shoes and socks and joins me on a stroll along the shoreline. We step over pieces of driftwood and strands of greenery that have washed ashore, and we manage to stay just out of the reach of the chilly waves as they roll in.
I reach for his hand. “When everything’s over and done, let’s go on vacation. Have you ever been to Key West?”
Tyler links our fingers as we walk. “I haven’t. I’ve been to Miami, though.”
“You’ve got to see the Keys—there’s nothing like it. When we’re free to do what we want, let’s go there. I promise you’ll love it.”
“All right. I’m long overdue for a vacation.”
I stop and pull him to me. “Promise me. I want to go somewhere with you, somewhere beautiful and fun, where we can play in the sun and surf without a care in the world.”
“I promise,” he says as he takes me in his arms. His beautiful blue-green eyes, so reminiscent of the waters off the Keys, fix on mine. “I know this is hard on you. It’s hard on both of us. When it’s over, we’ll go anywhere you want to go.”
When it’s over.
That’s just the problem. Neither of us knows when that will be… or even if.
A wave surges over our feet, the frigid water making me jump.
“Do you want to go swimming?” Tyler asks. “The house has an indoor pool.”
“I’d love to.”
We return to the patio to collect our dirty dishes and carry them to the kitchen.
“Thank you for a wonderful meal,” I tell Elly.
She smiles. “You are very welcome, Ian. Your bag is upstairs in your suite, third door on the right. I gave you the room with the best view of the lake.”
By the time we make it upstairs to our room, darkness has fallen, and the stars are coming out. We walk out onto a private balcony and stare up at the night sky.
As Tyler wraps his arms around me, I wonder if he’s thinking the same thing I am. Is this one of the few nights we have left together?
“How about that swim?” he asks as he pulls me back inside our room.
I open our duffle bag and locate two pairs of swim trunks. I toss him his pair, and we both change.
We walk down the grand staircase, and I follow Tyler through a door that leads to the lower level. We pass a movie theater and a fitness room, and then we come to an enormous pool behind a glass wall.
“Whoa,” I say. “I am majorly impressed.”
Tyler opens the door for me, and I step into a warm, humid room that smells of chlorine. The rectangular pool is huge, its surface perfectly still, like polished glass. There is a zero-entry wading area to the left, and diving boards tower over the deep end to the right.
I grab a beach towel off a cart, drape it over a reclining lounge chair, then make a run for the pool, diving in head-first near the deep end. The water is the perfect temperature—refreshingly cool, but not so cold it steals my breath. I swim up to the surface and tread water.
Tyler’s standing at the edge of the pool, his arms crossed over his sexy AF chest, just watching me.
“Come on in,” I say, splashing him with water. “The water’s fine.”
Tyler surprises me by executing a perfect dive, hitting the water right next to me and disappearing below the surface.
I watch him swim the entire width of the pool before he surfaces. “You didn’t tell me you were part dolphin,” I say, laughing as I splash him.
Tyler swims over to me and nods toward the shallow end. “Come on. I’ll race you.”
We swim to the other side of the pool, where we stand in a few inches of water as I do a countdown. “Ready? Three, two, one.”
We run until the water is deep enough to swim in. Then Tyler dives, taking a big lead. He quickly leaves me far behind as his long arms cut cleanly through the water in a perfect breaststroke.
“Damn.” I swim down to the deep end to join him. “Where did you learn to swim like that?”
“I was on the high school swim team,” he says as he treads water beneath the high dive. “I worked summers as a lifeguard. And I attended university on a swimming scholarship. So did Beth.”
“Aren’t you full of surprises,” I say as I swim up to him, sliding my arms around his shoulders.
He wraps his arms around me