28. Dane Gallagher #2
“I don’t like it. Not one fucking bit. I should be able to put someone on their arse for talking about you like that. Instead I just have to stand there and let it go.”
She watches me for a second. “Come here.”
I cross the space between us. She opens her arms, and I step in, her legs wrapping around my waist, her arms sliding up around my neck. Our foreheads rest together, and I close my eyes for a moment.
“You can’t go around punching people every time they say something you don’t like.”
“I know.”
“There are going to be people who look at me and say things. You can’t fight all of them.”
“I know.”
She tilts her head and kisses me, the tension easing out of me.
“Want to come for a swim with me after dinner? It’s been a while since we’ve had a night swim.”
I look at her, remembering the nights we spent together in the water. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“It’s a date.”
By the time we finish eating, the sun’s gone. The garden has settled into night, the last of the sky fading above it. The pool is lit from beneath, and we stand on the back step for a moment, just looking at it.
“We don’t have swimmers yet.”
“No, we don’t,” she says, a wicked grin slipping across her face.
She glances at me with that look—half challenge, half knowing—and it tells me everything I need to know.
After a minute, we start shedding clothes, leaving them in a pile by the back step.
Then we head for the pool.
The water’s warm. I surface, push my hair back, and blink the water from my eyes.
She’s already drifted out into the pool, floating on her back, arms loose, her gaze fixed on the night sky above us.
The light’s different here—softer, the glow of the city bleeding into it—but the water feels the same. Familiar in a way nothing else has been since we got back.
“You remember how much time we spent in the water out there?”
How could I forget?
“Yeah.”
A small smile touches her mouth. “That first time I wore that red bikini...” She glances at me. “I did that so you’d notice me.”
I let out a quiet breath. “I was already noticing you. Didn’t need the bikini.”
She huffs a soft laugh and rolls upright, treading water as she turns to face me.
“Being in the water like this takes me straight back. I didn’t realize how much I needed it.”
I swim toward her, and she meets me halfway. My hands settle at her waist as I pull her close. Her legs wrap around me, her arms sliding over my shoulders like they always do.
I hold her there.
“I don’t know what I’d do if you ever left me.”
She stills, then leans back enough to look at me properly. “I’m not going anywhere. I will never leave you.”
I hold her gaze.
“Not ever,” she adds, softer now. “It’s always going to be you. I chose you, and I’ll keep choosing you.”
Something in me eases at that, her words smoothing over the edge Brayden left behind.
“Good. Because I’d be completely useless without you.”
She laughs and presses her forehead to mine. “I love you. Always.”
“Love you too.”
She’s still wrapped around me when my cock makes its own decision about the situation.
Charlotte notices. One look and I can see the exact moment it hits her. The composure is there one second and gone the next.
“Well, hello there,” she says.
“Don’t.”
“I literally just said hello.”
“Charlotte—”
The corner of her mouth lifts. “Your naked wife is wrapped around you. It’s a perfectly reasonable response. Can’t hold that against you.”
“I’m going to swim laps.”
“Yeah?” She doesn’t unwrap her legs. “How’s that going to help you?”
I open my mouth, then close it again.
I don’t actually have an answer for that.
I look at her, and she stares back.
“Are we really about to fuck out here?”
“Oh yes. We are very much about to fuck out here.” Her mouth curves. “No one’s watching us, Dane.”
I think about it. Not for long.
The house is dark, the yard quiet. No lights nearby. No close neighbors. No one coming or going.
Night has settled around the pool, still and private.
The whole place is ours.
“Tell me what you want, babe.”
The teasing drops out of her expression. What replaces it is better.
She shifts her hips, opening for me, lining us up. “Your cock… inside me… right now… fucking me until I come.”
I move into her slowly, feeling her breath against my jaw.
Her arms tighten around my neck. “Ohh.”
“Oh, fuck,” I whisper into her hair.
I grip her waist, holding her there as she does it again, the same smooth motion, and the sound it pulls from her isn’t quiet.
“Tell me how good it is.”
“So fucking good.” She leans back enough to look at me, water clinging to her lashes. “I love the way your cock stretches me.”
I shift and her head tips back, a soft gasp slipping out, her throat exposed. “Just like that.”
I do it again. This time she meets it, her hips moving with mine, the water shifting around us.
“This is what I’ve been thinking about all day,” she says, breathless. “Since this morning. I couldn’t stop imagining you fucking me.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She rolls her hips again, slower now, deliberate, and smiles when she hears the groan it pulls from me.