Chapter 27
Nevan
Green water rose and fell in a gentle motion that would be lulling if I wasn’t so sure it was a death trap. I frowned at it while Enid stood next to me.
She’d brought me outside the border of Fairwitch, the entire city invisible now that we weren’t within its limits.
Marshy land stretched in both directions as far as the eye could see, a mixture of tall green grass and cattails poking from the land, dotted by wildflowers.
“What are we doing out here again? You’re not bringing me out here to murder me, are you? ”
She raised her chin. “I’m teaching you how to swim.”
“What now?” She’d said she had a surprise for me, and I assumed that surprise had to do with my mouth on her body, which I was very eager to experience after that last time. But swimming? I had zero interest in swimming. “So you are trying to murder me.”
“You need to learn how to swim,” she said firmly.
“Why?” I flashed her a smile. “I have you to save me if I fall in.”
“Don’t count on it,” she mumbled.
“That’s not very comforting.”
“It’s not supposed to be comforting. This is called tough love.” She jabbed a long nail into my chest. “And I’ve got a little motivation for you.”
She stepped back and shrugged her black, long-sleeved dress off.
Holy fuck. The dress slid slowly, tantalizingly down her body, revealing her shoulders, her upper arms, and her collarbone.
And then it slipped over the swell of her breasts, and I’d never wanted my mouth on something so badly as I did her peaked nipples.
I swallowed, unable to tear my gaze away from her. She was absolute perfection. Her smaller waist flared out into wide, curvy hips as the dress sank lower, lower, until it finally fell all the way to the ground.
“Now, this I can get on board with.”
I took a step toward her, and she took a step back. “Ah, ah, ah.” She shot me a mischievous smile before diving into the water and giving me a peek of her round ass, gone before I could even take it in.
She surfaced and splashed me.
“That is just mean.” My cock was already semi-hard, my mouth watering at the thought of getting to kiss her, taste her, again.
“That is kind of my thing,” she said.
I shook my head and stepped to the edge of the grass. “You’re not mean.”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “You might be the only person to think that.”
“No I’m not. I was just at Ceri’s dress shop yesterday, doing a house call for her father, and Ceri was talking about how you helped Harriet with Fiona at the book club. She had nothing but nice things to say about you.”
Enid swallowed, then fully stood, the water only coming up to her waist, and my breath caught in my throat at the sight of her slick, wet body. I imagined how it would feel to run my hands over every inch of her.
“I take it back.” I peeled my shirt off and threw it, then took off my spectacles and set them on the ground. “You are downright evil.”
She grinned wickedly, and I yanked down my trousers, now as naked as her. I was about to step into the water, when she said, “Stop.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Some pre-ritual swimming thing I need to do?”
“No.” Heat flared in her eyes. “I just want to look at you.”
Her gaze traveled from my shoulders to my chest, then trailed down and stopped at my cock. “You’ve already seen this.” I planted my hands on my hips and tipped my pelvis forward—just to give her a good view. “In fact, you got an up-close look pretty recently.”
“It doesn’t mean I can’t look again.” Her voice turned sultry, and in that moment I knew that I’d risk drowning for this woman. I wasn’t sure if that was more pathetic or romantic.
I took a deep breath and stepped in, the cold water shocking me. I gritted my teeth and kept going until the water was waist deep and Enid was only a few paces away, standing there, upper half of her body exposed.
Just one step in front of another. I’d gotten into the water, and now I was going to claim my reward.
I moved toward her, and she moved back.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
She flopped backward into the water, and it splashed up around her as she circled her arms and kicked, swimming farther away.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled.
This was absolutely diabolical.
“If you want me, you’re going to have to catch me,” came her singsong voice.
“We have very different ideas of what constitutes foreplay,” I said.
She laughed, her body gliding through the water like a damn fish. “I’m willing to bet you’re a little turned on by this. Admit it, Wolfgang.”
Dammit. She was fucking right. Except I wasn’t just a little turned on. My cock was rock hard thinking about catching up to her, grabbing her and reeling her in, pressing my body to hers and feeling every inch of her against me.
I took a deep breath and moved forward again. “There’s just one problem.”
She stopped, sinking into the water, deep enough that it now went up to her chin, black hair fanned out around her. “And what’s that?”
“I don’t know how to swim, and you’re not exactly teaching me. I can follow you, but that won’t stop me from sinking straight to the bottom.”
“I’ve got a plan,” she said.
Panic was starting to drown my desire. “Please clue me in before this water gets too deep and I die.”
One step after another.
I moved forward, cautiously feeling for the squishy bottom of the channel. I pushed reeds out of my way, wondering how strong they would be if the ground suddenly dropped out from under me and I needed to grab on to one.
Enid bobbed in the water, once again a short distance from me. “Stop and reach out your arm. There is a wall of mud that you can steady yourself on. A few paces in front of you, there’s a drop-off, and the water gets much, much deeper.”
My pulse spiked. I wasn’t normally a nervous person, but the possibility of death was enough to trigger my anxiety. I felt for the wall and rested my hand on top of it.
She swam toward me and stopped when she was floating in front of me. Holy godwitches. That drop-off was right there. If I’d taken a few more steps, I would’ve sunk like a stone.
“Before you can learn to swim, you have to learn to float.”
“And what’s involved in floating?” I asked.
“Keep one arm on the wall, then I want you to tip your body forward and put your face in the water while you hold your other arm out.” She demonstrated, and I got a nice view of her plump ass before she righted herself again. “Just see how it feels to let the water cushion your body.”
“You know that cushions suffocate people, right?”
She wrinkled her nose. “What kind of cushions do you sleep on?”
“Okay fine, cushions can technically only suffocate you if someone is pushing it down over your face, but now I’m thinking about suffocating in this water.”
“I’m right here.” Enid paused, then said, “Do you trust me?”
Her voice was light and airy, but a vulnerability shone in her dark eyes.
“Of course I do.”
She smiled, and it lit up her entire face.
Now I had to prove how much I trusted her.
Here went nothing. Or everything. I took a deep breath and tipped my body forward into the water just like she showed me, letting my legs float behind me while my face met the water’s surface.
I shut my eyes, body unsteady and wobbly, but I gripped tight to the wall.
My heart rate slowed, and I took a moment to look around. The water was clear enough that I could see schools of fish darting below, see logs and plants and all kinds of life down here. It was like its own world.
Something slimy skimmed against my calf, and I jerked, body tipping off-kilter.
I lost my grip on the wall, unable to catch hold of anything.
I was going to sink. I was going to die.
How long could I hold my breath? I’d never tested it, but I was guessing it wouldn’t be long before I’d pass out and—
Suddenly, Enid’s hands were on my abdomen, righting me and turning me over onto my back. Her hands supported me as I gasped for air.
“That was good,” she said. “You did good.”
I blinked up at the sky above. I was alive.
“Take some deep breaths. Breathing helps you float.”
My heart stopped feeling like it was going to burst, and I inhaled deeply while Enid kept her hands under my back, her touch featherlight.
“Why this?” I asked, trying to distract myself from my fear that something would happen and I’d drown today. “Why did you want me to learn to swim?”
She didn’t answer, and I was too afraid to turn my head to look at her. Last time I moved, I ended up almost drowning.
“Let me guess—you just wanted to get me naked,” I joked.
“No,” she said, her voice serious.
“Ouch.”
She let out a quiet huff. “I mean that wasn’t the main reason I brought you out here. Other than gardening, swimming is one of my favorite things to do. I wanted to be able to do it with you.”
My heart melted into a fucking puddle, and suddenly I was more determined than ever to learn.
“I mean for our charade,” she said quickly. “We have to act like a real couple and real couples do things the other person enjoys. Right?”
“Right,” I said, disappointment filling me.
Of course that was what she meant. Because this was all pretend. Exactly what I’d wanted. Exactly why I’d chosen Enid for this.
I kept floating, my body relaxing more and more in the water as I breathed and took in the puffy white clouds and the blue sky, as I felt the cool brush of the bog against my skin.
“But also,” she said after a while, “I wanted you to do something for yourself. For once.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’re always doing things for other people. Becoming a healer to help your community. Getting into a fake relationship to make your mother happy. Doing house calls to make your brother happy. You deserve to just exist sometimes, Nevan.”
Her words hit me so hard I almost lost my balance again.
I’d never even thought of it like that. Normally when I tried to relax and do something “fun,” I got antsy.
I felt guilty for not being productive, for not checking in with someone and asking what they needed, so I usually ended up just working more.
I tried to think of the last time I’d enjoyed anything outside of making potions, and the only thing that came to mind was that day in the garden with Enid. The day I’d told Cillian that I wouldn’t be returning to work so I could go after her.
“I guess sometimes I forget that there’s a whole life out here I could be living. It’s easy to do that when you’re trapped in an invisible city and can’t leave.” I paused, still floating on my back. “Thank you for this. So am I ready to swim?”
“Godwitches, no,” she said. “This is just day one of lessons.”
“How many lessons will I be taking?”
“As many as you need.”
“Who taught you to swim?”
There was a heavy silence. “I taught myself.”
My heart squeezed as I imagined little Enid all alone. No one to teach her or be there for her.
“I’m so sorry you’ve been made to feel so lonely over the years. I’m sorry you had a terrible mother. And I’m sorry you ever felt like you weren’t enough.”
She sniffled, and I looked up, losing my balance and tipping again. That was when I realized Enid’s hands were no longer under my back. I wasn’t sure when she’d let go, but she quickly grabbed me and pulled me onto the ledge, my feet finding solid ground again.
“I think that’s enough for today,” she said.
Any sadness I thought I’d heard in her voice had disappeared as she gave me a wicked smile. “Now you get your reward.” She pushed me toward the wall until my back was pressed against it.
“I do like rewards,” I said as she leaned forward to kiss me, heavy breasts pushing into my chest.
My cock hardened at the feel of her slick body against mine. I grabbed her hips and whirled her around so that I was the one pinning her to the wall, my arms caging her.
All thoughts of swimming fled as my hands explored the contours of her body.
I loved the divot between her waist and hips. I ran my hands up and down it, then stretched them around her back to cup her ass. I lifted her against me, and my cock slid between her folds. She threw back her head and let out a gasp while I leaned forward to press a kiss to her neck.
She started grinding up and down, and holy fuck that felt amazing. I kept a tight hold on her while she rubbed herself on my cock.
“I will practice swimming every day,” I rasped. “If you just keep doing this right now. Don’t fucking stop.”
Her breathing grew heavy, her head thrown back, eyes fluttering closed. I loved watching her lose control. Enid was always so guarded, walls up, but in this moment, she was completely bare, and it was stunning.
She gripped my arms tight, nails digging into my biceps. “I love feeling your muscles,” she said. “The way they contract while you’re holding me.”
“Oh, fuck, Enid.”
I wanted this to last longer, but after that admission, it wasn’t going to happen. My orgasm was already building.
She quickened her pace and tipped her head forward so our mouths could clumsily crash together. The head of my cock pressed right against her entrance, stretching it just slightly but not entering. The day I experienced my cock buried inside Enid was a day I wasn’t sure I’d survive.
It already felt like this was too much. Too much sensation. Too much pleasure.
She moaned again, a guttural sound that heated my blood.
“I’m going to come,” I said. “Fuck, it’s too soon, but—”
“Me too.”
That was all it took. I jerked as my orgasm hit me, and her breathing intensified as she cried out, her entire body convulsing while I held her tight and she clung to me.
She let out a final breathy moan and her head thunked against my shoulder, her body going slack against mine.
“All right,” I finally said once I’d regained my breath. “That was worth almost drowning.”