Page 26 of From Square One

I feel a flush spreading through my cheeks, and I’m suddenly glad the lighting is so low. I knew Aaron was a smooth talker, but I didn’t realize how effortless it was for him to fluster me.

“Open your hand,” Aaron says, and I do, frowning. He places a mint in it. “You don’t let me kiss you when your mouth tastes like food, so I came prepared.”

I toss the mint behind me. It clinks against the bleachers and falls into the darkness.

Aaron sighs in disapproval. “Riley, I thought we were going to reenact the physical parts of our dates, too,” he whines.

My heart takes an unfortunate stagger. I forgot about that aspect of the agreement. Scowling, I open my hand again, and Aaron plops another mint into it with a shiny ear-to-ear smile that makes me want to kick him. As I’m popping it into my mouth, another realization ices my blood.

If he’s giving this to me, does that mean we kissed on the first date?

I watch, dismayed, as Aaron sticks a mint in his own mouth, then pries his clothes off, leaving him in nothing but his black stud and swim trunks. The bluish lighting of the pool reflects against his pearly skin, making him look nearly ethereal as he turns to me.

“Well?” he asks softly.

I try unsuccessfully to keep my eyes above his collarbone. He’s definitely firmed up over the past year, which makes sense, considering his profession forces him to perform constant manual labor. He’s lean, but he’s solid. I can see the stoniness of his midsection, the indent trailing between his chest and ribs. His shoulders are more squared than I realized, and the shadows of the pool cast against him emphasize elevated veins snaking along his upper arms.

“I’m…” I hack through a hitch in my throat, hugging my shirt. “I’ll stay up here.”

Aaron scoffs, framing his hips. “What am I supposed to do in there alone? Drown?”

“Find a way to entertain yourself,” I say sternly.

“But I can’t bully you when you’re over here,” he complains, shuffling closer so he takes up more of my line of sight. “Besides, the sooner you follow my lead, the sooner you get to leave.”

Another good point. “Fine,” I mumble, kicking off my shoes and beginning to shrug out of my clothes. I pause when I realize he’s watching intently.

I swirl my finger at him.

He sniffles and turns around.

I know it doesn’t matter, since he’s going to see me anyway, but having him stare so unblinkingly while I’m stripping makes me squirm. “Is it cold?” I ask when I’m finished, inching toward the pool’s edge. Now that I’m only in swim trunks, the air seems unusually crisp. I continue hugging my arms to conceal myself, because I don’t want him to see…me. I guess. And the toll that everything has taken on my body.

Aaron hops up beside me like an excited puppy. If he had a tail, it would be wagging. “It’s usually cold,” he admits. “But don’t worry. I’ll—”

“If you say you’ll warm me up, I’m leaving immediately.”

Aaron sighs with dreariness. I must be ruining all the fun of this situation for him. “Let’s jump in,” he says, with a sidelong glance. “On three?”

“Whatever,” I say.

“One. Two…”

A sudden memory swirls into my head. My reflection in the water is different. My body is thinner, my skin more sallow, my expression warped with a scowl. Then I’m flopping into the pool with a shriek of surprise, and I hear raucous laughter…

I blink, and I’ve returned to the present.

I reel sideways and miss Aaron’s attempted shove by inches.

“You dick!” I cry out, my fists shivering as infuriation battles exhilaration. I remembered something. “The first time we came here, you shoved me into the pool and laughed! And you just tried to do it again!”

Aaron’s eyes sparkle brighter. “You remembered?”

“A couple of seconds.”

“So if I reenact it,” he says, stepping closer, “then more of your memory may come back.”

I expand the distance between us. “You know, I don’t actually care to remember more details about this moment.”