And holy mother of God, this wasn’t just a stupid idea, it wasn’t just dangerous, it was fucking lethal. She’s soaking wet, her clothes clinging to her like Saran Wrap, and I’m shirtless. While her body is cold from the water, mine is burning hot, and I swear we sizzle when our bodies meet. Fuck me to hell and back, she fits perfectly against me, the way she always did.
And just like that, some lock pops open inside me, and all my old feelings for her flood back in. I’m suddenly and intensely aware of every pain in my body, mostly centered around my heart, the rest around my dick. In fact, now that my mind has gone there, I realize I’m getting hard, and that hasn’t happened this quick in, God, years.
I mentally fight old walls back into place, but her hot tears hit my skin, and she’s shivering in my arms. Fucking shivering.
“I’ll get you a towel—”
She releases me before I can and steps away, both hands wiping her cheeks. I immediately feel the loss, and I’m beating myself up for allowing this to happen. She’s in town less than a fucking day, and I’m already aching for her. This was nowhere in my carefully constructed plans to handle her if she ever returned.
“No, I’m fine. I’m sorry. That wasn’t… That was…” She shakes her head and finally meets my gaze. Her eyes are a subdued shade of amber now and shimmering with tears. “What happened?”
I clench my teeth, call myself twelve kinds of stupid, and drop to a seat on the bench. “You remember the wolf fire?”
She nods.
“And then all the rain after?”
She exhales and closes her eyes.
Honking comes from the direction of the parking lot.
“Sounds like your people are here.” I steer the boat back that direction, both disappointed our time together is over and thrilled to get the fuck away from her.
When we come into view of the parking lot, a red convertible Mazda Miata rolls to a stop beside Laiyla’s car. The woman behind the wheel is honking obnoxiously; another is sitting on the headrest of the passenger’s seat, waving with both arms.
I angle toward another dock in the marina that looks more stable than the one that collapsed under her feet.
“Laiyla!” they scream in unison.
A smile finally turns her mouth, but it’s sad and tired. She lifts her arm to wave back.
I draw the boat to a stop at the end of a worn deck.
“Hey,” she says, her voice and her gaze soft, exposing the girl I’d once loved more than life. “Thank you.”
I acknowledge with a chin lift. “I meant what I said about this place. Offer to me first, okay?”
She’s clearly skeptical, but she nods. By the time the other women run down the dock toward Laiyla, I’m a hundred yards off the pier and watch as the two women throw themselves at her, enveloping all three of them in a hug so strong, they stumble toward the lake, stopping just before they all end up in the water.
3
Laiyla
Joy floods me as I hug KT and Chloe back hard. “Oh my God, it’s so good to see you two.”
Over the last seven years, we’ve texted, emailed, spoken on the phone, and done a few video chats, but our schedules were all over the map—literally. We all seemed to be in different countries. My and KT’s schedules were the hardest to work around, but we all made sacrifices to make sure we were together for our thirtieth birthdays, anniversary number seven of the cyclone that brought us together.
And now all my plans for a relaxing country getaway have been ruined.
“Looks like you went overboard,” KT says, taking in my wet hair and clothes.
“I was on that pier, and it collapsed under me.”
“Fun times.” Her gaze strays to the lake and Levi’s boat, now headed the other direction. “Who was that hot hunk of man?”
“He’s just a local,” I lie. Levi could never be just anything. “He picked me up, so I didn’t have to swim so far.”
Chloe and KT look out at the lake, both wearing big smiles.