(Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), (Part 4), (Part 5), (Part 6), Part 7 (1)

 The brilliant shades of blue reflecting off the walls, floor, and past the unlocked double doors were what drew me out of the elevator to second floor of the hotel. As Cristiano guided me further into the room, I discovered the blue was water illuminated from a rectangular shaped pool with a slight curve at the steps to the shallow end and bright orbs of light lining the walls underwater. With the exception of those, the rest of the room was dim and romantically lit. My heart raced in excitement. Cristiano must’ve pulled some strings so we would be the only two people there.

Careful and eager, I unzipped my dress and peeled the lace from my shoulders and arms. I wasn’t just going to stare at the water, was I? Meanwhile, I forgot all about Cristiano, whose eyes tentatively observed while I shimmied the fabric below my hips. He began to unlace his shoes.

“I don’t suppose you packed a swimsuit.” 

“Nope.”

He returned my comment with a smirk and shrugged off his jacket. 

We stripped down until we were left in nothing but what we wore underneath our clothes, him shirtless in boxer briefs and me in my strapless bra and panties. I glanced over the toning and muscles of his torso in the same way he skimmed over my curves before he strutted over to the edge. He dove straight in without a care while I stood near the water to dip my toes in first. When Cris resurfaced, wet hair matted over his forehead, he was less than amused to see I was still dry. He glared a stern look of disapproval.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s nothing.” He swam closer. “I thought you were going to jump in with me.”

“I’m just checking the water temperature,” I said. 

“It’s a heated pool, Abby.” The shape underwater suggested he had his hands set firm on his waist. “Don’t think about it, just jump.”

My feet crept backwards. “I was going to…”

“Jump!” he shouted.

In one swift motion, I unclipped the main pin holding a majority of my hair up, let it fall past my shoulders, and I sprinted towards the pool. “You are such a—”

My last words were engulfed by a swarm of bubbles as I plunged into nine feet of water. It was cold at first, but I took to it quickly. I’d almost forgot how uplifting it was. All senses were muffled and nonexistent, and I felt as though I was a feather floating in midair at least for a couple of seconds. Once I came up, my eyes unfocused to find Cristiano’s face mere inches close to my own.

“See?” he grinned despite being out of breath from all the swimming. “It’s nice not to analyze everything, yes?”

“You’re such a dork.” I swatted water in his direction and backstroked until my toes could touch the floor. Naturally he followed, and we were swimming around in circles so there was no forcefield of tension between us. Instead, it was very playful like we were kids. 

“I want to try something,” he instructed.

“Oh god, what?” I froze in place.

“No, no, no,” he laughed, his fingers intertwining in mine. “Nothing scary, trust me. Bring up your legs.”

I did as I was told. With our arms spread outward together, I bent my legs up and pressed my shins against his abdomen, feeling light as air in making no effort to hold myself up. Cristiano did all the work, but it didn’t seem like he was trying too hard.

“I miss having a pool,” I murmured in the midst of mindless drifting.

He hummed a chuckle in agreement. “You’re so content in water.”

“You would know.” I tilted my head back momentarily to allow my hair to swish around in the water.  “Truth or dare?”

A groaning noise erupted from his throat. “Do we really have to, Abby?”

“Oh, what? We used to do this all the time. Now come on, Cris, truth or dare?”

“Fine. Dare.”

“Typical.” I nudged him lightheartedly. “Okay, I dare you to run a lap around the outside perimeter of the pool, sans underwear.”

His brow furrowed. “You’re not serious?”

“Loser has to swim a lap, but I know how much you hate to lose,” I cooed sweetly into his ear, circling my arms around his neck.

He sighed that I was right, and he bounced and shimmied himself until he dangled the black pair of Armanis above water. 

“Don’t lose these.”

Cheering and whooping in delight, I watched Cristiano fully expose his backside in front of me as he brought himself out of the pool. Tiny beads of water dripped down his arms and back, which all seemed to flow in slow motion similar to an obscene advertisement I couldn’t take my eyes away from if I tried. No one could deny how stellar that man’s body was. 

He ruffled his wet hair, rolled his sculpted shoulders like he was preparing to run a marathon, yet he didn’t bother to wait for my go signal and hurried in a short, quick-like pace. I was too busy giggling almost to the point of tears to realize he’d cupped himself halfway through.

“Hey,” I exclaimed, “that’s cheating!”

His footwork did not stagger. “But you didn’t say—”

“Hands off, Ronaldo!”

He cut the last corner by jumping it, revealing his frontside just before he submerged underwater with a loud yelp. 

“Your turn,” he said once I returned his underwear and everything was situated in place. “Same thing, no clothes.”

I shook my head. “Uh-uh, no way.”

A wicked smile played on his lips. “Then why did you make me do it?”

“Because I wanted to see if I could trust you to do it,” I stated obviously.

He disappeared back into the water with a low grumble. The next thing I knew, a pair of arms wrapped around my thighs and picked me up so the waterline lapped at my knees.  No amount of squirming or wriggling around would loosen me from his strong hold. His eyes were level with my chest and I was looking down at him, my hands resting on his shoulders for balance. I draped myself over him so my hair cascaded over both our faces. Who knew such a childish game could be turned into something so alluring? Of course I knew what I was getting into when I initiated it, but I never thought I could be this natural with him again. 

“Your turn.” 

“Truth—” My words were interrupted by his impulsive need to pretend to drop me and then catch me at the last second. I let out a high pitched shriek, and my arms clung onto him tighter. “Truth! I said truth!”

“Okay,” he chortled, repositioning his arms to hold me more securely. “Do you always wear glasses when you work?” 

“That’s the best you could come up with? What, were they that terribly ridiculous looking on me?”

“Não sei,” he paused to stroke the hair out of my face, “I think they make you look very sexy.”

“You’re full of it.” I sniggered. “It’s your turn.”

“Dare,” he said.

“Another dare?” I whined in reply.

“Sim.” 

“All right, all right. I have an idea.”

I made him drop his arms but still held onto his shoulders while my lower half was engulfed beneath the water so we were face to face, and my legs were locked at his waist to keep him from going anywhere. Our arms spread out wide once again but not for long as I dragged my hands along the contouring and shapes of his forearms and biceps. They stopped at his collarbone.

“A game within a game,” I began. “You can’t touch me, but I can touch you. I dare you not to touch me.”

“For how long?” he asked, the muscles in his jaw clenching like he was determined.

“However long it takes for you to give in. Starting now,” I said.

“I should’ve known you’d be good at this.” He threw his head back and laughed, letting his arms to float freely on top of the water.

“I haven’t played in a while.” I began to tease him by touching my forehead on his so our lips were unbearably close.

“Is this wrong?” He tucked in his bottom lip.

“Only if you kiss me, then you lose.”

“But you can kiss me.”

“I suppose I could, but I won’t.” I purposely pressed myself against him, and I could feel him exhale on my neck. It amused me to see him so helpless and discombobulated. “You can ask me a truth now.”

It took him a moment to process and collect his bearings. “Have you dated anyone?”

“No.”

“What about…Todd from the shoot?”

“Tad,” I corrected with a smile. “No, we’ve just worked on a lot of projects together this year so we get along pretty well. What about you? How many women are you skipping out on right now?”

“I have been on dates but nothing serious, not like with you,” he murmured. “They have nothing on you.”

I nodded solemnly. “It must be nice to not having to constantly walk on eggshells anymore.”

“But it’s different now. You’re different. You’re so much more confident around the people you work with. You lit up the room when you walked in downstairs. Everyone was looking at you.”

“Liar.”

“I know I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. You’re beautiful even now, like this.” His gaze gestured downward to me in my lingerie-clad figure, hair sopping wet and all out of my face with nothing to hide, and when it returned to mine, those brown eyes of his held a sense of anguish to him, as though it pained him to reveal what he had to say next. “I was scared back then, Abby. I was scared of losing you. What I did was stupid. I wasn’t thinking, and I know that now.”

The brief silences between the echoing sounds of water lapping at the sides of the pool were distinctively haunting me afterwards. My throat felt dry, and I began to choke up from the heartfelt apology I thought I’d never hear. His hands were moving up my legs, but I didn’t care as he drew me closer so I wouldn’t drown under the weight my shoulders produced. He seemed to be the only person in the world who knew how to console me when I was fighting my emotions, yet at the same time, his touch made me grow weaker. The irresistible brush of his lips on the side of my mouth caused me to tremble, and i had to slip myself away from him before it was too late.

“I don’t know what to say, Cris,” I gulped now that my shivering stopped and there was a clear gap in the water between us.

“You don’t have to say anything,” he soothed, a hint of disappointment waving over his features, when he reached forward to take my hand, but my fingers passed ever so lightly through his like air.

“No.” Shaking my head, I backed towards the shallower end. 

He took his frustration out on the water by smacking his fist through it. “Why can’t we just focus on what we have now? Why do we have to go back to this every time?”

“Because it has everything to do with us, Cris!” I argued from the top of the steps. “We moved too fast. We weren’t ready for anything we were up against. You tricked me and left me with an engagement ring I can’t bear to look at. It just sits inside a box forever taunting me, and you wonder why I can’t move on?”

“So everything is my fault? I said I was stupid, Abby. What more do you want so we can get past this?”

“I don’t know!” I bent my knees to sit on the tile, my feet still in the water. 

Cristiano swam over, his hands treading water as he smoothed them up my knees which refused to part and let him in closer. He exhaled sharply through his nostrils but didn’t seem impatient to try again. Eyes intent on mine, the side of his hand caressed my skin with utmost affection, sending prickles up and down my spine. My hands lowered to grip the edge of the pool and brace myself, showing no signs of want but mere curiosity towards what he would do next. 

He opened my legs and let his fingertips trail fluidly along my inner thigh in a way that made my insides go so much aflutter, I had to suppress a whimper. My chest rose, and I held my breath once I discovered he was observing my every move against his touch. Leaning forward, he then added lips and hot breath. Light kisses were planted onto my thigh, and my body writhed when his mouth nipped at my skin. After a handful of feeble attempts to make him stop, his hands glided up my curves and squeezed hard.

“No, no, no, no.” I reached a hand forward and kneaded at his damp hair to make him stop. 

He raised himself so the tips of our noses bumped, and he was panting heavily against my lips. “Why not?”

“Because.” I could hardly catch my own breath to think up a decent response. “It’s late. I should go.”

“Come up to my room.” 

Although his gentle tone suggested it was a request more so than a demand, I sat frozen, void of emotion, without another word. He should’ve known the answer to that question. When he lured himself in to kiss me on the lips, I dodged him to step out of the pool in pursuit of my clothes. With his back facing me, he lowered himself to sit hunched over on the top step, tugging at his hair in deep contemplation even though I couldn’t catch a glimpse of his face. Once again, I found myself walking out on him, and given how many times I let this happen, I also feared it would be the last.

—

The loud whirring of the hot blow dryer shut out my thoughts completely. I tossed my hair up and scooped it over my shoulder to dry it at a better angle. My skin was tacky from the steam leftover from a shower and the heat from the blow dyer. I cracked a door to circulate some cooler hair, however upon turning around to face the mirror again, I got a good hard look at my reflection. I cut off the dryer, attached it back to the wall, and stared into my makeup-less features. Other than some tiredness around my eyes, I appeared fairly normal. Then why did I feel so abnormal on the inside, a lacking? 

A vague feeling of deja vu came to me as I switched off the light and walked into the standard empty hotel room: a queen sized bed with crisp white sheets and a matching duvet, an untouched flat screen TV, and a stained coffee maker in the closet. I changed out my towel for a pair of shorts and a cami, hoping the feeling would go away but it didn’t. Flashes of smiles and laughter, dancing by candlelight; our first kiss played in my head like home movies as I lay back on a pillow, twirling my hair that was beginning to curl on its own. Some of those memories blended together after a while, I could barely differentiate the past from the present. 

For years thanks to my parents, who only got by with mixing their marriage in with their business life, I was convinced I wasn’t able to have my cake and eat it too. In a single night, Cristiano was the closest to proving that theory untrue the moment he put his arm around my waist and praised my career, something he never would have done a year ago when all he wanted was to have me, no ifs ands or buts about it. That night, he showed me how it could be like old times, but better. 

“Are you kidding me?” I asked to the ceiling when the tears were welling up in my eyes, and there had to be only one explanation for them. This must’ve been the epiphany I was searching for.

—

After bribing the front desk with wedding party favors, I managed to snag Cristiano’s room number and head for the elevators. Joyful shrieks erupting from a room somewhere across the hall led me to believe Gabby’s bachelorette party was taking place on the same floor as Cristiano’s, but my eyes were in tunnel vision mode, peering at the numbers on the doors and moving on to the next when it wasn’t the correct one. There was an uncertain stagger in my walk as I had become a ball of nerves on the way upstairs, but as soon as I reached his room, everything sort of blurred into a soft light as though I was in a dream sequence. Knocking on the door was a brilliant release, and all my fears seemed to float away in that moment in time. 

Cristiano opened the door with caution at first, but when he realized it was me, he widened the doorway a little bit more. His hand shifted on the doorframe, and I got a peek at the white linen towel tied around his waist and droplets of water clinging to the hair on the back of his neck. Suddenly I was twiddling my thumbs like an insecure teenager. Whatever speech I had mentally prepared for this, all tossed out the window and forgotten. Instead, we stared at each other waiting for what felt like eternity. In some kind of way, it had been. A lot of pent of feelings and emotions led up to this point, so I did what I knew I wanted to do.

Standing up on my tiptoes for that extra needed inch, I groped his shoulders, closed my eyes, and kissed him hungrily on the lips, unyielding. There was a great sigh of relief. I didn’t stop to think whether it was him or me while he parted his lips into mine, inviting his tongue in and making the kiss last much longer. His strong arms lifted me off the floor to carry me into his room. The heavy door felt shut behind us.