“Ah caveman style and everything? You must be serious.” Doing a quick flip-turn, I come up for air a foot away from him. “Relax and enjoy yourself for once, Mr. Always-So-Serious.

Jax looks behind him with that sexy one-eyebrow-raised thing he does and says, “I know you aren’t talking to me like that,” in that bedroom voice of his that sends chills all the way down to my toes.

Treading water, I smirk at him. “What are you gonna do about it?”

I turn over and sprint back to the wall with Jax racing behind me. If I can make it to the wall, I can get out and dive over him. He won’t be able to catch me. I flip over to my back and do two backstrokes. I have more than enough time. I laugh as I reach the wall. This is fun. Before I can pull myself out of the water all the way, Jax captures the back of his shirt I’m borrowing.

Fast bastard.

Jax gets out of the pool after a while and watches me float around in nothing but my bra and panty set. I didn’t see the point of swimming with his wet shirt. I smile up at him. From here I can see that his eyes are the dark shade of green that I love, the one that reminds me of a lion about to attack. I know he won’t, he won’t cross that line with me, not here. It’s bittersweet. I love that we have our friendship back, but I hate that we can’t be more than that.

I’m so grateful that he made me do this, that he pushed me when I was ready even though I didn’t know it. He was right, I was punishing myself for my family’s death. I refused to do the one thing that brought me so much joy. It’s hard to believe that I’ve denied myself this feeling for six long years. Swimming is a part of me, the missing piece that I refused to acknowledge.

I know I will never compete again, that part of my life is over. It left the minute my family died. For the first time since that night, I can honestly say I’m okay with that, I know it will never be the same without them. At least now I know that I can go to the ocean or a pool without having a meltdown. Hmmm. The ocean, I miss it. Maybe I’ll take a trip there soon.

God, this feels so amazing. I could float around all night like this. The memories that I feared would come back never do. The only memories are the happy ones, the ones that I forgot.

I sink down to the bottom of the pool again, one of my favorite places in the world. It’s so quiet. It’s peaceful, beautiful. It’s like everything drifts away while I’m under here. This is the place I missed most of all. This is my happy place.

When I surface, Jax waits at the edge of the pool with his feet in and a towel in his lap. I swim towards him. I brace both hands on the outside of his legs, and peer up at him.

“Thank you for pushing me to remember who I am again and for everything you do for me, Jax.”

His fingers travel over my shoulders. Then, in a move so fast I don’t see it coming, he grips my underarms, lifts me out of the water and sets me on his lap. I go all too willingly. He drapes the towel around my shoulders and rubs it into my skin. Jax twirls a strand of my wet hair.

“I didn’t do anything. This was all you, Ads. You did this. You faced your fear.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “I only helped you realize what you already knew.” He tilts my head up by my chin. “You are the strongest person I know, Adalynn. One day you’ll see yourself how I see you.”

I melt into him. He continues to dry me with the towel, rubbing circles into my back, making me fall asleep.

Stretching my arms over my head, I yawn. My left leg bumps into something warm and solid. My eyes fly open. I don’t see my stars hanging over my bed. I know this plain white celling. Crap! Slowly I turn my head to see a bemused Jax in bed beside me.

“I know, I know I look amazing in the morning, but you don’t have to stare, Ads,” he says as he flexes his arms out in front of him, making his muscles pop.

Man! I can’t catch a break with this guy. It’s so unfair for him to look this good this early. Silently I curse The God. I have the sudden urge to punch his stupid smug grin off his face. I resist, barely. Forcing my gaze away from his delicious pecs that belong on billboards everywhere, I pointedly look him up and down.

Sassily I say, “You know the room down the hall and to the right have a much better view than this one. Maybe next time you could put me in that one.”

“Yeah, I should do that next time. Besides, then I wouldn’t have to fight you off in your sleep.”

My mouth drops open.

“Don’t worry kiddo, I was able to keep you at bay and get some sleep.”

Kiddo? I glare at him. He laughs, finding me amusing. Wonderful.

He gets out of bed and makes a show off striding to his bathroom in just his black briefs. Yup, my mouth is fully agape now. I’m pretty sure there’s now drool on his blanket, but I don’t care.

All I’m able to do is gawk at him dumbfounded as he walks into his bathroom and closes his door. Groaning, I slam my head down, clutch the closest pillow and scream my frustration into it. Jax’s mouthwatering smell hits me unexpectedly, which shouldn’t be that big of a surprise since I’m in his bed clenching his pillow to my face, but it is. I throw the pillow across the room.

Stupid boy.

Stupid tattoos.

Stupid green eyes.

I hear the shower turn on so I decide it’s safe to sneak out before he notices. My emotions run wild, too wild to be around him right now. Everything he has done confuses the crap out of me. One minute I’m nothing more than his best friend’s little sister, the next it seems I’m something more, much more. I can’t deal with this right now.

I open his drawer where he keeps his workout clothes. I steal a pair of basketball shorts, then pull down a black hoodie from a hanger and change. I spot my clothes and shoes from last night on the bench in front of his bed. After picking up everything, I rush out of his bedroom.

I call down to the lobby for a cab so I don’t have to hail one in what looks to be the outfit from a one night stand. After hanging up, I write him a note.

Thanks for last night.

I want to say something more, but I can’t force myself to go through with it. Everything about last night was perfect. Because of his insistent pushing, I have another piece of myself.

After placing the note on the coffee maker, I leave. Just in time, too, because right when I reach the elevator I hear him calling my name. As the doors close, I sigh in relief. I don’t know which Jax I’ll get if I stay. I can’t deal with the cold and distant Jax, especially after last night.

An hour later, I lock myself in my apartment and sag against the door. After a minute of sitting on the floor, I force myself into the living room. I drop everything on my coffee table, grab my phone from my clutch and go into the bathroom for a much needed bath.

I strip out of Jax clothes, and draw the perfect bath, complete with bath salts and oils, in record time. Sitting on the edge of the tub, I go to text Harper. Immediately, I see I have a ton of missed calls and texts. Crap! Hopefully Harper is okay. I frown at the missed calls from Kohen. Using my index thumb I scroll up, up, up, and up some more. Missed calls from him fill my entire call log.

What . . . the . . . fuck . . .

I have voicemails . . . all twelve are from Kohen. I tap my foot as I listen to the first one, hoping he isn’t seriously injured.

Hey babe, just wondering how your night is going. I miss you. Call me when you get back. Okay . . . bye.

The next one is ten minutes later.

Hey still haven’t heard anything from you. Just checking in to make sure you’re okay. Call me if you need anything.

How cute, he’s worried about me which makes me the worst person in the world. While he worried about me, I ended up at the penthouse of a guy that I secretly love. Fantastic, I’m an amazing person. They should make a shrine in my honor. With that sarcastic thought, I press play for the next voicemail that occurred five minutes later.