Grey considered her as he treaded water in the deep end. Her head was leaned back as she sat in the hot, bubbling water, her eyes closed, eyelashes resting on her cheeks. His heart thudded. He wanted to go sit by her. Should he go sit by her?

Without letting himself think too much, he swam over to the ladder, got out of the pool, and walked the few steps to the hot tub. Jaya opened her eyes when she felt him splash in next to her.

“Hope you don’t mind the intrusion,” Grey said, parroting her words from the pool.

She gestured to the bench beside her. “What it’s there for.”

A ghost of a smile at his lips, he took a seat. After a pause, he pointed in the general direction of her chest, not wanting to let his eyes linger there. “You’re not wearing your necklace.”

Jaya’s fingers caressed the bare skin just under the hollow of her throat. “No. The rubies keep falling and I didn’t want to make it worse.” She glanced at him, her eyes soft. “How are you doing?”

He knew she wasn’t asking about his general health. She meant “How are you doing since you think your life is ending?” “I’m fine.”

“I was thinking…,” Jaya said. “I might take it to get repaired. You know, just to see what, ah, what that does.”

Grey frowned. “What it does?” Then understanding dawned. “Do you mean if it gets rid of the curse?”

She nodded.

Grey rubbed a wet hand along his jaw. “That’s not going to help.” It was a little endearing that she wanted to try, though.

“Maybe not,” Jaya said. “But perhaps if the pendant really does know you’re near like you told me in Aspen, it’ll sense you trying to help.” Seeing his skeptical face, she added, “Maybe it sounds silly, but I don’t know how these things work. What can it hurt to try?”

He considered this. “Okay.”

“Okay.” She smiled, and for the first time, Grey realized just how perfectly bow-shaped her lips were. “I’ll find a good jeweler. And ah… we could go together. If you wanted to, I mean.”

Her expression was tentative, wondering if he’d reject her like he’d rejected her before. “Sure,” Grey found himself saying, which was a surprise even to him. “That wouldn’t be… awful.” He was already kind of looking forward to it, in fact.

Her smile broadened and she moved infinitesimally closer to him on the underwater bench. “Not awful. I’ll take that as a compliment. This is so beautiful,” she added, tipping her head back to look at the stars through the paned glass roof. Her cheeks were stained a dark pink, strands of her hair coiled in wet curls on her neck.