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Unable to resist him any longer, I walk over and slide my arms around Alden’s waist and plant a kiss on his lips. “Do you have to work today?”
“Nope. The guys have it handled. Plus, we’re going to close the shop early to go to the reservoir.” He gazes down at me and kisses me again. “You’ll need a change of clothes. Warm ones.”
Tori chuckles and starts digging in the fridge.
“Why would we go to the reservoir?”
“To jump in.” He says it like it’s not a completely insane idea.
“One night with me and you’re suicidal? Wow, I’ll try not to take that personally.”
He pinches my ass. “It’s for charity. It pays the heat bill for the elderly who can’t afford it. They call it the polar bear plunge.”
“How does jumping into freezing water raise money?”
“They have some loaded sponsors who donate a specific amount for each person who goes in. I can’t remember how much. The organizer sent someone around to local businesses to recruit. It sounded like fun, so I signed up my crew.”
Tori shoves a bag of potatoes at me. “Here, peel these. I’ll make some fried potatoes and biscuits and gravy.”
I take them and start peeling. “And how did I end up volunteered for this plunge?”
“Well, you don’t have to, but just think of all those poor decrepit people who won’t have heat.”
Tori snorts a laugh with her back to us while I roll my eyes.
“That’s not going to work,” I tell him, throwing a chunk of potato peel at his head. “And you can’t call them decrepit.”
He snatches it out of the air and continues. “They’ll have to wrap their frail, rickety bodies in blankets and hope for the best. Poor old Myrtle, doddering around in her slippers to stay warm. And Elmer, he can’t even get a warm bath since his water heater runs on gas. His balls will freeze to his chair.”
Tori and I are both shaking with laughter when he shrugs. “But hey, if you can live with yourself, I’m not judging.”
“Fine, I’ll go. Tori?”
“I’d rather stick my tit in a mousetrap. No way. You guys have fun. I have a date tonight.”
“Kinky,” Alden says.
We talk for a while about Tori’s date while we eat breakfast. It’s comfortable, hanging out with Tori and Alden like this again. Like the years between didn’t change a thing.
After we finish and clean up, I pull on a tiny pair of black shorts and a deep red tank top. I’m not wearing a swimsuit when it’s thirty degrees outside. I put jeans and a hoodie on over the top of them and pack a bag with an extra set of clothes as well.
Alden and I have been together less than a day and I’m already off to do something crazy. One thing he’s never been is boring.
We stop at Alden’s place, which is an apartment above his bike shop. “The guys are still here,” he remarks when we walk inside. “Let me introduce you.”
There are a few motorcycles sitting in the bays, plus two that look like they’re half built, but no one is working on them. Laughter spills out from the office, and Alden leads me back.
The office door stands open, giving us a view of a very large man in a very tight wetsuit. “You can both fuck off,” he says. “I’m not going to give myself a heart attack in that freezing water.”
A guy sits on the couch with his hand covering his mouth, his shoulders shaking. He’s young, probably around our age, and he looks like he could model if he decided being a mechanic isn’t his thing. He laughs harder when we step in, and Alden looks the larger man up and down.
“Do you want some flippers and a snorkel?” Alden asks him.
“You got us into this bullshit.”
Alden gestures to the man. “Babe, meet Milo. Milo, this is my girlfriend, Ella.”
At well over six feet tall, with a broad chest and considerable stomach, Milo is a sight in the wetsuit. His graying beard hangs down to his chest and his salt and pepper hair is nearly as long.
