Page 101 of No Saint

I take my eyes from the surface and land them on him. On his perfectly sculpted body, his deep tan and the muscles that seem to never end. He must have taken a swim while I was changing as he was wet, the droplets of water seeming to caress him as they roll over the peaks and valleys of his abdomen as if they can’t bare to leave him. I couldn’t blame them.

His hair, wet, was slicked back away from his face and his shorts hang low on his hips.

“Come here,” he orders softly.

My knees wobble as I walk around the edge, keeping a safe distance between me and the water until I stand just to the left of Gabriel and further back. He turns a little, hooking a hand behind my thigh to gently coax me forward.

“I can’t!” I freeze.

“It’s okay,” he soothes, “Just come sit with me.”

My palms are sweaty and I felt like I was about to throw up.

“So, I was thinking,” He continues nonchalantly, prodding me closer, “We should put Lincoln back into daycare, he needs to socialize.”

That addles my brain, “What?”

“It’ll be good for him,” He muses, “To play with other children.”

“I mean, yes,” I nod, “He loved daycare.”

Gabriel guides me to sit close to him and it’s only when my feet touch the water, I realize he’s successfully distracted me enough to get me down next to him. I stiffen slightly but, the fear, it stays at the edge, a warning but with Gabriel’s arm tucked around me, holding me close to him I didn’t feel like I was in danger here.

“Brava ragazza,”He says with a smile, “Good girl.”

I swallow at the praise, liking how it sounds on his lips when he calls me a good girl. I’d never explored kinks before but with him, I’d exploreseveral. My core tightens at the idea, thighs aching.

He turns his face, pressing his lips to my temple, “You know,” he murmurs, “You blush so pretty when I call you a good girl. My wife likes a little bit of praise huh?”

“Yes.” My voice shakes. The coolness of the water around my feet and ankles manages to keep me cool but my skin was tightening. The fear and the arousal made a heady mix inside my blood.

Gabriel lets go of me then with a grin before he slides himself into the water, bobbing slightly when his feet touch the bottom. The water comes up just beyond the band of his short and he wades forward, coming to stand between my legs.

“Do you want to come in with me?” He asks.

I shake my head.

His hands smooth up my thighs before he presses a kiss to the inside of my knee, “You can do it. Be brave,leonessa.”

His hands stop at my hips, squeezing gently. He begins to gently tug, sliding me across the tiles. My legs slip deeper and deeper. Closing my eyes, I let him drag me the rest of the way. A gasp leaves me as my body is submerged and I lash out, grabbing the tops of Gabriel’s arms, nails biting in.

“You’re doing so good,mondo mia.”

My breath saws from my chest as I grip him, holding on. The water wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm either but somewhere in between, which initially shocked me but now I was growing used to it.

It was a good step forward, a right step, even as I still clawed at Gabriel and wanted to climb his body if only to take me out the water.

His lips skim my jaw. “We’re going to walk, baby,” he warns me, “follow me.”

I squeak a little, eyes still closed as he begins to move. The water comes a lot higher on my body than it does on his, but I could feel there was a good distance between that and my face. The water pushes back at me as I stride forward, following his lead.

“Open your eyes,” he says.

I force one open, and then the other, glancing around. He’d moved us to the middle, but it wasn’t any deeper than where we were before.

“You’re safe,” he reminds me, a wet hand pushing hair from my face.

And so it goes, everyday we got into the pool, everyday it got easier. Between swimming sessions and Gabriel’s schedule, we talked some more about Lincoln joining a new daycare, even visited a few before we chose a good daycare twenty minutes from the house.

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