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Felicity Reynolds
She felt as though she was moving through a dream, following Liam through the house. He walked quickly in front of her, so quickly that Felicity had to half run to keep up. It felt a little like racing through some unseen part of the Alice in Wonderland story, moving through such a giant home at such a pace. The whole place was a testament to modern architecture, the lines and decor so clean it was almost austere. The sound of their feet on the polished concrete floor and her excited breath was the only soundtrack to their adventure, and the adrenaline poured into her system in buckets. By the time Liam had them at their destination, she was half convinced she was going to faint. She wasn't drunk, but there was enough wine in her to have her head buzzing pleasantly. The air conditioner poured over her in waves that should have left her chilly but instead her entire body was warm. Liam stopped abruptly in front of her, and she smacked straight into the back of him, driving him into the glass door directly in front of him.
"Woah!" He laughed, turning his body so that her hands rested on his chest. His heart thumped steadily beneath his expensive button-down shirt and Felicity was tempted to slide her fingers into the gaps in the fabric so that her fingertips could be closer to his skin. Instead, she took a quick step backwards and wrapped her arms tightly around her ribcage.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t realize we were done racing through the halls!”
“Is that what we were doing?” He laughed easily. He leaned against the door, his own arms crossed in a gesture that seemed somehow casual when he did it, looking at her unapologetically. His eyes moved from her face down the length of her body and then back up again, taking his time. A low sound came from the back of his throat that reminded Felicity of a cat’s purr while he looked. She didn’t think he was aware he was making the noise but that didn’t make it any less thrilling. If anything, the effect was more profound, the idea that he honestly couldn’t help himself.
“I don’t know. I’m out of breath, aren’t I?” she countered boldly, ignoring the heat blooming in her cheeks.
“You are, aren’t you? I was kind of hoping that was because of me.”
“Liam, I-” she started with no earthly idea what she wanted to say.
“Come on,” he interrupted, “I’ll show you your surprise.”
He turned and opened the glass door, the only one of its kind she had seen so far in his beautiful house. She swallowed hard, chewing on her bottom lip as she followed him. It was dangerous, whatever game the two of them were playing. It was dangerous, and there was no way for her to deny it. This hadn't been the point of her impromptu meal. She had only wanted to do something nice, be useful for a change and maybe get back some small sense of herself in the world. What it was turning into was something else entirely, and the only smart thing for her to do was walk away. She would look like a stick in the mud, but who cared? At least the lines wouldn't be blurred. Blurred again, she corrected herself, shivering with a burst of pleasure with the memory of the gala night. She needed to make her excuses and go up to her room, try to read a book and go to bed. Her head would be clear in the morning and the moment of danger between the two of them would pass. That was what she should have done. What she did instead was follow after him, her chest tightening with the ludicrous notion that he might disappear if she didn't keep up. It was a stupid idea, but when she first entered this previously unbreached room, she didn't see him anywhere. There was a breathtaking indoor Olympic-size pool, and a ceiling made up of an intricately designed mosaic mural, but nobody there. She took a hesitant step inside the room, letting the door close softly behind her. Where the rest of the house was cold, this room was comfortably humid and smelled distinctly of chlorine.
"Liam?" she called out uncertainly. The air hummed with the electricity of potential trouble, and still she took another step into the room. The tile beneath her bare feet was cool, while the rest of her felt very, very warm.
“Liam, where’d you go?” she asked timidly. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and gasped, spinning to face it head on and almost losing her balance.
"Shit, don't fall, Felicity. You fall on this tile, and we might have to take you to the hospital. That's not the way I saw this thing going."
"What are you doing?" she asked stupidly, her cheeks burning hotter than ever. It was a stupid question because she could plainly see what he was doing, or at least what it looked like he was doing. His shoes and socks were already off, his shirt almost unbuttoned. As she watched, he freed the last button, slid his arms out of his sleeves, and let the shirt drop to the floor. That shirt probably cost more than a month's worth of her groceries, probably cost at least double that, and he let it fall onto the already damp tiles like it was nothing at all. God, he was good looking. She wanted to say handsome, although the word struck her as far too old-fashioned. There was something about his looks that reminded her of an old-school movie star, along the lines of Cary Grant. It was in the easy masculinity of his stance, in his strong jaw and sharp eyes. On top of that, his body was insane. She knew that from before, but this time it was different. This was not a rushed encounter in a home that they had no business getting in. Now there was nothing to keep her from drinking in all of his details, and there was a whole lot to look at. His skin was tanned and taut over his lean muscles, which were unlike anything she had ever seen. She didn't know when he went to the gym, but it must’ve been a part of his daily routine. People didn't get eight-pack abs without working for them, even if he was making it look easy. He took a step towards her, his hands moving down to his belt buckle and she gasped, her hand flying up to her mouth like it had a mind of its own. He stopped, a little half smile on his face, but his hand never left that buckle.
“What’s the matter, Felicity? Am I still scaring you?” he asked, a growl in his voice that made her skin prickle.
“No, not exactly. But what exactly are we doing here?” she asked, her voice miraculously level.
"We're going for a swim," he answered without missing a beat. He sounded so innocent, but there were oceans of meaning underneath it. She could easily assume that she was reading too much into things. It would probably be easier if she just chalked it up to that and went on her merry way except that she couldn't do that. She might have been able to if it weren't for his hand, his hand still on his belt buckle and twitching, like he wanted to keep going.
“What?!” she balked, going into her protective stance yet again, “We can’t do that!”
"We can't? Why not? I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a pool right here."
“I see that, but we can’t. We... we just ate!”
There were probably stupider things she could have said, but at the moment she couldn't think of any. It made her sound so childish and the amount of self-control Liam used to keep from laughing at her must have been considerable.
“You’re right,” he said through a grin, “we did. Let’s go swimming anyway. Let’s live a little dangerously. What do you think?”
"I don't have a bathing suit, though. I'm not sure I even brought one to the house, but I’m definitely not wearing one under my clothes," she stuttered. She was stalling for time, there was no doubt about that. Did he know it? Could he read it on her face, that she had no idea what to do? All the muscles in her body tensed up, caught somewhere between pulling off her clothes or sprinting for the door. Liam's eyes never left her, his body as still as hers was jittery. She had the strangest sense of him being the hunter and her being the prey. It should have freaked her out, but instead, it was exhilarating. For once she felt completely, utterly alive. It was an odd realization that you were going through your life half asleep. It might have made her sad if there had been real time to follow the thought, but there was hardly any time for thinking at all. She was alive, and yes, she wanted to swim with Liam. Yes, she wanted to take off all her clothes and have his eyes stay fixated on the curves of her body just the way they were fixated on her now.
"Would you like to know what I think?" he asked conversationally.
“Sure,” she answered weakly, “why not?”
“I think bathing suits are stupid.” His deliverance of the opinion was so matter of fact that she burst out laughing. It helped to cure her of some of her nerves, especially when Liam put on an exaggerated show of taking offense.
“You laugh, Felicity, but I’m not joking! It’s just one more unnecessary expense.”
“Right, because money is clearly a huge concern for you,” she countered, still laughing breathlessly.
“Maybe I don’t like being frivolous,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. His fingers played with that damned belt buckle, teasing her with what she knew she would see if he finished taking everything off.
“So then, you suggest what? We all walk around naked?”
“No,” he conceded, “that wouldn’t work. It depends on the circumstances. Take this, for example.”
“Okay, let’s,” she smiled, stepping closer to him on knees that wobbled.
"We're the only two here. Two consenting adults at a pool all by ourselves and no bathing suits anywhere near. Unless you want just to forget the whole thing."
“No! No, I don’t want to do that.”
“Then-?”
She took a deep breath, then took the plunge. She pulled her dress up over her head and said a silent ‘thank you’ to the universe for the lacey bra and thong she wore underneath. She could feel his eyes burning into her while the fabric of her dress gave her the illusion of anonymity. She didn’t look at him again until the dress was tossed onto the tiles. She was almost too afraid to look at him at all.
“Jesus. I’ve never seen anything like you.”
"Come on," she laughed self-consciously. She was tempted to cover herself up, but instead, she unhooked the bra, then stepped out of the thong. Liam moved towards her, and she let him, holding her arms down by her side and her body perfectly still. She didn't move, didn't even flinch until he was close enough to touch her. Then she sidestepped him easily and walked quickly to the edge of the water. She dove in without testing the temperature and slid under the water like a fish. She had always loved the water. She had loved it when she was a child, and it hadn't abated any as she became an adult. She relished it now, this underwater world, and it was made even better by the anticipation of what waited for her above the surface. When she finally broke through the water's surface, she breathed in deeply, her lungs burning and all her muscles singing with life.
“I thought you weren’t ever coming up!” Liam called from the pool’s ledge. He hadn’t made any move to undress further but stood watching her with his thumbs hooked through his belt loops and a devious smile on his face.
"I like to be under the water," she answered. It felt like a silly answer, but she couldn't think of anything else to say.
"I can tell," he answered with no more imagination than she. Still, he didn't move to take off the rest of his clothes and all at once she was completely, irrationally impatient for him to get on with things.
“Are you going to stand there and watch me for the rest of the night or are you going to get in, too?” she asked, mildly shocked by her own directness.
