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Leo watched her, his gaze dark. Lightning cracked the sky. Then he shrugged out of his jacket, pulled off his tie, and walked toward the water.
Leo
Leo watched Pea enter the water like some unearthly Venus and fell in love a little harder even as the last of his control snapped.
He pulled off his jacket and tie and walked to the shore, kicking off his shoes and removing his waistcoat. Pea watched him, and she was clothed in nothing but a tiny scrap of black silk and the dark waters of his lake.
The rain was pelting the lake’s surface, coating his face, the thin fabric of his shirt, until it all seemed as one: sky meeting deep water, two halves of the world coming together.
The lake was far colder than the rain, the chill of it burning through to the bones of his feet as he trod, less surefooted than Pea had been, over slippery stones and grit. “Fuck,” he gasped, despite his best efforts. “It’s so cold.”
Pea laughed, and a little of the light he thought he had extinguished came back into her eyes. “You get used to it.”
She trod water a few metres distant, smiling as he made his way towards her. Her body was a pale shape under the dark water, forming and reforming, blurred and half-hidden.
He slipped, nearly falling, righting himself with windmilling arms. Pea laughed again, and he found himself laughing too, shivering in a cold lake in a thunderstorm, his guests abandoned, expensive suit ruined. Feet sore from the pebbles, he was hardly able to breathe for the rain flying at his face, and for the desperate laughter in his chest.
And there was nowhere else he’d rather be.
Because Pea was there in front of him, laughing too, and then she was within arm’s reach and he was holding her, sliding his arms around her waist, as her chilled hands came up around his neck.
“In case it’s not clear,” he said over the sound of rain and distant thunder, “I’m choosing you. Now and forever.”
He lifted her so her legs wrapped around his waist and their foreheads were pressed together. He breathed in her smile and the shaky hitch of her breath, and then he kissed her.
Wet lips brushed wet lips. Then there was heat and sweetness, her tongue so wonderfully warm after the cold rain.
He kissed her with the passion of fifteen years. He kissed her with fierce joy and gratitude and hunger and love.
Her legs tightened around him, her breasts pressing into the wet fabric of his shirt. He held her hips as they crushed their bodies together, seeking more, more. Until he broke the kiss, gasping, pressing kisses to her throat. “I’m going to need to get out of this cold water to give you what we want.”
She laughed, nodding, her head buried in his shoulder. He put her down, and they staggered back to shore hand in hand, stumbling together over the rocks, bruising their toes, barely even noticing.
Pea dragged her dress back on. Leo left his jacket and shoes behind. They ran, laughing like children back up to the house, and flung themselves dripping and shivering through the door. Leo lifted Pea into his arms, a bridal carry, and headed to the stairs, leaving pools of water on the antique floor.
Just before they got to the staircase, Kethnick rounded the corner and paused, taking in the sight of his dripping, half-dressed master and the equally sodden woman in his arms. The old butler’s expression didn’t falter. “I was just coming to find you, Your Grace. Shall I tell your guests you’re…indisposed?”
“Erm. Yes, excellent idea. Thank you, Kethnick.”
Kethnick inclined his head.
“I think I’m indisposed too, dear Kethnick,” said Pea. Leo could feel her shaking with silent laughter in his arms.
“Of course, my Lady. Do enjoy your evening.”
“We will,” said Leo with a grin as he started up the stairs. “We definitely will.”
Chapter seventeen
Pea
LeocarriedPeaallthe way up to his rooms and into his bathroom. He set her on her feet on the grey marble floor, and, keeping one arm around her waist, as though letting her go was unimaginable, he turned on the walk-in rainfall shower. It was steaming hot within seconds.
He looked back at her, and the fierce joy in his eyes made her forget she was cold, forget to shiver. She looked at him and marvelled, as though he were a statue brought to life.
The happiness in his eyes was echoed by his mouth, the corners turning up in a barely contained grin. “Let’s get you out of these wet things,” he said, and then she did shiver but not with cold.
He drew the straps of her dress from her shoulders, reverently, slowly, and eased the fabric down her body. It clung to her wet skin, and he kneeled before her as he drew it over her hips and down to the floor. He looked up at her as he hooked his fingers into the sides of her knickers and pulled them down too, lifting each of her feet in turn, helping her to step out of them and her dress.
