Free Web NovelChapter 79: Swimming Lessons [I]
The big unbothered guy who could terrify an arrogant resort guest with a single look didn’t even know how to navigate the deep end?
’W-well he was going to College so Wren was probably a serious student so I can’t blame him.
An involuntary spark flared to life in her chest.
Her instincts, the comfortable nurturing side of her that had known him since they were children, completely took over.
More than that, a sudden desperate urge for some actual alone time with him rushed to the forefront of her mind.
"Wait, seriously?" Priya asked with a genuine smile finally breaking through her stressed expression.
She reached into her canvas beach bag resting on the adjacent chair, pulling out a neat stack of glossy resort pamphlets and maps.
She rapidly flipped through them, her fingers moving with newfound excitement until she found a specific page.
"You never learned? Wren, we’re at a world-class island resort. You can’t just spend the whole time on dry land."
"Well it’s not my fault." Wren said and sighed, it was totally his fault and he was very aware of it. "But I do want to learn."
After being thrown off the deck of the Celestine and spending time with Isa, he really needed to learn how to swim instead of relying on her so much. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
’I’d love it if she was able to rely on me instead.’ He thought, but that was a big doubt... She was too good at everything.
Priya turned the pamphlet around, sliding it across the marble table to show him a crisp vibrant photograph of a secluded pool area nestled deep within the residential wing.
"Look at this one," Priya said eagerly with her voice brightening. "The garden pool. It’s away from the main beaches, and almost nobody goes there because everyone’s obsessed with the ocean side. I can teach you. I used to be a lifeguard assistant back at the community center in a nearby city for Holidays a while back? I can show you the basics so you’re not drowning every time you step off the sand..."
Wren looked down at the pamphlet, then up at her flushed enthusiastic face.
He didn’t have a system mission active for this exact second, but looking at the genuine warmth in her eyes, he found himself genuinely wanting to just relax in the water with her.
...And maybe do some perverted things.
A slow smile touched his lips.
"Alright," Wren agreed, leaning back in his chair. "Show me the way. Just don’t let me sink. I trust you, Priya."
THUMP!
Her face went completely red.
...
The garden pool was exactly as the pamphlet had promised... a quiet completely isolated oasis hidden deep within the thick, tropical greenery of the residential wing.
Towering emerald ferns, broad banana leaves, and vibrant hibiscus flowers created a natural living wall around the rectangular pool, completely cutting off the sounds of the bustling resort.
The water was pristine, so clear that the blue mosaic tiles at the bottom glistened under the bright morning sun like a sheet of liquid sapphire.
The air was warm, thick with the scent of damp earth and sweet tropical blossoms.
There wasn’t a single other guest in sight as the lounge chairs sat empty, baking in the heat.
’Damn... and all of this for free is crazy.’ Wren thought with a sigh.
Priya stepped out from the small wooden changing cabana first, the wooden slats creaking softly beneath her bare feet.
She wasn’t wearing the type of flashy stringy bikinis that she had. They weren’t at the beach after all...
Instead, she wore a simple cute one-piece swimsuit in a deep forest green that complemented her dark hair.
It was sensible and comfortable. Priya adjusted the straps nervously, stepping onto the warm stone pool deck as Wren emerged from the opposite side.
"Since it’s just the two of us and we’re entirely in private, I figured a simple swimsuit would be best for a lesson..." Priya said with her voice echoing slightly against the stone walls.
She shifted her weight, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious under the open sky. "Nothing too flashy."
Wren walked up beside her, his grey swim trunks sitting low on his hips.
He looked her up and down with an easy expression with a familiar smile on his lips.
"You look good," Wren commented casually. "Just a bit fat."
Priya’s jaw dropped as her eyes narrowing in mock outrage. She instantly stuck her tongue out at him with her foot stomping lightly against the stone.
"Wren! You are absolutely not supposed to say that to a girl!" she protested, though a small breathy giggle escaped her lips as she swatted playfully at his arm. "You’re terrible. I haven’t been able to get my morning runs in since we got on the Celestine, okay? The heat is completely different here."
"I’m just saying, your body looks nice like this," Wren replied with his smile widening into a genuine chuckle as he looked at the soft curves of her waist. "Though a few muscles wouldn’t be bad either... You need to keep up with me."
Priya opened her mouth to shoot back another defensive retort, but the words died instantly in her throat.
The lighthearted teasing atmosphere changed the exact second Wren reached up and unbuttoned the loose linen shirt he had been wearing over his trunks.
He pulled the fabric off his shoulders, tossing the shirt carelessly onto a nearby lounge chair.
Priya swallowed hard with her throat suddenly dry.
She had seen him back on the beach naturally but his broad, heavily muscled torso was fully exposed to the bright sunlight all for her to see.
His chest was wide while his abdominal muscles formed deep rigid lines that changed with every breath he took.
He was tall, imposing, and completely solid.
An intense, heavy wave of internal conflict crashed over Priya’s mind, making her knees feel strangely weak.
Derek was a great guy. He was sweet, attentive, and she genuinely cared about him.
Derek had a normal, soft, slightly chubby body and she had never once minded it but standing right here, barely a foot away from Wren’s exposed, powerful frame, she became very aware of the dangerous reality of her situation.
Priya was completely alone, in a secluded paradise, practically skin-to-skin with the man who had been her first childhood crush and still was.
The man who had completely stolen her breath away twice... on top of the Roof of the Langford Lodge and the second being right in front of Derek’s house.
Her heart began to pound against her ribs in a loud erratic thumping that she was terrified he would hear in the quiet garden.
"Alright, instructor," Wren said, completely oblivious to the chaotic meltdown happening inside her head.
He stepped to the edge of the water with the surface rippling around his ankles. "Where do we start?"
"The... the shallow end," Priya managed to say, her voice a little higher than usual as she quickly stepped past him and slipped into the water to hide her burning face.
The water was cool... a refreshing shock against the tropical heat, rising up to her chest as she walked into the center of the pool.
Wren followed her, his bigger frame displacing the water as he waded in, the liquid lapping against his broad ribs.
Wren was genuinely out of his element.
He had done a tiny bit of clumsy swimming with Isa especially for that treasure hunting but that had mostly consisted of her holding his hands tightly, guiding him through the deep water while he simply pushed his legs to keep from sinking.
It hadn’t been a real lesson; it had been an excuse for proximity... Now, looking at the clear water, Wren actually wanted to learn how to move through it properly without relying on someone else to keep his head afloat.
’Alright I’m motivated!’
He looked at Priya with his blue eyes entirely serious, trusting her instructions completely.
"First, you need to learn how to control your breathing and feel the buoyancy," Priya said, her professional lifeguard tone returning as she tried to anchor her own jumping nerves.
She took a step closer to him with the water rippling between their bodies. "If your muscles are completely tense, you’re going to sink like a stone so you have to relax."
Wren uncrossed his arms, letting them float loosely on the surface. "Easier said than done."
"I’ll support you," Priya promised softly.
She stepped directly into his personal space with the proximity instantly causing the air between them to feel thick.
To properly guide an adult’s balance in the water, she couldn’t maintain a polite distance... She had to use leverage.
Priya reached out, her small, soft hands sliding flat against the wet, hard muscle of his stomach.
The difference was obvious... her cool gentle palms resting against the burning rigid heat of his abdominal wall.
"Take a deep breath," she instructed with her eyes locked onto his chest as she felt his torso expand under her touch. "Hold it in your chest. That’s your natural float."
Wren did as he was told, inhaling deeply.
Priya then slid her hands around to the sides of his waist with her fingers gripping the firm lines of his hips to steady him as he slowly leaned his weight backward, lifting his feet off the mosaic tiles.
The physical contact was electric...
Wren was entirely focused on the mechanics of the lesson, trying to keep his legs straight and follow her rhythm, but Priya’s brain was actively melting.
Every time his lower back shifted, every time he lost his balance for a split second and his wet hard chest brushed directly against her arms, a jolt of pure confusion and desire shot down her spine.
She was teaching her childhood friend how to float, but her hands were wrapped around his waist, her face was inches from his bare neck, and the clean scent of the water mixed with his scent was completely overwhelming her senses.
She kept telling herself she was just being a good friend and just returning a favor but the frantic racing of her pulse told a completely different story.
"You’re doing really well," she whispered with her voice trembling slightly as she held him at the surface of the sapphire water. "Just... keep kicking your legs. Slowly."
Wren moved his legs, his feet breaking the surface in small splashes.
He was completely focused, trusting the steady, firm hold of her hands to keep him from dropping beneath the surface.
"Let’s try treading water," Priya suggested after a few minutes, desperately needing to break the suffocating intimacy of the floating exercise.
She released her hold on his waist, taking a few steps backward toward the deeper end of the pool where the water level transitioned from chest-high to over their heads.
Wren followed her with his arms moving in clumsy, wide paddles as he navigated the deeper water.
His feet could no longer touch the bottom smoothly since he had to constantly move to keep his chin above the ripples.
"You have to move your hands in a sculling motion," Priya explained, demonstrating the horizontal sweeping movement with her palms. "And your legs should move like you’re riding a bicycle... Don’t panic if you drop lower, just keep the rhythm..."
Wren attempted to copy her movements with his hands cutting through the water, but his coordination fractured.
He wasn’t used to the lack of solid ground beneath his feet. His rhythm stuttered, his heavy legs began to drag him downward, and his head dipped beneath the surface for a frantic second.
He lost his footing entirely in the deep water...
Instinct took over. Wren’s arm shot out through the water, his hand finding Priya’s waist and with a swift unbothered motion, he hauled her straight toward him to stabilize his weight.
"Gah!"
SPLASH!
The sudden movement caused a massive splash with the water churning violently around them before settling into quiet heavy ripples.
When the splashing stopped, the garden pool was dead silent.
They were pulled flush against each other, completely chest-to-chest in the deep water.
Wren’s arm was wrapped securely around her lower back, holding her tightly against his torso to keep himself steady, while Priya’s hands had instinctively clamped onto his wet, muscular shoulders for support.
The forest-green swimsuit was pressed tightly against his bare skin with the water lapping gently around their necks.
They were staring right into each other’s eyes, their faces so close that Priya could feel the warm rush of his breath against her lips.
Wren didn’t drop his arm.
He just looked down at her flushed, beautiful face, his expression softening into a plain, completely genuine, and relaxed smile.
"Thanks for this," Wren murmured. "You’ve always been really good to me, Priya. Ever since we were kids."
He slowly lifted his free left hand from the water.
Moving with an easy, gentle tenderness that completely disarmed her, he used his fingers to brush a wet, heavy strand of black hair away from her face, tucking it neatly behind her ear.
His knuckles grazed the soft skin of her jawline and Priya didn’t know what to say.
"U–U... Uh..."
The sweet simplicity of the gesture was ten times more devastating than any aggressive advance.
’N-No!’
The frantic terrified alarm went off in her head just as her body began to lean into his space.
The weight of what she was about to do... betraying a good man who loved her snapped her back to reality.
With a sudden, panicked burst of energy, Priya planted both of her hands firmly against Wren’s chest and shoved him backward.
Wren wasn’t expecting the sudden force.
He lost his grip on her waist with his balance shattering as he went over backward, splashing loudly into the water and submerging completely beneath the sapphire surface.
Priya instantly let out a bright ringing giggle as she watched Wren break the surface a second later, shaking his head like a wet dog, blinking the chlorine from his bright blue eyes with a thoroughly startled look on his face.
She swam over to him with a wide beautiful smile gracing her features as she splashed a tiny bit of water toward his face.
"Why wouldn’t I be...?" Priya said softly. "You’ve always been really good to me too, Wren. I’m just returning the favor."
"I’m glad... wanna kiss again?"
