Page 65 of Not Until I Found You

She drops her bag onto the ground, yanking off her boots and socks before running toward the water at full speed. Ashton mimics her.

“Last one in has to buy us all ice cream!” he calls back.

“We all know Zane is going to do that anyway.” Maxinne shouts, laughing once she sees my surprised expression.

As soon as they hit the water, Wren lets out a full, unfiltered squeal. Ashton follows with a sharp inhale that turns into a groan of relief. “OH—yep—that’s cold,” he chokes, but his smile is wide.

Wren surfaces, pushing wet hair out of her face. “I take back every bad thing I said about this hike.”

“I told ya so.” I holler.

Beside me, Maxinne chuckles, the sound carrying over the rush of the falls. She slips her backpack off her shoulders, setting it carefully on a dry patch of rock, but doesn’t move toward the water. Instead, she watches Ashton and Wren with her arms folded loosely across her stomach, a hesitant smile tugging at her lips.

Ashton splashes water in her direction. “Maxie! Get in here.”

“I bet it’s freezing!”

“That’s the point,” he argues.

Wren waves her in dramatically. “Come on.”

Maxinne shakes her head and doesn’t budge. “I’ll…ease into it.”

I glance at her, then back at the water, then at her again. A slow grin pulls at my mouth.

“Ease into it,” I repeat and start taking off my boots, “or jump in and get it over with. Which do you think is the better choice here?”

She squints her eyes at me and takes off her boots and socks, placing them next to her other items. She steps a little closer to the edge, testing the water with the tip of her toes before immediately pulling back.

“It is freezing.”

She turns to say something else, probably to argue with me, but she doesn’t get the chance. I drift in, grab her around the waist, and hoist her over my shoulders.

“Zane!” she screams, but it’s too late.

I carry her straight into the water as she lets out a surprised shriek, laughter breaking through it as she grabs onto my shoulders. The cold hits us both at once, stealing the breath right out of my lungs as we go under.

Then we break the surface. Maxinne gasps, pushing wet hair out of her face, eyes wide, and then she starts cackling loudly.

“Oh my gosh! What is wrong with you?” she manages between breaths, splashing a handful of water straight at my face.

“I’m just trying to save you some time,” I shoot back with a smirk, and I wipe the water from my face.

She hits me again, harder this time, laughter spilling out of her as she backs away, only to be met with a splash from Ashton on one side and Wren on the other. Maxinne turns in a slow circle, caught between all of us, water dripping from her hair, cheeks flushed, smile wide and unguarded in a way I haven’t seen before.

Wren splashes Maxinne again, already moving toward the shallower edge near the rocks. “Come over here,” she says, grinning. “I found a spot that’s not as freezing.”

Maxinne pushes her wet hair away from her face and glances back at me for half a second. Then she turns and wades after Wren, the two of them already talking excitedly as they make their way toward the edge of the water.

I drag a hand over my face, trying to play it off, but my gaze keeps finding its way back to her, where it seems to belong. Their voices fade into the background, blending with the rush of the falls, and I study Maxinne longer than I probably should. I’m not sure why I’m struggling so much with looking away from her.

“Careful.” Ashton wades closer, his tone easy with a knowing smirk on his face. “If you keep looking at her like that, she’s gonna catch on.”

I let out a breath, dragging my gaze away. “Looking at her like what?”

He shakes his head. “Don’t do that.”

Water laps against my waist as I shift, rubbing the back of my neck. “I’m not doing anything.”