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He was seeing more of me than anyone else in the world ever had. What was I supposed to do with any of this?
“Shhh,” he murmured like he could hear my turbulent thoughts. He climbed in the bed behind me. His knees notched behind mine, and his chest cemented to the curve of my back. When his arm came around my waist, my entire body relaxed back against him, and my churning thoughts quieted until the surface of my mind became as smooth as a placid lake in the silence of a still morning.
“Sleep,” he commanded, and like every other one of his orders that night, my body almost instantly obeyed.
9
EMMETT
Though the weather was cooling down in Georgia, the heat of the day was still stifling in the confines of the Oleander. We spent entirely too many days cooped up inside, waiting for our next Trial, and it was starting to get to me. And based on how irritable Bellamy was getting at times, I could tell the same could be said for her. No one warned me just how hard the months in the Oleander would be. The Trials were nothing in comparison to just having idle time on our hands.
“Today seems like the perfect day for swimming,” I announced as I closed my laptop and stood with a stretch.
Bellamy looked up from the book she was reading and shook her head. “I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”
I reached for the book and pulled it out of her hands. “You don’t need one.”
Not giving her a chance to argue any longer, I took her by the hand and led her out of our room, out of the mansion, and toward the lake.
It had been quite some time since we’d first been to the lake, and the minute I saw it as we approached, I regretted that we hadn’t come more often. Water lapped against the shoreline, the reflection of the sun causing bands of color and light to dance across the surface.
Toeing off my shoes, I turned to face Bellamy. “Let’s get in. The water’s going to feel great.”
It was a bit chillier than I expected, and yet, after an initial quick intake of breath, I lifted my arms and dove beneath the surface. I swam underwater until I needed to breathe, surfacing and shoving my hair out of my face. Treading water, I looked toward the shore and was surprised to see Bellamy just standing there watching.
“Are you coming in?” I called out.
“I’m fine.” She looked at a nearby boulder on the shoreline and made her way over there to sit on it.
“It’s hot out. Come on.” I swam back toward the shore so I could convince her to test the waters. “It’s not too cold. Promise.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that. It’s just—”
I watched her kick off her sandals and put her toes in the water. “I don’t have my bathing suit on.”
“Nor do I,” I pointed out. “I think we’re past the bashful stage.” I lifted my arms out of the water to motion around me. “And it’s just you and me out here. You don’t have to worry about anyone seeing you.”
Her eyes went to the water, and I could see she was considering it.
“Come on,” I prodded. “Do I have to come get you and carry you in?”
She laughed. “No. I can do it myself.” She stood and pointed at me. “But don’t get my hair wet.”
It took everything in me not to roll my eyes. Southern girls and their hair….
But I became quickly distracted when she began to undress. My cock hardened the moment she hooked her fingers into the waistband of her shorts and pulled them over her shapely ass. As she pulled her tank top over her head, she gave me a wicked smile. Unclipping her bra and dropping it on the ground, she stepped out of her panties and stood as I scanned her entire nude body from head to toe in the light of the sun.
This was different than at a Trial or in the privacy of our bedroom. She was exposed, vulnerable, and more seductive than ever before.
“I’m not really a swimmer,” she confessed, not giving me a chance to respond as she stepped past me and entered the water.
She lowered her body but was extra careful to stop at her neck, not letting her hair or face get wet.
“You know,” I began, “it’s okay to mess up your perfect makeup and your blown-out hair. I swear I won’t tell anyone that you actually went swimming.”
It dawned on me that she never let me see her without a full face of makeup and her hair perfectly styled. She wouldn’t leave even the bathroom after a shower until she was completely put together. This wasn’t unusual from dating women in Georgia. It was like they were groomed to always have lipstick ready and a blow dryer in hand.
