Page 120 of Seeking Stars
They undressed, flirting by the pool.
He got into the water and when she stood close enough, he took her hand and brought her close to him.
Her arms around his shoulders, she wrapped her legs around his hips. His hands held her from the curve of her lower back, almost her behind.
He sighed. "This is how it should be, every time we're in the water."
"You make it sound like this has been in your mind."
"It has."
"How badly did you want to kiss me? When you tried in the pool."
"I wanted it so badly that I tried even when I knew I shouldn't. That I should wait."
"I've watched that clip a hundred times while editing, trying to guess, imagining what would have happened."
He submerged them in the water until it reached their neck. He took a few awkward steps with her still clinging to him.
"Do you plan to let go of me?" he asked.
She shook her head. "This is too good, and the weekend is only so long, before you have to return to your ridiculous schedule." She gave him a soft kiss, another. "I plan to be as close to you as I can."
He grinned, reaching the deeper end of the pool so he could stand almost upright, Ana still holding on to him. "What about floating?"
"I changed my mind. I want to stay like this forever."
He chuckled. "Okay. Teaching you how to float will be part of our long-term plan. And if my eyes and hands wander a bit while practicing in the future, at least it won't be too bad, from now on."
"What do you think would have happened if I'd let you kiss me, that day in the pool?"
"I'd argue I didn't try to kiss you, per se. I made it so you would have to kiss me. I made it clear I was inviting you to."
"Sure. Okay. Then, what do you think would have happened if I'd kissed you?"
"I would have kissed you back. I would have held you and kissed you some more. We would have spent the next several days kissing on the sand and in the ocean…"
She laughed, squeezing his neck with her arms and kissing his jaw. "There's a lot of making out in this alternate universe."
"And sex. And cuddling. And talks."
He walked her back to the side of the pool, where he pressed his body against her. She grunted a bit and kissed his neck, then gazed at him full of adoration.
"Well, I'm glad to hear there would have beensomeconversation. I had a documentary to film, after all."
"But we did more than that, didn't we? More than filming a documentary."
She nodded. "And I'm pretty sure it'll show through on the film."
"You know, Coulton is many things but, out of everything I'll be grateful to him for— getting us into this project is number one.
"I don't know what's going to happen. How people will react to my documentary, or to what happened with our agents, everything that's going on in the media… but one thing I know."
"What's that?"
"I'm going to do it with you."
He smiled, giving her another kiss, this one slow and lazy and full of enduring promise.
