Page 68 of This Witch Is Not Wicked

“What are you doing?” I asked.

She flopped backward into the water, and it splashed up around her as she circled her arms and kicked, swimming farther away.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled.

This was absolutely diabolical.

“If you want me, you’re going to have to catch me,” came her singsong voice.

“We have very different ideas of what constitutes foreplay,” I said.

She laughed, her body gliding through the water like a damn fish. “I’m willing to bet you’re a little turned on by this. Admit it, Wolfgang.”

Dammit. She was fucking right. Except I wasn’t just a little turned on. My cock was rock hard thinking about catching up to her, grabbing her and reeling her in, pressing my body to hers and feeling every inch of her against me.

I took a deep breath and moved forward again. “There’s just one problem.”

She stopped, sinking into the water, deep enough that it now went up to her chin, black hair fanned out around her. “And what’s that?”

“I don’t know how to swim, and you’re not exactly teaching me. I can follow you, but that won’t stop me from sinking straight to the bottom.”

“I’ve got a plan,” she said.

Panic was starting to drown my desire. “Please clue me in before this water gets too deep and I die.”

One step after another.

I moved forward, cautiously feeling for the squishy bottom of the channel. I pushed reeds out of my way, wondering how strong they would be if the ground suddenly dropped out from under me and I needed to grab on to one.

Enid bobbed in the water, once again a short distance from me. “Stop and reach out your arm. There is a wall of mud that you can steady yourself on. A few paces in front of you, there’s a drop-off, and the water gets much, much deeper.”

My pulse spiked. I wasn’t normally a nervous person, but the possibility of death was enough to trigger my anxiety. I felt for the wall and rested my hand on top of it.

She swam toward me and stopped when she was floating in front of me. Holy godwitches. That drop-off was right there. If I’d taken a few more steps, I would’ve sunk like a stone.

“Before you can learn to swim, you have to learn to float.”

“And what’s involved in floating?” I asked.

“Keep one arm on the wall, then I want you to tip your body forward and put your face in the water while you hold your other arm out.” She demonstrated, and I got a nice view of her plump ass before she righted herself again. “Just see how it feels to let the water cushion your body.”

“You know that cushions suffocate people, right?”

She wrinkled her nose. “What kind of cushions do you sleep on?”

“Okay fine, cushions can technically only suffocate you if someone is pushing it down over your face, but now I’m thinking about suffocating in this water.”

“I’m right here.” Enid paused, then said, “Do you trust me?”

Her voice was light and airy, but a vulnerability shone in her dark eyes.

“Of course I do.”

She smiled, and it lit up her entire face.

Now I had to prove how much I trusted her. Here went nothing. Or everything. I took a deep breath and tipped my body forward into the water just like she showed me, letting my legs float behind me while my face met the water’s surface. I shut my eyes, body unsteady and wobbly, but I gripped tight to the wall.

My heart rate slowed, and I took a moment to look around. The water was clear enough that I could see schools of fish darting below, see logs and plants and all kinds of life down here. It was like its own world.