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I step out of my shoes. Pull off my shirt. Unzip my jeans. When I’m down to my boxers, I take two quick steps forward and cannonball into the pool.
When I come back up for air, Claire is laughing at me, treading water a few feet away.
“Ass!” she says before splashing me, still laughing.
Not one to be outdone, I splash her back. With that, a full-on water war commences. It’s like we’re a couple of kids, the way we chase each other around the pool. But it doesn’t take long before we’re both breathing heavily, our movements becoming sluggish.
Claire calls a truce, and we both swim over to the edge, bracing ourselves against it.
“You’re right,” I say, grinning at her. “The waterisperfect.”
Claire smiles at me, and it’s like all the air is sucked out of my lungs. I drift closer to her, lean into her, move to kiss her. Her eyes flicker with desire, and her lips ever-so-slightly part.
But then she puts a hand out, stopping me. She swallows. Hard. “I’m sorry, Jack. But I’m not interested in being one of your conquests.”
“Conquests?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
Claire’s lips turn down at the edges. “I’m not stupid. I saw you flirting with that woman during your panel.”
I blink at her, trying to figure out what she’s talking about. Then it clicks.
The panel I participated in this morning.
“You mean Kelly? The teacher from Ohio?” I ask.
Claire nods.
“There’s absolutely nothing between me and Kelly. We’re just old friends. We went to college together.”
Claire’s frown deepens as she mulls over what I’ve just said. She pins me with her gaze. “You two never dated or anything?”
I laugh. “Nope. Kelly’s into women. And she’s happily married.”
Claire’s cheeks flush. “Oh.”
“Anything else you want to ask me? Or can I kiss you now?”
The pink in Claire’s cheeks deepens in color. “No, um…there’s nothing else I want to ask.”
This time, when I lean forward, Claire does too. But before our lips can touch, a high-pitched squeal cuts through the silence. Claire and I pull apart and both look over toward the glass doors, where three hyperactive boys are running at full-sprint ahead of their parents.
“Careful!” their mother yells.
Fuck.
Talk about bad timing.
“I think that’s our cue to head out,” I grunt as the three boys dominate the water.
Claire nods in agreement and the two of us pull ourselves up and out of the pool. As soon as I’m out of the water, Claire takes one look at me and bites back a grin—and I remember that I’m only wearing my boxers, which aren’t doing much to hide anything now that they’re soaked.
“Here,” she says, throwing me a towel as she also grabs one for herself.
I wrap the towel around my waist, scoop up my belongings, and follow Claire through the glass doors. When we step into the elevator and the doors close, enclosing us in the little space, I’m ravaged with the desire to pin her up against the wall and claim her mouth with mine.
But then I remember what she said about not wanting to be my latest conquest. And even though we’ve cleared that up, I want to make sure she knows that’s not what this is.
This desire I’m feeling for her…it’s something more.
