Page 11

He squeaked and almost fell over as he turned away to shield the erection which was painfully obvious in his wet, clinging drawers. He hauled his breeches up over his arse and fumbled at the fastening with an impatient huff. “Nothing to apologise for!”

“Actually, I think there is. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable and have you see anything you didn’t sign up for.”

He straightened and began to button his shirt. “Oh, I signed up for whatever, Erik.” He shot me a cheeky grin. “Don’t you worry about me.” He yanked on first one boot, then the other. “Same time again next week?”

“If you’re still happy to do it?” I didn’t need his assistance the way I had when we began, but if I was honest, I preferred to have him with me, his presence acting as a buffer between me and Sayan’s enthusiasm.

“More than happy,” he said, bouncing up to his feet. He grabbed his coat and pulled it over his broad shoulders, leaving it unbuttoned.

“I’ll see you the same time next week, then, unless we meet in town before that.”

He beamed and hurried off.

I bent down and swept up one of the towels to dry my face. Something tickled the arches of my bare feet and whispered over my toes. I didn’t have to look down to know what it was. I was already smiling when I turned to face the lake.

Sayan had slipped beneath the water again, but he’d sent a shallow sheet of it up the gentle slope of the beach to tease me.

I stared out at the small waves, using the towel now to dry my chest.

The lake whispered up to meet me again, lapping around my ankles. A faint tugging sensation pulled at me. I waited for it.

The water level rose to curl around my knees. The tug was more noticeable now, as if someone had wrapped strong hands around my calves and was drawing me towards the lake.

I squeezed out my shoulder-length hair.

Sayan rose dramatically to his full height ten yards away and locked eyes with me. His face was tight with impatience and he held out a demanding hand.

I tossed the towel behind me and waded for him.

The water took me at once. I didn’t fight it. I let it sweep my legs out from under me, let it cast me up against Sayan’s hot body.

Ral had been right. It had never been swimming itself that I needed to learn. It was how to let myself be pushed around in the water by an insatiable and amorous naiad.

Sayan had always been a challenging lover. From the very first, he had pushed. He adjusted his behaviour as soon as I pushed back—he would never trespass where he wasn’t wanted—but his hunger for me seemed without end.

He scooped me up as soon as I reached him, winding an arm around my waist and whisking us hundreds of yards out from the shore.

He unwound his arm and sculled backwards, leaving me to tread water and watching me carefully.

I did it without fuss or panic. Had he done such a thing a few sessions ago, I’d have been splashing about and clinging to him, insisting that he take me back to solid ground at once.

Now, I didn’t feel the need to. Yes, I had learned how to float, and could thrash myself in one ungainly direction or the other, but that wasn’t the source of my confidence.

Sayan was. My faith in him had overridden my most basic survival instincts in the same way his trust in me had led him into my home, and my bed.

Sayan continued to watch me, his eyes bright as the sun hit them, shrinking the pupils and turning the beautiful green of his irises translucent.

His cheeks glowed pink and his long dark lashes were spiked with water. He slowly dipped lower, hiding his smile below the waves.

I splashed closer.

He sculled away, keeping out of my reach.

I flipped a cupped handful of water at him and he lunged at me, dragged me briefly beneath the surface with him, and boosted me back up. I laughed even as my heart pounded.

Scraping my wet hair away from my face, I looked all around but saw no sign of him.

Something brushed against the backs of my thighs then slid up to my arse for a quick squeeze of both cheeks before falling away.

Taking a deep breath, I dropped beneath the surface and opened my eyes.

Sayan was suspended in the water beneath me. His lean body was all shadow and light. His long green hair drifted around him in an ever-moving nimbus. His wondering gaze was fixed on my face.

I didn’t want to look away, but the need for air soon made my chest tighten. I quickly popped back up and took a few deep breaths. I spread my arms and legs and let the water take me—as Sayan and Ral had instructed many, many times—relaxing into a facedown float.

I opened my eyes again.

Sayan turned in the water to mirror my pose, and he rose up towards me until our bodies touched. He was warm against my lake-chilled skin. His hair tangled around me like waterweed and his hands went to my face to hold me as he pressed his lips to mine.

Oh. It was beautiful, it was magical, it was?—

I thoughtlessly took in a breath through my nose, and then it was nothing but hacking and coughing as I flailed around, trying to get the stinging shock of cold water out of my passages.

I was still thrashing and coughing when I suddenly felt the familiar (blessed) firmness of the pebbled shore at my back. Sayan was leaning over me, his long hair falling to my chest and to the ground either side of us as he watched me with a mix of anxiety and amusement.

Feeling like a complete fool, I went on the offensive. I grabbed him, rolled him beneath me, and kissed him.

He went gracefully, even though we both knew I couldn’t move him if he didn’t want to be moved. Even if I took him by surprise.

I kissed him until my nose began to aggressively run, at which point I gave up, rolled off, and flopped beside him to stare up at the sky.

“Are you all right?” Sayan said, turning onto his side and setting a hand on my chest, stroking soothingly. From the tone of his voice, the amusement now outweighed the anxiety.

“I’m fine. I just forgot about the need to breathe when kissing.”

“Mm.”

His fingers lightly grazed my mouth and I lay there as he stroked gently, teasingly.

I sneezed.

Sayan stilled, then laughed.

“Ugh.” I pushed myself up to sitting and scrubbed my eyes. I couldn’t possibly have snorted that much water up my nose, but it felt as if I was leaking. “I think it’s time to go home.”

He was already handing me a towel and helping me up.

I went straight to the pump as soon as we reached the cabin.

I’d had some workmen come in autumn last year and build a small courtyard of flagstones set on gravel, as it seemed likely that the pump would get a fair bit of use. Not necessarily from me—I’d found Sayan out here more than once, working the handle and watching the water gush out.

He’d been transfixed.

He could lift the water straight out of the ground if he wanted, and yet for some unfathomable reason, the clanking handle seemed to fascinate him.

Since the area was a little suntrap and also a favourite place of his to sit, I had plans to add some potted cypress and olive trees to make him an ornamental grove, if I could find any hardy enough to survive this climate.

But that was for later.

I had other plans on my mind right now, and I stripped quickly out of my clothes.

“I do not know why you bothered putting them on,” Sayan said.

“Yes, you do. I don’t want to be caught running around the countryside naked.”

Sayan crowded behind me. “Humans are so foolish,” he said, sliding his hands around my waist and pressing himself against me. He squeezed until I gasped and slapped at his arms with a short laugh.

“Are you including me in that general insult?” I asked.

“Yes.” He curled over me and pulsed his hips into my arse at a languorous pace. “Must you wash?”

“I must.”

“ Foolish .” He groaned and humped against me, nudging my head to the side and opening his mouth over my neck to hungrily suck.

“I’ll be quicker if you let me get on with it,” I said, attempting to unwind the strong arm that had slipped lower to brace my hips for his gentle fucking motion.

“Hmm,” was all he said.

“Sayan.” I put an edge of firmness into my voice.

He tensed, then let me go and vanished.

I didn’t hear the door open or shut, but that didn’t mean anything. He was silent when he wanted to be. It was even odds that he’d whisked off into the trees or slipped inside. I’d find out soon enough.

I took the small piece of soap from the pot I now kept out here for any post-lesson washes, and lathered it quickly. I wasn’t inclined to linger; the pump drew water from deep underground and it was wickedly cold. I soaped myself swiftly, rinsed off, and made my way into the cabin.

I carried my armful of clothes to the bedchamber and set them in the hamper that I would empty and take into town to be laundered later this week. I was happy to cook and clean for myself, but laundry was beyond me.

Endless buckets of water to heat, endless scrubbing, and soaking, and rinsing. After all that, I had to wring it out before I hung it, where it would steam up the kitchen? No, thank you.

I’d tried only twice before I decided that it was best to leave it to the professionals.

The front door opened and shut quietly. I turned to see Sayan standing in the bedchamber doorway. His hungry gaze raked my body from head to toe.

Feeling unusually playful I returned his gaze with a bold one of my own, and cocked a hip.

He tilted his head.

“Go and sit on the bed,” I said.

He hesitated, then stalked past me and sat on the edge of the mattress.

“Get comfortable,” I said, because he’d perched there expectantly, resting his hands on his knees.

He flung himself backwards and writhed about until he was comfortably settled against the headboard.

There were more efficient ways to do it, but he loved feeling the fabric sliding over his skin, and tended to make a meal of things.

I walked to the bottom of the bed and set a knee on the mattress.

He immediately sat up and reached for me.

I stopped him with a shake of my head.