30. Dove #4
Embarrassment and desire collided head-on like two freight trains as I realized how wet my underwear must be, how obvious my arousal for him was, enough to leave a visible wet mark on the fabric he held to his face.
When his eyes met mine there was a something primal raging within them that threatened to consume me in the best ways.
Every iota within me screamed at me to grip his hair and pull him forward, to let him bury himself in the real thing, and not some flimsy piece of lace.
I surged toward him like a feral thing, only one thing on my mind, completely unaware of my surroundings, of where we were, of how close Josh was to the edge of the dock.
“Wa—"
Whatever he was about to say was muffled by my mouth on his, the frenzy in my mind calming the minute our lips touched, the slide of his skin against mine like a soothing balm to a nasty burn.
But in my haste to touch him, I propelled forward with too much force, my momentum causing Josh to take a step back as he caught me in his arms. In the process he lost his footing, making an alarmed noise against my mouth as we pitched backwards and tipped over the edge, toppling ungracefully into the water with a giant splash.
The water instantly doused my fiery thoughts.
Kicking my legs, I resurfaced with a gasp, flipping my soaked hair out of my face, swiping at the water running into my eyes.
Thank God I’d opted to use waterproof mascara.
Another one of Rev’s ideas. I should have known something was up with all her “suggestions”.
I scanned the rippling water for Josh. He popped up beside me a moment later, shooting water he’d collected in his mouth at me.
“Josh,” I shrieked with laughter, shielding my face.
“Gross!” I skipped my hand across the lake’s surface in retaliation, sending an arc of water his way.
He dodged out of its spray, but I was determined now, my competitive side kicking in.
I swam closer, propelling water with both hands now as a giddy rush filled my chest. I couldn’t remember the last time I had that feeling; like I was just a girl with no worries, instead of a woman forced to grow up way too quick, bogged down with too many responsibilities.
“You had your tongue in my mouth two seconds ago,” he teasingly reminded me, a water droplet snaking from his hairline down the side of his face as he floated away from me unhurriedly.
My eyes followed its descent to his neck.
“Quite enthusiastically, might I add.” A deeply satisfied look spread across his handsome face.
Heat bloomed to life along my cheeks, but I wasn’t sure if it was from his words or the fact that all I wanted to do was lick the beads of water off his skin, to taste the sweet mix of lake water and Josh.
“Yet a little bit of spit and water is gross?” He arched an eyebrow questioningly.
I couldn’t argue because he had a point.
Plus, I was finding myself too distracted to chastise Josh for his childish antics.
All I could do was smile, mostly because I couldn’t stop smiling.
My cheek muscles would be sore by the end of the night at this rate.
I couldn’t help it, though. You know those moments when you get lost in a daydream, knowing that’s all it’ll ever be, but somewhere in the back of your mind you always keep hope that maybe one day it might come true?
This was that one day for me . Everything about this moment was plucked from my deepest, most yearned for imaginations.
Things I’d literally gone to bed wishing for coming true.
His smile only fueled the warmth in my chest, spreading until it wrapped around my heart and squeezed.
There was a part of me that experienced guilt, too, because I couldn’t help but wonder.
.. would Josh and I have reconciled if our parents hadn’t been in that accident?
I was almost ashamed that something so amazing had come from something so tragic.
It seemed wrong. I’d never tell Josh that, though.
Instead, I kept those thoughts locked up tight until late at night, when I was in the sanctuary of his arms with the darkness wrapped around us like a comforting blanket.
I kept the smile plastered on my face, even as my chest constricted with a flood of grief.
It came and went in waves lately, instead of the ever-present numbing throb it’d been those first few weeks.
Josh was none the wiser as he sent another small strike of water my way.
It barely hit me, and I’d been much more forceful with my splashes to him, but he still hooted victoriously.
Seeing him so happy helped push my melancholy away. It didn’t belong here in this moment.
In the blink of an eye, he disappeared beneath the water.
I spun around, readying myself for a sneak attack.
Seconds ticked by and I began to worry, wondering how long Josh could hold his breath when I let out a startled squeal as his fingers ran across the bottom of my foot.
He reemerged in front of me, grinning wildly, shaking water from his hair as his hands reached for me, snaking around my waist to pull me closer.
My own skimmed over his shoulders to wrap around his neck.
I shivered as our bodies slid together beneath the water, our legs knocking together leisurely as we kicked to keep afloat.
Everything melted away as our gazes met; the breeze rustling the leaves settled, and the wildlife waking in the woods hushed.
There was nothing but the small cluster of honey flecks embedded in his irises, reminding me nothing mattered except this man pressed against me.
Deep in the earthy shade of his eyes, I found the answer to my hesitation and realized that if the town found out about us, I’d deal with it.
If I had to leave everything behind to keep Josh, I’d do it in a heartbeat, because he was my home.
He always had been and always would be. I may have had a roof over my head while he was gone, but I was homeless without him.
I couldn’t do it again. Suspended in that moment I took a silent vow that if he ever left again, I’d follow him.
We floated quietly as the starry night unraveled like a blanket across the sky, tucking the sun to bed.
“Now what?” I whispered.
“I don’t know,” he admitted just as quietly.
“I just wanted to do something we never got to do together before.” His hands adjusted on my waist, slipping around to rest on the small of my back, hugging me tighter to his chest. My breasts were nestled between us, and my nipples tingled as they hardened inside my bra.
I longed for them to be pressed against his strong, naked chest instead of soaked, water-logged cotton.
Boldness took over me as I suggested, “I know something else we haven’t done together before.”
The look brewing in his eyes was charged , like the air before a lightning storm, sparking arousal to crackle across my skin.
This attraction… I’d never felt anything like it before.
Like my desire might take control if I didn’t do something about it.
My pussy throbbed with the deep-seated need for Josh to fill it, despite the fact I’d never done that before.
He brought his head closer until his lips were a hair from mine and asked meaningfully, “And what might that be?”
Words failed me, and so I showed him instead by wrapping my legs around his waist underwater, rolling the lower half of my naked body against his.
I was thankful for the water surrounding us, otherwise it’d be easy for Josh to tell how wet I was for him, embarrassingly so.
I tightened my legs as his abdomen brushed my swollen clit, sensitive from the endless torture of going untouched, and gasped as a zing of pleasure ran through me. Good, but not nearly enough.
Josh’s eyes slammed shut as he released a guttural groan, his hands cupping under my backside to urge me into a steady rock against him, causing the water to slosh around us with our movements.
“Show me how you want me to fuck you, little dove,” Josh coaxed in a raspy voice, low and lethal. His fingers tightened against my ass, digging in. “Do you want it fast and hard?”
I nodded my head, agreeing despite not knowing what I wanted other than him. Although this would be my first time, I wasn’t as nervous as I probably should have been. I trusted Josh implicitly. I knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt me.
One of his hands left the water to curl under the strap of my bra, sliding it off my shoulder.
In its place he pressed kisses there, sucking drops of water from my skin.
A moan slipped free as each touch stoked the pleasure flaring within me higher and higher.
I burned for him, despite the cool water we swam in.
“Or do you want it slow,” he mused in a seductive purr, his lips mouthing across my shoulder toward my collarbone. “ So agonizingly slow that by the end I’ll have you begging for me to let you finish.”
That sounded like beautiful torture.
“ Please , Josh,” I nearly sobbed, my nails digging into the skin of his back as I rocked, seeking out something to end the ceaseless ache between my legs.
“I know, baby, I know,” he placated in between kisses up the side of my neck. “I’ll get you there. I promise.”
I wanted to be there now , to feel that euphoric sweet release.
The one that had been stolen from me earlier.
The water rippled around us as I wrapped myself around him like an octopus, grinding against his stomach.
It was less of an ache now and more of a twinging throb , a painful longing that grew each minute he decided to tease me.
I could feel the evidence of how hard he was along the underside of my ass, slipping against my skin as his legs worked to keep us afloat. I wanted it inside me. Right Now.
“Josh.” His name slipped out in a breathy plea. “Skinny dipping was fun but please, please ,” I begged, “I can’t take anymore. I need?—”
“I know what you need, sweetheart,” he soothed, cutting off my pleading. He nipped at the underside of my jaw, and I whimpered as the bite of pain morphed into delicious, agonizing pleasure. “Keep holding on to me.”
When his arms loosened around me, I followed his order, holding on tight as I buried my face in his neck. I closed my eyes, loving the feel of his cool, damp skin against my own flushed skin, knowing I didn’t need to worry because he’d take care of me.
The water parted around us as he propelled us toward the dock, and my stomach flipped with excitement and just a hint of nerves.
As much as I trusted Josh and longed for this moment, it was still something new and intimate I’d never done with anyone before.
I’d waited, making excuses, telling whoever I was with I wasn’t ready, when in reality, I was. More than, actually.
I tried to lie to myself, but there was no hiding from the truth that dwelled inside me.
Even though I tried to convince myself of my own lies, deep down I knew why I held off.
Despite there being no reason to believe anything would ever happen between us, this part of me had always belonged to Josh.
Every time I got that far with someone a sense of wrongness overcame me.
It just hadn’t felt right handing something this special to someone, not when it didn’t mean as much to them as I knew it would mean to Josh.
Or how I’d imagined it would mean to him, in my wildest dreams.
Now that those wildest dreams were coming true… I couldn’t help but be a tad nervous. Not so much for the act itself, but hoping I somehow lived up to his expectations, and the women I knew he’d had before me.
He lifted me out of the water to sit me on the dock, heaving himself up a second later beside me, looking like an absolute Adonis in the moonlight, dripping wet from every beautiful, naked inch of him.
I took the hand he offered to help me up, but before I could process it his hands were sliding down my hips to wrap just under my thighs, lifting me back up in a mirror of the position we’d just been in in the water, my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. Only this time I panicked.
“Josh, no!” I protested as he adjusted his grip, urging my legs to tighten around his hips. “I’m way too heavy!”
His chest against mine vibrated with an amused chuckle. “What you weigh is what I lift as a warmup, Dove. You’re definitely not too heavy for me to hold up.”
I blushed at the hint of innuendo in his words and let my argument die on my tongue.
It was refreshing to have someone act as if my weight wasn’t a burden.
Growing up, I had comments made about how tall I was, how curvy, how much bigger I was than the other girls in my class.
But that all seemed to stop after I met Josh.
I remember one time he found me crying under a tree out in the pasture after a particular rough day at school.
He hadn’t asked me what it was about. Somehow, he just knew.
He’d only asked me for a name. Reluctantly, I’d given it to him.
I’d been afraid Josh would do something that would get him in trouble.
Not only with the school, but with Gareth.
To my surprise, my bully had shown up the next day without so much as a scratch.
I’d tried to reign in my disappointment, not that I’d wanted Josh to beat the kid into a bloody pulp, but deep down, I’d expected him to do something .
Convincing myself it was for the best, and that I could take care of my own bullies, the day went on without issue, that is until I passed said bully in the hallway, and he’d flinched so hard he’d flung himself back into the lockers to avoid me.
That’s when I knew Josh had done something, and whatever it was, that boy wouldn’t be bothering me again.
Actually, after that, no one had bothered me, whatever Josh had threatened that kid with had clearly gotten around at school.
Looking back that may have been the very beginning of my crush on Josh. Realizing I’d always have him in my corner, looking out for me and protecting me, was the kindling that would lay the foundation for the blaze of feelings beyond my control.
The memory flooded my chest with warmth, and I tightened my arms around his neck in a hug, pressing my lips wherever I could reach.
“Dove,” he chastised as my tongue collected the lake water on his skin. “You’re going to make me trip.”
“Then pay better attention,” I replied between kisses.
“Brat,” he groaned, swatting at my ass lightly, and I hide my smile in the crook of his neck, not worried in the slightest about him dropping me.
Josh had me. This time, I just hoped he’d keep me.