“Nope.” She clings to the wall like her life depends on it. “I’m not ready for that yet.” It takes a few minutes of us promising to hold her up before she reluctantly agrees. Even then, her hands are like claws, nails digging into my palms. I’ll put up with it for her sake—and if it means she’ll trust us from now on.
I walk backward while Denver props Gemma up, though it doesn’t take long until she relaxes enough that he doesn’t need to. It reminds me of when we first learned to ride our bikes, and Dad had to hold on to the back until we found our balance. Denver pretends he’s supporting her, though, so she keeps kicking and letting me pull her along with me.
It seems pretty silly, the two of us doing this with her, but after a while, I realize I’m actually having a good time. Watching her become more confident is satisfying in a way I never would’ve expected.
“Watch the hands,” she warns Denver at one point.
“You’re right. I’ve never touched your tits before. And it was an accident.” The look he gives me over the top of her head says it wasn’t. I can’t blame him.
“If it’ll make you feel better, we can switch places, and Denver will hold your hands.” He’s obviously not a fan of the idea—but then neither is she.
“No.” She lets go of me and stands on her tiptoes. “I don’t want to do that.”
“You haven’t hardly learned anything.”
“I know. I want to learn how to use my arms now so I can swim for real.” I’m so fucking proud of her, it’s ridiculous.
It’s another half-hour or so before she ventures to the deep end, and even then, she makes us promise to paddle on either side of her, just in case. She reaches out for me a couple of times but recovers quickly enough.
Now that she’s getting better at taking care of herself, my mind naturally moves toward her body. I can’t help it. She’s hot as hell in a bright red bikini that looks like it was made for her. The bottoms tie on both sides, and the devil on my shoulder reminds me how easy it would be to reach out and tug one side loose. I know my brother would do the same on the other side if he knew what I was thinking.
Right, and you’d lose the little bit of trust she has in you now. I’m not used to common sense getting in the way of something I want, but I know that voice in my head is right. I can’t ruin what we’ve spent the past two hours building all because I want a glimpse of Gemma’s ass.
“I’m getting tired.” She stops paddling, and I reach for her instinctively, keeping her afloat while she gets the hang of treading water.
“You’ve worked hard. No wonder you’re tired. Maybe we should take a break.” Denver sounds like there’s something else on his mind, and I can’t blame him. Watching the water lap against Gemma’s tits is mesmerizing, plus I’ve got the pleasure of her squirming, slippery body bumping against mine, rubbing in all the right places.
She wouldn’t have to tire herself out any worse than she already is. She’d only have to lie back and let us do the work.
“Hey, you three!”
There goes that idea. My head snaps around in time to see Linda striding out onto the patio with Dad right behind her. “Look at you, out in the deep end!” She beams down at Gemma while my father wraps his arms around her. It’s still weird seeing them like that, but it’s good that he’s happy. I can only imagine what it was like to have his wife walk out on him and leave two little boys behind when he didn’t have the first idea what our lives were about before then.
It’s probably half the reason she left. More than half, even. How distant he always was, building his business, absorbed in it. Maybe obsessed with it. That’s no excuse for leaving us behind and never reaching out again, but I’m old enough now to understand there’s a lot about it I’ll never know.
Now he’s happy, and while I didn’t know Linda before they got together, no woman walks around wearing a goofy smile all the time if she doesn’t mean it. I wish I could make Gemma smile like that.
Gemma goes stiff in my arms a second before she pushes away from me. “They offered to teach me to swim today.” She treads water, demonstrating.
“Great work, you two.” Dad might be overreacting a little, grinning at us like we just won some big award instead of teaching a grown person to swim. “You don’t know how good it makes us feel to see the three of you getting along.”
Denver makes a grab for Gemma, hauling her in from behind for a hug. “We figured we might as well get along since you two will be on your way down the aisle soon.”
“Yeah, we didn’t think you’d want us breaking out in a food fight at the reception.” I splash Gemma, and my brother splashes me back. Gemma’s smile is brittle, too bright, and it doesn’t reach her eyes. Not even close.
“No, thank you!” Linda laughs. “Not with all the money we’ll be spending on Gemma’s dress. Which reminds me, sweetheart, we still have to go shopping. I won’t be able to sleep tonight if we don’t take care of that today.”
“No problem.” Gemma wriggles out of Denver’s grasp and paddles her way to the ladder. “I can dry off and be ready whenever you are.” You’d think the pool turned to fire; she gets out so fast, then practically runs for the house.
I look at Denver, who seems just as clueless as I am.
What did we do wrong this time?