Ava (Patreon)

Stunning & Calm

The summer sun had that silky glow — the kind that turns everything it touches into something warmer, softer, almost unreal. The river around my knees shimmered like liquid glass, cool against my skin while the rest of the world baked gently under the British heat.

I stood there for a moment, letting the water settle around me.

Still… but not too still.

Graceful… but with just enough of a tease in my stance to make the moment mine.

From the riverbank, I could hear Moroi fiddling with the camera — the little clicks, the tiny curses under his breath as he adjusted the lens. I didn’t look over; I didn’t need to. I could feel the focus shift toward me the way you feel a shadow stretch across your skin.

“Stay still,” he called softly.

As if he didn’t know that stillness could be its own kind of temptation.

I let my weight shift just a little, one foot sliding over the smooth stones beneath the water. The movement sent ripples outward — small, deliberate, like the river and I were communicating in secrets the camera wasn’t quite invited into.

Sunlight caught along my shoulders, down my arms, across the lines of my body as if it had decided I was part of the scenery now.

I liked that idea — belonging here, half wild, half calm, entirely aware of how the scene looked from a few feet away.

Green reflections danced across my skin, the river painting me in soft, shimmering patterns. I tilted my chin slightly, eyes on the far bank, pretending not to notice how carefully I was being watched.

The truth was… I felt stunning and I knew it.

Maybe that was why I let the corners of my mouth curl into the faintest smile — the kind someone would have to zoom in to catch.

Timeless, he’d probably call it later.

But standing there, sun on my back, water swirling gently around my legs, heart steady and slow?

It didn’t feel timeless.

It felt deliberate.

Playful.

Alive.

And maybe — just maybe — I stayed in the river a little longer than necessary…

Just to see how long he’d keep that lens trained on me.