Page 14 of Something Like That

He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten. Or that she remembered.

But now, that night blazed in his memory, bright and vibrant. It had been chilly, but he’d reveled in the cold. It was familiar, and in a weird way, comforting. He’d been so angry and frustrated. And embarrassed, because he was pretty sure Alexandra had heard the blow out with his dad from the sidewalk.

She’d asked what he was doing, and when he told her, she didn’t say anything, just got down on the grass with him. And they laid there, in the silence, watching the sky blaze to life.

It had been peaceful and private. Special. He remembered now, that a part of him had wanted to take her hand, to hold it. But he’d been so afraid she’d reject him, he hadn’t dared. He’d been inexperienced with girls, and although he’d been almost eighteen, he hadn’t really known what to do.

So, he’d done nothing.

He’d like to say he regretted missing out on the moment, but it would be a lie. The memory was barely a footnote in his story. He’d graduated from high school not long after and then he’d been drafted. Lincoln, Nebraska and Alexandra Bridger had quickly become his past, and he only backtracked when he had absolutely no other choice.

“I can’t believe you remember that.” He couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice.

She shrugged, although her cheeks turned the sexiest shade of pink. Was she blushing all over?

For fuck’s sake, he needed to stop. Like, yesterday.

“Anyway,” she said, and looked away for a second, as if trying to get a hold of herself, too. When she looked back, her professional mask was back in place. Disappointment jabbed him in the ribs. “Where are you staying again?”

“Why, you want to stop by or something?” He tried to keep a teasing note in his voice—even though he was not the teasing type—because he wanted to see what she’d do. He liked the glimpses he’d managed to get behind that thick coat of armor she wore.

The pink in her cheeks darkened, spreading to the tips of her ears. So damn adorable.

She moved her mouth like she wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

He thought for a second he just might die of adorableness overload. Flustering her was fun as hell.

She snapped her mouth shut and crossed her arms over her chest. Very defensive. “That’s not what… I mean… you know… I didn’t mean…” She stopped and took a deep breath. “You know that’s not why I was asking.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. It still sounded rough and rusty. She stared at him for a few seconds, and then one side of her mouth turned up in a lopsided smile. Some of the random tension in his chest, tension he didn’t realize he carried, shifted, eased a little. “You did sort of set yourself up for that one.”

She gave him a very motherly, I-call-bullshit double eyebrow raise.

He bit the inside of his cheek to stop from laughing again. Or maybe grabbing her and kissing the daylights out of her. “The Four Seasons.”

Her features tightened, just for a second. She turned back to the equipment rack. Fussed with the weights, making a show of straightening them, even though they were already lined up perfectly. “The reason I asked is because I wanted to know if they had a pool, since we decided you should continue with swimming. But they don’t. At least not one that’s usable in the winter.” She tapped her finger against her lips. “That’s fine. We can get you a pass to one of the public pools.”

She was back to being all business, which is exactly what he needed. Order and rules and structure. When left to his own devices he did shit like imagine his strength and conditioning coach naked.

“Sure.” He slung the towel around his neck. “You’re the boss.”

“I’ll try not to let that go to my head.” She spun around and headed for the door. “Once you’re finished your shower, come to my office and I’ll get you the information for the pool.”

As she walked out of the room, he tried, and failed to not stare at her ass. He so needed to get his shit together. And maybe if he said it to himself enough times, it would actually sink in.

Chapter Four

Alex sank into her chair, fanning her cheeks with her fingers, trying to get the image of Nick wearing sweatpants and a tank top out of her head. Every time he walked out of the change room, she was surprised her tongue didn’t roll right out of her mouth.

He was gorgeous. And even though he’d been sidelined for the last few months, he’d managed to keep the majority of his muscle tone through physiotherapy and working on the muscle groups that hadn’t been directly affected by his injury.

The smattering of freckles across his impossibly wide shoulders almost dared her to play connect the dots—possibly with her tongue. The urge to rub herself against him, to see if he was as hard as he appeared, always freaked her out.

It had been a long time since she’d been so physically attracted to someone, so the feelings he brought out were startling. And completely unwanted.

And then she’d gone ahead and shown him what a doofus she was by reminding him of the night they’d watched the meteor shower in the park. What had she been thinking? Of course, he didn’t remember that night. It was so long ago, and had probably meant nothing to him. He was going to think she’d been a stalker or obsessed or something.

Well, maybe not. It wasn’t like she’d shown up at his house back then wearing nothing under a trench coat, or he’d caught her hiding in his rose bushes or anything. Their… well, it wasn’t really a date, but appointment didn’t quite sound right either. Regardless, it had been planned.