Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(97)

She went through her gambit, even doing the two she wasn’t great at. Sean watched every movement, watching her body as she moved and arched.

When she was done, Sean clapped.

“Wonderful work, Marshall.”

“Thanks.”

They swam around each other for a while, exchanging a few words, but mostly just enjoying the water and each other’s company. It was back to being easy again. They didn’t have to talk if they didn’t want to. But if they did, and there was never any lack of something to say.

When Krista’s fingers got as wrinkled as an old man’s balls, she had to face the music. If she didn’t get out soon she might develop some weird kind of soggy finger fungus.

When she righted herself out of her stalling float, filled with regret and sadness to say goodbye, Sean was treading water, looking at her. His eyes were absorbed.

“Krista,” he said when their eyes met. “Did you mean everything you said last night?”

“I said a bunch of stuff, but yes, everything I said was true. And I meant it.”

He swam closer. “You love me?” He said it quietly, almost to himself. It was as if he didn’t believe it.

Krista got a tingling in her groin. Not from arousal, this time, but from uncertainty, bordering on fear. She really, really didn’t want him to use that as a platform to tell her how wrong he was for her. Or how wrong she was to love him. But she wouldn’t sell herself short. She was in this far, so she would go the distance.

“Yes.” She matched his quiet tone.

He swam closer. “I love you, too. It scares me shitless. I’m scared I might hurt you. Or I might freak out. I’m scared of what it means, or where we might go, but I love you. And this last week has been torture. Seeing you hurting has been worse than torture. Can you forgive me? Can you give me another chance?”

He was right next to her now. She swam to the edge of the pool and he followed. She let him get about a foot away before she answered. “What if you have a bad episode and push me away again? Or what if you have a bad episode and we have sex and you feel guilty or something? I can’t do the on-again-off-again thing with you, Sean.”

“You said pushing you away was protecting myself, and you’re right for the most part. I know that I won’t physically hurt you. Ever. But sometimes I might be in a place where I need alone time to work it out. Sometimes I need to push everyone away.”

“But will you let me back in when you’re done?”

“Yes.”

“What if I freak out?” she whispered, tears coming quickly to her eyes. “What if I wake up in a tangle of your arms and sheets and think you--and remember bad things. What if I need some alone time? Or I need you to hold me?”

He gently pulled her toward him and kissed her tears. “Then I’ll do whatever you need. I’m not all that breakable, either, Krista. Except when you aren’t around, then I’m glass.”

They were quiet for a moment, their bodies pressed together, he giving her soft kisses that made her heart flutter.

“Marcus told me what you said to him and Judy,” Krista said quietly, enjoying his strong arms wrapped around her and his hard length pressed up against her hip, heavy and insistent.

Sean backed away slightly so he could look her in the eyes. His eyes were so deep they could be portals into another galaxy. “Busted. And yet, here you are.”

“That was a pretty ballsy thing to say to your team members. To the biggest gossips in the company, no less.”

“Yes, but it was me that they would gossip about, not you. I’m no stranger to gossip. I didn’t want that for you.”

“Oh, there is plenty of gossip about me; it just isn’t in the emotional arena.”

Sean’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. “We need to talk about that. And other work-related things. But first, we need to get out of the water. I am turning into a prune.”

Krista kissed him then, slow and deep. Her tongue entered his mouth and stroked and tasted. She let her hand trail down his hard body, then dip into his swim trunks. She found his erection and stroked it firmly, thankful no one else was in the pool area.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Should...get out.” Sean breathed into her ear with a rush of passion. His hands were squeezing her butt cheeks to him, anxious to get inside of her suit, but facing the hotel pool entrance so they didn’t advertise too overtly what they were up to.

Krista softly chuckled and drifted back from the wall away from him. “If you say so.”

He swam at her slowly, his body at home in the water. After Krista got out she wrapped a towel around herself, she watched him climb from the pool with eyes on fire. She wanted him to rip her towel and suit off and take her, but something told her he would make it slow and torturous.

She had a feeling it would be just as beneficial.

As he stood from the edge of the pool, water making rivulets down his mouth watering abs, Krista took two steps, and melted into his body. She found his mouth again. His erection pressed against her, and he bent and angled so it hit exactly the right place. She moaned and arched, letting him kiss her neck and run a large, calloused hand over her breast, his thumb tracing her hard nipple.

“We should go upstairs,” she said and Sean’s hands slipped into her bathing suit to get closer acquainted with her breast.