by Cynthia Dane
She smiled. “You’re buttering me up to ask me out, aren’t you?”
“I thought we were already going out.”
“I mean…” Rachel changed her mind. No sense talking about it when she wasn’t willing to take him on as her full-time boyfriend. I can’t even commit to going all the way in bed. They had done plenty of other fun activities, though. Most of which would have made her definitely say she was not a virgin! “You really act like you want to kiss me.”
His hands tightened around hers. “Would me kissing you make you forget how shitty this evening has been?”
“How can it be that shitty if I’m in this pool with you?”
“Oh, now, that’s not fair.” Zack took another step closer. Their hands went up in the air, their smiles touching. Rachel forgot how cold the water was. Or maybe that was his warm breath heating her up. “You’re going to spoil me with my own words thrown back at…”
Rachel couldn’t wait any longer. She stood up on her tip-toes and kissed him, their arms instantly falling down into the water with a happy splash.
I knew this was what he wanted. Zack kissed her with fervor, his tongue slipping into her mouth and his muffled groans sinking deep, deep into her throat. She flung her arms around his shoulders and brought him even closer, because damn if she was going to let him get away.
…But she made sure to keep her toes on the floor of the pool. Even when Zack hoisted her up against his chest, she fought to keep at least her big toe on the floor.
“You’re resisting me,” he growled against her lips.
“I’m resisting the water, thanks.”
He squeezed her with another growl in the crook of her neck. “It’s the same thing when you’re in the pool with me.” His hands lowered to her ass, clenching her flesh through her bikini bottoms. “Damn. I love this bathing suit on you. You should wear it all day, every day.”
“You want me to prance around your studio in it?”
“Absolutely. Fuck.”
“I’m sure you would love to. Fuck, that is.”
Zack kissed her again, the strength of his movement almost knocking her backward into the water. When he came up for air, he said, “You ever fool around in a pool before?”
Suddenly Rachel remembered where they were. “One thing at a time.”
“So you’re doing okay?”
She nodded. “I’m not going in deeper, though.” She meant that in two ways. Not going in deeper into the pool, and not diving into a deeper relationship with Zack. She really needed to take things one step at a time.
“You trust me, right?”
“Every time you say that, I know something scary is about to happen.”
“Now, now, last time I earnestly asked you that, we had some pretty awesome sex.”
“Was it really sex?”
“If it wasn’t, then my life is a lie. Because my mind and body definitely told me that was sex. I don’t need to have my cock inside of you to make it some of the best sex I’ve ever had.”
Rachel tested his waters like he constantly tested hers. “So you’re saying that going all the way would feel even better?”
“Uh, duh.”
“You think you’re getting that tonight, huh?”
“I assume nothing. I merely wanted to have some fun in the pool.” Zack wrapped his arms around her torso. “Okay. Hang on. I’m going to twirl you around.”
“What?”
“It’s super fun! And you know I won’t let go of you, right? You’re totally safe with me.”
Funny thing? She actually believed him when he said that.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
Rachel hooked her arms around him again. “Okay!”
Zack spun her slowly at first, stepping his feet in a tight, little circle that lazily brought Rachel around in the water. Her body left a thousand ripples behind her. By the time she came back around again, the ripples collided and turned into a tiny wave lapping at the side of the pool. Rachel had feared that she would feel like she was floating, but that horrid sensation never came. Only the feeling of sweet, watery resistance against her legs and the slippery skin of the man she trusted way, way too much.
“Want me to go faster?”
“Maybe.”
“Hang on.”
Those first few twirls had brought Rachel’s feet off the bottom of the pool, but it hadn’t frightened her. Now, however, Zack spun her with such speed that her legs whipped behind her, creating a large, splashing wave that cascaded over the side of the pool.
It was fun. At first.
“Now the other way!” Zack came to an abrupt halt before surging in the other direction. Rachel yelped in both shock and glee, her mouth unable to repress a smile as she spun effortlessly in the water. She even loosened her grip on Zack, although it wasn’t on purpose – why would she ever want to let a guy like him go?
Then she started to float. The water parted to let her legs, her waist through. Her foot broke the surface on the next spin, and the water came dangerously close to her face.
Face down in the water. Water in your windpipe. You can’t turn over. Gonna drown.
“Stop!” she screamed, fun turning into terror without any warning. “Please!”
Zack snatched her legs from the surface and pushed her feet back toward the bottom of the pool so her torso would be upright and her head far above the water. “Sorry!” He gripped her wrists and brought her to the shallow edge of the pool. “I didn’t mean to scare you. See? Here you go. Solid ground. Only three feet deep here. You’re fine, Rachel.”
She caught her breath and tried to tell herself that she couldn’t drown over here. She wouldn’t drown at all. Zack was behind her, both hands clasping against the edge, his large, strong body stalwart behind her. Rachel was surrounded. There was no way she could go under.
Somehow, she figured her stupid body would find a way.
“You’re fine,” Zack whispered in her ear. From behind like that, Rachel almost wished he would thrust against her ass and push her over the edge of the pool. Or maybe that was her adrenaline talking now that she had command of it again. I’m such an idiot. How could I think about sex right now? “Although it got your hair wet.” He planted a soft kiss on the back of her exposed neck.
“Shit.” Rachel was trapped between freaking out over what had happened and freaking out over what was going to happen. “I might wanna get out of this pool now.”
“We could hop in the hot tub before going back to my apartment.”
He kissed the side of her neck again. As much as Rachel wanted to indulge in some foreplay in the pool, she had more pressing things on her mind. The first thing she needed to do was get Zack off her.
“I need air.” She shrugged him off her and sent him to the center of the pool. “Sorry.”
When she turned around and stood against the edge of the pool, arms crossed, Zack said, “Yeah, I shouldn’t have pushed you, huh?”
“You’re not pushing me.” Rachel looked away. “If you think I’ve done anything against my will tonight, you’re sorely mistaken.”
He bobbed in the water, feet clearly off the ground as he hovered like the half-fish he was. A part of Rachel was jealous that he felt that comfortable in the water. The other part of her called him crazy.
“I wanna have fun, Rachel. We’ve both had crazy days.”
She would argue that hers was worse than his, but she had no idea what had really happened at that family gathering. “I wanna have fun too.”
“Admit it. You had some fun.”
She smile, weakly. “I did, yeah.” Rachel pushed her wet hair out of her face. “You’re good at making me have more fun than I probably should.”
He paddled closer to her, the lights on the pool floor illuminating his tanned face. His hair glistened from the water sliding off his bangs and onto his shoulder, his chest, and his hands when he stood back on his feet. “There’s no such thing. Especially if it’s you and me havi
ng some much needed fun.”
“Don’t you have any work to do? How’s that art coming, Mr. Artist?”
“It’s coming fine.” Zack clasped his hands on either side of her again. “Don’t worry about me. I want you to have a good time.”
“Making me face my biggest phobia is one way to do that.”
“There are other things we could do. I don’t know of a better way to make you face your phobia than, uh…”
“If you want to kiss me, Zack, go ahead.”
“You sure?” He came closer anyway.
Was Rachel going to have to be the one to initiate the make-out session again?
She had to admit, kissing Zack in the pool was one way to overcome her fears. She might even be crazy enough to lift her feet off the ground and wrap her legs around his waist. It was fine, as long as her back remained pressed against the edge.
And as long as Zack was firmly between her legs, keeping her head far, far away from the water’s surface.
“I know this was your plan the whole time,” Rachel said, her bikini top magically coming off her body and landing five feet away on the marble flooring. Zack made a quip about flotation devices before sucking on her nipple. “But do you have to be so obvious about it?”
He tortured her with her nipple between his teeth. When he released it, a little splash erupted beneath her breast. “Sometimes we men get tired of playing coy games. It’s much more fun to be direct about what we want. At least it is for me.”
“What do you want?”
He left a long, lingering kiss on the white of her throat, her head extending back as her scalp touched marble. Damn. He’s hard. In a cold pool. I must be magic. Or at least she was pretty sure that was his cock rubbing against her bikini bottoms. “You. Just you.”
Zack gently thrust against her. A suffocating gasp erupted from Rachel’s mouth as he pushed between her legs, his hard cock rubbing her slit like they were back in her apartment fooling around. How viable is it really to have sex in a pool? Wouldn’t the water wash away all the good stuff that makes it feel awesome? She wasn’t in the market to find out tonight, but she supposed it was something to think about.
“Do you want it?” His fingers were on her slit, stimulating her sensitive clit through swimsuit fabric. “And by it, I mean an orgasm in the pool.”
She bit her lip, suppressing yet another smile that night. “That would be a nice big fuck you to my phobia.”
“In the shallow end, so it’s extra hot.”
“You ever seen the movie Showgirls? That’s what I want.”
“I… I don’t think that’s what you actually want, Rachel.” Zack pushed aside her bikini bottoms and tested her entrance. Rachel closed her eyes and awaited the magical moment that would make her gasp and see stars. “I don’t think you want to look like a blow-up doll flailing around in the pool like a crazy piece of latex. Plastic. Whatever.”
One finger entered her. It was enough to make her kiss him again, like she was the uncontrollable one. I’ll show him flailing. Hm. Maybe not. “That woman you so casually refer to is Elizabeth Berkley. Or did you completely miss Saved By the Bell in your childhood?”
“Whatever, Rachel. My finger is in your pussy, in case you haven’t noticed. That’s way more important than IMDB trivia.”
“You like it in there?”
“It’s the warmest thing in this pool.”
She laughed. “Do it, then. Make me come in a rooftop pool.”
“Sounds sexy when you put it that way.”
“Fuck me, damnit.”
That’s exactly what he gamed to do.
Who knew that the water could be so relaxing even though she was in it? Apparently, he knew it. Zack knew everything when it came to having fun in the water, didn’t he? I know I’m not the first woman he’s messed around with in a pool. I probably won’t be the last, either. Even so, those thoughts didn’t bother her as she gave herself over to whatever Zack wanted to do. She trusted him, didn’t she?
If he said he was going to give her an orgasm in the pool, then that was exactly what he would give her.
It wasn’t a mind blowing one, but it did the job. It made her hold him closer, kiss his feverish lips, and whisper how good he felt whenever they were together like this. Rachel reached behind her, fingers curling into the indentations of the floor behind her.
“You kill me,” Zack said with a choked down chortle. He pulled his finger out and paddled toward the ladder. “So much so that I say we take this sexy party back to my place, if it pleases you, Ms. Taylor.”
She slowly opened her eyes and grinned. “What did you have in mind?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Hmm.” She was out before him, the cold freeze of the enclosure sending her into her towel and grabbing her bikini top off the ground. “We’ve yet to try that newfangled sixty-nine thing all the cool kids are talking about.”
“Oh, babe.” Zack didn’t hide what he sported in his baggy swim trunks. Rachel didn’t hide how much it pleased her to stare at it. “I haven’t had a good sixty-nine in at least a week.”
“A week?”
“A week of course meaning five years in Zack speak.”
Rachel rolled her eyes before turning around. “A whole five years.”
“The question is,” he said as they approached the doorway leading to the elevator, “can you keep up with me in the good ol’ sixty-nine?” They both dripped pool water all over the elevator floor as they stepped inside. Rachel pulled her half-wet hair out of its ponytail and made sure the towel was cinched around her otherwise naked torso, the bikini top dangling from her hand. “After all, I don’t want you choking on my magnanimous manhood.”
Turned out that wasn’t an issue at all.
Chapter 25
For two more weeks, they entertained the tenuous line between casual hookup and a more serious relationship they couldn’t turn their backs on.
Rachel was aware of it every hour of her day, even when she wasn’t near Zack. But they were always in contact. They could go a whole two days without seeing a glimpse of each other, but their phones would be filled with messages, silly photos, and emojis that didn’t mean anything at all.
Rachel sent him pictures of the papers she translated. He sent her pictures of his studio, including his latest work in progress. “Agent is bringing some shmuck by next week to see my shit, lol. What do you think?” That came with a picture of a half-finished clay project that was still in the “suspiciously phallic” phase.
“Makes me think of the dildo in my nightstand.”
“OMG Rachel you can’t just talk about ur dildo and not let me see!!!!”
“Don’t have it with me, sry.”
“I’m coming by your place 2nite n ur gonna show it 2 me.”
“Okay?”
“Yesssss.”
He didn’t come over that night, but Rachel entertained her fair share of fantasies when she took her toy out and brought herself to orgasm with nothing but thoughts of him. She pretended that her silicon boyfriend accurately represented how good he would feel inside of her. If they ever got to that point.
We will. At this rate, we definitely will. Rachel looked at her calendar. Should she arrange something special for them to do on September 1st? Because if she didn’t crack before then, she was definitely celebrating the end of her vow by fucking Zack senseless. Her bed. His bed. A hotel bed. She didn’t give a crap.
As much as she wished she could spend her whole days thinking about him – when she wasn’t working at home or at Opal’s, of course – there were other pressing issues. Like the client who dropped her because he couldn’t afford her services anymore. Or the fact she hadn’t picked up any new clients since then.
The worst, however, between preparing for Sita’s wedding and freaking out over her financials, was the call she received in early August asking her to make a last-minute trip to her mother’s memory care facility.
“I have to cancel
our plans tonight,” she told Zack over the phone. Her backpack was half filled with clothes for an overnight trip. She was already eating a bus ticket fare she hadn’t fit into that month’s budget. I don’t need to eat breakfast every single day of the week, right? She would have to forego going to Opal’s, at least. “Something’s come up with my mom and I have to go sort it out.”
“Holy shit. I hope it’s not too serious.”
“No, no… I need to sign some more paperwork and talk to the hospice people.”
“Hospice? Isn’t that the definition of serious?”
“I need to go visit her anyway. Sorry. I’m about to take off.”
“Wait. Let me give you a ride up there. It’s only two hours away, right?”
“Only? That’s pretty far.”
“Not a problem. I had already set aside time for you tonight.”
“I… that’s… really sweet of you.” She hadn’t bought her ticket yet. Or paid for her motel room. Maybe… “I don’t want to impose, Zack.”
“Nonsense. Like you could ever impose on me. I’ll be right over.”
What Rachel never expected was that Zack would indeed be right over… in his vintage 1961 red and white Corvette.
She had heard about the classic car in his collection, of course, but she had yet to see it for herself. Rachel definitely did not expect to see it pull up to the curb and for Zack to motion for her to get in while they still had plenty of daylight to make a jaunt up to a nursing home in the countryside.
“Are you crazy?” Rachel was already cold, and she wore a pair of thick leggings and her red flannel. The heat wave had finally ended around there, and she knew for a fact that the weather at her mother’s place was always about ten degrees cooler than in the city. “We don’t want to take something as nice as that out.”
“Why not? It’s a gorgeous day. Besides, we’re going to a nursing home! I bet the residents would love to see a vintage beauty like this!” Zack patted the headlight. “Get in, equally gorgeous girl. I wanna see your hair whip back in this car. Trust me when I say you’ll look even more glamorous than you did that night in an Aston Martin.”
Rachel shivered. In sober retrospect, that had been a harrowing ride down the freeway.
