Chapter 279: Under the Moonlight

Runze’s POV

I slide down from the stone steps straight into Bael’s arms.

The contrast hits me at once, the cool mountain air on my shoulders and the thick hot water wrapping around the rest of me. Bael’s hands settle firmly on my hips under the surface, steady and sure, pulling me flush against his chest. Water laps softly around us. His skin is warm, slick, and solid.

“I could feel your eyes on me the second I stepped into the water,” Bael murmurs, his dark eyes burning with that quiet intense heat. His voice is low, vibrating against my chest. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep my hands off you inside?”

“I had a pretty good idea,” I whisper back, a small knowing smile touching my lips as I loop my arms around his neck and let my fingers tangle into his wet hair. “You weren’t hiding it very well.”

A low rough sound escapes his throat. “I wasn’t trying to.”

He leans in and kisses me. This kiss is slower than the one inside, deeper, like he has decided there is no reason to rush. His tongue slides against mine while his hands move down, gripping my hips and lifting me easily in the water until my legs wrap around his waist.

The weightlessness makes everything feel sharper. Every shift of his body presses him closer. I can feel how hard he is already, thick and hot against me through the thin fabric of our swimwear.

Bael breaks the kiss just long enough to speak against my mouth. “Hold on to me.”

I do.

He turns us and presses my back against the smooth stone ledge of the pool. One of his hands stays under my thigh, keeping me open and steady, while the other reaches between us. He pushes my swimwear aside, then his own, and the thick head of his cock brushes against me under the water—hot, blunt, and ready.

He doesn’t push in right away. He rubs against me first, slow and deliberate, letting me feel every inch of him sliding through the slickness the water and my body have already made. My breath stutters. My fingers dig into his wet shoulders.

“Runze…” he mutters against my lips, his breathing already ragged as he tracks slow heavy kisses down my jawline to the sensitive skin beneath my ear.

I arch into his touch, my fingers tightening in his damp hair as a soft sound slips from my throat into the silent night air. His hands hold me securely against the stone ledge, tracing possessive steady lines over my back, pulling me closer until there isn’t a single inch of distance left between us.

The world outside the villa courtyard completely fades, leaving only the soft rhythmic splashing of heated water, the rise and fall of our chests, and the fierce unyielding weight of his focus on me when he pulls back just enough to look into my eyes.

“I’ve missed this,” Bael whispers, his raspy voice thick with an intensity that makes my heart pound against my ribs. “Having you all to myself.”

Then he pushes in.

The stretch is deep and sudden. The hot water makes everything feel tighter, more intense. He sinks into me in one long controlled stroke until his hips are flush against mine. I drop my forehead to his shoulder and let out a shaky sound that the night air swallows.

Bael stays still for a moment, buried deep, breathing hard against my neck. His hands tighten on my thighs. Then he starts to move.

The water makes every thrust feel heavier and smoother at the same time. He pulls back almost all the way and drives back in, slow at first, then steadier, deeper. The wet sound of him moving inside me mixes with the quiet splash of the pool and our uneven breathing. Moonlight and soft lantern light catch on the water droplets running down his chest and shoulders.

I cling to him, legs tight around his waist, as he fucks me against the stone ledge with that same unhurried intensity he always has when he decides he wants me properly. Every stroke hits deep. The water supports most of my weight, so all I can do is take it and feel him, thick, hard, relentless.

His mouth finds my neck, then my jaw, then my mouth. He kisses me through the next few thrusts, swallowing the sounds I make. One of his hands stays under my thigh, holding me open exactly where he wants me. The other braces against the ledge beside my head.

The pleasure builds steadily, heavy and hot low in my stomach. I can feel myself getting tighter around him. Bael notices. His rhythm stays controlled but grows just a little harder, a little deeper, until I’m shaking in his arms.

“Bael—” My voice breaks on his name.

He presses his forehead to mine, still moving. “Hmph… Take it. Just like that.”

The orgasm hits hard, pulling a broken sound from my throat as my body clamps down around his cock. Bael keeps moving through it, fast and deep, until my trembling starts to ease. Then his own control slips. He drives into me a few more times, harder now, before he buries himself to the hilt and comes with a low guttural sound against my neck, spilling deep inside me while the water moves gently around us.

For a long moment neither of us moves.

Bael stays pressed against me, still inside, forehead resting on my shoulder as we both catch our breath. His hand strokes slowly up and down my back under the water. I keep my arms looped around his neck, legs still wrapped around him, the two of us tangled together in the warm water with moonlight silvering the surface around us.

After a while he shifts just enough to look at me. His eyes are softer now, the intensity banked but still present.

“Happy birthday,” I murmur, voice quiet.

Bael’s mouth curves. He leans in and kisses me once, slow and lingering, before resting his forehead against mine again.

“Happiest birthday ever,” he answers, the words low and certain against my lips.