“Manhattan is surrounded by water.”
“Yes,” Finn agreed, “but no one swims in that water.”
“Are you afraid of the water?”
“I think I have a healthy fear of anything that could be dangerous. Large bodies of water, heights, too-fast vehicles …”
“You could just put your legs in,” Iris suggested. “It’s the perfect temperature.”
She seemed determined to see him enjoying the water. And some part of him really wanted to please her.
“I can do that.”
He sat down on the edge of one of the chaise lounges, untying his shoes, then removing them and his socks. He was barely paying attention to what he was doing, though, as Iris broke back into a swim, cutting through the water, going end to end far quicker than any human could ever move.
There was something undeniably beautiful about seeing someone in their element.
Suddenly, he felt a little crack form inside.
How could you take someone meant for salt water and currents … and ask them to stay still on solid ground?
And yet that was exactly what he was doing, wasn’t it?
Asking her to perform. To behave. To shrink.
He’d told himself it was for optics, but maybe it had been about control, too.
And that made something twist in his gut.
After rolling up his pant legs, Finn moved over to the edge of the pool, lowering himself down, then slipping his legs into the water.
Iris was right; it was the perfect temperature. And there was something calming about the way the water sloshed around his skin as Iris swam her tireless laps.
Over the next twenty minutes or so, her movementsslowed until she stopped entirely and floated on her back on the surface of the water.
Her hair offered a peek-a-boo effect with the swells of her breasts, but offered more than enough to tantalize.
Desire pinged off his nerve endings, making his chest feel tight as he started to harden.
Still, he couldn’t look away.
She was so peaceful then, her face relaxed, her tail lazily undulating in the water to keep her afloat. The movement made the muscles in her stomach tense and contract.
Iris took a deep breath, making more of her chest appear above the water.
Finn was close to getting up and moving away to try to get some distance, some control over his desire.
But then Iris was slipping under the water.
And the next thing he knew, she was surfacing between his legs, her arms resting on his legs, soaking the material through.
He hardly noticed that, though. Not with her so close, so bare to him, her face so lit up with joy.
“Isn’t it nice?”
“Perfect,” he said, knowing she meant the water. When he meant her.
“There’s nothing like it on the surface.”
