028: What if I can't swim?

Maille felt her knees go weak. Kell, nearly nude, his upper body riddled with darkly scattered tattoos of things she could make out as the water lapped his skin, was more than she had been prepared for this morning.

"No, that's okay, you swim, I'll watch."

Disappointment flashed briefly in his eyes, but then Kell turned and hopped out of the pool with a mischievous grin. "Oh no..." Maille backed away.

"Water is warm. Perfect." he encouraged.

"I don't want to swim right now." she backed toward the living room door, one hand in front of her imploringly. Kell advanced on her.

"You will wear the peacock dress, you will lay on the floor in my room blowing bubbles, but you will not swim?"

"What if I can't swim?"

He cocked his head at her, as if considering this problem and then forthrightly came to the conclusion it was a bluff. "You can, you can, you can." he said and made a grab for her waist which he was able to capture as she screamed.

Maille's hands came in contact with his chest. Aside from a few hugs, and holding hands their touching had been very--- very limited. She respected he was not attracted to her as a woman--- she had to, he deliberately kept their physical contact minimal. Now her palms burned where they came in contact with his body--- and the way he was crowding her to the pool had plenty of his body touching hers. His legs stepped between hers, his hip jutted against hers, even his feet sidled close and brushed against her ankles.

Maille couldn't process fast enough. If she moved her fingers they brushed over the darker spots of his nipples. If she pushed against him higher it was like wrapping her palms around his neck. She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing her movements branded her a prude and inexperienced. Could he tell she'd never been this close to a grown man before in her life? And definitely not a half-naked one?

His one hand held both of hers together now, as she squirmed to get out of his grasp. His eyes in the dim interior bored into hers, and his lips parted in a panting, struggling, grin. The beads brushed her cheeks, no matter which direction she turned her face.

Molly barked crazily as Kell scooped Maille up unceremoniously and when she thought he would have dumped her into the pool he didn't. He jumped with her.

Maille didn't have a chance to scream. Kell's body beneath hers in the water, pulled up down and down and then she felt him grab her and push off to the surface. She came up sputtering. He came up beside her.

"I think you can swim Maille Mann." he said, and his eyes glinted again as he dunked her under.

There ensued a wild game of ducking and getting away. Having no choice but to get over her inhibitions regarding not just her lack of experience, but his nearly naked body, Maille told herself he was just like one of her brothers and this time she was going to be the center of someone's attention. Not a common occurrence in a family the size of hers.

Maille hadn't had so much fun in a pool in years. She swam away and then sat on the ledge just under the surface and rested a second while Kell juggled his fascination for ducking her with his very insistent shiatsu. He turned, graceful in the water, his dreads still sticking out all over his head and swam to her. He approached from the front, and splashed her face.

Maille splashed him back. In the time it took to wipe the droplets out of her eyes Kell had gently nudged her knees apart and was holding himself braced in front of her on the ledge. He was very close, and Maille was very conscious of the way the striped over shirt wetly molded to her form. He pressed his forehead to her chin then and chuckled at her discomfiture. In so doing, she couldn't see his eyes, or judge his reactions. But she was aware he was looking down. Down her throat, down her see-through shirt, and down to her breasts, now uncomfortably aroused as never before. Her legs felt funny being open with him right there, vulnerable, and as if he knew it, he pressed closer to her, feeling her stomach with his. He gazed into her eyes, and she pushed him back with one feeble hand.

"Not sure, Maille Mann?"

Maille gave him a look meant to wither any preconceived ideas he might be making. But her breath came in short puffs, and her eyes darted back and forth uncertainly. When she raised a hand to push her braids off her face, Kell's eyes dropped easily to her chest.

"This is why they hold wet t-shirt contests." He let his hand, previously splayed against her lower back, rove to the front, remaining glued to her ribcage.

A shudder started at the back of her head and raced over her.

Molly came up from behind and leaned over to lick Kell's face exuberantly asking for more playtime. Saliva dripped onto Maille's cheek and hair.

"Oh gag!" she exclaimed and really pushed the giant head away. Moll barked in her ear. Kell dipped his face in the water and wiped the guck off easily then splashed water on Maille and swam away when she sputtered. Maille chased him and caught him, ducking him expertly, and then when she would have got away he grabbed her ankle. He pulled, she went under, he let go, she ducked and grabbed his ankle. He kicked away and she lost her grip, she saw him under water and went to push him down again by jumping all her weight onto his shoulders, but Kell caught her and pulled her thighs around his back holding her piggy back in the water. Maille was forced to grab on and then be went under and did a flip and she was all twisted around and laughing, and gulping water and air, and pool water.

Kell was safely away when she came up. She searched for him and he was standing in the shallow end, playing with the Frisbee high in the air and Charlie was frantically yipping and dog paddling around him. His eyes caught hers, and Maille held up her hand. They played keep away from the dog, until Maille got too close to the edge and she was ambushed from behind by a running ball of monkey fur, and Kell conceded the animals had won the game. When Kiyah got the Frisbee he never gave it back.

They got out. Maille's outfit was ruined, it stuck to her uncomfortably. She quickly went and showered, locking the door against intrusions, thinking about the way Kell had looked at her as he'd nudged her knees apart that one time. The feel of her wet t-shirt against his stomach, the way he'd leaned. She was rinsing her braids when a sudden movement caught her eye and she saw Kell through the glass taking the wet clothes and dropping something off. He waved, as she ducked and clutched her hands over herself, but he was gone through the hot tub door quicker than she had time to think about. Maille turned the water off and grabbed a towel.

He was certainly without a sense of privacy, she thought. He sort of came and went at leisure, moved her legs, grabbed her legs, did her hair, anything he felt like with her. She wasn't at all used to being manhandled, especially by a real man ...

Was he a real man? Maybe he was more like a kid. Maybe when gay guys decided they were gay, they lost the ability to become men and stayed as little kids.

But then she thought about the slide and the pinky finger, and the way he sometimes laced fingers through hers and held her so softly. That seemed like a guy... a real man. No, he didn't seem feminine to her at all, and everybody was entitled to act like a kid once in a while, right? She was certainly having fun doing it.

The clothes he'd brought in for her included Bob the Builder boxer shorts, (was he determined to have her wear his underwear?) ankle length carpenter pants, white sneakers, no socks, no bra, but a tight white stretch tank top and a ratty plaid blouse over the top, liberally smeared with white paint and missing a button. The ensemble was topped off with a Bob the Builder baseball cap which she wore backward once she'd dried her braids. There was a toothbrush laid out and several kinds of lotion. And in a drawer, she discovered makeup, but from the hot tub door, Kell 's voice distracted her. He was talking to the monkey but was coming into the bathroom.

"So much for privacy." she said.

"A waste of time." he answered and brought a large blue metal box like a fishing tackle box and set it on the counter.

"What are we doing now?" she quipped, turning the baseball cap around again to check its effect, she'd never worn one before.

"I am doing your nails." His eyes found hers in amusement.

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