FINGERS LIKE FIRE

SERA

Knox.

His elbows rested on the edge of the pool, body half-submerged, water dripping from his hair, shoulders glistening. His eyes locked on mine, dark and unreadable.

My mouth went dry.

I blinked once, twice, just to make sure I was awake. That I hadn’t slipped into another dream.

Because this? Knox, bare-chested in the moonlit pool, water glistening down the ridges of his torso, eyes locked on mine like he already knew every dark corner of my thoughts?

This felt like the dream I just tore myself out of.

“You don’t look like yourself,” he said, cocking his head slightly. “Did you have a bad dream?”

My breath caught.

I couldn’t answer. I wouldn’t. My brain scrambled to deflect, to ground myself.

“What are you doing out here this late?” I asked, folding my arms even though the heat curling inside me had nothing to do with the night air.

He chuckled softly. “I could ask you the same thing.”

I opened my mouth, but before I could get a word out, he added casually,

“Came out to take a nice skinny dip. Clear my head.”

I froze.

“Skinny dip?” I echoed, my voice too high, too breathless.

He shrugged. “Best kind of swim, if you ask me.”

Despite myself, my eyes dropped just for a second, and yep, there it was.

The water shimmered around his waist, but it wasn’t shy about what it was hiding. The outline was there. Clear. Stark. Hard.

I gasped, jerking my gaze away as heat scorched across my cheeks.

“You’re—” I cleared my throat. “You’re naked.”

“Come on,” He gave a low, wicked chuckle. “This isn’t anything you haven’t seen before, Sera.”

“Jesus,” I muttered, turning slightly like it would protect me from the pull of him. From the dream that still echoed through my limbs.

“I should go.”

I didn’t even sound convincing to myself.

Behind me, his voice followed light, and teasing.

“You run off every time we end up alone. Is that how much I affect you?”

I stopped. Scoffed.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then stay.”

I turned around, and he was still there, arms stretched across the edge of the pool, his shoulders broad and relaxed.

“Come on,” he said. “You stay on your side, I stay on mine. I won’t come close unless you want me to.”

“I won’t want you to.”

His mouth curved. “Yet you’re still standing there.”

I hated how he was right. Hated more how my body responded to just his voice, the water lapping gently around him, the way his wet skin caught the moonlight.

“I’m not even dressed for swimming,” I said flatly, arms still crossed like it would guard me from my own thoughts.

“You’re dressed just fine,” he said, eyes flicking slowly down my body and back up. “Or you could always skinny dip too…”

The way he said it; suggestive, dark with promise sent a shiver down my spine.

I knew I should leave.

I knew I should turn around, march back to bed, crawl beside Jared and pretend none of this happened. But that dream hadn’t faded.

The feel of Knox’s hands, his voice, his body, my body it was all still here.

Still hot.

Maybe I wanted to see just how close I could get to the fire without burning alive.

Without answering, I slipped the belt of my robe loose and let it fall to the ground.

Underneath, I wore only my short silk nightdress, thin, barely there, the kind that clung when I moved. No bra. No panties.

His eyes dragged over me slowly.

Hungry.

But true to his word, he didn’t move.

I stepped forward and began to descend the pool steps. The water hit my ankles, then my thighs. Cool, crisp, soothing on my flushed skin but it didn’t put out the fire inside me.

Not even close.

Knox stayed silent as I eased in fully, the silk floating around me.

I kept my distance.

So did he.

But I could feel him.

And God help me, I wanted to see how long I could hold out before I did something I wouldn’t be able to undo.

“You came in here panting… sweating.” Knox’s voice slid through the quiet like heat. “What was that about?”

I tried to steady my breathing, gripping the edge of the pool like it would anchor me.

“Just a dream.”

“Bad dream?” he asked, but there was a knowing curve to his lips. He already knew the answer.

“No,” I shook my head. “Not bad.”

“Hmm.” He swam closer, slow and lazy, water licking up his chest. “So, not bad… just intense?”

I didn’t say anything.

He tilted his head. “Was it about me?”

My throat dried. I turned my face away, trying not to give him anything. But silence was an answer, and he knew it.

“Thought so,” he murmured. “You’ve got that look… like you woke up soaked and aching, and still not satisfied. You had a sex dream about me, uhn?”

I gasped at how accurate he was.

“I didn’t say it was a sex dream,” I said, my voice low and tight.

Knox’s smirk deepened.

“No, but you didn’t have to.” He swam a little closer, water swirling between us. “The way you came in here, skin flushed, breathing fast, legs probably still trembling, yeah, you definitely dreamt of me. And I fucked you good in it, didn’t I?”

I inhaled sharply, but my body betrayed me, my thighs pressed together under the water.

He saw it. Of course he did.

He swam closer again and I didn’t stop him, couldn’t bring myself to.

“That’s on me,” he said, now right in front of me. “Leaving you like that this morning… wet, needy, right on the edge.”

I shuddered.

“I can make it better,” he said, his voice dark silk, his hand gliding beneath the water, finding my hip with deliberate pressure.

I jerked my gaze up to meet his, furious at how much that turned me on.

“Right here. Right now,” he continued, holding my gaze intently. “Just say the word.”

“Knox…” I warned, or tried to. But it came out breathy and needy. Like a plea, not a protest.

The cool water clung to my skin, but everything inside me burned. I realized too late that the hem of my nightgown had floated up around my waist.

Below it—I was bare. No panties.

Nothing between me and him.

Nothing to hide how exposed I was… or how badly I wanted him.

His eyes locked with mine, and he must’ve noticed the moment it clicked because something dark flared in his expression. Possession. Hunger.

He didn’t look away, not for a second, as his hand slid between my thighs.

I gasped.

He watched me, just watched as his thumb found my clit and brushed over it in slow, lazy circles.

A sharp moan escaped my lips.

The sensation was instant and overwhelming; I was still so sensitive from the dream..

“Still tender?” he murmured, low and wicked. “That dream must’ve wrecked you.”

I cried out softly, gripping his shoulders, hips jerking slightly as he played with me under the water, thumbing my swollen bud with expert teasing strokes.

“You’re already shaking,” he whispered, edging closer until my back hit the pool’s tile wall, trapping me between the cool surface and the heat of his body. “All this because of a dream, Sera? Or was it because I left you wanting?”

“Please…” I whimpered. I didn’t even know what I was begging for, release, relief, and him.

All of it.

Knox’s voice was a sinful rasp against my ear.

“You want more?”

I nodded helpless, and breathless. He gave me no warning.

His finger plunged into me, hard and deep.

I cried out, head dropping against his shoulder as the pleasure crashed through me, raw and immediate.

He curled his finger inside me again. Hit that spot deep and perfect, and I jerked, gasping out a moan I couldn’t hold back.

“Knox—” I whimpered, already coming undone.

“Shh,” he whispered sharply, voice low but firm. “You want to wake Jared?”

My stomach flipped.

The reminder of where we were. who was sleeping just down the hall. It only made the heat between my legs flare hotter. I nodded, breath ragged, and slapped a hand over my mouth.

“Good girl,” he praised, dark and smug. “Keep quiet, and I’ll keep going.”

And he did.

His thick finger thrust into me harder now, rough and fast, the angle deep and merciless. His other hand gripped my hip under the water, holding me still while he worked me apart like he owned my body.

“You’re dripping,” he rasped, making my walls clench tighter around him. “So fucking wet.”

I whimpered into my palm, grinding down on his hand. He added another finger, stretching me open, and I nearly sobbed. My thighs shook. My back arched against the pool wall.

“You love it,” he growled, “don’t you? Riding my hand like it’s the only thing that’ll fix you. You need me to ruin you a little, baby? Is that what gets you off?”

I moaned behind my hand, eyes fluttering closed.

“That’s what I thought.”

A third finger pushed into me, then a fourth, slow and deliberate until I was stuffed full, knuckles deep.

His thumb pressed down hard against my clit, rubbing, circling, teasing with the precision of someone who knew my body better than even I did.

I couldn’t stop moving, couldn’t stop riding his hand, chasing that pleasure I was so desperate for.

“Look at you,” he whispered, his voice thick with lust and something else called pride. Cruel affection. “Jared could never get you like this. Never make you sob like you’re grateful to be used.”

I whimpered, tears pricking the corners of my eyes as the pleasure built to something unbearable. Something white-hot and wild.

“Such a pretty mess,” he murmured, almost reverent. “My filthy, needy girl.”

The high praise mixed with dirty words made me clench and brought me closer to my climax.

And as if he knew, he curled his fingers deeper, hitting that exact spot while grinding his thumb over my clit rough, merciless, and perfect.

Everything in me exploded.

Orgasm crashed through me.

It wasn’t soft or quiet.

It was violent.

Shattering.

So intense my legs gave out, and I would’ve sunk into the water if he hadn’t been holding me. I bit into my hand to stifle the scream, sobbing as my body convulsed, pulsing hard around his fingers.

He didn’t stop.

He worked me through it, dragging every last tremor out of me, making sure I felt every second of it.

“That’s it,” he whispered, his voice rough with pride and possession. “Cum all over my hand. You’re mine now.”

There was no denying it anymore. I was Knox’s.

Spirit. Soul. Body.