WARNINGS!!!!! [This chapter contains smut. Keep in mind that this is not as descriptive as most other fics. I decided to keep this one more filled with fluff, since it is about soulmates. There will be future smut scenes much like this one.] xx
The pool was almost empty when we arrived, just a few scattered guests and the quiet echo of water lapping against the tile. The overhead lights glowed warm and golden, reflecting in ripples on the ceiling, and the room smelled faintly of chlorine and lavender from the nearby spa. My fingers were cold where they clutched the towel around my shoulders, not from nervesâokay, maybe a littleâbut from the air-conditioning that kissed my damp skin as I stepped from the changing room.
I saw him before he saw me. He was already in the water, submerged to his chest, arms braced along the ledge, head tipped back. His dark hair was wet and slicked back, neck arched and exposed, and a few droplets clung to his collarbone. He looked utterly at peaceâno stage lights, no screaming fans, no rush.
The thought surprised me, made my stomach flip in the best kind of way. I dropped the towel slowly, letting it fall to the floor in a soft heap. His head turned, eyes locking onto mineâand I saw the change immediately. His mouth parted just slightly, and his gaze swept over me like a slow tide, reverent and stunned all at once.
The bikini Iâd chosen was simple: black, with thin straps and just enough curve to highlight the parts of me I sometimes tried to hide. But tonight, I didnât want to hide. My tattoos peeked from beneath the fabric, wrapping around my ribcage, trailing down my thigh. I watched him notice every inch, and it was like being touched without a hand laid on me.
Chris pushed off from the ledge and stood, the water sloshing around him as he walked slowly to the steps. I hadnât even moved yet, but I felt pinned in place by the way he looked at meâlike Iâd already undone him. âYouâre gonna kill me,â he said, voice low and breathless.
Iâd imagined her in a thousand ways since the kissâhow sheâd look first thing in the morning, how sheâd laugh against my skin, how her hand would feel resting on my chest. But nothing prepared me for the sight of her stepping into that pool area, dropping the towel, and standing there like a secret meant only for me.
The bikini clung to her in all the right places, revealing soft skin and art that told quiet stories I wanted to learn by heart. Curves I already knew in memory now laid bare, unapologetic and confident. Her tattoos⊠damn. They werenât just beautifulâthey were her. Wild and strong and layered. I wanted to trace every line with my mouth.
I couldnât help moving toward her. Every step felt like a promise.
âYouâre gonna kill me,â I murmured, half-joking, wholly undone. She laughed, soft and warm, and stepped into the water. Her skin prickled with goosebumps, her breath catching at the cold, but her eyes never left mine. I met her halfway, the pool shallow here, the space between us charged with something electric. âThen die happy,â she whispered, almost daring. I reached for her.
His hands found my waist firstâtentative, warm beneath the surface. I inhaled sharply, not from surprise but from the sheer sensation of it. Of him. Of the way his fingers curled just slightly into my skin like he couldnât quite believe I was real.
âHi,â I breathed. He smiled, eyes flicking to my mouth. âHi". It wouldâve been easy for him to kiss me then. I was half-expecting it. But instead, Chris leaned in and rested his forehead against mine, his hands still cradling my hips in the quiet water.
âI needed this,â he said. âNot the pool. Just⊠you.â I didnât reply right away. I just wrapped my arms around his neck and let myself feel how close we were. How natural it felt. How much I wanted more. âI needed you too,â I whispered against his cheek, and that was all it took. His mouth found mine, and this time there was no hesitation.
She tasted like mint and something warm and familiar I couldnât name. I kissed her slow at first, letting it build, letting myself feel it all. Her fingers slid into my wet hair, and I pressed her closer until our bodies were flush, no space left between us but the water curling around our waists.
She moved against me like she knew exactly what I neededâlike we were made for this moment. I backed her gently into the shallow edge of the pool, one hand gripping the tile behind her, the other slipping up her spine, guiding, anchoring. She arched into me, and a low sound escaped her throat, one that made every nerve in my body snap to attention.
âChrisâŠâ she breathed, her lips brushing mine. I kissed her harder then, and the heat between us had nothing to do with the water. We didnât speak. We didnât need to.
Her body told me everything I wanted to know.
The edge of the pool pressed cool and unyielding against my back, but I barely felt it. Chris's hands were everywhereâone cupped the base of my neck like he was afraid I might vanish if he let go, the other sliding slow and sure along my waist, his fingers skimming the curve of my hip beneath the waterline.
Every place he touched sparked something inside meâheat blooming in places that had felt numb for too long.
The kiss deepened. Gone was the hesitance, the sweetness of our first touch. This was hunger. This was weeks of glances, of brushed hands and unfinished thoughts. Of quiet moments thick with everything we hadnât dared say. It was all spilling out now, tangled in the press of our bodies and the rhythm of our mouths.
I gasped when his thumb grazed the line of my bikini bottom, just shy of bold, but definitely intentional. My hips tilted toward him, unthinking. Wanting. He felt it. I knew he did, because his breath hitched and his forehead pressed to mine again like he was trying to keep control. âTell me to stop,â he said, voice rough. âI wonât.â He groaned softly, mouth dragging along my jaw. âGod, youâre gonna ruin me.â
I wasnât thinking clearly anymore. Every nerve in my body was focused on herâon the way her skin felt under my hands, on the taste of her breath between kisses, on the way she whispered my name like a prayer she wasnât sure she was allowed to say out loud.
She arched against me when I kissed the spot just below her ear, her body fitting against mine like it belonged there. My hands mapped her back slowly, reverently, fingertips finding the edge of another tattoo and following it like a secret path. âIâve wanted this,â I admitted into the crook of her neck. âSince the night you fell asleep on the couch in my hoodie. You looked so peaceful, like youâd always been there.â She shivered, but not from the cold. âI felt safe that night,â she said. âStill do.â
The way she looked at me when she said thatâopen, trusting, a little scared but still choosing meâI felt something shift in my chest. Like my heart wasnât just mine anymore. Like Iâd handed it over, willingly, quietly, somewhere between rehearsals and after-midnight talks on the bus. We kissed again, slower this time, deeper. Her hand slid down my chest, fingertips tracing the line of my abs beneath the surface. My muscles twitched under her touch, and I let out a quiet curse, burying my face against her shoulder. She laughed, breathless.
âWhat, that sensitive?â she teased. âOnly when you do it,â I growled against her skin, then kissed her collarbone.
We stayed tangled like that in the water for what felt like hours. Touches that turned into caresses, kisses that slowed only to deepen again. My hands explored his body almost shyly at first, but he made me feel braveâhis reactions honest, unfiltered.
Every time I touched him, he responded like he couldnât believe it was real. Like I was the dream. Eventually, the sound of a door closing somewhere down the hall reminded us we werenât entirely alone, even if the pool room had emptied. Chris pulled back reluctantly, resting his forehead to mine. âYou wanna⊠go upstairs?â he asked, careful. Not pushing. Just offering. I nodded, heart pounding. âYeah. I do.â He exhaled, smiling that half-smile that made my stomach flip. âOkay. Letâs go.â
We didnât speak much on the elevator ride up, but our hands never separated. Her fingers curled into mine like they belonged there. Like theyâd always known the shape of me. The hotel room was warm, dimly lit, and quiet except for the faint hum of the city outside. The second the door clicked shut behind us, she turned to me, and for a moment we just stared.
Then everything fell away. I kissed her like Iâd been starving. She responded like sheâd been waiting.
The second her mouth met mine again, something inside me broke wide open.
There was nothing hesitant about the way I touched her now. My hands were in her hair, sliding down her sides, gripping her thighs as I walked her backward until the backs of her knees hit the bed. I kissed like I meant it. Like every soft moan she made, my reward. She is something sacred to me, someone I didn't know I needed.
When I sat, he followed without a word, kneeling between my legs and cradling my face in his hands. He looked at me for a long moment. Just looked. Like he was memorizing every detail. âI want to know all of you,â he whispered, voice rough. âNot just this. All of it. Everything youâre afraid to show.â
The words hit somewhere deep, unexpected, and I felt the sting of tears rise behind my eyes. Not because I was sadâbut because no one had ever said that to me before. Not like that. Not with that kind of truth burning behind it. âYou already know more than anyone ever has,â I whispered. Chris leaned forward, resting his forehead against mine againâhis favorite place, it seemed. âThen Iâll keep learning. Every day. If youâll let me.â
I kissed him before the tears could fall. And then we were moving again, skin against skin, hearts racing, breath catching. He peeled my bikini top off like it was the most fragile thing in the world. His eyes didnât just lingerâthey worshipped. He didnât look at me with hunger aloneâhe looked with awe. âYouâreâŠâ he started, then stopped like the words werenât big enough. âYouâre everything.â
Sheâd undone me completely, not just with her body, but with her trust. With the way she looked at me like I was safe. Like I was hers. I hadnât realized how long Iâd been waiting to feel thatâclaimed. Chosen.
I traced a slow line along her ribcage, following the curve of one of her tattoos, watching the way her body shivered under my fingertips. I kissed the edge of it, then the center of her sternum, then lower, until she arched beneath me with a sigh that set my pulse on fire. The room was quiet except for our breathing and the sound of fabric slipping to the floor. Her hands were everywhereâskimming my back, gripping my shoulders, burying into my hair when I hit the spot just under her jaw with a kiss that made her gasp.
I whispered her name into her skin like a vow. And when I laid her back on the bed, slow and careful, she didnât pull away. She pulled me closer. âAre you sure?â I asked, one last time, even as every part of me burned for her.
She nodded, her eyes dark and shining. âYes. With you? Always.â
What happened next was more than I expected. Not just physicallyâbut emotionally.
He wasnât rushed. He wasnât careless. He kissed every inch of me like I was something rare. His hands never left me for long, grounding me, making me feel seen in a way I never had before.
Iâd been touched before.
But Iâd never been held like this.
His lips on my shoulder, his breath at my collarbone, the way he whispered my name like it was musicâeverything was slow and deliberate. His body pressed into mine with reverence, every movement a conversation.
And when the tension finally crested, it wasnât with fireworksâit was with a wave of heat and sweetness that washed through me like truth.
I held onto him, not just because of what we were doing, but because of what it meant. Because it wasnât just a moment. It was a promise, sealed between sighs and soft gasps and the weight of his chest against mine.
Iâd never known intimacy like this.
It wasnât about lust. It was about being. About knowing exactly where I belongedâin her arms, in her breath, in the tremble of her fingers clutching at my back.
She came apart beneath me like poetry, and I followed a heartbeat later, burying my face in the curve of her neck with a shudder that seemed to echo between us. For a while, we just laid there. Sweat-slick skin. Tangled limbs. Hearts racing. I didnât say anything. I just listened to her breathing, felt her fingers stroking my spine, and let it all sink in.
I wasnât falling anymore. Iâd already fallen. It hit me like a ton of bricks, right in the face - I love her.
Later, as the city lights flickered against the curtains and the sound of distant traffic filled the silence, he shifted beside me and propped himself up on one elbow. âI meant it,â he said, voice soft. I turned my head to look at him. âMeant what?â
âWhen I said this isnât temporary.â I reached for his hand and brought it to my chest, right over my heart. âI believe you now.â He leaned down and kissed me againâslow, like a period at the end of a sentence weâd both been writing for weeks. And in that quiet, breathless moment, I realized something I hadnât dared admit before.
I didnât just want him.
