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  Playfully, I push out of his grasp. “Nope. Don’t blame me for your shitty round out there.”

  Calen chuckles, but it’s short lived when he glances at Adrianna. “No Lani?”

  “Work,” Adrianna announces.

  “Last minute,” I add.

  “It happens….” He tries to bury the disappointment with a forced smile. His hand stretches out towards my best friend. “I’m Calen.”

  “Adrianna.” She shakes. “And you can relax. Lani’s made it crystal clear you belong to her.”

  The comment renders him speechless yet the color creeping into his cheeks informs us all there is definitely something between them.

  What’d they put in the fucking whiskey?!

  “I’m Levi.” He extends one hand to her and folds our fingers together with the other. “Auditioning for the role of the boyfriend.”

  My scoff is drowned out by her laughter. “Lead or understudy?”

  “Lead. There’ll never be an understudy. I don’t share.”

  “Well played. You….I definitely like for Kady.”

  “You hear that?” He cockily smirks at me. “Your best friend likes me.”

  “Eh. I’ve got four of ‘em. You need majority to get the part.”

  Levi laughs loudly and the sound weakens my knees.

  I’m in major trouble. Maybe I should move? Find a new city to live in far across the country.

  “Don’t let her fool you,” Adrianna smoothly states. “You already have it.”

  His smile widens. “You two hungry? I’ve got some salmon and veggie skewers ready to throw on the grill.”

  My surprise is instant. “You cook?”

  “Sometimes.” Levi tugs me a little closer to him. “Maybe our next date, I’ll show you the skills I have in the kitchen.”

  “And then the ones he has in the bedroom,” Adrianna adds loudly.

  Do not laugh! It only makes her ego grow bigger.

  Levi insists we have a seat on the white patio couches while he and Calen tend to getting lunch going. The conversation remains casual, mostly filled with fun arguments about the best places to get seafood in the city. We laugh, mock, and even recall some of the worst experiences we’ve had at others’ suggestions. By the time we’re sitting on the floor around the black wicker table, shoveling forkfuls of his delicious entrée into our mouths, the choice of topic takes one I was hoping we would avoid for a bit longer.

  “I typically try to keep lunch light if I’ve been surfing most of the morning or plan on going again in the afternoon,” Levi explains, pulling his legs up towards his chest. “Hate feeling full when I’m on my board.” His attention swings back and forth between me and Adrianna. “You two wanna catch a wave with us? I’ve got extra boards.”

  Her lips press together to suppress replying.

  I pretend to cut my fish to prevent making eye contact. “I don’t….do water.”

  The curiosity in his tone is apparent. “Meaning?”

  “I avoid it at extreme lengths.”

  Levi’s foot nudges mine in a demand to meet his gaze. When I do, he lifts his brow in a quiet request for more information.

  “I don’t like…water outside the drink form. I don’t do oceans. Lakes. Rivers.”

  “Pools or hot tubs?”

  “Don’t even take bubble baths.”

  “But you shower, right?”

  Though the mirth in his voice is relieving, I give him a playful slug to the shoulder.

  “Are you afraid of large bodies of water?”

  “Kinda.” Contemplation over sharing the reasoning is surprisingly brief. “Almost drowned when I was six at summer camp and never really got passed it.”

  Calen questions, “When you say almost drowned you mean-”

  “Unconscious for a couple of minutes. Hospital visit. That type of thing.”

  “Wow,” Calen less than quietly croaks.

  “It was a shitty year at camp and the reason Kady never went back,” Adrianna somberly sighs. “The rest of us only made it through two more summers without her.”

  “How did it happen?” Levi cautiously ponders out loud.

  “All of the counselors were barely legal morons more concerned with blowing each other on bunk beds than insuring the campers were safe,” my best friend gripes.

  “It was during free swim one afternoon,” I start to explain. “We were playing Marco, Polo in the lake and I got a leg cramp. I tried to swim back, but the pain was too much. Adrianna and Lani rushed to try to save me but.…”

  Levi acknowledges the sentence’s premature ending with a nod. “And the lifeguard was busy fooling around rather than watching out for you?”

  “Pretty much.”

  A long, uncomfortable stretch spreads between all of us.

  Didn’t mean to put a damper on the whole damn date. Who knows. Perhaps this story is exactly what he needed to be scared off.

  All of a sudden, Levi shifts his body a little closer to mine. “You made an exception to dating actors for me….Maybe you’ll extend that extension to being in the water with me.”

  Not likely.

  I offer him a small smile. “What about you? Big surfer? Big swimmer?”

  “I basically live in the water when I’m not on set,” he confesses.

  Fear clogs my vocal chords. “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. I absolutely love it. Swimming. Surfing. Wind surfing. Wakeboarding. Skiing. Snorkeling. We even took a white water rafting trip for my birthday a couple years ago and it was probably the most exciting shit I’ve ever done.”

  Huh. Just when I thought him being a magnet for paparazzi was going to be the reason we couldn’t date, I am unexpectedly bitch slapped with this. And before you go on any tangent about us having different interests being a normal thing for people to deal with when dating, let me highlight the fact that’s alright as long as their hobbies don’t contain one another’s phobia. See the problem? See how we need to move ‘love of water’ to the top of Levi’s very long cons list?

  Calen recalls the trip less fondly. “I thought I was gonna fucking die.”

  Levi lightly laughs. “He was such a fucking pussy about the whole thing.”

  “We could’ve died!”

  “There was a sixty year old woman in our raft with us who paddled better than him. He was too busy panicking to be any real help.”

  We try to stifle our snickers at the same time he gives Levi the finger.

  Adrianna pushes her empty plate away. “So, you’re a fish stuck on land too?”

  Calen quickly nods. “Pretty much, though frankly, I prefer surfing and swimming to the other shit.”

  “That’s good. Lani pretty much has gills. She’ll only date someone else who would also trade in their legs for fins.”

  He tries to hold back his excitement. “Good to know. What about you? You like the water? You like to swim?”

  “I’m half Cuban. Not swimming isn’t really a choice for obvious survival reasons.”

  Her racial remark shocks them both but gets a smirk out of me.

  Yeah there really aren’t very many lines she’s not willing to cross. Out of the five of us, she’s the least concerned about hurting anyone’s feelings with her vulgar jokes or churlish comments. You’d think the fact she owns her own lucrative company would help dial down her abrasive patterns or at least remind her to gauge a situation before speaking her mind, but it doesn’t. If anything, her clients love her more because she lacks a filter.

  Once they both steal a glimpse of my lighthearted look to confirm it’s alright to laugh, Levi asks me, “Did you grow up far from the coast?”

  “Not really. Outskirts of Cliffsworth.”

  His brow furrows. “Then didn’t you take trips down to the beach with your family? Or do the whole Spring Break thing with your friends?”

  “Parents? No. Friends, yes, but I would just hang out on the beach under an umbrella with a paperback until they were ready to play beach volleyball.”
>
  The intrigued expression on his face has me beaming brighter. “Beach volleyball, huh? Any good?”

  “Good enough to beat you.”

  Levi’s grin returns in full bloom. “Listen to that arrogance.”

  “How about a little Top Gun action?” Adrianna slyly suggests. “You know, since you two are already shirtless and sweaty. Two on two. We win and the two of you ditch this co-dependent Boy Scout style of dating you’re holding onto and ask Kady and Lani onto individual dates of their choosing.”

  “And if we win?” Calen inquires.

  “Lani and Kady have to be our dates to the Walking Mirrors premier on Friday.”

  “Absolutely not.” I shake my head. “No way. Not happening. I don’t even walk the carpet for Henley.”

  Levi’s head tilts in question. “Henley?”

  “Henley Hopkins. She’s one of our other best friends. The one we live with.”

  “Twinley?!” His stunned stare deepens. “You’re best friends with Twinley?”

  “Don’t call her that!” Adrianna and I bite in unison.

  The double assault has his hands flying up in surrender. “Sorry!”

  She loathes the nickname attached to her and her twin brother who are both actors. Their incredible sibling performance in a set of world famous fantasy movies based on a worldwide bestselling book series, launched their careers and aided in the destruction of their relationship. The whole world is convinced they are as close as ever, but what really happens where the cameras don’t see is every tabloid journalists’ wet dream and key to financial freedom.

  Levi clears his throat and drags the conversation back to the original discussion. “Those are the terms. Date vs date.”

  I fold my hands into my lap, still shaking my head. “Can’t do it. Won’t do it.”

  “Finally realizing maybe you were a little too cocky before?” Levi teases with an irritating smirk.

  And now I’m thinking we won’t have a third date because no one asks out the chick who back handed you during your second one. You’re keeping my list of reasons not to continue dating him. Add invokes violent outbreaks to it please. Why aren’t you writing? I said please….

  “I know damn well we wouldn’t lose.” My smile is smug. “Just can’t speak for Lani.”

  “I can,” Adrianna playfully snips. “We have a deal.”

  My jaw drops to argue but they’re already shaking hands.

  “Let me clear the dishes and then Calen and I’ll get the net set up.”

  “Kady and I can take the dishes inside. You two get started on the net.” After the four of us stand, Adrianna adds, “Oh….I guess I should probably tell you guys, I’m really really good too. Hell, I’m the reason any of my girls are worth a damn on the court.”

  Levi chuckles. “I see arrogance is abundant in your group of friends.”

  Don’t answer that.

  “Absolutely.” She nods, still grinning. “But I could’ve gone pro. Like was being groomed for the Olympics level of pro.”

  The change to nervous in their expression causes my smirk to sparkle in the sun.

  “Why...um…didn’t you?” Calen cautiously asks.

  “Realized I only liked training competitively because I had the hots for my coach. I never really had the drive that everyone else seemed to. So, when I turned eighteen, I gave it up and started banging him instead.”

  Yeah.…That was a rough start to our senior year of high school.

  Her overconfident smile is preceded with, “However, I do still play frequently for fun. Year round.”

  Unlike Calen who looks ready to throw in the towel, Levi pokes, “Then winning will be that much sweeter for us.”

  Calen drops his head, shakes it, and begins his route to the deck steps.

  Once we’ve collected the plates, utensils, and empty water bottles, Adrianna and I relocate them to the kitchen sink as promised.

  Thoughtlessly, I turn the lever to rinse off the dishes.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like?”

  “Like you’ve forgotten to mention to me you now live here.”

  Placing the food free plates on the side of the sink closer to the dishwasher, I state, “I don’t understand.”

  “You’re washing his dishes.”

  “We said-”

  “We’d bring them inside. We never agreed to Alice this shit.”

  “I’m being polite.”

  “You’re a guest.”

  Who oddly feels at home here. Just between you and me? I really didn’t plan to rinse this shit off. It just happened. Like autopilot. Like it’s my responsibility because these are our dishes. Because we are entertaining our friends for lunch. Whoa. This can’t be normal….Definitely put ‘causes me to act irrationally’ in Levi’s con column.

  “Lani’s gonna kill you.” I turn off the water and reach for a towel to dry my hands with. “Either way. Whether we win or they do.”

  “She’s like ninety-five pounds and made up of Spring water and cheap shrimp cocktail. Pretty sure I can take her.”

  A small snicker falls free.

  “Besides, she’ll be singing my praises when she remembers how good a no vibrator orgasm feels.”

  “Ri, I really don’t wanna go to that premier and not just because those trailers look like shit.”

  Weird horror meets romance movie. Not two genres I particularly liked mashed together.

  “You won’t,” she reassures while putting her hair into a high bun. “Trust me. Aside from my skills we also have secret weapons.”

  “Which are?”

  Adrianna reaches over and bounces my boobs.

  My lips press together for a minor moment. “Those aren’t weapons, Ri. Those are tits.”

  “When used properly they can create mass destruction.”

  Will you please stop giggling at her? She really does make life more stressful than necessary….

  After getting bold and putting the dishes in the empty dishwasher, I follow Adrianna outside to where the guys are setting up the net. We only get to enjoy the delicious view of them for three or four more minutes before they’re finished. She waits until their attention is on us to non-verbally instruct I ditch my cover up.

  In one swift movement, I remove the dress concealing my two piece black and white crisscross swimsuit.

  I am so not used to exposing this much skin. Most of my swimsuits are tankinis. Cute. Solid colors. Hug my curves in a flattering way. Not this. This was Adrianna’s doing and the tantrum she threw in the store might’ve got us banned for life.

  The playful design showcases less than a pair of string bikini bottoms, but still exposes my defined hips and firm ass while the top takes a similar approach by accenting my chest and distracting from areas I’m not the most proud of.

  Hey, I work out! I do! I really do! I like the dance sessions offered at our gym and even take an occasional spin class with Henley, though… that typically pisses me off. Not because she has a habit of sleeping with the instructor the night before, but because there’s something about rapidly moving my legs and not getting anywhere that irks me.

  My eyes lift to see hunger in Levi’s stare. Seeing his mouth slightly agape and his hands twitching in anxiousness encourages me to stand a little higher. I give my hair a small ruffle and the simple action causes his lips to purse together in desperation.

  Adrianna whispers in my ear, “Told ya.”

  Feeling more confident than ever, I call out, “You ready or what?”

  Levi tries to shake away his arousal, rearranges his obvious hard on, and waves us over.

  Calen tosses him the ball as we take our positions on the opposite side of the net. “Anything past there,” he points to a patio chair, “or there,” he points behind them closer to where the dock stairs are, “is out of bounds. First to ten?”

  We nod our understanding and agreement.

  My date delivers one last smug smirk. “Just so you know. I
f you don’t have an evening gown, I’ll make sure to have my stylist help you out.”

  I lower my eyes to a glare at the same time I do my body to a prepped stance. “Bring it, pretty boy.”

  Levi chuckles and serves the ball. It’s barely over the net before Adrianna is hitting it back lightly tipping it back to their side.