Left Drowning

“I missed you,” he says. “I don’t know how to tell you how much.”

It’s not just what he says, but the way he looks. I take his hand and walk him to the shower. He steps in behind me and shuts the door. Immediately, his hands touch the top of mine, and the back of his fingers glide up my arms, making me shiver.

“Still cold?” he whispers.

I turn around and shake my head. We lift his sweatshirt over his head so that he is in his swimsuit, too. I put my hand on his chest and push him to the bench that runs against one side of the shower. “Sit,” I tell him.

The music and laughter from the others fill the air, and we both smile when Sabin yells, “What do you mean we’re out of graham crackers? How are we supposed to make s’mores?”

I turn on the faucet and stand under the hot water while Chris watches me. Moving slowly, I take my time, wanting him to be sure. There is no way we can take this step and not have it mean something. Plus, I don’t mind teasing him because fair is fair. I’ve spent the past month enduring his ru

“Good.” I wash my hair, arching my back and lifting my ass in his direction. When I inch a soapy hand under the top of my suit, he practically growls.

Chris reaches for me. “Come here, beautiful. I can’t keep my hands off you any longer.” I allow him to pull me in, and I straddle him, sitting up so that I can look at the person who I have ached over for all these months. Getting to feel his body underneath me again is electrifying. I run my fingers through his hair, and he does the same as I let my head fall back. He caresses my back and arms, moving to my waist, up the front of my suit and over my breasts. I move my hips slightly against him, feeling him get hard, while my fingers graze over his chest. For a while, we do nothing but touch each other like this, gently and slowly, starting to explore each other again.

“Chris?”

“Yeah, baby?” He places a finger on my face and traces it over my jaw, down my neck, distracting me from what I want to ask.

“You really haven’t … since us? With anyone else? With her?”

He smiles softly. “No.”

“Why? From what I’ve heard, you used to”—I smile flirtatiously—“get around enough.” I touch my fingers teasingly to his lips, and he sucks on them. The shock that tears through me at the feel of his mouth makes me inhale sharply. “You seem to like sex enough.”

“I certainly do like sex enough. And … yeah, I guess that I used to be more like Sabin, but I was glad to have an excuse not to.” He brings his mouth close to mine. “Because after you? After you it was different.”

“So,” I whisper, “it’s been a long time.”

“You’re really going to drive this point home, aren’t you?” He tickles my waist and I squirm.

“Yes. I like that you haven’t been with anyone else. I think it’s weird, and I’m massively surprised, but I like it.” He doesn’t say anything, so I answer his unasked question. “I haven’t either.”

Chris pulls me in. “Oh God, I was hoping you’d say that. I’ve missed the hell out of you. The thought of you with someone else … It’s been excruciating. I know that’s not fair because of … well, for so many reasons. But to think someone else might have his hands on you, touching you, turning you on. Fuck, it drove me crazy.”

And then he kisses me. I hadn’t forgotten how it feels to kiss him, but I am still thrown into a whirlwind of lust and love when his tongue enters my mouth. Within seconds I am grinding against him. The kissing—God, the kissing alone—could make me come.

We don’t stop for air until the change in music reminds me that we are really not alone here.

“We should stop.” I close my eyes as his hand slips under my bathing suit and covers my breast. “Chris, everyone is here.” But now I’m starting to grind into him.

“I know that.” Chris moves his hand between my legs, and I clamp down on his shoulders, already desperate. “But you don’t think you’re getting out of this shower until I make you come, do you?”

I groan as he gets under my suit and presses his thumb against me. With the way he works his touch so perfectly in response to my body, it’s no wonder I could never want anyone but him giving me this. The pressure he uses is precise, and in only seconds I am intensely heated. It has been way too long since I’ve had this kind of physical release, and I know I don’t have the ability or the desire to delay this. My orgasm swells fast, overwhelmingly fast, and I start to pant in his ear as I rock against his hand, his hard cock underneath me enhancing my longing for him.

“Shhhh. Quiet, love,” he reminds me, and I do what I can to control my noise. Chris moves continually against my clit, and when he feels my body at its height, his own breathing changes. “That’s what I want. Yes, come for me, Blythe,” he whispers. “Fuck, yeah. Come …”

The wave of pleasure crashes into me, and I can’t win against the sound that erupts from deep within me. Chris covers my mouth with his and drinks in the near scream that I release. The way he cradles me while I come is incomparable. He’s sweet and protective. I can still entrust my body to him. Whether the same goes for my heart is a question that will have to be answered with time.

Before I’ve started to recover, I am already breathlessly asking him what I’m scared to. “What are we doing? What are you doing?”

“Loving you,” he says simply. “If you’ll let me.”

“Always. God, always.”

He lifts me up and walks us through the water spray until my back is flat against the wall. I can’t pull together any coherent thoughts. All I can do is try and take in what is happening between us. His tongue and lips race hungrily over my skin while his fingers start to slip off the straps of my suit. Just as I cover his cock with my hand, Sabin’s booming voice yells out, “Where in the goddamn hell are Blythe and Chris?”

Chris drops his head to my shoulder and laughs, and I cringe at the sound of heels clicking against the walkway. Estelle wears her heels even on the rough terrain around here. She bangs on the door and yells, “They’re fucking in the shower! Thank you, Lord!” Then her heels continue down the walkway while a collective round of applause echoes into the now-dark sky.

“Congratulations! But hurry it up, kids! Di

“Leave them alone!” Zach shouts crankily. “At least somebody’s fucking.”

Chris lifts up. “We’re not fucking!” he hollers. Then he looks at me and winks before he adds loudly, “Not yet!”

“Well, I’ve been getting laid! I’ve been getting laid!” Estelle a

I rest my head against the wall. “Oh no. Oh no.”

Chris laughs. “It’s not that bad. I think they could be good together.”

“Your sister and my brother? That is … creepy and gross.”

“It’s harmless. A summer fling.”

“Is that what—”

“No,” he stops me quickly. “That’s not what this is.”

I relax a bit as he rubs my shoulders. “We should probably, you know, dry off.”

“Yes. For now. Besides, I don’t want this first time to be as rushed as our last first time.” He kisses me softly. “We’re going to have slow, meticulous, exhaustive, fantastic lovemaking.”

I smile. “And hot and dirty?”