Becoming Calder (A Sign of Love Novel)(36)

I put my hands underneath her back, only touching her with my fingertips. She straightened her body out and leaned her head back and closed her eyes, a small, peaceful smile on her face. I gazed at her, drinking in her features and her golden hair floating around her face. And then my mutinous eyes roamed down past her face to her body, her dress pressed and clinging to her delicate curves. I swallowed and my eyes paused when they got to her hardened nipples. Then they moved slowly downward over her flat stomach and down further to that small mysterious, feminine mound. My blood felt like it was boiling in my body. I'd never felt this way before, even those times when I'd touched myself out of sheer necessity. And right now, I was about to pass out from testosterone poisoning and the only part of me touching her was my fingertips. Oh no, this wasn't good. This had disaster written all over it. Even if I could successfully control myself around Eden, it would be disastrous for me.
And yet. And yet, I couldn't stop myself. Looking down at her, I felt a rush of heat, but also a rush of tenderness.
"I'm floating," she said, not opening her eyes, a small, serene look on her face.
"Not yet," I whispered and very slowly removed my fingertips from her upper and lower back. I took a small step back. "Now you're floating."
She remained still, the corners of her full, pink lips turning up very slightly.
"Can I teach you an even better way not to expend energy in the water?"
She gave a barely noticeable nod of her head and so I stepped forward again and put my hands on both of her arms. "I'm going to flip you over. Take a big breath and then let yourself float so that the back of your head is just above the water. Just let the water support you. Then, when I touch your arms, let them float toward the surface with your elbows bent. Have you got it so far?"
Another small nod.
"Okay, good. Then when you're ready, press downward on the water with your hands until your mouth clears the water. Breathe out quickly and then inhale. And then go back under. You could hang out in the water all day doing that if you needed to. Even if the whole world was underwater."
Eden took in a big breath and then I turned her body over slowly until she was face down in the water. I removed my hands and let her float there for a minute until I knew she had it, and then I touched her arms and she let them float upwards until her elbows were bent and her hands were above her shoulders. She pushed downward gently and her mouth came up above the water and I heard her exhale and then inhale before she let herself float back down.
I grinned and she brought her head up and set her feet on the bottom of the spring so she was upright. She let out a little triumphant laugh and threw her arms around my neck. I froze. Every part of her was pressed up against every part of me. I immediately went hard, my body pulsating with want, and prayed she couldn't tell. She tilted her head back and looked up at me, that same triumphant smile on her face. I let out my breath and smiled down at her. "Add floating to your list of accomplishments," I said.
She laughed. "I will." She let go of my neck and I felt the loss of her as she moved back and started walking through the water to the large, flat rock. She pulled herself up and then lay back. "We don't have much time to get dry," she called. "Better get up here in the sun."
I waited a minute until my body had settled down, and then waded toward her and pulled myself up on the rock, too. I lay back and turned my head to look over at her. Her head was already turned, looking at me as well. "Thank you for teaching me things, Calder," she said.
"You teach me things, too, Eden," I said back.
She regarded me silently for a minute and then simply smiled in answer.
Then we both tilted our heads toward the sun.



CHAPTER NINE


Eden



Over the next few months, I met Calder mostly everyday for my lessons. Some days we missed seeing each other when his chores got in the way, or when there were too many council members at the main lodge. Those days were the hardest. But the days we did meet, Calder would recline lazily against a rock and draw something or another while he taught me math, science, and the rules I didn't know about the English language. Often, he'd have to stop and go over something in the notebook I filled with everything he talked about. But mostly I just took notes, and then the next day, he'd quiz me a little. I was an excellent student. Of course, I knew the value of knowledge, having been deprived of it for so long.
I didn't just learn the academics Calder taught me, I learned them from his specific point of view. Not just the information he remembered, but the way he saw the world. When we lay on the grass and looked up at the sky and talked about the color spectrum, he told me about a rainbow he'd seen once as he watered the tomato crops in the fields, after too short of a rainfall to do any good. It was as if each time a rainbow appeared, that rich smell of soil came back to him, and Elysium and earth were joined for just that moment, even if only in his own mind. We'd both gotten slightly sleepy, lying there together, and he'd been musing when he said it and he almost looked embarrassed when he realized he'd been speaking aloud. But I loved those moments—when just for a second, I was a part of Calder's innermost mind. It humbled me and warmed me, as if for just a moment, I'd stepped into a ray of sunlight.