Chapter 24
Ten minutes late. Rachel’s date was ten minutes late, and she started to worry that she was stood up.
They had agreed to meet at a wine bar on the boundary of downtown. The place was so trendy that Saturday night boomed with quiet conversations and subdued lighting that forced Rachel to use her cell phone light to check how well-groomed she was. I wore a dress for the first time all year. It was the nicest outfit she had in her closet: a dark blue strapless dress accentuated with a brown leather belt. Nothing fancy, but it highlighted her shoulders, cleavage and lean legs. She hoped it was good enough for seducing a woman for a change.
Her date showed up at fifteen after eight. It was all downhill from there.
Rachel’s first inclination that this was not going to go well was the look her pretty date gave her the moment they made eye contact. Where before a pleasant smile rested, now Rachel caught the look of disbelief. Her date slowed her steps until she came to stand behind the chair in front of Rachel.
“Are you Rachel?”
“Yes. You must be Gretchen.”
A slim hand pulled out the chair. Black lace sashayed across the long, pale legs sitting across from Rachel. Oh my God. She’s so pretty. They almost had matching dresses! Just in different colors! And Gretchen was so much better at accenting with delicate pieces of jewelry. Her black hair was swept up in a generous coif that showed off the back of her slender neck and highlighted the beautiful cheekbones gracing her heart-shaped face. Oh my God. She’s so pretty, and I’m going to die.
If they ended up in bed together that night, she would definitely die!
“I went ahead and ordered myself a glass. I wasn’t sure what you would want.”
“It’s fine.” Gretchen kept her eyes on the small menu. When a sommelier approached, she spoke with flawless French. The sommelier was dutifully impressed. Is she French? Wow. Rachel doubted that someone like Gretchen would be impressed with her haphazard Japanese. “So… how long have you lived in the city?”
It had been a while since Rachel went on a formal date with a woman. Hell, had she ever actually been on a date with a woman before and not randomly hooked up with them? I can’t remember. Wow. This is so different already. Even so, she knew something was off. Their conversation was stilted. Gretchen had been lovely via text, but maybe that was a difference in communication styles. When she asked about Rachel’s job, however, it was complete indifference. She sighed to talk about her own job at a fashion studio.
Rachel couldn’t get a read on her. It was like her gorgeous date Gretchen didn’t want Rachel to know a damn thing about her. What was the point of going out on a date, then? Why not meet somewhere for sex if that was all she wanted? Rachel wasn’t looking for a woman to call her girlfriend, necessarily. She was looking for a good time. That was all.
“Well!” Gretchen said after an hour. “I’m afraid I totally misjudged how much energy I had last night. I better get going. Thanks for the conversation.”
Rachel killed her smile. “Oh. I see. Have a nice night.” We’re not going somewhere else? This was a total bomb. God. What did I do?
Gretchen turned around with her purse strap high on her shoulder. At the last moment, she turned around again and raised her voice. “Could I give you a bit of advice?”
Rachel forced a new, friendly smile. Way friendlier than it should be. “Of course.”
Scoffing, Gretchen said, “When you do online dating, you really should use new and current photos of yourself. I got my hair trimmed and took a bunch of new photos because I don’t want to be deceptive, you know? People don’t respond well to you using old photos that make you look better than you do now. Because this?” Her finger flicked up and down, highlighting Rachel’s physique. “This isn’t an average body type like you have on your profile.” Gretchen marched off, her bag smacking against her ass with every step.
Rachel was too stunned to do anything but grip the stem of her wineglass and blink away the sting behind her eyes. What? She looked down. Sure, she had gained a few pounds since that photo was taken, but her hair was the same and she carried weight gain well…
She looked around. More than one face was pointed in her direction. They immediately looked away again, embarrassed on her behalf.
All of these people had heard that, hadn’t they?
Rachel pulled out her phone to text Parvati. “That could’ve gone way better…” She waited for a response, but one never came. The only thing that came for a few minutes were hot tears down her cheek. How cruel could one person be?
Someone pulled out the seat across from her and handed her a handkerchief. Rachel didn’t even question it. She snatched the handkerchief and dabbed her eyes while trying to control the insulted sobs ready to wrack her body.
“Fuck her.”
Rachel looked up. Zack, dressed in a collared shirt that looked better on him than she could ever expect, gazed back at her. “What are you doing here? Did you see that?”
“I was in the neighborhood when I got your text. And yes. I’m sorry.”
“God…” How embarrassing, indeed! It wasn’t bad enough that the whole wine bar saw what happened. Now Zack was here? And had seen it? Why did he come here? To skeeze? It was the only explanation if Rachel was on a date with a woman.
“For what it’s worth, I think you look exactly like the pic you used.” Zack grinned at her. “Unless you swapped it out at the last minute for one of my pictures. That would definitely be false advertising.”
Rachel couldn’t bring herself to laugh. “She was really pretty, huh?”
“Don’t compare yourself to her.”
“You don’t get it. Pretty women like that never flirt with me, let alone go on dates…”
“She has issues. Trust me. I know women like that. She looked like a mean asshole searching for a reason to dump you.”
“She could’ve said that she wasn’t feeling it and that would’ve been fine. Did she really have to…”
“No, she didn’t, and she knows that. Rachel…” Zack took her hand on the table. “I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but you dodged a bullet. Imagine if you had gone home with her and she lost her shit.”
“I’d rather not, thanks.” Rachel snatched her hand back. “I don’t need your help.”
“I’m not saying you do.” Zack signaled for the sommelier to bring over Rachel’s check. “Let me get that for you. We’re getting out of here.”
“Wh… where are we going?” Rachel didn’t want to fight him. As weird as this situation was – eventually, she would have to get to the bottom of why Zack had stalked her on her date – she was grateful to get the fuck out of this cursed bar, especially if it meant Zack took her somewhere cozy and comfortable. Really, any place where Rachel could openly cry and not feel even more embarrassed, if such a place existed.
“I’m taking you back to my place. There’s something we need to do.”
Rachel slumped down against the table. “I’m really not in the mood to fool around right now, Zack.”
“I’m not talking about that.” He cleared his throat. “Something else. I only need to call the front desk in the lobby and confirm something.”
Rachel wasn’t sure she liked where this was going, but only because her day was already shot.
***
“Hell no!” She raced back to the rooftop entrance. “I’m not going in there! Are you out of your fucking mind? I thought you meant the hot tub!”
Zack stood in the middle of the Olympic-sized swimming pool in nothing but a pair of dark gray swim trunks. His hands grabbed his hips as he shook his head and clicked his tongue. Monster! What kind of freak can stand in a swimming pool like that? He’s gonna drown! Never mind he was in the shallow end, where the water only came up to his waist. “It’s three feet deep right here, Rachel.” He held his hand out to her. “You’re not going to drown.”
“And you’re not teaching me how to swim!” Rachel knew how this worked. Friends had been trying to trick her into pools for years, thinking themselves so damn clever and completely ignoring the fact that she was super hydrophobic.
“I’m not trying to teach you how to swim.” His voice echoed within the glass enclave surrounding the rooftop pool. Rachel had been dubious when they got back to his place and he showed her the bathing suit he had a personal shopper select on his dime. A simple black bikini, sure, but it was remarkably in Rachel’s size – like the clothes Judith sent Rachel home in that morning. How do total strangers know my size? Rachel barely knew her size! But he said we were going in a hot tub. Hot tubs were fine. They were controlled. Too shallow for her to realistically drown in. Rachel didn’t like the sensation of water around her chest and throat, but she could mind over matter it and eventually get used to it. She took baths sometimes, didn’t she?
A pool, though… no. That was too dangerous. She could drown.
“Then what do you think you’re going to achieve?”
“The only thing I’m achieving with you tonight, Rachel Taylor, is sharing my love of water with you.”
“So go ahead and enjoy your laps around the pool!”
Zack waded over to the marble steps leading out of the pool. “I will meet you right here and hold your hand the whole time. I’m an excellent swimmer. Not that you need to worry about that, but you are absolutely, 100% not going to drown on my watch. You’ll be too busy checking out my glistening wet pecs and I won’t be able to keep my hands off you.”
Rachel wasn’t supposed to laugh when she was terrified! She was supposed to run through the door and take the elevator back down to Zack’s floor!
But she supposed that he hadn’t reserved this space for them – for two whole hours, no less – for nothing. “You get over here right now!”
“You’re not my mom!” Rachel clutched the towel still wrapped around her body. “My mom was the one who saved me from drowning!” She had reached into that pool and pulled little Rachel’s body out as if the tyranny of God were about to rain down.
“There is nothing I could say that wouldn’t sound weird as hell, so I’ll tell you to get your cute ass over here and get in this water with me.”
“No!”
“Are you going to be scared of water your whole life?”
“Yes!”
“Then we’re not going to get to hang out much more, now are we?”
Rachel turned around. “What do you mean?”
Zack threw his arms up into the air. “I love the water! I wanna take you out on my yacht and show you what it’s like to go sailing before the summer’s up! Come on… you’ve gotta at least make peace with the water. I’m not asking you to love it, or even like it. Just stop having a panic attack every time you go near an open body of water.”
“You think that’s how phobias work?”
“No. But I like to think that I’m hot enough to convince you to get in here with me.”
“Nobody is hot enough, Zack!”
“Oh, yeah?” He splashed some pool water onto his chest. Glistening water droplets slowly slid down the tanned skin stretched over his firm muscles. Fuck your hot chesticles! “What about now? You know you wanna come over here and get some of this. You can’t say no to my rippling muscles and the hot washboard abs I got from working on the water all day. Mm, yeah. That’s the stuff.” He cupped water into his hands and showered it over his head. He looked like the dumbest – but also the hottest – male model to hit a swimsuit catalog.
“Are you trying to seduce me into bed or into the pool?”
“Both, honestly.”
Rachel loosened the towel around her body but did not commit to dropping it on the ground. “It might be working. A little.”
“Tell you what.” Zack waded to the stairs and metal handlebar that might as well have been called the oh shit I’m gonna die! bar to someone like Rachel. “You come over here and I will help you get in the water. I won’t let you go. We’ll spend the whole evening over here on the shallow end. And I’ll distract you with the horrible story of what happened at my family’s dinner tonight.”
Rachel’s feet curled against the flooring. A sign warning her that it was slippery when wet did not give her much confidence to go forward and join him in the pool. “How bad was it?”
“Like… long lost cousin nobody knew about bad.”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope.”
Rachel dropped the towel. He’s gonna have to move his hand off that bar if he wants me to join him. That bar had Rachel’s name all over it.
“Okay.” She took in a deep breath before dipping a toe in. As peaceful as the rippling, illuminated pool water looked, she didn’t have much faith that it wouldn’t turn into a giant tsunami wave and take her beneath its dangerous surface. “Start talking.”
Her dry fingers linked with his wet ones. Shit! It’s cold! Wasn’t this pool supposed to be heated? While her left hand shivered in his, her right one grabbed the railing, both feet now submerged in the freezing water.
“We were there tonight because my brother was going to propose to the woman he’s been dating for years.” Zack threw in a dramatic eyeroll so Rachel knew how silly this whole situation was. “It was a mess.”
Rachel’s teeth chattered with every step she took. How could Zack be so acclimated to it already? Was he a different species? A fish? No wonder he loved the water so much! “Did she know he was going to do it?”
“Yeah, but that’s not the point. The point is that right before he got up the nerve to do it, the doorbell rang and my Uncle Roy waltzed in with my long lost aunt.”
“Your what?
“My grandfather couldn’t keep it in his pants before he married my grandmother. Probably not after, either.” Zack shrugged. By now, Rachel’s feet were on the bottom of the pool, and she attempted to mind over matter the terrible sensation welling up inside of her stomach. She kept one hand on the railing while the other squeezed Zack’s hand. He tried to step away and draw her farther into the water, but she quickly shook her head. “My dad told me that there were rumors about a bastard kid somewhere out there. Never heard anything more than that. Next thing I know, my uncle’s introducing me to his long lost sister. He decided last night was a great time to spring the news on everyone.”
“That’s crazy.” Not nearly as crazy as Rachel felt right now, though. She was in the water! With Zack! She was short enough that the water came all the way up to her chest. As long as it doesn’t touch my head, I’ll be fine. I think. The second to worst thing was floating. The worst thing was feeling like she was going to drown. That came with the floating sensation.
“Awesome. Look at you? You’re in the water!”
“Yeah, uh, let’s not draw any attention to it.”
“Got it. How are you doing?”
“I haven’t panicked yet.” Rachel toyed with releasing the railing. “You promise we are going to stay over here?”
“Hand over heart.”
“Okay.” Another deep breath. As if she were going to go under! “I think I’ll be okay.”
“If it really gets to be too much for you, I can…”
“It’s fine! I said I’m going to be fine!”
Her voice echoed in the enclosure. Zack grinned. “That’s my girl.”
“Your girl? Since when am I your girl, Zachary Feldman?”
“Since I decided you’re the woman I wanna take home and scare my family with.”
That was certainly one way to put it. “From what I remember about your mother, she definitely would be terrified to see me in her house.”
“Don’t think about her. She hates everyone, including those she loves.” Zack took a step back, the water rippling around them. “My mother isn’t the happiest woman in the world. My brothers and I have tried to make up for it by living happy lives in her stead.”
“Are you happy?”
“I’m here with you, aren’t I?”
Rachel cocked her head, almost forgetting where she was. The tip of her ponytail, which she had sloppily curled on top of her head with a single pin when she thought they were going into the hot tub, brushed against the water and dripped cold water onto her shoulder when she lifted her head again. “You always say stuff like that. I can’t ever tell if you’re serious or not.”
“I’ve been in the pool with a lot of women, Rachel. You’re just the first one I’ve stood here with and talked to about my family drama.”
She smiled. “You’re buttering me up to ask me out, aren’t you?”
“I thought we were already going out.”
“I mean…” Rachel changed her mind. No sense talking about it when she wasn’t willing to take him on as her full-time boyfriend. I can’t even commit to going all the way in bed. They had done plenty of other fun activities, though. Most of which would have made her definitely say she was not a virgin! “You really act like you want to kiss me.”
His hands tightened around hers. “Would me kissing you make you forget how shitty this evening has been?”
“How can it be that shitty if I’m in this pool with you?”
“Oh, now, that’s not fair.” Zack took another step closer. Their hands went up in the air, their smiles touching. Rachel forgot how cold the water was. Or maybe that was his warm breath heating her up. “You’re going to spoil me with my own words thrown back at…”
Rachel couldn’t wait any longer. She stood up on her tip-toes and kissed him, their arms instantly falling down into the water with a happy splash.
I knew this was what he wanted. Zack kissed her with fervor, his tongue slipping into her mouth and his muffled groans sinking deep, deep into her throat. She flung her arms around his shoulders and brought him even closer, because damn if she was going to let him get away.
…But she made sure to keep her toes on the floor of the pool. Even when Zack hoisted her up against his chest, she fought to keep at least her big toe on the floor.
“You’re resisting me,” he growled against her lips.
“I’m resisting the water, thanks.”
He squeezed her with another growl in the crook of her neck. “It’s the same thing when you’re in the pool with me.” His hands lowered to her ass, clenching her flesh through her bikini bottoms. “Damn. I love this bathing suit on you. You should wear it all day, every day.”
“You want me to prance around your studio in it?”
“Absolutely. Fuck.”
“I’m sure you would love to. Fuck, that is.”
Zack kissed her again, the strength of his movement almost knocking her backward into the water. When he came up for air, he said, “You ever fool around in a pool before?”
Suddenly Rachel remembered where they were. “One thing at a time.”
“So you’re doing okay?”
She nodded. “I’m not going in deeper, though.” She meant that in two ways. Not going in deeper into the pool, and not diving into a deeper relationship with Zack. She really needed to take things one step at a time.
“You trust me, right?”
“Every time you say that, I know something scary is about to happen.”
“Now, now, last time I earnestly asked you that, we had some pretty awesome sex.”
“Was it really sex?”
“If it wasn’t, then my life is a lie. Because my mind and body definitely told me that was sex. I don’t need to have my cock inside of you to make it some of the best sex I’ve ever had.”
Rachel tested his waters like he constantly tested hers. “So you’re saying that going all the way would feel even better?”
“Uh, duh.”
“You think you’re getting that tonight, huh?”
“I assume nothing. I merely wanted to have some fun in the pool.” Zack wrapped his arms around her torso. “Okay. Hang on. I’m going to twirl you around.”
“What?”
“It’s super fun! And you know I won’t let go of you, right? You’re totally safe with me.”
Funny thing? She actually believed him when he said that.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
Rachel hooked her arms around him again. “Okay!”
Zack spun her slowly at first, stepping his feet in a tight, little circle that lazily brought Rachel around in the water. Her body left a thousand ripples behind her. By the time she came back around again, the ripples collided and turned into a tiny wave lapping at the side of the pool. Rachel had feared that she would feel like she was floating, but that horrid sensation never came. Only the feeling of sweet, watery resistance against her legs and the slippery skin of the man she trusted way, way too much.
“Want me to go faster?”
“Maybe.”
“Hang on.”
Those first few twirls had brought Rachel’s feet off the bottom of the pool, but it hadn’t frightened her. Now, however, Zack spun her with such speed that her legs whipped behind her, creating a large, splashing wave that cascaded over the side of the pool.
It was fun. At first.
“Now the other way!” Zack came to an abrupt halt before surging in the other direction. Rachel yelped in both shock and glee, her mouth unable to repress a smile as she spun effortlessly in the water. She even loosened her grip on Zack, although it wasn’t on purpose – why would she ever want to let a guy like him go?
Then she started to float. The water parted to let her legs, her waist through. Her foot broke the surface on the next spin, and the water came dangerously close to her face.
Face down in the water. Water in your windpipe. You can’t turn over. Gonna drown.
“Stop!” she screamed, fun turning into terror without any warning. “Please!”
Zack snatched her legs from the surface and pushed her feet back toward the bottom of the pool so her torso would be upright and her head far above the water. “Sorry!” He gripped her wrists and brought her to the shallow edge of the pool. “I didn’t mean to scare you. See? Here you go. Solid ground. Only three feet deep here. You’re fine, Rachel.”
She caught her breath and tried to tell herself that she couldn’t drown over here. She wouldn’t drown at all. Zack was behind her, both hands clasping against the edge, his large, strong body stalwart behind her. Rachel was surrounded. There was no way she could go under.
Somehow, she figured her stupid body would find a way.
“You’re fine,” Zack whispered in her ear. From behind like that, Rachel almost wished he would thrust against her ass and push her over the edge of the pool. Or maybe that was her adrenaline talking now that she had command of it again. I’m such an idiot. How could I think about sex right now? “Although it got your hair wet.” He planted a soft kiss on the back of her exposed neck.
“Shit.” Rachel was trapped between freaking out over what had happened and freaking out over what was going to happen. “I might wanna get out of this pool now.”
“We could hop in the hot tub before going back to my apartment.”
He kissed the side of her neck again. As much as Rachel wanted to indulge in some foreplay in the pool, she had more pressing things on her mind. The first thing she needed to do was get Zack off her.
“I need air.” She shrugged him off her and sent him to the center of the pool. “Sorry.”
When she turned around and stood against the edge of the pool, arms crossed, Zack said, “Yeah, I shouldn’t have pushed you, huh?”
“You’re not pushing me.” Rachel looked away. “If you think I’ve done anything against my will tonight, you’re sorely mistaken.”
He bobbed in the water, feet clearly off the ground as he hovered like the half-fish he was. A part of Rachel was jealous that he felt that comfortable in the water. The other part of her called him crazy.
“I wanna have fun, Rachel. We’ve both had crazy days.”
She would argue that hers was worse than his, but she had no idea what had really happened at that family gathering. “I wanna have fun too.”
“Admit it. You had some fun.”
She smile, weakly. “I did, yeah.” Rachel pushed her wet hair out of her face. “You’re good at making me have more fun than I probably should.”
He paddled closer to her, the lights on the pool floor illuminating his tanned face. His hair glistened from the water sliding off his bangs and onto his shoulder, his chest, and his hands when he stood back on his feet. “There’s no such thing. Especially if it’s you and me having some much needed fun.”
“Don’t you have any work to do? How’s that art coming, Mr. Artist?”
“It’s coming fine.” Zack clasped his hands on either side of her again. “Don’t worry about me. I want you to have a good time.”
“Making me face my biggest phobia is one way to do that.”
“There are other things we could do. I don’t know of a better way to make you face your phobia than, uh…”
“If you want to kiss me, Zack, go ahead.”
“You sure?” He came closer anyway.
Was Rachel going to have to be the one to initiate the make-out session again?
She had to admit, kissing Zack in the pool was one way to overcome her fears. She might even be crazy enough to lift her feet off the ground and wrap her legs around his waist. It was fine, as long as her back remained pressed against the edge.
And as long as Zack was firmly between her legs, keeping her head far, far away from the water’s surface.
“I know this was your plan the whole time,” Rachel said, her bikini top magically coming off her body and landing five feet away on the marble flooring. Zack made a quip about flotation devices before sucking on her nipple. “But do you have to be so obvious about it?”
He tortured her with her nipple between his teeth. When he released it, a little splash erupted beneath her breast. “Sometimes we men get tired of playing coy games. It’s much more fun to be direct about what we want. At least it is for me.”
“What do you want?”
He left a long, lingering kiss on the white of her throat, her head extending back as her scalp touched marble. Damn. He’s hard. In a cold pool. I must be magic. Or at least she was pretty sure that was his cock rubbing against her bikini bottoms. “You. Just you.”
Zack gently thrust against her. A suffocating gasp erupted from Rachel’s mouth as he pushed between her legs, his hard cock rubbing her slit like they were back in her apartment fooling around. How viable is it really to have sex in a pool? Wouldn’t the water wash away all the good stuff that makes it feel awesome? She wasn’t in the market to find out tonight, but she supposed it was something to think about.
“Do you want it?” His fingers were on her slit, stimulating her sensitive clit through swimsuit fabric. “And by it, I mean an orgasm in the pool.”
She bit her lip, suppressing yet another smile that night. “That would be a nice big fuck you to my phobia.”
“In the shallow end, so it’s extra hot.”
“You ever seen the movie Showgirls? That’s what I want.”
“I… I don’t think that’s what you actually want, Rachel.” Zack pushed aside her bikini bottoms and tested her entrance. Rachel closed her eyes and awaited the magical moment that would make her gasp and see stars. “I don’t think you want to look like a blow-up doll flailing around in the pool like a crazy piece of latex. Plastic. Whatever.”
One finger entered her. It was enough to make her kiss him again, like she was the uncontrollable one. I’ll show him flailing. Hm. Maybe not. “That woman you so casually refer to is Elizabeth Berkley. Or did you completely miss Saved By the Bell in your childhood?”
“Whatever, Rachel. My finger is in your pussy, in case you haven’t noticed. That’s way more important than IMDB trivia.”
“You like it in there?”
“It’s the warmest thing in this pool.”
She laughed. “Do it, then. Make me come in a rooftop pool.”
“Sounds sexy when you put it that way.”
“Fuck me, damnit.”
That’s exactly what he gamed to do.
Who knew that the water could be so relaxing even though she was in it? Apparently, he knew it. Zack knew everything when it came to having fun in the water, didn’t he? I know I’m not the first woman he’s messed around with in a pool. I probably won’t be the last, either. Even so, those thoughts didn’t bother her as she gave herself over to whatever Zack wanted to do. She trusted him, didn’t she?
If he said he was going to give her an orgasm in the pool, then that was exactly what he would give her.
It wasn’t a mind blowing one, but it did the job. It made her hold him closer, kiss his feverish lips, and whisper how good he felt whenever they were together like this. Rachel reached behind her, fingers curling into the indentations of the floor behind her.
“You kill me,” Zack said with a choked down chortle. He pulled his finger out and paddled toward the ladder. “So much so that I say we take this sexy party back to my place, if it pleases you, Ms. Taylor.”
She slowly opened her eyes and grinned. “What did you have in mind?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Hmm.” She was out before him, the cold freeze of the enclosure sending her into her towel and grabbing her bikini top off the ground. “We’ve yet to try that newfangled sixty-nine thing all the cool kids are talking about.”
“Oh, babe.” Zack didn’t hide what he sported in his baggy swim trunks. Rachel didn’t hide how much it pleased her to stare at it. “I haven’t had a good sixty-nine in at least a week.”
“A week?”
“A week of course meaning five years in Zack speak.”
Rachel rolled her eyes before turning around. “A whole five years.”
“The question is,” he said as they approached the doorway leading to the elevator, “can you keep up with me in the good ol’ sixty-nine?” They both dripped pool water all over the elevator floor as they stepped inside. Rachel pulled her half-wet hair out of its ponytail and made sure the towel was cinched around her otherwise naked torso, the bikini top dangling from her hand. “After all, I don’t want you choking on my magnanimous manhood.”
Turned out that wasn’t an issue at all.