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Vaughn bit my neck, not quite hard enough to bruise, soothing the pain away with his tongue. “Or I just take you. Let you loose and tell you to run. You don’t have to decide now, or at all. Think about it and let me know.”
A heavy breath fell out of me like he’d just released a hold on my lungs. “Okay.”
“Now, let’s get in the water.” He was back to his normal, smiling self like he hadn’t just growled in my ear that he wanted to hunt me and fuck me.
“Not too late to go back inside.”
One eyebrow cocked. “Do you trust me?”
“I just told you I wanted you to chase me, which takes like a thousand times more trust, so yes.”
“But you’re not afraid of that.” Vaughn held his hand out for mine. “I’ve got you.”
His touch was gentle, guiding me into the water. Further than Rowan had. Further than I’d been into the actual ocean in years. Nerves sprang to life, and I froze with the water swirling around my thighs.
Vaughn stepped close and held me. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.”
I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead to his chest. Breathed in his scent. Let it calm me. I was going to need to buy stock in creamsicles after this because I didn’t think I would ever have enough.
He drew me deeper. Until the water rose around my chest. Terror flowed under my skin, waiting for the moment when the water would rip me away and hold me under. Try to kill me in the way only a giant, faceless thing could.
But nothing happened. Vaughn’s arms still wrapped around me, and other than the swell and fall of the waves, there wasn’t any current.
“Still with me?”
“I think so.”
Vaughn gripped my ribs and lifted me, bracing my knees on his hips. The water held me too. I felt weightless. Powerful. And this Alpha looked up at me like I was the sun, not the one in the sky.
“Did it happen here?”
“No. I mean, yes, but not this beach. A few miles south. One of the public ones, and it happened so fast. A lifeguard saw me go under, and that’s why I’m still here. But he almost didn’t make it.”
Slowly, he lowered me closer, nearly close enough for our lips to touch. “I’m glad you’re still here.”
“Me too.”
It was easy to be here in the water with him, like he held all the water back and gave my soul space away from the fear. But it hovered at the edges, and I knew if I were on my own I wouldn’t make it out this far. Being with him I liked. Learning to swim? I wasn’t sure I was ready.
“Do you have to teach me?”
“I’d like to, but it doesn’t have to be today.”
I rolled my eyes. “Trust me, I don’t think you’ll like teaching me.”
“Actually I would. It’s what I do most of the time anyway.” He smiled, eyes lighting up in that way someone had when they truly loved something.
“You’re a swim instructor?”
“Scuba, actually. But I do teach swimming lessons sometimes. I do some free diving, too.”
Free diving. I’d heard of it, but not enough to know what it really was. “I’m not familiar.”
Vaughn smirked. “It means I can hold my breath for a really long time and not come up for air.”
He wasnottalking about diving. “Good to know.”
“How long has it been since you’ve been in the water?”
