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“Oh yeah,” Jared said. “Obviously.”
Kami fumbled for the door handle, grasped it, and turned it. “This is different. As was the lawyer’s office. We’re in pursuit of justice.” She peered warily into the next room.
Jared came to lean against the doorframe beside her. “I just get confused,” he claimed, laughing low. “Being good’s only fun when it’s with you.”
Light reflected on the wall in the next room, a moving shimmer against the white tiles.
Kami advanced cautiously.
The room was circular, lined with pale tiles. At Kami’s feet lay a square of dark water. There was a skylight above the pool. The night sky turned the pool into a mirror, dusting the water with stars.
Kami heard Jared laugh again and turned. He was taking off his shirt: the apron was on the floor. She caught sight of a slice of stomach and looked hastily back at the pool. “Jared,” she said, mouth dry. “This is not being good!” She felt the inviting thrill course through her, the idea of abandoning just a little control.
“But it might be fun.”
“I’m not doing it and you’re not doing it either,” Kami told him.
Jared dived. His body cut through the water, disappearing in the dark with only a ripple. Kami could feel Jared’s thoughts chasing through her brain: his adrenaline, the pleasure of getting away with something, something as harmless as this.
Jared’s head broke the surface, his hair dark with water, the faint shimmer of light pale on his skin. “Come on,” he said.
Kami hesitated for a moment and ordered, “Turn around.”
Jared smiled, the little smile that went all the way through her, and did. Kami studied his shoulder blades with suspicion as she took off her apron and then the black T-shirt, being careful of the page tucked in the apron. She wished she’d worn underwear that matched, though that happened approximately three days of the year. But she wished she’d at least worn discreet black instead of a bright orange bra.
“Orange?” Jared asked. He answered her wave of indignation with a quick “Not peeking! Reading your mind!”
“I wonder what privacy would be like. Guess I’ll never know,” said Kami, and jumped into the water. It was a cool, lovely shock, her limbs floating in the new element. Her soft laughter echoed off the tiles and was swallowed by Jared’s light splash at her face.
Kami splashed him back, shivering in the cool water. Jared was thinking of grabbing and dunking her, thinking about it mostly just to tease her. Only, it would be weird if he did, and he was a lot bigger than she was.
“Hey,” said Jared, turning. The ripples in the pool as he moved washed against Kami’s skin. The hair on her arms rose, her skin tingling. “I would never hurt you.”
“I know you wouldn’t,” Kami said quickly. “It isn’t that.” It wasn’t that. It was the fact that he was here, which kept being disturbing, and that she was so terribly aware of him being there, all the time. She was thinking hundreds of things at once, like that they were going to get caught, and noticing the muscles in Jared’s chest and shoulders without knowing what to do about the fact that she was noticing.
In spite of all that, this was fun.
Kami’s eye was caught by the glint of the thin chain she’d noticed around Jared’s neck at the bell tower. She saw what had been hidden by his T-shirt now: an old penny, like the one she had sent him years ago.
Kami looked up at his face.
“I told you I got it,” Jared said. “I found it on the floor in our apartment.”
Kami looked away from him, feeling the weight of his gaze on her. And she didn’t want Jared seeing any of her thoughts, so
she splashed at him and said, “Two laps. Race you.”
A noise in one of the exercise rooms beyond made Kami lunge for the side of the pool. She pulled herself out and grabbed their clothes, feeling in her apron pocket for the paper. Then she ran to join Jared. He was out of the pool, trying to pull open the glass door that led to a patio outside.
It was locked.
Kami could hear footsteps by now, coming closer. She shoved Jared’s clothes at his chest. I knew this was a bad idea. Pursuing justice is good karma! Pursuing illicit fun leads to being apprehended while unclothed!
The steps rang out, echoing clearly off the tiles and the skylighted roof.
Jared took a deep breath and said, “Kami, I’m sorry.”
The glitter of stars on the pool water caught Kami’s eye. She looked at it, even with the echoing steps, even while a man’s voice called out: “Who’s there?”
