I nodded my appreciation, inwardly guilty that my own enjoyment of the moment was for a very different - far more base - reason.
When he stepped forward, it was with a focus that seemingly blanked out the world around him.Attention only on his entry into the water.I watched the way the muscles in his thighs flexed, the way his arms swept up - fingers pointed like daggers - and how his whole form tilted at the last second.A crisp, perfectly controlled dive; I fought the urge to applaud.
There was no pause as he surfaced, just a swift transition into the few quick, crawling strokes that would take him all the way to the opposite end, and then a neat pivot to set up its repeat.The rhythmic swishing of the water reminded me of the subtly beguiling thrum of the dishwasher, a sound to which I’d fallen asleep on the couch more than once.
I didn’t get any work done.Zoned out, in fact, his perfectly timed strokes lulling my brain into a daze.Eventually I gave up on reading and re-reading the same sentence over and over, and allowed my eyes to defocus on the screen.A miasma of swimming pixels.
“You should come in, it’s perfect,” he called out.
I jolted at his voice, jarred from my daydreaming.Kai was clinging to the edge of the pool, arms crossed atop the side.His gleeful expression underscored his opinion.
“Maybe later,” I demurred, gesturing to the computer perched - pointlessly, though he didn’t know that - on my lap.
“Later it’ll be too late,” he countered, “or you’ll have had too much wine.”
I scowled, mock-serious.“Are you saying I have a drinking problem?”
He shook his head, smiling.“I’m saying it would be better in here than sitting out there, so you should come in with me.Bring your glass if it makes you feel better.”
I rolled my eyes, but still closed the laptop lid and pushed it onto the table next to me.“Fine, you persuaded me.”
“And all it took was the promise of drink,” Kai teased, chuckling.
I threw him a dirty look.
I’d expected him to go back to swimming, to pick up where he’d left off in his laps, but he didn’t.Just stayed perched on the pool’s edge, watching me as I set down the glass.Part of me wanted to say something, self-conscious of being observed as I undressed.Even as I knew how hypocritical that was, given how I’d watched him both times.
Mentioning it would make it more awkward, would make that awkwardness something real and tangible, though.So instead I stood and, resisting the temptation to cross my arms across my chest protectively, pulled off my shirt.
Kai’s eyes followed me as I stepped up to the edge, a casual attentiveness that still made my skin tingle.
“You’re really self-conscious,” he observed, not unkindly.“You shouldn’t be.”
I snorted, as I sat down on the side and let my legs dangle in the rippling warmth.“It’s always the beautiful people who say that,” I pointed out, then instantly regretted it.
Kai, generously, didn’t call me out on that.
“If you committed to swimming a couple dozen laps every night, you’d notice the difference,” he pushed.“Though we’d have to get you out of those things.”
I frowned at him.“Which things?”
A laugh.“Those godawful shorts.They’re loose so they’re going to cause drag, and that will slow you down.”
“These are perfectly fine shorts,” I pointed out, a little defensively.Then resisted the natural reaction to jerk my leg away, when he reached out and tugged at the baggy fabric, pointedly.
“For running, maybe,” he countered, “but for swimming you’re only making things harder for yourself.Then you’ll get frustrated because you get tired quicker, and so you’ll give up.I’m trying to avoid that happening.”
I sighed at him.“So I’m meant to wear something small and tight, and that will make me less self-conscious, will it?”
Kai laughed again.“Well yes, you are.You can always just borrow a pair of mine if it’s easier, if you’re so averse to the idea of buying some yourself.”
The sudden thought of slipping on a pair of his skin-tight swim trunks - of having my cock filling the space where his had been - rushed through my head.I knew I’d never be able to wear them without getting hard.
“No,” I said, hurriedly.“You convinced me, I’ll buy some, okay.”
“Good man,” Kai replied, looking satisfied at having persuaded me.
I shook my head, tiredly, before slipping down into the water.
