The Target by Gerri Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

and let them slip down her legs, stepping out of them in one motion, then pulled her T-shirt over her head and tossed it on the ground. “Move over, Sandra honey, I’m coming in.”
    The older woman laughed as the very naked Jaime splashed down around her.
     
    “ Jesus Christ ,” Sara murmured, but her eyes refused to obey her command to turn away. She stared as Jaime dropped her jeans then nearly gasped as she tore her T-shirt off, revealing a tanned torso and two unbelievably perfect breasts unencumbered by a bra.
    Surely to God she’s not going to … strip. But she did, purple panties joined the pile of clothes and a completely naked Jaime Hutchinson splashed into the hot springs full of straight women.
    “Holy shit, but she’s got some body,” Lou Ann whispered.
    Sara only nodded, still unable to take her eyes away from the lithe body that had disappeared under the water.
    “Why are you all wearing suits?” Jaime asked as she emerged from the water, slicking her short hair back. “That’s not allowed in hot springs. We’re out here in nature ,” she said. “This is God’s gift, intended to be enjoyed in the most natural way possible.” She raised her arms up and grinned. “In the buff.”
    “I haven’t been skinny dipping in thirty years,” Sandra said.
    “I’ve never been,” Celia added.
    Sara looked up to the sky. Surely they weren’t buying this garbage? But, oh yes, they were. Before long, ten fairly conservative, heterosexual women were shedding their swimsuits and tossing them on the rocks, frolicking naked in the water like children, all at the beckoning of this … this stranger .
    “Oh my God! This is fabulous,” Judith shrieked.
    Sara shook her head. Judith, always the quietest of the group, rose out of the water bare-chested and did a belly flop into the springs, splashing everyone around her. Sara stared. She never would have believed this. They were … free, exuberant, happy.
    Laughter rang out as they all splashed and played. Even Sandra, not one bit shy, stood out of the water and raised her arms overhead, her ample breasts swaying, then crashed down into the water, splashing the others.
    Sara finally laughed. She could do nothing else as these grown women were reduced to ten-year-olds. She looked across the water, meeting the laughing eyes of Jaime Hutchinson. She nodded and smiled, sending a silent thank you to her.
    “Sarge? What are you doing? Come join us,” Abby insisted, grabbing Sara’s hand and leading her deeper into the pool.
    “No, no. I’m doing just fine,” she said.
    “Come on, take it off. It’s so wonderful like this,” Lou Ann said as she playfully splashed Sara.
    “I can see that. But, actually, I’m pretty shy,” she lied. She moved to another rock, sinking to her chest. Finally, she ducked under the water, wetting her hair. When she opened her eyes, dark brown ones were staring back at her. She pulled her eyes away, laughing as Sandra did another belly flop into the water.
    For the next hour, they splashed about, enjoying the sunshine and the warm water, content to laugh and play as they’d not done in years. She listened as Jaime explained how the springs were formed—most likely some made-up nonsense about thermal water being forced to the surface through cracks in the earth—and then had them engrossed in a story, telling about another trip she’d taken to these mountains and how she’d been chased from the springs, stark naked, by a bear.
    “Climbed the first tree I came to, scared to death,” she said. “I thought the bear wanted me for dinner and all he wanted was a drink.”
    “They don’t really attack, do they?” Celia asked.
    “Black bears? Not as a rule, no. But if you have food in the tent with you, I’m sure they might want to come in and check it out. You need to remember to put up all the food.”
    Sara nodded. “We actually had a fox in camp with us last night.”
    “A fox? Really?”
    “Yeah. He woke me up about