Casey kept her own gaze on her plate as much as she could. The salad tasted good but she barely registered it. Every time Stephanie laughed or smiled warmth bloomed in Casey’s chest. She hadn’t expected this. Yesterday, she’d been able to think toherself that Stephanie was an attractive woman. An observation. Now the attraction felt physical. The graceful line of Stephanie’s wrist when she reached for her wine. The way her hazel green eyes held hers. Casey wanted to reach across the table and smooth that stray hair back for her. The urge scared her.
She cleared the plates when they finished, waving off Stephanie’s offer to help. “I’ve got it. You’re the guest. Go ahead and change if you want. I’ll meet you out by the pool.”
Alone in the kitchen she braced her hands on the counter. Her breathing had gone shallow. This was exactly what she had promised herself she would stop doing. Finding something magnetic in a woman who had no interest in her. Stephanie had unavailable written across every careful movement, every reference to the life waiting for her in Charleston. The rule had felt so clear last night. Now it felt like something she had to grip with both hands.
She changed into her favorite black bikini. When she stepped into the courtyard the dusk had settled into that particular Key West purple that always caught at her heart. The air was still thick and hot against her bare skin. The pool lights cast a soft turquoise glow across the terracotta tiles. She dove in without ceremony. The water closed over her head in a blessed shock of cool. It jolted her system enough to quiet her thoughts.
When she surfaced, Stephanie stood at the edge. The navy one-piece hugged her body in a way that made Casey’s mouth go dry. Strong shoulders. Subtle curves. Legs that seemed to go on forever.
Casey looked away quickly, focusing on the feel of the water against her arms instead. She did not need to catalog every detail. Did not need to notice how the suit cut high on Stephanie’s thighs or the way her stomach moved with each breath.
Stephanie came down the steps rather than jumping. Water climbed her body inch by inch. Casey forced a smile, treading water in the deep end. “Feels good, right?”
“Amazing.” Stephanie’s voice carried pure relief. She pushed off and swam a few strokes toward the center, the edges of her bun now damp. “I didn’t realize how much I needed this. Thank you again.”
They floated together. The water lapped gently. The strangler fig’s leaves rustled overhead. Casey felt her body loosen despite herself. The conversation picked up again, lighter now.
Stephanie asked about the house, about Casey’s grandmother. Casey found herself sharing more than she usually did. How close she’d been to her grandmother. That she was the only family she had until she’d died four years ago.
Stephanie listened with the same focused attention from dinner. Her face had softened in the pool lights, the fine lines around her eyes less noticeable in the blue glow. She looked more present.
Casey’s gaze kept drifting to the small hollow at her throat where water beaded and slid away. She wanted to trace that path with her fingertip. The thought arrived uninvited and she pushed it down hard. Her rule. She had to focus on her new beginning. She was not going to ruin it by falling for the straight woman next door who was still figuring out her life after twenty years of marriage.
The voice cut across the backyard like a blade.
“Wow. That didn’t take you long.”
Casey’s stomach plunged as if she had misjudged the depth of a dive. She spun, sending a small wave sloshing against the pool’s edge, and there she was. Melissa stood framed by the open gate, one hand resting with deliberate casualness on the latch. The courtyard lights caught the sharp angles of her cheekbones, the dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her lips were curvedin that familiar half-smile, the one that usually meant trouble for someone, and her eyes held the kind of amusement that felt like a warning. Beneath it, though, something else flickered—something possessive, something that made Casey’s skin prickle as if she had surfaced too fast from a deep dive. The mortification hit hard and immediate, a sudden flush of heat that spread through her chest.
“Melissa.” Casey’s voice came out tighter than she wanted. She moved toward the edge, water streaming off her shoulders. “What are you doing here?”
Melissa’s gaze slid to Stephanie. Her mouth curved into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “No wonder you’ve been ignoring my texts. Found yourself a replacement already.” She looked directly at Stephanie, voice carrying across the water with cruel clarity. “Don’t get too attached to this one. She moves on quick.”
The words hit hard. Casey’s face burned. She gripped the rough concrete edge. “Melissa, that’s enough. You can’t just barge in here.”
But Melissa was already turning away. The gate clicked shut behind her. Her footsteps faded down the side path. The courtyard fell quiet except for the filter’s low hum and the sudden heavy beat of Casey’s heart.
She couldn’t look at Stephanie. Mortification sat thick in her throat, mixed with something that felt a lot like grief for the evening that had just shattered.
Casey pressed her forehead against her arm on the pool edge. Her chest ached with a dull, heavy throb, as if her ribs were too small to contain everything she was suddenly, painfully feeling. She drew in a breath that only seemed to tighten the knot in her lungs, the warm night air thick with the scent of chlorine and the ghost of Melissa’s words still hanging between them.
7
Stephanie’s heart hammered against her ribs so hard she felt it in her throat. The water felt colder than it had a minute ago, raising goosebumps along her arms even though the evening air stayed thick and warm. She stared at Casey, who had folded her arms on the pool edge and pressed her forehead to them, blonde hair dark and slick against the back of her neck.
The courtyard had gone so quiet she could hear the filter’s low rhythmic hum like a second heartbeat that wasn’t hers. Melissa’s words kept looping through her head.Don’t get too attached. She moves on quick.The spite in that voice had sliced straight through the easy conversation they had been sharing only moments before.
She should say something normal. Something that would smooth this over so they could both pretend it hadn’t happened.
Instead her gaze kept tracing the tense line of Casey’s shoulders, the slow rise and fall of her back with each careful breath. That same pull she had felt from her window on the first night tugged at her again, low and confusing and impossible to ignore.
The memory of the kiss she had witnessed flickered behind her eyes without permission. Two women in this exact pool, mouths meeting with such natural ease. She had told herself it was the wine, the strangeness of new surroundings. Now the dark-haired woman had a name. Melissa. And she had sounded possessive, like someone who had been here many times before.
Casey lifted her head. Water trickled down her face as their eyes met. Stephanie’s pulse jumped higher. Those blue eyes looked raw, stripped of the easy confidence she had come to expect from her. “I’m so sorry about that,” Casey said, pushing away from the wall. Her voice came out rough, the words scraping on the way up. She swam a slow stroke closer but stopped short of touching distance. “I ended things and I thought she took it well, but…”
The words landed in Stephanie’s chest with unexpected weight.Ended things.So Melissa was an ex. Not some current girlfriend caught off guard. The realization brought a strange flutter beneath her ribs that she could not name. Curiosity, maybe. Her mind supplied the image again, Casey’s hand cupped against a cheek, bodies close in the water.
“She thought we were together?” Stephanie asked. The question slipped out. Her voice sounded higher than normal, thin against the humid air.
