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“Good, now you’re going to start with kicking. Watch me for a minute. Watch my feet. You keep your legs straight out behind you and paddle with your feet. Don’t pull your knees up. It’s not like pedaling a bike.”
Oliver holds onto the side of the pool and starts kicking his feet. After a minute, he stops and gestures for me to hold the edge of the pool like he had done. “You ready to try?”
I grab the ledge and let my feet float up. Oliver grabs my legs and starts moving them the way I’m supposed to kick. His thoughts are concentrated on teaching me the sport. They’re peaceful. He loves the water, loves swimming, and is excited that I can now share this with him. I’m glad I can, too.
He lets me go and tells me to give it a try on my own. I try to kick the way he showed me, but it doesn’t feel right. My instinct is to hold my legs together and push deeply from my waist, bending my knees propelling myself forward with long, powerful kicks.
Oliver sees what I’m doing and chuckles. “That’s a dolphin kick. I should have known to try you out with that.”
I stand and shrug. “I don’t know what it is, it just feels right.”
Oliver narrows his eyes and nods slowly. “Maybe it’s instinctive. Like how a baby giraffe can walk almost from birth.”
I arch a brow. “Are you seriously comparing me to a baby giraffe?”
Oliver grins. “You’re way too graceful to be a baby giraffe. I just meant you probably already know how to swim like a fish.”
I snort and fold my arms. “So now I’m a fish?”
His smile turns into a smirk. “Yes. Literally. A beautiful fish, but a fish all the same. Part fish, at least.” He steps aside before I can punch his arm, and he waves to the open lane in front of me. “Why don’t you just give it a try? Do what feels right, and see what happens.”
I get what he’s saying. When I was kicking before, my body just knew how it was supposed to move. Even now, it’s like I can visualize myself gliding through the water. I’m pretty sure I can figure this out without his help. “Okay, here goes.”
Skimming across the surface of the water like Oliver does doesn’t feel right, so I dip below the surface. Once again, I’m surrounded by that buzz of energy as if the water is welcoming me home. I reach out in front of me and push off from the wall, kicking my feet behind me, and the next thing I know, I’m flying through the water like I’ve done it a million times.
All too soon I reach the other end of the pool. Oliver grins so big I can see all of his teeth. “That was amazing!” he calls. “Do it again!”
Matching his smile, I drop below the water and race back to him. The feeling of soaring through the water is unbelievable. I could do this for days. I’m alive—totally awake, alive, and living. Maybe for the first time in my life.
I quickly reach Oliver’s end of the pool, but I don’t want to surface again. Not yet. I somersault in front of the wall and push off it again. I swim back and forth several more times without ever surfacing.
When I finally feel the burning need for oxygen in my lungs—long after a human would, I’m sure—I pop up out of the water right in front of Oliver. He stands there, staring at me with awe. “That was amazing.” He shakes his head back and forth like he’s trying to wrap his mind around what he just witnessed. “Incredible.” He comes back to himself, and his focus sharpens on me. The heat in his eyes is unmistakable and stirs something low in my belly. “You’re breathtaking, Nora.”
Without warning, he grabs my face between his hands and pulls me into a deep kiss like he just can’t help himself. Fire ignites inside me, and I kiss him back. Hard. His arms come around me, holding me to him, and I use the momentum to lift my legs and wrap them around his waist. Oliver grunts and drops his hands to my butt, holding me up and grinding my body against his in ways that have me gasping. Unfamiliar sensations have me wanting to cry out in pleasure. A whimper of need escapes me. Oliver breaks the kiss, panting heavily, and moves his mouth to my neck, scorching kisses down my throat. “Nora…” My name on his lips is both a caress and a question.
“I’m okay,” I promise. I’m more than okay. I’m alive and on fire and in desperate need of everything Oliver’s giving me, and more.
“I want to make you feel good.”
He’s already making me feel good, but I know what he means, and no man has ever given me that kind of pleasure before. I wait for the fear to come, but when Oliver tugs loose the strings of my bikini top, making the material fall away, and my bare chest meets Oliver’s warm skin, all I feel is heat and desire. I want this. Need it.
Oliver whirls us around and lifts me out of the water, setting me on the very ledge of the pool while my legs are still wrapped around his waist. He takes a moment to catch his breath and look at me. I lean back on my hands and let him enjoy the sight. I feel like I should be embarrassed, but Oliver’s drinking me in with so much reverence that I don’t feel the need to cover myself. “So beautiful,” he murmurs.
His hands are on my hips, his thumbs brushing over the hem of my swimsuit bottom like he’s contemplating taking it off, too. His eyes come back to mine, and he gives me a long, searching look. “Do you trust me?”
My heart flutters, but it’s not out of fear. It’s excitement, because for the first time in my life, the answer to that question isyes. I’m absolutely certain that Oliver’s not going to lose control and hurt me. A lump forms in my throat, and my eyes start to sting, but I smile through the emotion and nod my head. “I do trust you, Oliver. With my life. With my heart. With my body. With everything.”
Oliver’s face softens. “I love you, Nora.”
I swear my heart is trying to burst out of my chest. “I love you, too. So much.”
Another look of complete trust passes between us, and then his fingers curl around the waistband of my boy shorts and he pulls them down. I drop my legs from his waist so he can remove them completely, and then I’m bare before him. Oliver’s eyes never leave mine as he places his hands on my knees and waits. “Tell me to stop if you need to,” he says with nothing but love in his eyes.
The anticipation is killing me. I can’t find my voice, so I simply nod and give myself over to my best friend, and the first man I’ve ever loved. The first man I ever trusted. The first man who’s ever made me feel safe.
I don’t know how long Oliver holds me captive on the pool deck, but he certainly isn’t in any hurry as he worships my body. Every touch, every kiss, is slow and tender, almost cautious. He’s confident, but he’s careful at the same time, taking care not to go too fast and do anything that could startle or trigger me. It’s exactly what I need from him.
When he finally shatters me wholly and completely, my emotions nearly get the better of me. I suck in a breath and hold it in an attempt not to cry. I hate to be that woman, but what just happened between Oliver and me was so much more than simply getting me off. He’s given me a gift that I thought I’d go my entire life without. He’s mended some of the breaks in my soul that I thought were permanent.
