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I drank in every detail of his face, a face I’d once known almost as well as my own.
His brown hair was longer, falling over his eyes a little when it was damp, and he had a thick layer of stubble covering his jaw.
Seven years had been good to him. He had filled out in all the right places, matured in a way that only made him even more gorgeous. But despite everything that was familiar about him, he was different.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. My heart had recognized him right off the bat, but after catching glimpses of him around the camp over the last couple of weeks, I’d realized the guy I had once loved was changed.
But then, so was I.
Lost in the lines of his side profile, I didn’t sense Blake turning to face me until two inky blue pools stared back at me.
“Can we start over?” he asked. “As crazy as it is seeing you here Penny, for as much as I’m trying to get my head around what it means, we have to find a way to be around one another.”
I inhaled another thin, shaky breath. Blake was right. We had to find a way to make this work.
“You’re right,” I said.
His reaction to my words caught me off guard. I could feel the relief rolling off him as if he couldn’t believe I had replied… let alone agreed.
Blake cleared his throat, and I was sure I caught a nervous quiver there, which made little sense. Things might have been awkward between us, yes, but what did he have to feel nervous about?
“Okay, I’d like that.” He smiled and my foolish heart fluttered. “To get to know you again, I mean. It’s been a long time, Pen.”
Seven years.
It had been seven long and painful years.
“Weston, get your ass over here,” Sam called from the lake, and Blake let out a resigned sigh. “I guess I should go join them. Are you sure I can’t persuade you?”
I shook my head, feeling that earlier discomfort creep in. He opened his mouth as if to say something but didn’t. Instead, he gave me another shy smile before leaving me.
He jogged off toward the lake, and I couldn’t look away as he hooked his hands under his shirt and pulled it clean over his head. My mouth instantly dried. The last time I’d seen Blake, he had just turned seventeen. His body had been changing, maturing then, and he’d been the most beautiful boy I’d ever laid eyes on.
But as I watched the boy I’d once known slide his cargo shorts off his legs, causing his tanned skin to ripple across his broad shoulders as he sprinted toward the dock in nothing but his boxer briefs, it was obvious he had been replaced with a man.
I didn’t know how to feel about that.
* * *
“So tell me again. Exactly what did he say?”
Marissa and I stood with the rest of the counselors waiting for the new group to arrive. We could hear the buses approaching in the distance, but they hadn’t yet broken through the trees.
“He said he wants to get to know me again. What does that even mean?”
Marissa smirked. “I think you know what it means, Penny.”
My cheeks flushed at her insinuation, heat spreading through me. If I’d learned anything about Marissa over the last two weeks, it was that she was comfortable with her body, and that included talking about sex.
“Marissa, can you stop?” I chided. “It isn’t like that.”
She leaned back against the wooden fencing that sectioned off the parking lot and let out a low chuckle. “I’m just saying. I’ve seen how he looks at you across the fire. Like he’s remembering.”
I groaned. Although she hadn’t pushed for details about the history Blake and I shared, Marissa had started to draw her own conclusions—thewrongconclusion apparently.
The buses came into view, and I stood, wiping my hands down my shorts, butterflies kicking up a storm in my stomach. The first group had, for the most part, been easy, and I knew I had gotten off lightly. So I was nervous about what the next group would bring.
“Ready?” Marissa asked.
