I gingerly sat on the edge of the lounge chair.
“Watch it!” Lexi exclaimed. “Someone doesn’t have a lot of beach experience. Sitting like that is a one-way ticket to being dumped on your butt in the sand. Get in here.”
She lifted the blanket.
I hesitated a moment then gave in.
I wanted nothing more than to be next to her, curl up beside her, wrap my body around hers.
Don’t be weird.
Lexi just wanted to be friends. She was probably doing this because she felt sorry for me.
Still, the heat of her under the oversized blanket was intoxicating.
“How long have you lived here?” Lexi asked, wiggling her feet, her bare toes briefly pressed against the side of my leg.
“About six months.”
“And you haven’t had a chance to truly enjoy your terrace.”
“I’m busy.”
“You know, an act of kindness can be for yourself. Self-care is a thing. Oh, I know, I’m going to help you learn to practice self-care.” She grabbed my arm.
“I bought you very expensive shoes, and you repay me by forcing me to engage in self-care,” I said mildly.
“I’m helping you to enjoy life and reap the fruits of your labor.”
“You’re wrong,” I said, inching ever so slightly closer to her, letting one hand drift up casually to touch the tip of one of the red curls. “I swim.”
Lexi sucked in a breath and grabbed my jaw, turning my face to hers, our noses almost touching.
“You cannot be serious. You swim in that pool?”
“Like you said,” I told her, feeling the smile play on my lips, “I should enjoy the terrace.”
“Enjoy it, not torture yourself. That water is freezing.”
“You just break the top layer of ice off in the morning. The whole thing hasn’t frozen solid this winter.”
Her mouth parted in shocked horror.
I grinned at her. Our faces were practically touching now.
“It’s good for you. Bracing. It wakes you up.”
“That’s not healthy.”
“Don’t be so negative,” I teased. “You need to approach new things in life with a positive mindset.”
I wrapped her in my arms briefly then rolled us off the lounge chair.
“Look out, Manhattan,” I announced loudly. “Lexi Collins is trying something new, and she’s going to go into it with an open mind.”
Lexi screamed—not a scared scream but like a laughing scream, like in high school when the girls were just playing with each other. Her legs kicked as I carried her to the pool.
“You’re really setting a bad example for me,” I told her as she wrapped her arms around my neck holding on tightly. “Imagine if I acted like this when you try to convince me to buy a living room set.”
