“Is that so weird?”
“Ava.” I moved toward her, watching her eyes widen as I closed the distance. “You dragged me out here in the middle of the night to swim?”
“I didn’t drag you anywhere. This was your idea.”
True. But I hadn’t been thinking about swimming when I suggested it.
I stopped in front of her, close enough that our legs brushed under the water. Her breath caught.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” I reached out and traced a droplet of water as it slid down her neck. “Just looking.”
“At what?”
“You.”
The air shifted from one heartbeat to the next. One second we were playful and the next we were staring at each other with more seriousness than I’d planned. I couldn’t look away from her, our breaths mingling as we got closer. My hand was still on her neck, my thumb resting against her pulse point while I treaded water with my other arm.
Her pulse was racing.
So was mine.
“Liam,” she whispered.
I didn’t think. I just pulled her to me.
Her body pressed against mine so perfectly it was like she was made for me and me alone. I kissed her like I needed her to survive, like she was oxygen and I’d been drowning my whole life. She made a sound against my mouth—not quite a moan, not quite a sigh—and her arms wound around my neck, pulling me closer.
I caught her by the waist and lifted her just enough for her to wrap her legs around me. I swam us slightly closer to shore so I could stand without having to tread water, and for a long moment, we just stayed there. Kissing. Holding each other. Existing in this pocket of time that felt separate from everything else.
When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard.
Her eyes asked questions I didn’t have the answers to.
All I had was this feeling in my chest—this heavy, aching thing that had been growing for weeks, maybe longer. I couldn’t name it—didn’twantto name it. Because naming it would make it real, and real things could be destroyed. Real things ended in slammed doors and broken promises and my mother crying in the kitchen at two in the morning.
I didn’t want to destroy Ava.
I could never live with myself if I did.
But I wasn’t sure I could let her go, either.
Her hand came up to rest against my cheek, her thumb tracing my jaw. “Thank you, Liam, for doing these things with me. For making me feel safe enough to be brave.”
Something cracked open in my chest—some wall I hadn’t realized I’d built. I kissed her again, softer this time. Slower. Not a prelude to anything, not a means to an end. Just a kiss because I wanted to kiss her. Because being here with her, in this lake, under this moon, felt like the first time I’d ever wanted to stay exactly where I was.
We floated together for a long time. Not talking, not kissing, just holding each other while the water lapped gently against our skin. Her head rested against my shoulder, and I could feel her breath against my neck, warm and steady.
This was enough.
That was the thought that kept circling through my head, impossible and true. This—just this—was enough. I didn’t need more. I didn’t need her under me or wrapped around me or calling my name. I just neededthis. Her in my arms. The quiet of the night. The certainty that, for right now, she was mine.
I’d had sex with a lot of women, and it had always beengood—a physical release with mutual satisfaction, and everyone walked away happy.
But none of it had ever felt like this.
None of it had ever made me feel so fucking full.
