Cassidy stood there mutely as Laura walked away. She had her cutoff jeans on…and all Cassidy could think of at that moment was slipping off those cutoff jeans. She shook her head quickly, then yanked her own shorts off and practically fell into the pool. She ducked under the water and swam down to the deep end where it was cooler. She surfaced under the shade of the diving board and held onto the side, turning to watch as Laura made her way back over. Two floats were tossed into the pool and Laura—like Cassidy always did—covered the beer bucket with a towel.

And then…those cutoff jeans were unbuttoned, the zipper lowered…and Cassidy felt her heart hammering in her chest, felt her breathing increase, felt her losing her grip on the side of the pool. She held on, her gaze locked on Laura’s hands as they shoved the cutoff jeans down her legs, past her thighs and knees to her ankles. When she stepped out of them, Cassidy lost her grip on the side and slipped under the water. She came up sputtering and coughing, finding Laura staring at her.

“What in the world is wrong with you, Cassidy?”

Laura was across the pool on the other side, not even in waist-deep water. There were no longer any oddly placed tan lines to be seen. It was the same swimsuit she normally wore—the one with shades of purple and black. She also had a solid black one, but that was a little more sporty than this one and didn’t show quite so much cleavage. Of course she was staring, and she certainly didn’t need to be staring at Laura’s breasts…she was liable to drown.

She cleared her throat. “Do you think we should talk?”

Laura raised her eyebrows.

“Because I think we should probably talk,” Cassidy continued.

“About the kiss?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Laura stayed where she was, the water lapping just above her thighs. Cassidy stayed where she was, holding on the side of the pool for dear life. They stared at each other for a long—quiet—moment. Then Cassidy smiled and Laura did the same. Cassidy finally looked away, laughing a little at how ridiculous the situation was. Laura laughed too.

“Okay, then…glad we got that out of the way.”

“Will you just relax,” Laura said as she shoved a float toward her.

“I thought you wanted to talk.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Good. Because I didn’t really want to talk about it either.”

Laura got on her float, fighting with it as she usually did, making Cassidy laugh.

“I hate this damn thing.”

Cassidy got onto her own float on the first try. “You have all week to practice; I don’t know what the problem is.”

“If you think all I do is lounge in your pool all week, you obviously have not inspected your yard.”