Page 37 of Five

I just can’t reconcile these two versions of my parents.

“You coming?” Five asks.

I realize he’s parked his car, gotten out, and is holding my door open, offering me his hand.

“Yeah,” I say, shaking off all the questions.

“Just… just don’t think about it yet, Rory.” Five can read my mind, I think. He knows me so well. “We don’t know shit. Hell, I might just be overreacting and in a few weeks, we’ll look back on this and laugh at our paranoid stupidity.”

I smile for him, because that’s what he’s looking for. He wants to comfort me, so I let him. I fold into his embrace and let him walk me out to the pool.

“I can get you a suit,” I say. “I’m sure my dad has—”

“Fuck that.” Five laughs. “I’m not wearing your dad’s swim trunks. Besides,” he says, leaning down to talk in my ear. “I lied earlier. Bathing suits aren’t optional. They’re forbidden.”

“This was your plan all along, wasn’t it, Mr. Aston? Get me naked.”

“You’re on to me, Princess.”

When I look up at him—see his smile—I realize just how much I’ve missed him. God, I’d be an idiot to let this moment be anything other than what it is. Time alone, reunited with the only man I have ever loved or will ever love.

He opens the gate to the fence that surrounds the pool and waves me forward. Our backyard pool is something right out of a five-star resort. It’s massive, and curvy, with real boulders, not man-made ones, and the water looks like it came straight out of a mountain lake. On one end there’s a waterfall and a hidden grotto, and on the other is a hot tub for cold nights.

It’s the perfect place to relax. Especially when you’re alone with the man of your dreams.

“Come here,” Five says, leading me over to the grotto side of the pool.

God. I might’ve fantasized about being alone with Five Aston in that grotto a million times over the years. But this farm is filled with people most of the time. There would never have been an occasion for Five and me to be alone out here.

Until now.

He wraps his arms around me, but just as I reach around him to hug him back, he’s slipping my shirt up over my head.

I look up at him. Wanting this so badly, but unsure at the same time.

“What?” he says. “Are you shy, Princess?”

I suck in a breath and force myself to look him in the eyes. “Nope,” I say, mustering up some confidence.

“Then why are you blushing a bright pink?”

“Oh, God,” I say, my hands flying to my face. Sure enough, they are warm. But whatever. I don’t care. I am blushing. So what. “I’m happy,” I say. “But nervous.”

“We made love last night and you were fine.”

“That was in the dark, Five. It’s not the same.”

“No,” he says, placing his hands over mine. His palms are warm and calming coolness at the same time. He leans in and kisses me softly on the lips, whispers, “It’s not the same at all. It’s better.”

A moment later he’s unclasping my bra. It falls forward when the tension releases, and slides down my arms.

I stand there, bare from the waist up, and look at him.

We share a smile when I reach for his t-shirt. I’m not tall enough to pull it over his head, but he doesn’t wait for me to ask for help. One swift movement and it’s joined my shirt on the stone pavers surrounding the pool.

And then he’s bare from the waist up too.

“I’m gonna take off your shorts, Princess.”