It felt like velvet and fire and light and skin all at once, wrapping him in warmth that bloomed between his legs and deep in his chest. The pool wasn't deep. It brought them close, chest to chest, hip to hip. The glowing heart floated just above them now, its pulses now in perfect rhythm with the beat of Jude's blood.
Lucy's arms slid around him, her body pressing close. Her thighs wrapped around his waist, her breath hot in his ear. "It wants us," she whispered.
Jude turned his head. "It's alive."
"No," Zoey said from nearby, her arms wrapped around Stella, their bodies swaying gently in the water. "It is life."
Grace moaned softly, her fingers tracing Natalie's spine, their lips brushing. "I can feel every part of you."
Jude felt them too. All of them. Not just their bodies, but their selves . Their heat, their longing, their memories. The water bound them together - made their pulses one, made every breath a shared inhale.
Then Lucy kissed him.
Slow. Melting. Deep.
