Chapter 7 #3
She took a fortifying breath, as she watched him ease himself into the pool. As the muscles in his biceps flexed from the movement she allowed herself to ogle a little. He really was gorgeous; she let the distraction wash over her.
‘Come on, trust me. I’ve got you.’
And because she knew he did have her, she stepped onto the slide and slipped down the short shiny shoot into the warm water below.
As her bottom hit the surface of the water, and she started to go under, a scream readied itself in her throat. But Owen’s strong arms gripped her at the waist and her head didn’t go under. She gasped out a laugh.
‘Oh my God,’ she breathed out, adrenaline coursing through her as the water steadied itself against her body.
He leant in so he could whisper, ‘I really wish you were saying that, in that breathless voice, for another reason.’
And before she could formulate an appropriate response, he had spun her around and was pushing her towards the steps that led out of the water.
‘Again,’ he commanded.
Holly swallowed, hard. But she did as she was told.
She did it five more times in fact. And each time Owen caught her, and whispered another suggestive remark in her ear.
She wasn’t sure if she kept returning to the slide because she liked him catching her, or if she enjoyed the private whispers - it was too close a call to decide.
‘This time, I’m going to move further away. Which means I won’t catch you straight away. You’ll have a few seconds by yourself in the water. Happy with that?’
Holly managed a nod. At this point in the lesson her voice was evading her.
When she entered the water for the seventh time, her mind and body were ready.
Holding her breath with one large gulp, her head was submerged for a second or two before she pushed up to the surface - by herself.
The achievement was momentous. It was as close to swimming as she’d ever been able to do in the last twenty four years.
Owen’s arms were around her waist seconds later, pulling her tight to his chest.
‘You’re amazing, Hols. You did it!’
As the adrenaline swelled through her, she reacted on impulse. She kissed him. It was all her at first, until Owen came to his senses. His grip around her waist tightened as he met the strokes of her lips. His hands dragged her in closer until their hips touched in the sway of the water.
The heckle of a child across the pool snapped her out of their embrace, ‘Eugh, Mummy. They’re kissing!’
Owen chuckled as he took in Holly’s beetroot face.
‘Oh God, I’m so embarrassed,’ she groaned as she covered her flaming face with both hands.
‘Nothing to be embarrassed about, Hols. I’ve been waiting to do that for weeks,’ he went to pull her in close again, trying to erase the distance she’d created between them as a result of the child’s heckling.
As much as she wanted to kiss him again, her conversation with Seb that morning gatecrashed any further romantic thoughts.
She desperately wanted to ignore the niggling voice that was warning her to protect herself and just give in to the flutters she could feel each time Owen touched her, or whispered in her ear.
But try as she might to ignore it, the niggling voice won out.
‘Owen, wait. Seb said something to me this morning,’ she blurted out, and at his pause she carried on, ‘he said something about you not wanting to put down roots here?’ The inflection at the end turned her statement into a question.
‘Not sure I used those words exactly, Hols, but I told you I was only going to be here until August. I’ve got plans to open a swim school in Capri.’
‘Erm… pretty sure I’d remember you talking about Capri, Owen.’ Holly bristled at the insinuation she’d forgotten something as important as that.
‘It was during our first lesson. We talked about holidays, and I said how much I loved Capri, and wanted to work there - remember?’
Her first lesson was, to be honest, a complete blur to Holly. So no, she couldn’t remember.
‘But you wanted us to date?’
Owen chuckled again, ‘We can still date, Hols. It’ll be fun, trust me. And I won’t be in Capri forever. I’ll be back in the Bay more regularly than over the last seventeen years.’
Being back more regularly than only coming here once in seventeen years, was not going to be hard to beat.
But Holly knew dating him would be fun, Owen would most definitely be fun.
But she didn’t think she could bounce back so quickly from the kind of fun he was offering when he’d be leaving in a couple of months, and she wouldn’t know for certain when he’d be back.
Owen pulled her from her thoughts with a gentle tug back into his chest, ‘Come on, have some fun with me, Hols.’
As she sank back into his arms, her rational arguments dissipated with the onslaught of the nearness of his bare chest. In the back of her mind, she wondered whether, maybe, this once, she could cope with some time restricted fun.
She hadn’t felt this way about someone since she’d been stupid enough to think there was anything between her and Seb.
Maybe, this time, she wouldn’t get her heart broken?