“You’re wearing a thong?” she mumbled through Kennedy’s hand. “Imight pass out,” she added when Kennedy’s hand moved away.
“Are you still in?” Kennedy asked.
“I’mextrain now. You’re wearing a thong.”
“Stop sayingthong,” Kennedy replied and stood up. “I didn’t want a panty line in this dress.”
River looked up at the long toned legs in front of her and watched as Kennedy reached for the zipper at the side of the dress.
“Should we really be doing this back here?” she asked. “There are other houses around.”
“It’ll just look like a suit. And no one knows I’m here. I rented this in another name.”
The zipper was all the way down now, and so was the dress, which was kicked off until it sat in a pile on the blanket at Kennedy’s feet. River swallowed hard because Kennedy Gannon was standing in front of her in a red, lace thong and a matching bra.
“You’re trying to kill me,” she said. “Best assassination attempt ever.”
Kennedy smiled at her and held out her hands, which River took and stood up.
“Your turn. Can I help?” Kennedy asked, and without waiting, she began unbuttoning River’s shirt.
River tossed her jacket to the ground and pulled off her tie while Kennedy worked. This was, hands down, the most sexually charged swimming experience River had ever had, and they hadn’t even made it into the pool yet.
“Sports bra?”
“I didn’t know you’d be seeing it,” she replied once she was left only in her pants and bra.
“I like it,” Kennedy said and ran her hands over it, not stopping to cup the breasts beneath, but that didn’t prevent River’s nipples from growing hard. “It works for you. Pants now.”
River kicked off her shoes and removed her socks unglamorously before she unbuttoned and unzipped her slacks, letting them fall, too. Then, she stood in only her gray sports bra andnotmatching black boy shorts. Kennedy looked her up and down and licked her lips, and River had no idea what was happening anymore. She had only expected to have their picnic and to make out for a while if she got lucky. She hadn’t even anticipated Kennedy asking her to stay over, but this was different.
“Ken, what’s happening here, exactly?” she asked when Kennedy took her hand and walked her over to the pool.
“We’re going swimming,” Kennedy replied and walked down into the pool.
“Okay. Why?”
“Because I want to, and I’m trying this new thing where I do what I want and trust myself with it.”
River nodded and entered the water. They stood in the center of the pool a moment later, staring at each other for a long time, before Kennedy wrapped her arms around River’s neck and River put her own around Kennedy’s waist. The kiss started slowly, and it built from there. When Kennedy lifted herself, River held on to her and let Kennedy wrap her legs around her body. River moaned when she cupped Kennedy’s ass to hold her up close, and she moved them until Kennedy was pressed to the side of the pool. She was careful to press gently so as not to hurt Kennedy as her lips moved to Kennedy’s neck, tasting chlorine while she licked and sucked the flesh. She wanted toonlytaste Kennedy, but that could come later.
“God, River,” Kennedy let out, and her hands moved into River’s hair. “I want you.”
River’s eyes went wide, and she said, “I want you, too, but you said you wanted us to take things slow.”
“Haven’t we been doing that already?” Kennedy asked with a little laugh and moved River’s face back to her own to stare into her eyes. “I’m trusting myself.”
“Okay,” River said and cupped her cheek. “I trust you, too. I trust me. I can wait, though, Kennedy. I don’tjustwantthatwith you.”
“I know,” Kennedy said with a shy smile. “I don’t just want that, either, so we’re on the same page here. I know this is technically date number one, but it’s not, really; is it?”
River shook her head and thought back to making fudge in the kitchen of the beach house and that night in the sand when she’d wanted to take Kennedy’s hand and had resisted because itwould’ve been wrong. It wasn’t wrong anymore. They could have this.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Yes,” Kennedy replied.
“Do you want to get out of the pool and go inside?”
