The delicate starkness of her collarbone. The arch of her chin and resolute distrust and unfailing strength in her blue gaze.
In the three days I’d left her, she’d eaten and rested. Her skin had taken on a porcelain glow, no longer sallow or unwell. She was healing—accepting my care, even if she did continuously search for what I would expect in return.
“You jumped.” My voice was thicker than I’d intended as my gaze travelled to her mottled chest where that fucking bastard had hurt her.
The dark water hid everything else, but my mind remembered how willowy she was when naked, even while on her knees or hunched for a reprimand. When she was nude, Pim was no longer a recovering slave but a goddess slowly learning to live again.
It fucking hurt that the obsession inside wanted to take that life and bend it to my will—to use her strength for my benefit. To master her power for my own.
I’d hoped the joint I smoked would’ve taken the edge off tonight. Having yet more blood on my hands and the intolerable urge to rip Pimlico apart to learn her secrets drove me insane.
I didn’t smoke often but the thick lethargy that normally came from inhaling cannabis was muted tonight. Yes, it affected me a little. I’d meant what I said about her not being safe around me. However, the slight buzz in my veins meant I could tolerate her being close without risking myself or her—for now.
Pimlico twirled in the water, facing the behemoth looming over us. Her lips parted as if shocked she’d actually done it.
Goddammit, I wished I hadn’t been underwater. I would’ve killed to see her standing there, naked and poised, battling her fear and winning.
Brushing away droplets from my eyes, I grinned. “Was it frightening? Or exhilarating?”
She turned back to face me, pride shining in her gaze. She obviously hadn’t thought what jumping would mean. That she’d be down here, swimming with a man she shouldn’t trust.
“What made you do it?” I treaded water, keeping a couple of metres between us. “Was it the thought that you’d survived worse than heights? Or the fact that if you landed wrong, the worst that could happen would be a broken back?”
Her eyes widened.
“Perhaps you hadn’t thought about the broken back.”
Her lips pressed together.
I wanted to order her to open her mouth, to show me how her tongue looked. I’d done my own research on tongue injuries, and according to medical papers online, that particular muscle healed faster than others.
Her swelling should be mostly gone. She should be able to talk…soon.
The tide whipped us this way and that with gentle currents—some hot, some cool. Pimlico tired quickly, her arms waving in the water, fighting to stay buoyant.
“How long is it since you’ve swum?”
Her eyes narrowed, but her blue gaze shot answers. Answers that signified a long time.
Other questions trailed on the back of that one, but I let them go.
I could interrogate her later—when she wasn’t using her energy to stay alive.
Kicking, I propelled myself forward, closing the couple of metres separating us. “Every day, you surprise me.”
Her gaze widened, her eyes trailing from my nose, to my lips, to my chin. The way she watched me made my body harden beneath the waves. Perhaps, by admitting that, I’d surprised her in return.
“Are you feeling better?” A current pushed me forward, closing the final distance between us.
I’d been in her company enough now not to expect a reply. However, her barely noticeable nod overrode the pot in my system, making my heart race.
“I’m glad.” We stared at each other, neither of us looking away.
Either fate was working with us for once or Pimlico deliberately swam closer. So close, her body heat warmed me through the tide only centimetres away.
We both sucked in a breath as the ocean bumped us together.
Bare skin to bare skin.
Pim silently gasped, her arms spreading like wings to push away.
I didn’t know if it was the relaxant drug or my intolerable urge to know her, but my leg moved forward, wrapping around hers.
She jolted as I pulled her forward, my ankle curled around hers. My left arm came up, looping around her lower back.
She shuddered as the rest of the ocean was deleted, sandwiching our nakedness together. I gritted my teeth as her soft breasts and tiny form wedged against my bulk. “Fuck…”
Her gaze glittered in the dark as her hands landed on my shoulders, pushing me down to keep herself above the waves, trying to break my embrace.
I just held on.
My legs worked harder to keep us afloat, but I had no intention of releasing her when she felt so goddamn good.
We didn’t say a word as we hovered in the water, glaring at each other, trying to decide what should come next. I’d toyed with her at Alrik’s. I’d asked for a night with her because I was fucking attracted to her—not to her skinny body and abuse, but to the soul inside. The soul that’d almost flickered out.