His laughter wraps around me, warmth blooming through the cool hush of the water. “I’m such a fuckin’ fool.”
“Same.”
“You’ve been on my side this whole time,” he says more softly.
“Same,” I repeat, throat clogging with something.
“I know you.”
I clear my throat. “Same.”
The water droplets on the tips of his eyelashes sparkle while the ones on the pink of his pretty lips scream,lick me. When I look up, he’s looking at my mouth like he’s hungry for it, too.
He meets my eyes. His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows.
“You’re so beautiful it hurts to look at you,” he starts. “I’m dying to put my hands all over you.”
Is it possible to melt in cold water?
“And… I’m waiting for you to find equilibrium and say ‘fuck Sister Annie’ and make the first move…” he trails off, trying to make it a lie, “…with theutmostpatience. The most freakin’ patience anyone has ever had in the history of the universe.”
“Fuck Sister Annie,” I respond immediately. I move in and lick the water droplets off his lips. “First move.”
His eyes darken, his smirk turning sharp, before looking up and around. “Unfortunately, despite how easy it may look in the movies, I can’t make out with you while treading water. I’m not that strong a swimmer.”
Laughing, I start making my way towards the cliffs, towards a vertical path of rocks where it looks like you can climb back upto the top, but Nico cuts me off. “This way,” he says, swimming to somewhere on the other side.
He stops at the base of the cliff, at a small series of rocks sticking out of the water, the top just flat and wide enough for him to pull himself out and sit on. That’s it, though. No more room for me or anything else.
“So, I, too, only have a few minutes of treading water in me—” I start, but I am interrupted when he hooks his hands under my armpits, bodily lifts me out of the water, maneuvers my knees to either side of his hips, and settles me into his lap.
Like this, we’re eye-level, his radiant under the sun.
“Hey, Nico,” I say, already breathless.
“Hi, Annie,” he answers, then drags me to him by the back of my neck.
There’s no preamble this time, just Nico using a thumb to wrench my jaw down so he can fuck his tongue right in, immediately fisting my hair and using it to control our angle, velocity, depth, not that it matters, because our teeth still clash together with the force of our mutual assault.
Who in the world taught thisDungeons and Dragons,Magic the Gatheringmotherfucker to kiss? I owe them my life. His tongue is obscene in the way it tangles with mine, hard, demanding, hot, and rough, lewd when he uses it to drag a long stripe up my neck.
He traps my bottom lip between his teeth and tugs as he pulls away, his hand caressing my jaw, then my throat. A finger moves lower. We both watch as it traces the tattoos on my chest with reverence and care.
“It’s been a year, Sister Annie. How would you like me to break your vows?” he murmurs with an upward thrust of his hips.
Whoa. Jesus.
“I told you—I prefer Nico,” he says, and I guess I said that out loud.
“I’ve wanted to put your dick in my mouth for months now,” I breathe, “so maybe there?”
He groans, pulsing up once more.Jesus motherfucking Christ. “I heard you say that to your perverted geriatric girl gang. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.”
“Thinking about what?” I breathe. I have no idea what he’s talking about anymore.
Nico pauses the winding, searching path of his hands for a moment to lean in and suck on the skin on my chest, drawing it between his teeth, breaking the blood vessels and shooting a bolt of electricity directly to where it counts. He smiles at the artwork he’s left behind, right between two tattoos. “I’ve imagined doing that for days now. So pretty.” He circles the rapidly reddening mark with his fingers.
I grind down on the behemoth currently between my legs. I think I’m whining, but Nico doesn’t seem to care. He gently angles me back. His fingers wander, dance up the string of my bikini, following the line of it down, down, down, until he reaches the triangle and traces over the seam hugging my breast.
