relationship has always been so lopsided,” he says, his chin and mouth dipping briefly below the water. “You always get to see my half-naked body while you are fully clothed. Now I get to see you.”
“I see.”
“Now since you get to touch me all you want and I can never touch you, I can think of a way of making that fair, too.”
I swallow, my eyes going wide.
Deflect, deflect!
But I have nothing to say. There’s nothing to say. Tell him he’s being inappropriate? I’m starting to think I might be welcoming it.
I turn around and swim to the edge of the pool at the four-foot marker, where an underwater bench runs along the length.
“Come over here,” I tell him.
He hesitates, then swims over, his body gliding through the water.
“Sit,” I command, and he does so, settling on the bench facing me. “Spread your legs.”
His forehead wrinkles in surprise. “Oh really?”
I give him a smirk. “Yes, really.”
He spreads his legs, and through the water I can already tell he’s getting a hard-on, which is going to make this a lot more difficult for me.
Don’t touch it, under any circumstances.
“We’re going to work on your knee flexion today,” I tell him, putting on my professional voice, which honestly sounds a little weak. I clear my throat and reach down for his knee. “And help those hamstrings.”
I straddle his leg, keeping my hands just below his knee, at the taut muscle of his calf, and gently pull it up, keeping my focus on his knee.
Not on his erection.
Not on his eyes, which I know are boring into me.
“How does that feel? Does it hurt?” I ask him, avoiding his gaze.
“It feels a little tight,” he says after a moment. His breath sounds ragged, like he’s trying to control himself, which, in turn, makes me feel like I’m losing control.
I let his calf fall back down and then raise it up again. “I think we’re getting to about eighty, almost ninety degrees flexion now. That’s much better than before.”
“Really?”
I steal a glance at him and wish I hadn’t. His eyes stare at me so intently, filled with hope and something carnal. The weight of his gaze is intoxicating.
“Yeah,” I say, my voice quiet. “You just needed a little neuromuscular re-education. Keep at it and you’re going to be back in no time.”
“Then I won’t have you like this,” he says.
“I’ll still be your therapist,” I assure him.
“But not like this.” He frowns, his expression faltering. “Right now, you’re mine. I want you to stay mine.”
Oh Jesus.
It feels like the rug is being pulled out from under me. The sincerity in his eyes, in his voice, unravels me, a thread being pulled, seams becoming undone.
What happens when there’s no more thread left?
Who am I underneath it all, when he’s left me bare and exposed?
I suck on my bottom lip, worrying it between my teeth.
Try to focus on his knee.
“Don’t do that,” he whispers hoarsely.
“What?” I pause, looking at him, thinking I hurt his hamstring.
“With your lip,” he says, his stare going from my eyes back down to my mouth. “I know what those lips feel like against my lips. I know what your mouth tastes like. Sweet. Soft.”
“Soft isn’t a taste,” I manage to say. My voice is trembling. My whole body is on the verge of something, skirting around an edge that would be far too easy to tumble over.
One misstep and everything changes.
“Maybe not in English,” he says. “To me, it is a taste. You taste how you feel.”
He leans forward, ever so slightly, to place his hands at the small of my waist. In the weightlessness of the water he picks me up, and places me on his lap, right up against his cock which has somehow gotten loose of his Speedo.
Oh. My. God.
Get off him. Stop this. Push him away.
I don’t do any of that. I am completely frozen in place as his palms slide up my sides. “You’re in the water. It is not the same as having you in my bed.” He slides his hands back down before bringing one hand around, across my belly.
I try to inhale, to suck in my stomach, but I’m absolutely breathless.
I know what’s happening, and I’m powerless to stop it.
I stare into his eyes and he stares into mine, the air heavy and thick, the energy between us crackling with electricity. He continues to stare at me as he slips the back of his hand underneath the front of my bikini bottoms.