She sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. This day had to rank as one of the worst she’d ever endured. Not only had the anorexic blonde tried to put her in her place—yard girl—but Cassidy’s other two friends acted like she wasn’t even there. She really didn’t know what she’d been expecting. Well, she hadn’t expected Claudia to be there, that was for sure. But Erica and Amber? She’d expected them to be nice, normal…like Tanya had been. But no. That was the furthest thing from the truth.

She brushed at the hair over her ears, feeling the dampness from the pool. She wasn’t bad looking, she supposed. Not beautiful, certainly. Nothing like Cassidy’s usual dates. What did Cassidy see in her? She was practically the complete opposite of who Cassidy dated. She frowned. Did Cassidy want to date her? What, exactly, would that mean? They were already spending the weekends together. They’d played in the pool. They’d had dinner. They’d kissed. Would dating mean Cassidy would introduce Laura to her friends? Would she be forced to endure more days like today?

“No, thanks,” she murmured.

She sighed again. Well, she couldn’t hide in the bathroom until dinner. She wondered if Cassidy would mind if she raided her liquor cabinet. She had a feeling she would need something much stronger than beer to get her through until dinner.

When she went back into the kitchen, she was surprised to find Cassidy there—alone. She took out a platter of rib eyes from the fridge and placed them on the island.

“There you are. I was wondering where you’d escaped to.”

“Just taking a break,” she said. “And that steak you promised me better be worth it.”

Cassidy came closer. “I’m sorry. I’d like to say that they’re not usually this rude but…” she said with a shrug.

“I’m an outsider.”

“That’s no reason to exclude you from every conversation.”

“You noticed that, huh?”

Cassidy met her gaze and held it. “I wish we were alone.”

“God, me too.”

Cassidy smiled. “Were you really going to tip her off her float?”

“Of course. I wanted to drown her!”

Cassidy’s smile got bigger. “I could tell.” She took a step closer. “You know what I want? I want to kiss you.”

“Why do you always say that when you know we can’t?”

“Why can’t we?”

“Because we’re not alone.”

Cassidy took her hand and tugged her along, opening the pantry door and pulling her inside. “Now we’re alone.”

“You’re kinda sneaky.”

“I’m kinda attracted to you.”

Laura took a step away from her. “Maybe…maybe we should rethink this.”

“This? That we’re attracted to each other and we want to kiss? Rethink that?”