Summer's Last Breath

Part 38

"What's that?" I asked a few days later as I walked into mine and Jamie's bedroom, tossing my backpack on the bed. Jamie was coming out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of boardshorts, looking and smelling shower fresh.

"It's a wetsuit." He dropped the towel he'd been using to dry off, and I hurried into his open arms, snuggling close to his bare chest. Since we now shared a bathroom, I'd learned Jamie refused to use soap of any kind. He'd rinse off under the shower, but he never washed his hair with shampoo or used soap on his skin. He said he didn't like the idea of having all those chemicals from the shampoo so close to his brain and that the soap further dried out his skin. I'd certainly never noticed that it made a difference. He always smelled like heaven to me.

"I know it's a wetsuit, but what's it for?"

"It's time to return the sea star and I want you to go with me."

"We can't just toss it back in from shore?" My gaze lifted to the window. The sun was out and the temperature was in the lower sixties, but the water was cold, too cold for me. Still, the idea of swimming with Jamie was too much to resist, so I pulled my shirt over my head and discarded my jeans. It surprised me sometimes how easy it was to get naked in front of him probably because he seemed to appreciate it so much. He made me feel beautiful. He made me feel wanted.

"No. It has to be taken to the Deep," he said with a hint of understandable regret, pulling me back into his arms.

We'd been using the sea star as a nightlight as it provided just the right amount of mythical light to make his room feel intimate and slightly magical. Jamie had done magical things to me by the light of that sea star. With me standing in front of him in the pair of bathing suit bottoms I'd slipped on, I guess he couldn't resist trying some of those magical things again, and I certainly wouldn't refuse him. I'd learned a few things myself, learned what he liked, which was just about anything that involved my hands and mouth on him. It was immensely gratifying the way Jamie responded to my touch. The way he shook with need. The way he whispered my name. The way he never seemed to get enough of me, always wanting more.

"Booties too?" I asked thirty minutes later as I pulled the wetsuit over my hips and up my arms.

"Booties too." Jamie zipped me the rest of the way up and bent to kiss me, those sweet lips lingering, still greedy for more.

"I feel like a frog man," I said once I put the booties on.

"You don't look like a frog man." Jamie's hands ran over my hips and around to my stomach, the smile that broke over his face mischievous. "What's this?"

The tight suit hugged my sprouting baby bump. I looked down disconcerted. "I doubt I'll be able to zip my jeans much longer."

Jamie took my face in his hands, the look in his eyes expressly tender. "Nothing much has changed for me and it's just hitting me what you're giving up to have our baby. I know there are girls in your situation that would have chosen differently, and I guess I want to thank you."

"It wasn't anything I had to think about. I've told you that. I'm having a baby with the man I love, how can I regret that?" I leaned up on my toes and kissed him on the mouth and his arms swallowed me as he hugged me close.

"All right." He released me though he kept hold of my hand. "Let's go. We want to do this while the sun's high. Even in a wetsuit it will still be cold for you."

The sky over the water was a crisp blue, and I shivered slightly when Jamie led me into the surf. The waves were small, and I jumped on Jamie's back, fitting my cheek next to his.

I held the sea star cupped gently in my hand, and the sounds of land faded the further away from shore we traveled, replaced with a peaceful quiet. Jamie moved silently and gracefully, and I fell into a trance-like state watching him and feeling the way his muscles worked. Muscles I was now well-acquainted with.