I’m suddenly hyper aware of every inch between us. The music drifts through the speakers—Oasis, one of her favorites—and for a second, I'm thrown back to summers ago when this pool was our sanctuary, not some kind of battleground.
My chest tightens, the burn not from the swim but from the piercing intensity of her eyes on me. How can she look at me like that—like I still mean something to her—after all my fuck-ups?
Her eyes hold a mix of concern and something unspoken—a depth that scares the shit out of me because I don't know if I deserve it. The guilt gnaws at me, sharp and heavy, because if anyone knows the worst parts of me, it's Nora. Yet here she is, her presence a silent question I'm not sure I have the right to answer. I watch her swallow hard, like she's been caught in the act.
"I didn't know anyone was home," she murmurs, voice barely carrying over the gentle splash of water.
"Everyone's still out."
She nods, a hint of relief in her expression. "I didn't mean to interrupt."
"It's your house too now," I say, trying to ignore how the moonlight catches in her hair. "You're back early."
"Wasn't feeling it tonight," she admits, her eyes shadowed with something that looks a lot like sadness.
"Why not?"
"Why do you care?" she fires back, her tone sharper than expected.
I can't help but smirk as she tries to pretend like she's not affected by me just as much as I am by her. "I told you I like to know things."
"I told you not to waste your time."
She steps closer to the pool, slipping off her shoes to dangle her feet in the water. The dim pool lights cast shadows across her face, revealing the troubled look in her eyes.
Nora has a tell when she's upset—she can't meet your gaze, and she seems to shrink into herself.
I fucking hate it.
I push off the edge toward her, each stroke mirroring my mind's struggle for clarity. The cool water parts for me like the last of my restraint giving way. With every inch closer, I cross invisible boundaries that once seemed sacred, venturing into territory that feels both forbidden and inevitable.
"Do I make you nervous, Nora?"
The words rip out of me, rougher than I meant, but fuck it. I watch her fingers dig into the pool's edge like she needs something to hold onto. The water between us pulses, each tiny ripple drawing me closer like a tide answering the moon's irresistible call. So damn close but still out of reach, kinda like she's always been.
"No," she says, and I catch it—that little crack in her voice. Trying to sound sure but I hear what she's hiding. "You're not my type." Her eyes do that thing where they skate away from mine.
I can't help the grin that spreads across my face.
She's so full of shit. Playing this game where she pretends she's got walls I can't touch. She thinks all that armor she's built keeps me out, but her body's selling her out big time. That pulse hammering at her throat, the way her skin flushes pink when I get close—her body doesn't lie like her mouth does.
She feels me. Every-fucking-where.
"I never said I was," I whisper, moving in closer, the space between us disappearing. "But I think you're lying." My voice drops low, the way that used to make her shiver. I plant my hands on either side of her legs, trapping her between my arms. The concrete digs into my palms but I barely notice. She's so close now I can feel the heat coming off her skin, mixing with the water droplets on my chest. We're close enough that each breath we take feels borrowed from the other.
"You're dreaming," she fires back, a sweet venom in her smile.
She's been weaving through my fucking dreams for years. And what irks me now, despite all the shit between us, is I still want her in ways I shouldn't.
"You know how I know you're full of shit? Your lips say one thing, but your eyes," I lean closer, her breath hitching, "they tell me something else entirely."
There's a charged silence, our energy speaking volumes more than words ever could.
"Wow. I knew you were an asshole but an arrogant one too?" she challenges.
I laugh, real and raw. "You're confusing arrogance for confidence. I'm confident you're full of shit."
"You still know how to get on my nerves.” She flicks water at my face.
