Page 99 of Love Bound

"This is what you do. You do this every morning," he says and then, suddenly, he lets go of my arm and disappears under the water.

I can't move. I'm standing completely still. My heart slams up against my sternum. Finn is gone and there's just water and me and the hushed muted sound of blood pounding in my ears. Then he surfaces again and blows water from his nose.

I tremble so hard. "Don’t ever, ever—" but he stops my mouth with a kiss.

He holds me and puts his face to mine. It's cold, wet. I taste salt on his lips. And he kisses me again.

My toes lift off the sandy bottom and I wrap my legs around his hips.

He breaks apart for just a moment and takes a breath. "I want you to think of all these things as we kiss. Of us together. Of our lives together." He touches my chest where the zipper has opened a little. "Of that blue world on top of a heart of sea glass." I see his face—wet, smooth—and his eyes burn into mine. "And think of the little people we could bring into our world. Don’t be afraid." Then he kisses me again, so deep my crotch aches.

We slip under the water, his mouth still on mine. We are submerged, kissing, and I'm clinging to him. Before I can feel fear, he's standing again, and we break the surface. I'm hanging onto his neck, and we're still kissing. I can feel his heart pounding beneath my hand.

"Let's do that again." He gasps, and we go under again, though we come back up in an instant—so fast.

I wanted the kiss to last longer.

I still have my legs wrapped around him and I grab his face and kiss him back. This time, he remains standing, though currents tug at us from different directions.

He takes one hand and further unzips the neoprene on my suit. He whispers in my ear, "We're about to take your mind so far away from what happened."

Suddenly, there is heat between my legs. So much heat, and I'm sloppy with it.

He slips a hand under the neoprene where my skin is still warm.

"What are you doing? I can't,” I say. “I can't," but my thighs are shaking, this time, not from the cold.

"Yes, you can," Finn says. "I will make you forget all of that."

"What are you doing?" I repeat and then he strokes my nipple with his thumb. I shiver, my sex hot and wet.

"What I've always wanted to do with you in this ocean." His body is hard, his neck muscles clench, and then he's pulled the wetsuit down around my shoulders.

I slip my arms out, hanging on to his neck. I drop my arm, unzip my lower zipper and find his with my hand. His erection strains against the neoprene and as soon as it's free he gasps as cold water strikes his cock.

"Need more time?" I tease.

"Hell no," he says, helping me onto him.

I sink down on top of him, his arms under my armpits, my sex stretching to fit him. And then we are so together I want to cry.

His eyes stay on my face. "I love you, Claire. So damn much."

And I sink even lower onto him. He inhales sharply.

We stay like this for a while, a long time, while I slowly take it all in.

I'm in the water. With him. The sky—wiped of clouds—is wide and blue behind him.

He is enough.

I flex my muscles around him and he gasps harder while I cling to him.

"Jesus, Claire. Stop." He kisses me one more time and gently slides me off him.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he stuffs my arms back into the wetsuit. I hastily zip up my lower zipper.

"That was risky." He says. "No protection." There's pause. "Let's go swimming," he says.