Page 66 of Second Time Around

Eighteen

When he came back downstairs in his swim trunks, it was so quiet he wondered if she’d snuck out after all. Then he saw a sliver of light underneath the powder room door, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’ve got towels, and I’ll wait for you outside,” he said.

“Okay. Be right out.”

He slid open the patio door and stepped onto the cool cement in his bare feet. Then he set the towels on the table next to the tub and leaned over to turn on the jets. He watched the water gurgling and the steam curling up into the air, and then he heard the door slide open behind him.

He turned around and tried not to stare. She was wearing a lacy black cover-up over her swimsuit, but he saw glimpses of bare skin through the weave. He’d seen her in a bathing suit many times before, but the anticipation bubbled inside him like it was the first time.

Remembering his manners, he motioned to the tub and said, “Ladies first.”

She looked like she was about to argue but decided not to. Then she undid the tie around her waist and started to remove the cover-up.

He wasn’t sure what to do or where to look, so he turned away and glanced out at the backyard. Still, he was acutely aware that she was disrobing less than two feet away from him. He snapped out of it when he heard a creak on the wooden steps leading into the hot tub.

“Need a hand?”

“Nope,” she said. She quickly climbed the steps and then lowered herself into the water. She moved so fast he barely saw her bathing suit, which was probably her intention.

Once she was seated, he entered the tub and sat across from her.

Now that they were immersed up to their necks, she seemed more relaxed. She spread her arms out across the ledge, tipped her head back, and gazed up at the sky. “How beautiful,” she said almost as if she were talking to herself.

“I agree.” If she’d picked up on the double entendre, she didn’t acknowledge it.

“How often do you come out here?”

“A few times a week, but sometimes, after work, I’m so tired I just fall into bed.”

“Remember when we used to stay up until one or two in the morning? I can hardly make it until eleven anymore.”

He chuckled. “I remember your dad kicking me out when we tried to push back our curfew.”

She laughed. “What about that time your sister caught us…? Oh, never mind.”

“Making out in the back seat of my car in the driveway.”

“We thought we were being so sneaky, but it was broad daylight.”

“She was supposed to be out with a friend!”

“She came right up to the window and looked inside like she knew we were there.”

“Those were good times,” he said wistfully.

“Yeah.”

“Jenna—”

“No, Beck.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.”

“What if it’s not done? Between us, I mean.”