Page 36 of Knot Going Down (OlympicVerse #3)

EMILY

I ’m kissing Ava. I’m kissing a girl. A woman . This is all so new.

Ava’s lips are soft, so much softer than Declan’s. She tastes like lip balm and confidence and things I didn’t know I was craving. She lingers. I lift up on my toes to get closer, and Ava sways. We’re far from the edge, but it still feels like I’m falling. My stomach swoops.

Her tongue brushes mine, and I hold on tighter. Her fingers trail along the back of my neck, and I fist the fabric at her hips. Our bodies fit together like pieces of the same puzzle, and when her thigh presses between mine, heat licks up my spine like a spark catching.

Someone clears their throat. “Um… can we…?”

I blink and glance around Ava. Two men in dripping swimsuits stare up at us.

“We kinda wanted to use the diving board,” one of them says.

“Oh!” Heat floods my face as reality clicks back in. It suddenly dawns on me how inappropriate this is, the two of us making out at the top of the diving platform in a public space. Sure, it was just a kiss, but I was so lost to it I completely forgot where we were.

Ava’s as calm and collected as ever. She doesn’t flinch. Her expression settles into her signature unimpressed bitch face, but I can see through it now.

“You’ll have to wait your turn,” Ava says, deadpan.

I look at her wide-eyed. “We can’t dive in these.” I motion to our gowns.

“Why not?” she counters, leaning in so her breath brushes my ear, sending hot tingles along the back of my neck. “Going to dinner might not be the best idea for me right now, anyway.”

Her scent hits me, heady and warm and wild. It pours over me like creamy berry decadence, and I sway toward her before I can stop myself.

“Jump with me,” Ava whispers. Her eyes are wide and pleading, and something inside me flips.

“The sign says only one person at a time,” one of the men says, sarcasm sharp.

Ava’s glare shuts him right up.

She holds out her hand to me. My heart hammers. My palm slides into hers, and it feels like yes.

We run. We leap.

For a suspended breathless second, we’re airborne—dresses flaring, hair whipping, smiling like we’ve gotten away with something we were never supposed to want.

We plunge into the water with a splash that breaks me open.

Knowing we’ve already tested the men’s patience, we quickly swim to the shallow end.

But once we reach it, we don’t climb out right away.

Ava floats beside me, her hair slicked back, waterproof mascara perfectly in place, a grin tugging wide across her face.

Radiant. It’s the most unguarded I’ve ever seen her.

God, she’s beautiful.

But then the weight of what happened settles over me, cool and heavy. Like that dense moment right after you dive, when you haven’t surfaced yet and the water presses around you like a second skin.

I kissed Ava.

I kissed an unbonded omega.

While I’m maybe, kinda, definitely seeing an unbonded alpha. One Ava avoids like he’s toxic waste. Is that only because of her secret designation? Or is it something more?

And Declan. What’s he going to say? What am I going to say?

I climb out of the pool with too much urgency, my dress clinging, skin prickling from the sudden cool. I don't know what I’m doing. Everything is tangled. Ava. Declan. Lucas. Knox. My own reaction. I need to get my head on straight. We need to talk. I need to think.

“Wait,” Ava calls, right behind me. “What just happened?”

I shiver. We don’t have towels, and the night breeze raises goosebumps on my arms. My soaked dress clings in all the wrong places and the drenched silk snags on my sparkly heels. I feel like a mess.

“Hey,” Ava catches my wrist. “What’s going on?”

I shake her off, gently. “Nothing. I just… We need to…”

Should we go back to the room? Change? Talk? Avoid each other? Talk to Declan? Get those damn suppressants?

My breath starts to hitch before I realize I’m panicking.

Ava kisses me. Quick. Firm. Not asking.

It steals the air from my lungs but somehow resets everything. I gasp when she pulls back.

“There you are,” she whispers, brushing water from my cheek and drawing me in with her soft smile.

There’s something steady in her eyes that helps me breathe again. But then, she steps away, and I don’t know how I feel about that. I feel too many things about that.

“I’m sorry,” she says “I shouldn’t have kissed you again.”

The loss of her warmth registers like a cold front. “It’s okay.”

But I don’t know if it is.