As I stepped into the pool room, the lights came on automatically, although they were dimmer than during the day, bathing the huge space in a soft, muted glow.

I hadn't realised there were lights set into the pool walls, throwing some areas of the water into stark relief, while others looked darker than normal, especially at the deep end.

Panic clawed at my chest, and I closed my eyes, taking deep, even breaths.

Earlier today, I'd stood in front of that fear and refused to let it beat me. If I'd done it once, I could do it again.

I undressed slowly, methodically, giving myself time to adjust to how I was feeling, and folded my clothes neatly on one of the loungers.

Then I approached the pool.

"Just you and me this time," I murmured.

Finn had helped me earlier, and I couldn't find words to express how grateful I was, but I needed to go one step further, for my own sake.

I needed to face this alone.

I moved onto the first step, still slow, still adjusting.

Then the second step.

My chest fluttered.

Three steps still to go.

Lifting my chin, I stepped onto the third, then the fourth.

I stared at the pool. The pool stared back at me.

My feet touched the fifth step.

"You've got this," I told myself.

My chest still felt tight, and that was okay. I hadn't expected to completely shed my fears, but I could face them and overpower them now.

I stepped into the pool.

Since I still couldn't swim, I wouldn't risk going out of my depth again, so I stuck to the shallower end of the pool, and when the water was past my waist, I stopped.

I sculled the water with my hands, feeling it move against my skin, inhaling the chlorine smell of it. It wasn't going to hurt me.

I was stronger than my fears.

Pinching my nose closed, I bent my knees and sank beneath the water.

My heart slammed into my chest, my muscles went tense, and a wail of panic built in my throat.

I clamped my mouth shut, refusing to let it out.

I sank further down, until I was sitting on the bottom of the pool, and then I pulled my knees close to my chest and stared at the water around me.

Maybe I'd never be comfortable in the open ocean, and that was actually okay. I could do this.

And if I could do this, then there were other things I could do, like diving and swimming. Finn would love that. He'd insisted he'd have me swimming before the snow melted, and it looked like he might be right.

Smug, gorgeous bastard.

A straining feeling in my lungs reminded me that I still needed to breathe. I uncrossed my legs, planted my feet on the bottom of the pool, and pushed up. As my head broke the surface, my heart almost leaped out of my chest – a dark figure stood by the pool, watching me.

"Finn?" I spluttered, wiping water from my eyes. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry, I was trying not to interrupt," he said.

"What are you doing here?"

The corner of his mouth quirked up.

Okay, it was pretty silly to ask a guy what he was doing in his own pool room.

"I could ask you the same question," he said.

I looked around the pool. The wake from my surfacing was fading, the water becoming still again.

"I needed to see if I could do this by myself," I said.

Finn smiled. "It looks like you managed it. Not that I'm surprised."

Pride lit up my heart.

The way he looked at me was like I was some rare jewel, but it wasn't just that. It was how he believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself.

As I stood in the pool, gazing up at him, Finn peeled off his clothes, his eyes dark with intent. He didn't fold them like I had with mine, but left them in a messy heap on the floor.

My gaze immediately zeroed in on his cock; I couldn't help myself.

It was already hard as steel, jutting up to Finn's washboard abs, and my mouth turned to dust.

When I glanced back at Finn's face, a smirk was curling his lips.

"You look like the cat that got the cream," I told him.

His smirk deepened. "I'm only after your cream."

I tried and failed to think of a witty response.

Finn raised his arms above his head and dived into the pool, his body a straight muscled line that sliced cleanly through the water with barely even a splash.

"Show-off," I grumbled.

Finn glided through the water like a seal. Or a fucking shark.

I felt a quick stab of panic. He wasn't going to do something stupid like grab my legs or pull me under, was he?

I should have known better.

Finn surfaced a couple of feet away, shoving wet hair off his face. When it was slicked back like that, it highlighted the structure of his jaw and cheekbones, the intensity of his eyes, how perfectly kissable his mouth was. Water sparkled on his skin like tiny diamonds.

"You look so fucking good wet," I told him.

"So do you," Finn said, but the way he smirked when he said it made me realise he was talking about a different kind of wet.

He swam closer, water rippling around him, and when he reached me, he stood up, towering over me.

Water streamed down his sculpted chest, glistening on his tattoos.

"Sexy mermen, right?" I said, a little breathlessly.

Finn deliberately bumped his erection against my thigh. "Baby, that ain't no fishtail," he said.

He wrapped my wet hair around one hand and tugged my head back. My lips automatically parted, and then Finn's mouth was on mine, a rough, devouring kiss that took my fucking breath away.

His hand slid down my spine, over the curve of my ass, then he pulled me hard against him, my peaked nipples rubbing on his chest, his thick cock pressing insistently against me.

"You always taste so fucking good," he said.

"You mean my mouth, right?" I teased.

His gaze drifted down, between my legs. "Both," he said, his voice growing huskier.

If I hadn't been wet before, I was now.

Wet and aching and desperate for him.

As if he could read my mind, Finn slipped a hand between my legs, gently at first, his fingertips just brushing me where I was most sensitive.

"More," I whispered.

Finn tilted his head. "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Could you say it again?"

I glared at him.

He smiled angelically at me.

"More," I said, rocking into his hand.

Finn tutted, his fingertips ghosting over my sex. "You forgot the magic word."

"Please," I cried.

I'd never begged anyone for anything sex-related before, and I didn't fucking care that I was doing it now. I knew exactly what Finn could do with those long, clever fingers, and I needed that right fucking now.

Finn kissed me again, his tongue plunging into my mouth as two fingers plunged deep into my sex.

God, that felt good.

His thumb found my clit, rubbing it just the way he knew I liked, and my eyes rolled back in my head.

My toes curled against the tiled floor.

"Fuck, Finn," I gasped.

"Not yet," he said, with that damn delicious smirk.

"So cocky."

"Gold medallist in fucking, remember?"

"Hmm, I heard some rumours of cheating. Performance-enhancing drugs, you know," I said.

Finn's eyes sparkled. "Are you saying that I need to prove myself again?"

"I'm suggesting – oh."

Finn did something amazing with his fingers, stroking me deeper than I was ever able to reach myself, and my eyes rolled back again, the breath lodging in my lungs.

Finn made a rough noise of approval. "That's it," he said. "Scream for me, Tasha."

I tried not to, if only because his ego didn't need any more inflating, but the relentless pumping of his fingers, the pressure of his thumb, it was too much.

I broke apart with a scream.

"Fucking beautiful," Finn murmured.

I slumped against his arm, gasping, trembling, lights still sparking behind my eyes.

"Okay, you've earned the gold medal," I managed to say.

Finn slid his thumb over my clit again, making me jump with bliss. "Nah, that was the silver medal." He slid his arm under my butt and hoisted me off my feet, high enough that my wet core was pressed against his stomach. He ran his tongue over one nipple, then the other, making me shudder. "Now we're going for gold," he said.

He lowered me down, until the thick, smooth head of his cock was pressing against me, and then he rolled his hips upward, impaling me in one deep stroke that wrenched a scream from my throat.

I locked my legs around his hips, wrapped my arms around his neck and held on as he surged into me, searing, powerful thrusts that stole my voice, my breath. The sweet, fiery friction was almost unbearable.

No one had ever been strong enough to hold me like this, and I fucking loved it. I loved how small and delicate I felt in Finn's arms, but also how he absolutely didn't treat me like I was delicate, like I'd break if he fucked me too hard.

I wanted it hard, and Finn gave me exactly that, plunging into me over and over again, so incredibly deep in this position, and all I could do was cling desperately to him, the breath sobbing in my throat, fire racing through me, an inferno blazing out of control.

Orgasm hit me hard, an explosion that rocked through my whole body, and my mouth opened wide in a soundless scream.

I was shaking, my back arched against Finn's muscled arm, my nails digging into his neck, and he was still thrusting up into me, until finally he drove deep one more time and held himself there, spurting into me.

Exhausted, I leaned against him, my head on his shoulder. His breath was ragged in my ear.

"Fuck," he mumbled. "That was amazing."

I patted his chest with a limp hand. "You get all the medals. And the trophies too."

"Damn right."

Finn finally loosened his grip and I slid down his body and back into the water, until my feet were touching the bottom.

"I don't think you can ever be scared of the water again," Finn remarked, a barely restrained grin tugging at his lips.

"Why not?" I said.

"I've given you way too many good memories in here."

I laughed. "You're feeling very proud of yourself, aren't you?"

"Woman, I just made you come twice. You're absolutely fucking right I'm proud," Finn said.

He had a point though. Before, I'd associated swimming pools with the ocean, deep and overwhelming and dangerous, something I was safer staying away from. Now, I wasn't sure I could ever look at a pool again without picturing Finn, wet and naked, his eyes burning into me, his muscles hard as he held me, his cock bringing me to a place where nothing existed but raw sensation.

I rested my head on his shoulder, the frenzied thump of my heart finally starting to slow, and closed my eyes.

Everything felt so goddamn perfect. I should have known it wouldn't last.