I wanted to make her dreams come true. I wanted to fix it so that she could have her Olympic dream. Last night, I’d sat up far later than was reasonable, researching. More than researching, really. Completely immersing myself in statistics and rules and selection criteria.
While she was right that swimmers peaked younger, there was a growing trend towards older competitors. But age wasn’t the only factor in being eligible to compete for Australia, and when I went on a deep dive into all the selection criteria, I came out feeling despondent.
I didn’t want to mention any of it to her. It risked getting her hopes up when I wasn’t sure that we would be able to make it happen for her. And really, we needed to focus on the most important goal first. Getting her temporary partner visa approved. Then we could worry about permanent residency, and then citizenship … and then, if the stars aligned, we could talk about the Olympics.
I reminded myself that the plan was for me not to be a part of her life once she had her permanent residency. What had I told her to begin with?It would be a marriage for show only. We’d remain married long enough to secure your permanent residency, and then we could have a simple, amicable divorce.
A weight dropped into the pit of my stomach at the thought of not being around past the success of our original plan. But that was what I’d promised her.
“Henry!” Irina poked me in the side, and I blinked, realising I’d missed the entire conversation she’d been having with this Levi character. “You didn’t tell me they have a gym here, so I can do my dry landtraining!” She lowered her voice, gripping my arm and breathing into my ear, “And you don’t need a membership to use it.”
I tried to smile, but when she gave me an odd look, I knew I hadn’t managed to pull it off. “I’d forgotten about the gym. Is it safe to say Icebergs is a win?”
She nodded, pecking me on the cheek. “Thank you, Henry. This is … I can’t even express how much this means.”
Flustered, I shook my head. “It was nothing, really. I just like fixing things. I didn’t know this would end up fixing more than just your need for a pool to train in.”
“But you handled it … handled me, just right,” she insisted, smiling shyly, earnestly. That smile had the potential to undo me in ways that every single of her cheeky ones didn’t. It felt more intimate, more real.
“Just doing my husbandly duty,” I mumbled, turning away. I hoped that Levi wasn’t still listening to this conversation. Thankfully, he’d already left the water and was several feet away, wrapping a towel around his waist. He leaned down to brush a kiss on his partner’s cheek. She waved him away with a grin.
“You’ll drip all over Lily!” she warned, stroking the little head that peeked out of the top of the carrier. He grinned at her, sneaking a kiss to the top of the baby’s head instead.
“That’s so adorable,” Ri crooned, tearing her gaze from them and smiling wistfully at me. “You’d be such a hot dad, Henry.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “You want to start trying?” I teased, trying to throw off the tangle of emotions those words elicited.
Ri lifted a shoulder in a cheeky shrug. “I’d rather practise for a while first.” Her eyes slid away from me, staring along the length of the pool, her smile slipping. “Besides, I have an IUD, so it’s kind of impossible … for now.”
With that, she pushed away from the edge, launching into a freestyle lap. I stood watching her swim away from me. It was for the best, letting her get a pool-length from me. Because I had been about to tell her, without a hint of pretence, that weshouldgo home and practise. All afternoon, and into the night, and again first thing in the morning.
My resolve when it came to keeping this professional was a hairsbreadth from crumbling, and I needed some distance to build it back up.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Slutty Little Glasses
IRINA
ODoamne!
I was falling for my husband. There was no longer any possibility of denying it.
These feelings weren’t the run-of-the-mill ‘he’s hot, I want to grind our dirty squirty bits together’. Although there was a lot of that too. I’d always had an intense physical attraction to him, from that first time I’d seen him swimming, before I ever knew who he was.
The draft Tickle post that I was currently staring at with shaking hands proved, without a doubt, how much I wanted that from him.
Reluctantly, I wound it back a couple of minutes, preparing myself to rewatch the moment I lost all control when it came to Henry. It was one of my longer posts, a fans-only one …
… I widened my legs, slipping the silicon dildo deeper into my pussy, and then out again, slick with my arousal. A filthy moan fell from my lips.
“La naiba, you’re so … fucking … big!” I purred, heels digging into the mattress. “Go slow, please, let me get used to you …”
Was I role playing with my dildo? Yes. Was I picturing a certain curly-haired hottie looming over me, glasses askew, his own body sheened with sweat as he tried to hold himself back, to go slow the way I’d begged him to?
Also, yes.
My eyes slid closed as my fingers found my clit, tugging gently on my piercing before flicking it as I thrust the dildo deeper into me. In my head, I heard Henry’s strained words, ‘So perfect, Catnip … I need to feel you coming around me.’
