I had to laugh.“Your ‘underwhelming’ is still impressive to the rest of us mortals.”
Kai grinned.It was charmingly boyish, and completely free of guile.
“Sorry, I probably sound like an ass right now, don’t I.”
I made a show of pretending to consider the possibility, then shook my head.“Nah,” I told him, “I’m only jealous, is all.”
“You’re the one with the pool.”
I nodded, slowly.“True.I just never really got into swimming.But let me guess, you were a total water baby?”
A flex of his arm sent Kai coasting carelessly across.He steadied himself on the side as he reached me.
“I basically had gills when I was growing up,” he said, laughing.
“Medical marvel turned medic,” I observed.Laughed, as Kai put a finger behind each ear and wiggled them.“The embarrassing truth is that I just tend to sit in it,” I confessed, “not use it properly.”
Kai grinned.“Well, you sit, and I’ll try not to send too many waves your way.”
Before I could say anything he was pushing off again, settling back into his rhythm of glide, stroke, and turn.With equal ease I settled into watching those movements.After a few minutes, it was as though the totality of Kai’s body broke down; as if the precise, controlled twisting of arms, legs, torso, and head were each mechanisms in their own right, caught up in the happenstance of perpetual motion.
Eventually, eyeing the wine glass where it was beading gently with condensation on the table, I took advantage of his focused distraction to pull myself out of the water.Ran a towel across my shoulders and around my chest with what I hoped wasn’t too much visible eagerness, then slipped my t-shirt on top of still-damp skin.By the time he’d finished, I was sitting on the lounger and another third of the way through the wine.
“Did I hound you out?”The apology was clear in his voice.
I shook my head.“Not at all, the wine just made a better liquid argument,” I reassured him, holding up the glass.
He raised an eyebrow.“Maybe I should take you up on that drink, now.”
“Offer stands.”I gestured at the kitchen.
A hand gripping the deck each side of his shoulders, and then his body levering up and out of the water.A surge of wet skin, enough to make the breath catch in my throat.Then one foot, raised and planted flat on the wooden slats, and the final, graceful flow as he pushed himself fully upright.
The water ran down him in thick rivulets, as Kai lowered his head and shook it like a dog.Hair wild and unruly, before he smoothed it down with his palms into some half-semblance of order.The narrow black strip of his suit, stark against his skin, somehow conspiring to almost make him look more naked than had he simply been undressed.Almost.
It was the first time I’d seen him from the front, in his entirety at least.Pectorals like broad, curved slabs of muscle; a stomach bearing creases and grooves the number of sit-ups and crunches involved I could only imagine.Almost pruriently, I forced my attention to skip his crotch as best I could, terrified that he might look up and catch my gaze.Achieved that only as much as to leave myself with the half-formed memory of a prominent thickness there, a concept more fascinating than had I simply stared.
Even just that glance, though, had been enough to leave me near-painfully hard.I pulled my knee up, and hoped the shape of my excitement wasn’t visible.
“Um, I mean, help yourself,” I suggested.Standing up right now was absolutely not an option: the loose nylon shorts would hide nothing.
“Thanks,” Kai replied, reaching for his own towel.Again, I couldn’t help but observe as he buried his head in its fluffy expanse, knowing it would do nothing to placate my erection but unable to stop myself nonetheless.
I tried to look away as the towel made its way down his body, and just about managed it.Focused on the twinkling lights in the distant valley, and reminded myself that developing a crush on - or even just hopeless lust for - my neighbors’ cute son was probably even worse of an idea than spending the past few months effectively on my own, beyond the organized interactions of work.
“That should be enough to avoid dripping all over your floor,” Kai said eventually, distracting me from my self-critical reverie.
My eyes betrayed me, following him slyly as he walked past and into the kitchen.His ass was high and round, the tight black fabric clinging to the swollen muscles.I stifled the hungry groan I could feel forming in my chest.
“Any particular glass?”he called out.
“In the cupboard on the wall, on the left,” I told him, then heard from the clink that he’d found them.Silence, and then a voice from my side that made me jerk.
“Top you up?”
I turned, then wished I hadn’t.Found myself at just about eye-level with Kai’s crotch, unmistakable shapes jutting through the shiny, clinging black material.Dragged my gaze up, to see him holding out the wine bottle in invitation.
“Sure,” I tried to say, but it came out a croak.I swallowed, my throat feeling thick and dry suddenly, and attempted it again.Raising my glass at the same time.
