Chapter 52

The river wasn’t moving quickly at all, and the water was so clear, standing on the tree-lined shore, Rain could see all the way to the bottom. It didn’t look that deep, maybe three or four feet. The water was so inviting, she was ready to jump in with her clothes on.
But she wasn’t in charge.
“All right. Walt and I will go first,” Mist said, taking her backpack off. “We’ll head down there around the bend a little bit so you guys can keep an eye out for anyone coming from Dafo without any distractions.”
“Like we won’t be able to hear you,” Adam teased.
Mist shot him a dirty look. “We’ll try not to be too long,” she said, unzipping her pack and pulling out a small bottle of what Rain assumed was some sort of soap--either shampoo or body wash, or both.
As she and Walt headed off, Rain realized what this meant. “Hold up.” She shot over to her friend and pulled her back by her shoulder. “You aren’t assuming Adam and I are going to be in the river--naked--at the same time are you?”
“Rain, please. Grow up, girl,” Mist said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not as if the two of you haven’t had intercourse dozens of times.”
“But that’s different!” Rain insisted.
“It’s okay, Rain,” Adam called from behind her, clearly ascertaining what her concern might be. “I’ll look the other way.”
Mist jerked her arm away. “We need to hurry, Rain,” she reminded her, more than a little annoyed at her friend for slowing them down for what she considered an immature reason.
Rain took a deep breath and let Mist and Walt disappear. Adam had his back to her, standing a few feet in front of the trees closest to the riverbank. Even coated in mud and angry at her for reasons Rain didn’t understand, he was still the most handsome man she’d ever seen, better looking than anyone she could’ve dreamt up with all the time to daydream in the world.
He glanced over his shoulder and gave her a small smile. “It’ll be fine, I promise. It’s not a big deal. You’ve seen me naked before. I just won’t look.”
“I have seen you naked before but it wasn’t because I was trying to,” she reminded him. It was just that one time, when the lights came on. “And I haven’t seen your backside.”
“Too bad. It’s magnificent.”
He wasn’t looking at her when he made the remark, but she could tell he was joking. Rain giggled for the first time in a while. He sure knew how to make her feel better, no matter the situation.
It didn’t take long before the noisy couple let them know what they were up to. “So much for not alerting anyone that we’re here,” Rain commented. She dropped her pack near the shoreline and slung her rifle around at the ready. She doubted the Mothers could’ve caught up to them by now, but if they were close by, it would have to be due to their vehicles, which they should hear approaching. The roads were terrible here, and the mud would slow them down. If they came by air, they’d hear that in plenty of time to take cover. They hadn’t seen a single drone since the one exploded as they were entering Dafo.
“Well, it does sound like they are hurrying, but I’m not sure they’re going to be any cleaner when they get out. They might forget to wash,” Adam commented, still not looking at her as he faced the way they’d come.
Rain agreed. The couple wasn’t quite as loud now, but Rain still felt her face heating up just listening to them. Once again, she couldn’t help but wonder how Mist and Walt had become so comfortable with one another so quickly. As much as she liked Adam, she couldn’t imagine the two of them carrying on like that already.
Adam didn’t say anything else, so Rain stood there in silence as well. Even though it probably wasn’t more than five or ten minutes, listening to the awkward noises made it seem like much longer. Eventually, the sound of Mist and Walt chatting as they walked through the trees hit her ear, and Rain wanted to let out a sigh of relief until she realized what that meant.
“Okay, you two. Here’s the soap,” Mist said, plopping the half-empty bottle into Rain’s palm. They were both clean, their hair wet but shiny instead of coated in mud, wearing new clothes. “Now don’t end up wasting a lot of time like we just did.” Mist started laughing.
Walt added, “Unless you really want to,” and they both exploded in laughter.
Unable to come up with anything witty to say, or anything to say at all, Rain went over and picked up her backpack and headed down the way they’d come from, praying nothing embarrassing happened. Whatever it was that had irritated Adam, she didn’t want to make it worse, and she certainly didn’t want him to see her naked. The sun was fading, but it was still light enough outside that he wouldn’t have much left to his imagination.
“All right, guys,” Adam said, shaking his head. “We’ll be done in a few minutes.”
“Good,” Mist called after them as they made their way around the bend where the other two had just come from. “I have a feeling if the Mothers are going to attack Dafo, they’ll do it by cover of night. We should get out of here.”
A shudder went down Rain’s spine as she realized Mist might be right. Thoughts of what could happen to Dal and his family made her less worried about Adam potentially seeing her naked and more concerned about the idea that the Mothers could take out hundreds of people in a matter of minutes if they found that bunker.
Adam dropped his pack on the ground near a tree at the shoreline and dug out a change of clothing, laying it on top. Rain did the same, setting the soap bottle on the ground near where she was standing. She also pulled out a smaller waterproof bag that she could use to keep her current clothes away from everything else.
“If you wanna close your eyes, I’ll get in first,” Adam said.
Without meaning to, Rain glanced up in his direction and accidentally saw him pulling his shirt off over his head. She looked away quickly. “Okay,” she said, feeling her face turn red. While he was doing whatever he was doing, she went ahead and took her boots off. Her socks were still dry at least, thanks to the insulation inside of the military boots. She still intended to put on a fresh pair, though, and shoved the dirty ones inside of the bag.
The sound of the water splashing in front of her let her know Adam was making his way into the river. “Boy, that’s chilly,” he said, his voice a little higher pitched than normal. “Not too bad, though. I’m in if you wanna get undressed. I’ll keep my back to you.”
“Okay,” Rain said again, as if that was the only word she knew all of a sudden. She lifted her head to see Adam with his back to her, splashing water up over his face. Even mostly submerged, in the dim light, he was unbelievably handsome, and she had a hard time remembering what she was supposed to be doing as she gazed at him.
Feeling foolish for making such a big deal out of what didn’t have to be a complex situation, Rain pulled her eyes off of him and hurried to get the rest of her clothes off. She couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder a few times. Being naked outside was something she hadn’t experienced before, and technically she’d never been naked with a man before either, not fully anyhow. Not that she didn’t trust Adam. She did. It was herself she didn’t completely trust.
Grabbing the soap, Rain headed off to the river, pretending it didn’t make any difference that she was buck naked in the middle of the woods with the man she’d been dreaming about for as long as she could remember.
The moment her toes hit the water, Rain realized he wasn’t kidding about the temperature. Cold water bit into her feet, causing a shiver to spiral up her spine and her teeth to begin to chatter before she was even in up to her knees. But Rain didn’t slow down. She needed to get herself underwater as quickly as she could so that she wouldn’t have to worry about Adam accidentally looking her way.
Once she was in up to her neck, doing her best not to think about the water temperature, she said, “Okay, I’m in,” and rolled her eyes that she couldn’t think of any other way to start a sentence other than “okay.” “I’ll give you the soap as soon as I’m done with it.”
“Great. Thanks,” Adam said without turning around. Rain stole another glance in his direction and then concentrated on washing the mud off of her face and out of her hair. “No wonder those two decided they needed another activity to keep themselves warm.”
Rain couldn’t help but chuckle. “Why is it so cold?” She would’ve thought that time of year the water would’ve been warmer since the temperatures outside weren’t so low.
“Maybe the rain cooled it off,” Adam offered. “Or maybe there’s an underground spring nearby.”
He seemed to know a lot about weather and rivers for someone who’d never been outside in his life up until a few days ago. Rain kept her thoughts to herself, though, concentrating on getting herself clean, rather than conversing with the attractive naked man a few steps away from her. Every once in a while, her eyes shot over to him of their own accord, no matter how badly she tried to fight it. His muscular back was turned to her, so he didn’t catch her peeking, which was for the best since she couldn’t help but let her gaze fall to the water’s edge. The river was so clear, she could probably see below the surface, if she wanted to.
Shaking her head, Rain turned her back to him. The water had started to numb her toes slightly, and she’d need to finish rinsing away the soap suds and get out before she couldn’t walk anymore. Deciding she’d likely gotten all of the mud off and the residue from the detergent, she said, “I’m done with the soap.”
“All right. You want me to just stick my hand out, and you can put it in my palm?”
“I guess,” Rain said, wondering if that was the best way to make the exchange. “I mean… I’ll have to see where I’m going.”
“I know. But we’ve basically established there isn’t much on me you haven’t already seen, and I’m doing my best to respect your wish not to have me look at you. So… I’ll just trust you’ll keep your head up.”
A half-snicker, half-snort expressed itself before she could stop it. “‘Kay,” she said, as if it was no big deal for her to step over and hand him the soap bottle without her eyes drifting below the river’s surface.