Lucas looked up from his phone. “Yeah. Okay.”
So, they changed into swimwear and headed downstairs. Kendra did her best not to stare at Lucas in his swim trunks, with his muscular chest and shoulders on full display. Down at the pool area, she let her cover-up fall onto a beach chair and dove smoothly into the water. It closed over her head, refreshing and cool, and she enjoyed the feeling of being weightless before coming up for air.
When she turned, Lucas was watching her.
“What are you looking at?” she called to him, half-teasing.
“I’m making sure you can really swim.” He dove in after her, coming up beside her. “After the kayaking fiasco yesterday, I didn’t want to leave you unattended. Just consider me your personal lifeguard for the rest of the trip.”
“May I remind you that the kayaking fiasco was completelyyourfault?” Kendra pointed out.
“I’ll take, maybe, twenty percent of the blame. Maybe.”
“Eighty.”
“Thirty.”
“Seventy.”
“Fifty.”
“Fine.” They looked at each other, half-smiling. It was strange to joke with this man whom she knew nothing about, this man who had kissed her. This man who had mostly been nothing but rude. Why overthink it, though? She would try to have fun.
In the spirit of fun, she splashed a wave of water at him. Lucas shook his head, water flying everywhere.
“How dare you?” His tone was teasing.
“That’s payback for the fifty percent of the kayak fiasco that was your fault.”
“I see.” Lucas splashed her back. “Then this is for the other fifty percent.”
“Oh, you’ll regret that.” For once, Kendra wasn’t trying to be the person someone else wanted her to be. Why should she? So, she dove underwater, grabbed one of Lucas’s legs, and pulled it up so that he fell back into the pool. He came up, brushing water from his hair and grinning.
“No one’s done that to me since I was about eleven,” he said.
“I don’t think I’veeverdone that,” Kendra said. “But it was very effective.”
“Not as effective as this.” He went underwater and pulled both of Kendra’s legs up. She flipped backward and, when he released her legs, completed an underwater somersault.
“That was impressive.”
“I know.” Kendra flicked her wet hair over her shoulder. “Thanks. So, where was this pool that you played in as a kid?”
“Is that your confusing way of asking me where I grew up?” Lucas chuckled, resting his arms on the side of the pool. Kendra paddled over to join him, and they looked out over the ocean.
“Maybe.” She winked, but she was curious to find out if Lucas would actually answer. He’d shut down quickly when she’d asked about anything personal before.
“I grew up in a small town in Missouri,” he said. “You wouldn’t have heard of it.”
“Really?” Kendra’s eyebrows rose. “I’d have pegged you for the kind of guy who lived in LA all his life.”
“Haveyou?” he asked. “Lived in LA all your life, I mean?”
“Uh-huh.” Kendra nodded. She felt like a detective, stringing together scraps of information about this stranger. He owned a vacation house in Cabo. He had grown up somewhere in Missouri. He was running away from something. Eventually, maybe she’d have enough scraps to piece together his story.
Maybe.
“Did you like growing up in LA?”
