That evening after the really awkward dinner and a long chat about how the house had come along with Kristen and Kevin, Nick lay on his bed shirtless; he still wondered how Max’s spaghetti had ended up all over his shirt. He smiled as he remembered the blob of noodles flying across the table and landing on him. While everyone else at the table gasped in horror, Max’s giggles had filled the air. This in return, had infected, Nick who had joined him in the laughing. Nick lifted his head when he heard noise coming from outside.

Curiously he opened the door to the pool house and took a step outside. Dim lights flickered through the waves of water in the pool. He noticed someone sitting on one of the patio chairs; it was one of the girls and she was sniffling.

“Hello? Piper? Lily?” Nick spoke softly, not wanting to startle whoever it was.

Speaking softly obviously didn’t work, because whoever it was, leaped up knocking into Nick and sending them both into the pool. Although it was the summertime, the water was freezing and Nick felt many parts of him shrivel up. Water splashed into his mouth as he moved his hands and legs to keep afloat. He swam up to the edge and took hold of the other person and pulled her against him. They both held onto the edge and Nick easily pulled himself up and out of the pool, then reached down to help the mystery woman.

“I’m so sorry! I’m such a klutz…you startled me.” Lily continued to ramble, but then as her eyes met with Nick’s she quickly shut down.

Nick recognized Lily right away. Her gaze was spellbinding; it had to be those eyes she had. He couldn’t even pin point their color. He was still trying to catch his breath and water was dripping off his body. Lily couldn’t help but to scan his bare chest and notice that his pants were barely clinging on to his hips. She shook as the warm breeze hit her wet body.

“It’s ok. Are you ok? Maybe I should get you a towel…It’s quite the walk back to the house.”

“Um…” She thought about being in the same room as him and it made her a little uneasy. “Maybe…I should---“

He was surprised when he saw her pretty eyes roll to the back of her head and her body came crashing towards him. He caught her like she weighed nothing and lifted her up into his arms. Nervously, he took her back to the pool house and laid her down on the bed.

She was out cold.

“Are you alright?” He softly patted the side of her face and then checked her pulse. She was alive. He decided to leave her there and just cover her up so she wouldn’t be cold. He grabbed dry clothes and changed in the bathroom while mumbling to himself. The last thing he needed was for Kristen and Kevin to think that he was being smooth on their nieces when he was still kinda married.

He opened the bathroom door hoping that Lily had woken up and left, or that she had at least woken up so he could walk her back to the house. Slowly he rounded the corner of the room and to his luck; Lily was still sound asleep.

So far the first day in Lexington, Kentucky had turned out to be pretty interesting. Nick grabbed a pillow and extra blanket and headed out the door.

Lily shivered as her eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the dim light casting through the windows. She jumped when she realized that she wasn’t in her own room. Her head was flooded with thoughts as she tried to process how she had gotten where she was. Her clothes felt damp against her body and she shivered one more time. Little by little she advanced towards the door and carefully opened it, her eyes blinked against the sunlight as she pulled the door open.

Her eyes scanned the place and she smiled when she saw him curled up like a baby on one of the pool side chairs. Everything suddenly came back to her; she remembered sitting down crying, he’d come up to her and she’d been so startled they’d collided and fallen into the pool.

“You’re blocking my heater!” Nick muttered.

Lily gasped at the sound of Nick’s voice, a rush of embarrassment rushed through her body turning her cheeks red. Not only was she embarrassed about the night before, but the fact of being caught staring at him, was mortifying.

“I’m sorry. I was trying to remember what the heck happened last night.” Her cheeks burned.

Nick smiled as he sat up, stretching out and yawning. “You want a recap?”

They both grinned as he stood up and approached her. Lily nodded her head; the last thing she wanted was to be reminded of what a clumsy person she was. “No thanks. I think I remember clearly…just don’t understand why I didn’t go home.” She couldn’t remember that one minor detail of why she was sleeping in someone else’s bed, besides her own.

Nick headed back to the pool house to put on some shoes, the least he could do was walk Lily back to the house. He pulled on his boots, quickly threw some water on his face to finish waking up and threw on a hoodie. Lily was standing at the door hugging herself; the morning was colder than she remembered them being.

“Here you can wear this.” He took another sweater off the bed and handed it to her. Without saying anything she put the sweater on and instantly felt warm.

“I wanted to thank you for last night. It definitely wasn’t my intention to push you into the pool.” Lily giggled.

Nick smiled and stuffed his hands deep into his pockets. “Eh…I had debated on taking a swim earlier.” They both laughed. “Are you feeling ok though?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You fainted after I helped you out of the pool. That’s why I left you on my bed.”

Lily’s stomach flipped; it was like she had no more control over what happened to her body. “Oh…maybe it was the rush of the cold.”

“Yeah, it could be. That water was freezing last night.”

They came to a stop at the glass doors in the backyard. “Thanks again for helping me. Can we not tell anyone about the fainting? I don’t want to worry anyone.”

“Sure. You’re secret is safe with me.” Nick grinned and looked down at Lily.

Shyly she looked up at him; he was much taller than she was. Nervously she pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, and cringed realizing that was a move she usually made when a guy made her feel nervous.

“Well I should get inside before everyone else gets up.” She took a few steps towards him, stood on her tippy toes and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you.”

He just smiled.

She headed towards the door and remembered the sweater wasn’t hers. “Oh, I almost forgot to give back your sweater.” Lily began to take it off.

“It’s ok; you can give it to me later.” He gave her a short wave and turned to walk back to the pool house. Nick smiled. On the positive side of things; maybe this summer wouldn’t be as bad as he imagined.