He frowned. “No I didn’t.”

“That’s not how I remember it,” she said, her pulse racing. And she’d thought about it to an unhealthy level over the years.

“Well, your memory must be a lot different from mine,” he said, his voice slightly husky. “Because I remember a moment when I wanted to kiss you.”

Her mouth gaped. So all this time, she hadn’t been imagining that connection. That moment. He’d felt it, too. That put her overthinking mind at ease a little, but he wasn’t off the hook. “But then you left.”

He released a deep sigh. “My friends showed up. What was I supposed to do?”

“Not leave me bobbing alone, naked in the ocean, to become a joke for your friends?”

The sting of that humiliation had followed her for the weeks leading up to graduation. She’d felt her peers’ eyes on her, heard the whispers. She didn’t think Wes had perpetuated the gossip or rumors, but he certainly hadn’t been affected by them the way she had. Maybe if it had been someone else, someone she hadn’t been so in love with, she could have laughed it off. But having her hopes dashed in such a public way by him had left a scar.

He lowered his head, and remorse was apparent in his expression when he looked at her again. “I freaked out, okay? I was super attracted to you that night. Why do you think I dared you to do it in the first place?” He moved up a step until his face was level with hers. “I liked you, Sarah.”

Her heart raced, and her mouth was dry. “Well, why didn’t you say something? Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you leave?”

“Because you were this amazing genius, and I was just a dumb jock. You had all these amazing plans, and I had football. We were worlds apart back then. I wasn’t good enough for you.”

That’s how he saw things? “That’s not what I remember,” she said softly.

He reached out and cupped her face. “I liked you, Sarah. I still like you,” he said, pulling her face toward his.

She could barely breathe as she moved toward him. “You do?”

“Yeah, I really do,” he murmured against her lips. “And I’d really like to finish what we started in the water.”

Oh my God. She didn’t trust her voice, so she nodded. She desperately wanted that, too.

In half a heartbeat, he swept her into his arms and headed back upstairs to her bedroom. They fell onto the bed, and Wes rolled them so that she was on top. His lust-filled gaze when he looked at her surprised the hell out of her. No other man had looked at her like this before. Especially not one as hot as Wes.

His train of thought seemed to echo hers.