He came up a few feet away, water running down his face, and he looked at me the way he had on the dock that morning—like I’d surprised him. Like he hadn’t expected this particular version of me, and he was glad I’d shown up.
The pool was calm with no current, but I felt myself drifting toward him anyway, just slightly. And then his hands were there, easy and certain at my waist, and everything in me went quiet.
He didn’t let go.
The water moved around us and the sun came down through the trees in long, slanted beams. Somewhere downstream, the teenagers were still laughing.
But all of that faded away. I could only focus on one thing. Everything else had gone soft and distant.
His hands were warm even in the cold water. I could feel every point of contact. I looked up at him to find he was looking at me in that same steady, open way. Except we were close now, and the air between us felt like something that could be crossed.
“You jumped without thinking about it,” he said. His voice was low. “That’s still you.”
The words landed somewhere under my sternum and stayed there.
The water moved. Neither of us did.
His eyes dropped to my mouth and came back up, and I felt it like a current of its own. My hands found the water between us, then they found him instead. The distance closed, and I stopped thinking about what came next entirely.
I’d spent four years making careful decisions. Every single one of them had been the right one. I looked at him and made one more.
4
CADE
Ikissed her.
The moment her hands found me, the last thread of restraint snapped. My mouth came down on hers, hungry and sure, and she met me with the same heat.
Her lips were soft, cool from the water, parting under mine like she’d been holding still for this exact second and had no holding left in her. I tasted river water and something sweeter—her—and my hands moved up her back, pulling her flush against me. The thin fabric of her swimsuit did nothing to hide the way her body molded to mine, soft curves and lean tension.
We drifted in the deep green pool, legs treading water, mouths locked together. My palms slid down her sides, over her hips, gripping the swell of her ass and squeezing until she gasped into my mouth.
She pressed closer, her breasts brushing my chest, nipples hard through the wet material. I couldn’t get enough. One hand tangled in her wet hair, tilting her head so I could deepen the kiss, tongues sliding, breath catching between us.
I turned her slowly in the water, her back to my chest, and she went willingly. My arm banded around her waist, holding her steady as my other hand dipped lower.
I slipped my fingers beneath the edge of her swimsuit bottoms, finding slick heat that had nothing to do with the river. She was soaked for me. A low groan escaped me as I stroked her, circling her clit with my thumb while two fingers teased her entrance.
“Fuck, you feel good,” I murmured against her ear. She whimpered, hips rocking back against my hand. I worked her slowly at first, then faster, matching the rhythm of her quickening breaths.
Her head fell back against my shoulder, and I kissed the side of her neck, sucking lightly as my fingers plunged deeper. She tightened around me, trembling, and when she came it was with a sharp cry that echoed softly off the trees—her body arching, pulsing, thighs clamping around my wrist.
Before she could fully recover, she spun in my arms and kissed me again, fierce and desperate. Her hand shoved at my swim trunks, pushing them down my hips until my cock sprang free, hard and aching. She wrapped her fingers around me—inexperienced, a little clumsy in her eagerness—and started stroking.
I hissed in pleasure, hips jerking into her grip. “You done this before?” I managed, voice rough.
She shook her head, eyes dark with want, cheeks flushed. No hesitation, just raw honesty.
“I’m a virgin,” she said.
“Shit,” I breathed. “We should go back to my place. Get a bed, do this right?—”
She kissed me again instead of answering, her hand never stopping its awkward but perfect rhythm on my cock. I wasleaking for her already, every stroke pushing me closer to the edge.
She pulled back just enough to speak against my lips. “I’m safe. I’m on birth control. I want this. I want you. Here.Now.”
That was all I needed. The last of my protests dissolved.
