly sent me tumbling over the edge as well, but I skidded to a halt just in time to see Pepper's beautiful, free moment. 

"Aaaaahh!" she screamed with a mixture of delight and fear. 

She looked back at me with a maniacal grin as she neared the end of the rope's arc. 

That moment reminded me of the one wise moment my dad ever had. 

"It's all about the simple things," he said as he snorted more crack up his nose. "Fuck politics and all that bullshit. If you can feel more alive in one moment among all the other shitty times in your life, then that's a life worth living." 

He was talking about being high of course, but his sentiment applied perfectly to Pepper right then. Swinging on a rope over a crystal-blue lake was a perfect, exhilarating moment. The farm, money problems, her family, even me trying to stop her, didn't matter. In that moment, she was absolutely free. 

I smiled back at that beautiful, carefree girl and held my arms out, ready to catch her when she swung back toward solid land.

The rope reached the height of its arc and my heart dropped into my stomach when Pepper released one hand. 

And then two.

It all happened so fast, but I felt like I was watching in slow motion as she went from flying to falling. 

"No!" I screamed. 

Until she hit the water, her expression never changed. A wide, unrestrained smile followed by musical, carefree laughter.

Then she disappeared below the surface, her splash like glass shattering across the calm waves lapping at the shore. 

“Pepper!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “Pepper!’

Don’t panic yet, I tried to tell myself. She planned on doing that stunt all along. Give her a few seconds.

But again the world around me felt like it was moving in slow motion. Her splash disappeared like it was never there and she still didn’t come up. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck! 

My panic rose as I glanced to my left. No, going down to the beach and swimming over would take too long. She could already be drowning. 

I couldn’t even think. My body simply acted. 

I took a few steps back and then a running leap over the edge of the cliff.