Queen of Midnight

Chapter Seven.

We ran for a bit, side by side, in our wolf forms. The breeze felt nice in my fur, and being able to stretch Arya's legs was an added bonus. She hasn't been able to get out so much lately, and I could always tell when she was grateful for being able to get some exercise.

We slowed to a stop near a small lake at the bottom of a gentle waterfall. We both changed back into our human forms and looked at each other as we stood at the edge of the water.

"Swim?" he asked me, and moved to pull his shirt off over his head. My cheeks instantly burned as I watched him strip off in front of me with no shame, and wade into the lake butt-naked. I didn't think I had ever been so embarrassed in my life.

"You coming in or what?" he called, and dunked his head under for a few moments. I blushed furiously, trying to remove the image of his perfectly sculpted ass from my mind with no success. I couldn't just get naked in front of him! I knew he was taunting me, but there was no way I was actually going to buy into it. He knew that, right?

But I did want to prove him wrong...

Biting back a curse, I glared at James, who had since resurfaced, and he laughed before turning around so he wasn't facing me. I tugged my shirt off, and my pants and boots soon followed. As I was a werewolf, the cold never affected me so I barely shivered as I hurriedly strode into the lake and dove forward as soon as I was safe from breaking my wrists on the bottom of the lake. I resurfaced moments later, pushing my hair back out of my face and taking a breath of fresh air, blinking the water from my eyes. I looked over at James, who was trying to hide a smug grin, and splashed water at him in response.

"What?" he protested, laughing at my expression.

"That was for antagonizing me," I shot back, but couldn't stop the smile from spreading on my lips as he smiled goofily back at me, swimming forward so he was at eye level with me. My shoulders were above the water, but I dropped down to my neck as he inched forward, hoping he wasn't trying to look below the surface. It wasn't sparkling clean, but I could still see our bodies floating beneath the surface.

"Are you nervous?" he asked me as he came closer and closer. I shook my head, but didn't say anything as I dropped even lower, so my mouth was almost underwater. I looked up at him through my wet eyelashes innocently, but I could tell his mind was elsewhere.

To my surprise, when his hands found my face, I didn't pull back. I let him pull my head up out of the water, until my shoulders were once again exposed to the fresh air and his hovering gaze. I could feel every part of my skin that fell beneath his gaze searing like it was being grazed by a hot iron, making me shiver as it trailed along. He slid his hands down my face slowly, dropping them to my shoulders, his eyes now locked in mine. They were so vivid, so full of emotion, and yet he looked calm as he let his hands drop even lower, sliding down my arms and down towards my hands. His fingertips lingered on mine momentarily, and then they continued their perusal of my flesh, this time moving backward. I almost jerked in response when his fingers met the sides of my hips, but I still didn't stop him, instead staring into his eyes as my breath quickened, anticipating his next moves.

Suddenly, his hands gripped onto my hips and pulled me ever so closer, until there was nowhere else to go but up. He lifted me up, my breasts surfacing the water momentarily as my legs came up to wrap around his waist, but neither of us seemed to give it much notice, as our eyes were still locked onto each other's. My breath hitched in my throat at the sudden closeness of us, and our positions. I was on top of him. Naked. If I lowered myself any more, I was sure I would be able to feel his length pressing up against my entrance, and the thought sent shivers racing up and down my spine.