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Chapter 19
Swimming Pool
Edward
After a few minutes, the bag with all our stuff - except for the two towels I had over my shoulder - was safely stowed in the locker.
Bella had her new swimsuit on, and we walked hand in hand to the swimmer's pools.
The dark blue one-piece did not sit quite as I had imagined ... but better than the breath of nothing that Alice had given her. It was much lower cut than I had thought, and these funny underwire cup things brought Bella's décolleté much too well to advantage, which not only I noticed ... And put unrealizable fantasies not only into my head - but for different reasons, which again made me feel a deep satisfaction. And the straps were also just spaghetti ... But something better, unfortunately, the receptionist did not have to offer. Yes, she had also survived my somewhat surprising visit - albeit with a fall from her stool, a sore hip, and a sprained wrist. She had probably also lost a few more fingernails, but at least her thoughts were no longer only about chipped nail polish and my naked body. The only amusing thing about these pictures, which have haunted me all my life, were the changing wishful desires of the covered body parts with the trend.
We had agreed to do some physical activity first, for the mutually agreeable reasons that the pools were quite full at the moment.
Inside the paved perimeter, I unerringly tossed the towels onto one of the chairs from a somewhat long distance - it would be too cool for Bella to lie down in the non-existent sun.
She rolled her eyes and said, "If you're going to put on a show, you better show me how fast you can swim."
"As you wish, honored one!", I made a servant, pressed a kiss on her hand and looked around.
Only in the rear pool a few bathing caps of older gentlemen leisurely drew their lanes. Otherwise, this area was quite well protected from prying eyes by hedges. There were also no surveillance cameras installed.
So I winked at her again, did a five-meter pike jump with a half-turn, and within a few seconds, I was underwater, dolphin-style, once to the far edge of the pool and back.
When I emerged in front of Bella and shook the water out of my hair, she was still standing in the same place, in the same pose, with her eyes and mouth open.
"Well, enough show?", I grinned at her and rested my chin on my folded arms on the tiled perimeter.
"How awesome! We definitely have to do that together sometime when I'm changed. That must be a mind-blowing feeling."
She broke free from her rigidity and came towards me visibly excited.
This again.
I suppressed a sigh, swallowed the quietly stabbing doubts that always came up - as if on cue - on this topic, and replied to her, "You're just acting as if we'd only have two, already fully planned weeks then."
After all, I had firmly resolved to spend a completely carefree day with her today.
She chuckled.
"I imagine it would be fantastic to romp through the water with you. One is still allowed to have dreams, right?"
She reached out to brush the wet hair off of my forehead and came to squat right in front of me, eyes shining - wide-legged.
God. This woman was driving me crazy.
I closed my eyelids and was about to dive off.
Was that intentional or was she just that careless?
But then another idea came to me, so I grabbed her hip.
"You might as well have this," and threw her over my head backwards.
She shrieked, kicked wildly with all her extremities and came up splashing loudly in the water.
It looked so funny that I had to laugh.
But when she didn't immediately reappear on the surface, worry overtook me and I swam to her to pull her up.
But there she was - snorting, paddling and gasping for air.
"Hey, how dare you!", she gasped indignantly and began to splash all over me.
I just dove around her, grabbed her from behind and pulled her to me.
"I do need a reason to save you," I murmured in her ear, pressing a kiss underneath. "Do you forgive me?", I asked and began to swim backwards.
At first she still fidgeted a bit, but then relaxed trustingly in my arms.
I just had to pull myself together to stay within human speed limits ... And not get distracted by her warm soft curves. Did I mention that the swimsuit was too low cut? Also in the back? Except for a spaghetti cross over her bare skin, there was nothing else till the top of her butt.
"Hmm ..." she purred with relish, "that's one way to endure."
After a while, Bella set about - how could it be otherwise - caressing my forearms ... Or rather, caressing every damn millimeter of my skin with tenderly tickling fingertips. It was quite a challenge to have her so close to me, with so little in between - the fleeting but frequent skin contact of our legs and her shapely butt in just the wrong place.
I pulled her a little higher.
The liquid that flowed around us kept me at least at a constant temperature and also reduced the intensity of her body heat, so that passion could not accumulate in my innermost being and come to a boil as usual.
After two more laps, an arm came snaking up and tried to cradle the back of my neck.
At this, I noticed her incipient goosebumps, which I gratefully seized as an excuse to break this dangerously intimate contact.
"So this is what you call physical activity," I teased, poking her in the sides.
She squealed and started struggling around again.
"If you don't get moving yourself and warm up soon, you're going to catch a cold."
"Yes, Daddy," she announced, turning to me, and sparkling at me with a mischievous glint in her eye, making me frown in confusion.
What was she up to now? It was hard to believe, but sometimes she could be quite cunning.
And then she seriously tried to bite my neck - her only possible tickling method. She fought wildly, maltreating her already purple-colored lips, and did not do badly at all - against a vampire and for having no ground under her feet.
I couldn't help chuckling, whereupon she only tried to attack me more doggedly.
The image of the angry little house cat that came to mind once again - a very drenched hissing house cat - also did not help me to not provoke her even more. She looked so cute. Which is why I took pity quite quickly and just pulled her to me to kiss her ...
But not only the unusual temperature of her lips, but also her rather hard erect nipples, which pressed against me, confirmed it. She was really cooled down - I was immediately a bit warmer for it. For my sensation, the wet was also rather piss-warm ... Thank goodness the similar smell in places was still within limits. That would certainly change in the course of the day and with increasing number of children or incontinence guests.
"Go on, Miss Swan, show me your swimming skills," I disengaged myself from her - or rather her wedged fingers from my hair - and gave her a strong push, the momentum of which she actually took advantage of and got going.
Very concentrated. Exemplary breaststroke.
Of course, I did not miss the opportunity to glide next to her and watch her.
"Do you have to?", she asked, somewhat uncomfortably touched, as she would probably react under any scrutiny of her sports activities.
"What?", I inquired innocently.
She rolled her eyes again annoyed and got a little out of rhythm.
"I do feel like I'm doing the 'seahorse' (1) - or threatening to drown."
"One never knows with you. With your danger attraction, besides a simple calf cramp, it's even possible that someone might decide to release piranhas here and sic them on you," I explained to her, trying to be serious.
She squinted her eyes into slits, made a cute pout, and then said in a perfectly innocent tone.
"So, if you rescue and massage me then, I wouldn't mind a full body cramp at all."
And thus triggered not at all harmless ideas in me.
"You are really impossible. Because a cramp is so pleasant. I can also go out and walk alongside you," and with that I wiped the suggestive grin off her face.
"Like that would be better - like the lifeguard himself as a bodyguard."
"Okay, okay, I get it," I pretended and swam ahead a bit, and then watched her furtively while I swam backwards.
She did her best to ignore me, stretching out her swimming strokes and taking her head under the surface in a semi-professional manner. However, she always came up a touch too late, so that she regularly got water in her mouth and then spit it out again.
She looked so adorable doing it that after a very short time I did a backward roll, dove under her, and lifted her up.
Of course, surprised by my attack, she swallowed some water and actually dared to snort it in my face.
"Hey ...", I started indignantly, but noticed at that moment how she was trembling. "You need to warm up, Bella!", I stated and, with her in my arms, I was already at the edge and climbing the ladder.
She chuckled the whole time, which sounded really funny with quivering lips and made me smile.
"Y ... y ... you r ... really should b ... be ... m ... m ... more ... i ... in ... c ... conspi ... spicuous! W ... what normal m ... man c ... c ... could d ... do that?", she then also tried to rebuke me.
I simply wrapped the towel around her head and upper body with a grin, knelt down in front of her with the second one and rubbed off her legs without thinking.
She peered down at me through the slit.
"Hihi ... you could do that more often."
I rose, wrapped the cloth around her hips and pulled her to me.
In such moments I was really glad not to be able to read her thoughts - because they would certainly not leave me as cold as those of all the other female bathers.
"Can you think of anything else, madame?"
I made my way into her cocoon and pressed a firm kiss to her still far too cold lips, which parted immediately under my touch and followed me as I pulled back early.
"Mmm ..." she pouted at me with her lower lip pushed forward. "How then?"
I sighed and passed over the question.
"And what do you now intend to do about your hypothermia?"
"Seriously now?", her eyes flashed.
"Oh yes, very seriously!", I fixed her with a reproving look.
"Sauna!", was the prompt reply.
I groaned.
"Don't the hot pools do it?" I tried to avert the impending disaster.
"Then why did you ask?", she replied, slightly annoyed.
"Um ...? Out of politeness!?"
"That was a rhetorical question," she grumbled to herself, until an idea apparently occurred to her, and then she stubbornly jutted her chin again.
Uh … oh … not a good sign.
"It's still so crowded there, and besides, I'd get warm much faster in the sauna ... And our bathing suits could dry in that time ... Because I'm already hungry. Otherwise, I would have to put on one of Alice's bikinis while eating."
I groaned - inwardly. This woman, this little beast ... She knew exactly which arguments worked with me. Sauna?! Honestly, I had never been in one - why should a non-sweating vampire also go to a sauna? But it was not only the idea of unclothed people in all shapes and sizes, provoked by Northern Europe's tradition, that discomposed me - on the one hand a naked Bella - on the other drooling beer-bellied old geezers. But also the general uncertainty about it. I didn't believe now that I would explode at 175-260 degrees Fahrenheit, but I also didn't know how fast I would heat up. In the desert, I was at a maximum of 120 degrees Fahrenheit - but without human company. And something burning on me or sizzling evaporating liquid on my skin would also not be so advantageous. I really had to be very careful.
Accordingly, I was tense and concentrated the following time and it was ... Well, not really a pleasure - at least for me. The clothing obligation was indeed already a great relief for me - and since we wanted to let our wet things dry, we gladly accepted the offer of linen towels for the sauna. I was surprised by my intense reaction to Bella when she stepped out of the locker room with only the thin, soft fabric around her body.
I wondered why the sight - although much more was covered than with the swimsuit - triggered so much more violent fantasies and was glad for the textile wrapped tightly around my hips. Was it because of her bare shoulders, which were now better accentuated because of her ponytail - or the more intimate appearance - or the awareness that there was nothing underneath ... And if the knot in front of the chest would not hold ...
I tore myself away and let her decide between the steam bath at 165 degrees or at 195 degrees Fahrenheit - she chose the latter.
In the small wooden room we were alone at first and Bella climbed awkwardly onto the top bench, which I commented with a raised eyebrow and a skeptical look.
"I love the dry heat - it reminds me of Phoenix!"
So I sat down at her feet and my exposed skin was first of all soaking wet from top to bottom, since all existing humidity precipitated on me.
It's a good thing that no one was there - such a lightning sweat would certainly have been unusual. Bella thought it was funny and played with the drops running down my back. To be honest, I found it disgusting - the idea of probably just combining all the accumulated exhalations of other people ... And silently letting them dry on me ... Well, what didn't one do ... And outside a shower was waiting.
After a minute Bella's face color looked normal again and after another six she already had a highly red blush, her blood flow was thundering in my ears, and I wondered if that was still healthy.
I put my hand on her forehead and flinched.
It felt so surprisingly cool, as if I were touching someone in my family, so I was really shocked at first. Until I realized that I was the one who had changed body temperature - apparently I was just level with hers.
She wore the same facial expression that I suspected was on me and began stroking me again in awe.
"Wow ... you feel so ... different!", she breathed as she traced my cheekbones and leaned forward to taste my warm lips.
It was a strangely unfamiliar feeling, and I had the impression that she was getting colder and colder.
"Watch out or you'll burn yourself," I mumbled against her rapturously experimenting mouth.
And just at that moment the door was opened and we were interrupted with a snubbed throat clearing.
We moved apart and caught sight of an aged bony woman who was eyeing us snappishly, wondering if she should complain to the management for causing a public nuisance.
I put on my most charming 'old lady' smile to appease her.
But she was a tough nut to crack and I had to top it off.
"Excuse me very much, dear lady, we were just about to leave. Do not be disturbed further by our youthful frivolity," I said, like politeness personified - as far as that was possible only with a linen cloth around the hips - indicated another bow and left with Bella on my arm from the stewing room and a puzzled looking woman.
I resisted the temptation to carry Bella into the plunge pool and we said our goodbyes outside the separate changing areas.
Exceedingly thoroughly showered, washed and in only half-dry swimming trunks, I waited for her for lunch.
She came - in a fluttering, semi-transparent, barely mid-length kimono over her swimsuit.
And I cursed Alice for the umpteenth time that day.
During the meal, I struggled yet again to ignore my own and strangers' fantasies, not let my eyes drift astray, keep a certain body part under control, and hold a reasonable conversation.
After that, she wanted to rest a bit first, so we looked for two free, somewhat secluded lounge chairs.
It had become surprisingly warm about midday and the haze in the sky disturbingly thin, so that I could almost have been tempted to worry that the sun would come through and ruin our plans with its telltale rays. But my decades of trust in Alice-when it came to weather forecasts and our inconspicuousness-was undiminished. So I took the bag that we had with us during our - um ... 'wellness' excursion - with me, in order to have my cell phone within reach.
I spread out a bath towel for Bella to lie on while she tried to tug the adjacent lounge chair as close to hers as possible.
Which she didn't manage very well - because of the protruding armrests.
The fact made her grumble morosely to herself and me chuckle in amusement.
"Wouldn't we rather lie down on the grass with the towels?", she asked hopefully.
"And then?" I replied skeptically.
I already knew why - and tried in vain to put on an undefined innocent expression.
"You'd better not take the chance. We almost had a complaint on our hands earlier," I explained to her as I settled down.
She sighed in resignation, but then her mouth twisted into a triumphant smile. She looked around briefly and her eyes bored into mine.
Oh no, what was coming next?
But the attention of my eyes was immediately seized by a movement at her waist. Seductively she twirled the end of the bow, which held the kimono together, around her index finger.
A tingling sense of foreboding shot through my limbs.
No, she wouldn't really do that ... Or would she ...?
Infinitely slowly she pulled on it, further and further and my eyes grew bigger and more incredulous. Then a small jerk disturbed her steady gesture, the knot opened, and she lifted the ribbon briefly with the one hand and then let it slide carelessly to the floor. The other still held the coat closed.
Meanwhile, my hands clutched the edge of the lounge chair so that the plastic only creaked. My gaze flickered briefly up to her face.
Also not better.
She just bit her full lower lip and looked so uncertain-innocent and yet at the same time so resolutely courageous, that this alone made my heart swell.
In a last desperate act, I shook my head on my otherwise completely frozen body to stop her.
For once, despite her protection, I knew exactly what she was thinking about - a striptease - and that I had already lost.
Just in that second she loosened her grip and let the kimono follow the belt with a naive shoulder roll.
Even before I could close my greedy eyes, they took on a life of their own and absorbed the unexpected revelation.
Had I previously had them so badly or so well under control that I hadn't noticed it earlier? Or had my subconscious just suppressed that much too quickly? She wasn't wearing the swimsuit, which had probably still been too wet for her - no - but three juicy green triangles that made her skin glow and didn't leave much to my imagination.
Groaning, I let myself fall backwards and buried my face in the towel.
But then I registered the unbearable throbbing condition in my pants and carelessly turned quickly onto my stomach - just hoping that no one would notice me.
"Hey!", I heard her exclaim indignantly, followed by a movement and something silky slapping my back, making me laugh in surprise.
This woman was really incredible.
"Wowow ... Bella mia. First a strip tease and then some S and M?", I freed my organ of speech from the terry cloth, so that she could understand me better. "Are you actually aware of who ... or better WHAT you are hitting right now? "
"Pish ..." she gave a strained snide and laid down. "As if you'd ever do anything with me."
Deliberately ambiguous, the disappointment about my dismissive restraint resonated and I was immediately incredibly sorry to have unintentionally hurt her again.
I propped myself up on my elbows to reach my other hand over to her.
She was also lying on her stomach with her head resting on her folded arms.
Lovingly I stroked over her hair and stonily ignored her almost completely naked body.
"Bella? - Bella, honey?"
"Hmm ..."
"Bella – sweetheart - bunny - mousie ..."
She vibrated under my hand.
"Think of something better."
"My cute little claw-extending house cat?"
"What?" she grumbled, stifling a giggle, but at least turning her face to me.
"I love you and you are beautiful. But what did you expect from me?", I asked and stroked the strands of hair behind her ear.
"That for once you show me how much you love me and that you think I'm beautiful," she murmured, "... And don't turn away from me right away ..."
"Oh, Bella!", I sighed and let my hand rest on her cheek. "But not here ... And you know ..., I'm really trying ..."
Why did it all have to be so immensely difficult for me, too?
"I'm sorry! Will you forgive me again?", I said sincerely, bent to her and gave her a firm kiss on the tender soft warm skin of her shoulder.
We sighed in sync.
"Well, think of a suitable reparation already! I'll read in the meantime."
I ran my fingers through my hair.
Also this again! Today I was also spared nothing!
Meanwhile, she rummaged in her bag for her book and suddenly stopped.
"That means ..." she raised her head and grinned challengingly at me again. "I have an idea about that already."
Before I could even raise my eyebrows questioningly, she was holding out a bottle of sunscreen to me.
My thoughts raced. And cursed Alice, who had really not missed any opportunity to torture me.
"Um ... the sky is overcast after all ...", I tried my luck, only to conjure up disaster.
Sourly she twisted her sweet mouth, sparkled at me and dangerously slowly lowered her arm.
"You can get sunburned even when it's cloudy - and I have very sensitive skin," she remarked quite correctly, as I had to admit to myself. "If ...", she threatened me downright and I steered quickly in order not to push her completely offend her.
"OKAY. Give it to me."
I had no idea how I was going to get through this, but surrendered to my fate anyway.
An hour later, I was lying on a curved bench in the warm thermal water together with a highly satisfied Bella and still didn't know exactly how I had managed it.
Somehow with closed eyes, playing Mozart's collected works in my mind ... Nevertheless, the sensitive receptors of my fingers had mercilessly absorbed every millimeter of her limbs and irreversibly stored them: the texture of her skin, the consistency of her flesh underneath, the trajectories of her throbbing veins, the position of her tendons and muscles ... Actually, only her legs were new - but presumably it was the completion of the overall picture ... Or whatever. In any case, the after-effects of this lotion action were still pulsating through my body, and I desperately tried to relax - though I would have had to take a trip to the Arctic to calm down again.
I had my arms stretched out on the edge of the pool, my heavy head laid back and my eyelids closed.
The ubiquitous instinct-driven thoughts around me didn't exactly make it easier either.
But at coffee time it became less and less and after half an hour we were alone in our round pool. What Bella immediately took advantage of, snuggled up to me, began to beguile my neck bend with nose and lips and to tickle my belly under water.
I lifted my head, put my forehead to hers and looked deep into her eyes.
"Do you have to do that now?", I asked as gently as my overwhelmed state allowed.
"Please Edward, just relax and enjoy it!", she urged me gently but insistently.
Relax! As if I have not tried anything else for an hour.
"Wouldn't that be a bit conspicuous here?", I remarked.
"When is anyone ever inconspicuous with you by their side!", she complained.
I laughed out loud.
"You think it's all down to me ...? Well, because of me, the guy behind the bushes is certainly not on the verge of jerking off!"
"What?" she started up and looked around in horror, but couldn't spot him. "And what about those two girls over there in the other pool?", she announced defiantly.
"Um ... yeah ... so they've been making plans to get you out of the way for a while now ...", I admitted.
"What?!"
Her pitch became more and more eardrum-threatening.
"And you're sitting here all calm ..."
Again I had to chuckle.
"What do you think would happen if I went before them with that claim?! And besides ... they are not very creative."
"Haha ... very funny," she commented on my suggestion.
"Let's face it, if I confronted anyone who was jealous of you or me, I'd have nothing else to do all day."
Thank goodness she then limited her attentions to my forearms and hands, and we survived the rest of the excursion unscathed and without further friction.
(1)The 'Seahorse' is a swimming badge that children from the age of 5 can earn as part of a swimming course. At the end of the course, the children take a kind of exam. They must be able to jump from the edge of the pool and then swim 25 yards in a stroke of their choice and dive up an object from shoulder-deep water. They get a seahorse badge if they pass the test, which they can sew onto their swimsuit. Of course, this is only a basic course, and the children will not be able to swim safely after this.
Thanks for reading!
