Page 41 of Pucking Knox
"Yeah. Never learned to swim properly. The waves terrified me."
She props her chin on my chest to look at me. "But you play hockey. On ice."
"Ice is different. Solid. Controllable." I trace patterns on her back. "The ocean feels... alive. Unpredictable. Kind of like someone I know."
"Like me?"
The question hangs between us, heavy with meaning.
"Yeah," I admit. "Like you."
She kisses me then, soft and sweet, before turning back to the screen. We lay like this for another hour and then she stands. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be interesting."
"Why's that?"
She smiles. "Because Ace is meeting his old high school friends for lunch. And I'm going to teach you how to swim."
She disappears upstairs before I can respond, leaving me with thoughts of chlorine and bare skin and all the ways this could go wonderfully wrong.
Morning brings fresh torture. Kennedy makes breakfast in a cover-up that keeps slipping off her shoulder, revealing hints of a red bikini underneath. Ace seems determined to never leave us alone, until his phone buzzes around eleven.
"I’m hanging with some of the guys," he says, grabbing his keys. "Going to meet them for lunch. Try not to burn the house down."
The moment his car disappears down the drive, Kennedy turns to me.
"Pool time?"
My mouth goes dry as Kennedy drops her cover-up by the pool's edge. The red bikini underneath is small enough to be criminal, but somehow innocent too – like she picked it just for me.
"Coming in?" She dips a toe in the heated water. "Or are you still scared?"
I pull my shirt over my head, watching how her eyes track the movement. "Not scared, Princess. Just cautious."
"The big bad enforcer? Cautious?" She slides into the pool gracefully. "Who would believe it?"
I follow her in, the warm water a shock against my skin. The pool is huge, with built-in seats along one wall and a deeper end that makes my heart rate pick up slightly.
"Relax." Kennedy glides closer. "I won't let you drown."
"Maybe I should. I need a little mouth-to-mouth."
She positions herself behind me, hands on my shoulders. "You don’t need to die for my mouth to be on yours… Okay. First lesson – floating. Lean back."
"Kenny," I say, not ready for this.
"Trust me."
I do. God help me, I trust her more than anyone. So I lean back, letting her support my weight as I float.
"See?" Her voice is soft and intimate. "Not so scary."
But she is. The way she makes me feel – weightless, safe, like I could drown in her and die happy – that's terrifying.
"Now what?" I manage as she guides me back to standing.
"Now..." She hooks her legs around my waist, water making her skin slide against mine. "We work on treading water."
My hands find her hips automatically. "This seems less like swimming and more like an excuse to touch me."
