HER ONLY HOPE (LK Adaptation)

Part 44

Her body was pressed close to his as he surfed the coastline, tracing the outline of the island from the water, showing her hollowed-out caves dug into the cliff face, and the little stone cottages that his staff used when they were on the island, as well as grapevines that yielded just enough fruit to make a small pressing of wine, and the nimble mountain goats that had graduated to the edge of a cliff now, and were lazily chomping their way through wildflowers. Everything about the island fascinated her, and the man in front of her, whose body she had her arms tightly wound around, fascinated her most of all.

There was danger in that sentiment—it was the opposite of how she should feel—but there was something about Jungkook that made her want to stop time and devour him. To understand him completely—everything about him—even when she knew him on an instinctive level that defied explanation.

Jet skiing was wonderful, but when they returned to the house Jungkook said he had work to do, and disappeared abruptly, leaving her alone. She told herself she was glad, that their time together had to be carefully balanced, or there would be too much danger. She read for a while, then wandered into what would become her studio and imagined how she'd lay out the furniture, then, as the sun started to become almost too much, she stripped down to her bathers and stood on the edge of the pool, toes curled over the coping, eyes chasing the ripples of the water.

She counted to ten, breathed in deeply then dived in, cracking beneath the surface and spearing through the water, holding her breath all the way to the other side, before pushing up and resting her arms on the edge of the pool.

'Mind if I join you?'

She bit back a smile as she turned to see Jungkook crouching on the side of the pool, his fingertips caressing the water.

'It's your pool.' She shrugged, hiding the fact that she wanted him to join her almost more than anything.

His eyes were lightly mocking, as though he understood the stand she was taking. He stood, eyes still on her as he stripped out of his shirt, leaving him standing in just a pair of board shorts that did little to hide the muscular nature of his body. Her mouth felt as acrid as the desert as he walked around the pool, closer to her, his every step an inducement, a temptation, a fascination, so that by the time he'd reached her the air in her lungs seemed to crackle.

He stood directly in front of her, his hair-roughened legs and strong calves so close she had an irrational urge to pull herself out of the water and press her lips to his flesh there. Thankfully, before she could indulge that craving, he lifted his arms over his head and dived in, his body a study of strength and elegance as he swam to the other end of the pool easily. When he was halfway there she could no longer fight her body's cravings and she gave chase, moving beneath the water to follow him stealthily, eyes scanning to find him.

When he changed direction she followed, no longer pursuing him beneath the water but splashing on top of it, moving faster, laughing as she got close and he slipped away, changing direction again, spinning easily in the water, his far more powerful stroke no match for hers. So when she caught him, finally, she suspected it was because he'd allowed it, but that didn't make the success any less sweet. Her fingers curved around his bicep, and he laughed, drawing her closer, their arms tangling as they splashed in the water. He was so much stronger, and yet he let himself be caught and tamed, let her body wrap around his until she was breathless from laughing and the exertion, in his arms, legs wrapped around his waist, so close to him she felt as though they were one person.

'Hi.' She smiled, all rules momentarily pushed from her mind by the pleasure of this moment. Her lashes were clumped from the water and her dark hair fell like silk down her back.