Nicole tugged on her swimming bottoms, bouncing side to side on the asphalt as she did so.

“You okay over there?” Lauren asked, pushing her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose and peering at Nicole.

“Do you think this bathing suit is too skimpy?”

“They’re boy shorts, with a halter top. You’re going to be the most covered person on the beach.”

Nicole bit back a sigh. “I guess I feel weird wearing, you know, a bathing suit in front of Aidan.”

Lauren grinned wide. “You are so adorable I want to squeeze you. But, hey—you already made one major step. You accepted his invitation to hang out. I still can’t believe you did that.”

“Yeah, I can’t either.” Nicole stopped pulling on her bathing suit and moved on to rebraiding her hair instead. She’d already given Lauren the details of what happened the day before—even though she kept parts of it to herself.

It was right there, as she and Aidan crouched to observe the rabbit, that something shifted inside her. Her only intention was to admire and protect the little animal. But the rabbit would never know that she wasn’t dangerous, that she would never hurt it. Overwhelmed by fear, it couldn’t find any other way to react to her presence but to run away. ‘There is life beyond fear, and it is worth savoring,’ she told herself at that moment.

“Is that them?” Lauren asked, pulling Nicole from her thoughts.

Her stomach started tap dancing. Despite what Aidan had said about the day only being about casually hanging out, knowing that he was interested in her had her heart and mind running laps.

As pointless as it was, she couldn’t stop imagining different scenarios involving the two of them. She saw them having a candlelit dinner. Saw them walking on the beach holding hands. Saw their first kiss…She shook her head, trying to cast out the daydreams.

Aidan and Mikey walked her way, both dressed in bathing suits and shirts, Aidan carrying a football and Mikey carting a cooler.

“You guys are ready for a real beach day,” Lauren greeted.

“We’re celebrating wrapping the shoot,” Aidan answered, his gaze sliding over to Nicole. As he caught sight of her face, his eyes softened and a smile broke across his lips.

“Congratulations,” she said, doing her best to keep her voice even.

“Thanks,” Mikey answered.

Aidan elbowed his friend. “Yeah, Mikey,” he teased. “Good job on it.”

“Hey, moral support is the most important job out there.”

Aidan chuckled, his attention back on Nicole, as she turned and led the way to the beach.

“Perfect day,” Mikey commented once they’d picked a spot.

“It’s always perfect here.” Nicole sighed. She stared at the waves breaking against the shore. A few families and a group of teenagers were on the beach, but other than that, it was clear.

Lauren shook out the beach blanket and spread it across the sand. “Then how come you never get down here?”

Nicole turned to her. “The marsh is perfect, too.”

“Ah.” Lauren grinned. “Of course. You’re talking about the animals. Anywhere where they are is perfect.”

“You don’t agree?” Mikey asked her.

Nicole laughed. “She’s just being rude. This girl grew up on a big cat sanctuary.”

“That’s true,” Lauren said. “I’m as much of an animal lover as Nic.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Nicole saw Aidan quietly watching her. She swallowed, too nervous to look straight at him.

“Football?” Mikey asked, taking the ball from Aidan and tossing it in the air.

“Yes!” Nicole yelped. Anything to distract her from the turmoil of emotions swirling inside her.

Without any real discussion, they spread out, taking up four corners of the beach.

“It’s kind of hard with only four people,” Mikey called.

Lauren cupped her hands around her mouth so her voice would project. “I’m not complaining! Toss it!”

Mikey threw the ball. One moment, it was in the air. The next, it was right in Nicole’s face. She’d tried to grab it, but it knocked her on the bridge of the nose and she fell down, her lower back slamming into the sand.

“Nicole!” Lauren called.

A burning flooded Nicole’s face and she put her hand to her nose. She closed her eyes tight, stars spinning around in the darkness.

“Are you okay?” It was Aidan’s voice, filling her ears as strong hands touched her wrists.

“Let me see,” he said.

She allowed him to pull her hands away. Blinking against the light, she looked up at him crouched over her. “I’m okay.”

Aidan still held her wrists. “Yeah, I think you look fine.” He turned to call out to the other two. “She’s good!”

“I’m not exactly sporty.”

“I’ll sit out with you if you want.”

She looked over his shoulder, at where Mikey and Lauren were already moving further down the beach, tossing the football back and forth as they jogged.

“Yeah,” Nicole agreed. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to compete with that.”

“Here.” Aidan let go of her wrist to offer his hand afresh. Accepting his palm, she let him help her to her feet. Together, they walked over to the blanket.

“This is more like it.” Nicole settled in, cross-legged.

Aidan stretched his legs out and popped the cooler. “Here.”

Taking the bottle of cold water, Nicole pressed it to her sore nose.

“That bad, huh?” he asked.

“No. I’m a wimp.”

Aidan laughed. “No, you’re not. I haven’t even known you a week and you’ve already chewed me up and spit me out at least three times.”

Nicole dropped the water bottle and grimaced. “Sorry—about all of that.”

Aidan nodded, looking thoughtful. “Do I really scream ‘Hollywood’ to you?”

She looked him over—at his bed head hair, his plain T-shirt, his open face. He looked gorgeous, but natural and unpretentious.

“No,” she admitted.

“Right.”

Nicole waited for another question, but instead Aidan pulled a second water bottle from the cooler, unscrewed it, and took a drink. Shielding her eyes, she looked down the beach. Mikey and Lauren were still going at it.

“You don’t wear sunglasses everywhere,” Aidan said. “Like the other tourists.”

“You don’t either,” she answered. “And I’m not a tourist. I’m working here.”

“I guess the Cali sun got me used to this—but you’re from up north.”

Nicole shrugged. “I don’t want to miss anything.”

“You’re really poetic.”

A sputtering laugh burst from her lips. “I don’t know anything about poetics.”

“I don’t think you need to. It’s inherent in your heart or something.”

“Or something?” she repeated, chuckling. She reached over and poked him in the side, then immediately wondered if that had been too bold of a move.

Aidan, for his part, seemed too busy studying her again. “Can I ask you something?”

“What’s it going to be?”

“It’s about your beef with Hollywood.”

Nicole’s stomach twisted. “My parents are in that industry. I think I told you that.”

“Yeah, but what happened, exactly? Were they traveling all the time? Did they ignore you?” He held his palm up. “Stop me if I’m getting too personal.”

Nicole swallowed and looked down at the blanket. What if she told him it all? It wouldn’t hurt. The damage had been done years ago. Maybe sharing the story with him would help lessen its weight.

“My mom was an actress—”

“Mm-hmm.” Aidan nodded encouragingly and something about his laser focus touched her. People hardly ever paid her—or anyone—the kind of attention he did.

“She acted before I was born. TV, mostly. Soap operas. She was on a couple big ones, with supporting, long-run roles. Anyway, she stopped when she married my dad, but then, when I was ten, she did this reality show—”

Nicole paused. The difficult part was up next. Could she do it?

She hesitantly looked up, finding Aidan, his face calm, his ears listening…and—somehow, she knew—his heart open. All of a sudden, she felt like she could share anything with him.

“It was one of those housewife reality shows. You know, where they follow around rich wives who have nothing to do but go to brunch and complain to each other?”

“Oh, yeah, I know,” Aidan answered. “Not that I’ve ever watched those,” he added hurriedly.

Despite the gnawing sensation in her gut, Nicole smiled. “The show itself wasn’t so bad. I didn’t want to be on it and my mom was fine with that, so they just filmed when I wasn’t around. But, um, my dad, he was in it some.”

“He’s a lawyer, right? An entertainment one?”

“Right.”

Aidan nodded. “Okay.”

Nicole’s exhale shook her whole chest. “While they were doing the show, right in the middle of the first season, my dad was caught cheating on my mom. And I don’t mean a one-time thing. Like, he was having an affair. Had been—for about six months.”

“Oh, wow,” Aidan breathed, looking stunned. “And they aired that on the show?”

“Oh, yeah. They couldn’t get any of my parents’ fights because my dad wouldn’t allow it, but my mom talked about it on the show, the tabloids talked about it, everyone we knew talked about it.”

Aidan ran his palm over his mouth. “What happened after that?”

“They separated. Got divorced not long after that. I stayed with my mom. It took me a while before I wanted to go visit my dad.” She picked at the label on her water bottle.

“We don’t see each other much now. Honestly, things were never the same after that.”

“And you were ten then?”

“Yep.”

He shook his head, silence descending on them.

“So those are my skeletons in the closet,” she said. “What about yours?”

“I’ll tell you mine,” Aidan answered, not skipping a single beat.

Nicole felt her eyebrows shoot up. “I was kidding. Sorry. You don’t have to—”

“Mom died when I was two. Cancer. I have two brothers, both older than me, who, kind of like you, want nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment and anything that has the slightest chance of making it into the news. I started playing tennis when I was six. My dad is my manager. Last year, I injured my knee in a match and that was it. Career over. Now…now here I am.”

Aidan looked at the ocean, his brows knitting together. “With you,” he added, looking back to her.

“I’m sorry about your knee.”

“Thanks.” He hesitated, his face becoming unreadable. “I can’t decide if it’s the worst thing that ever happened to me or the best.”

Nicole cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not—okay, here’s the thing. Tennis used to be—I guess you could say my everything. And now I don’t have it. At all. I could probably teach it, but I’m never going to be pro again. I mean, it was my everything, Nicole. My everything. It’s how I knew who I was. It’s how I knew I was worthy. It’s how I made my dad happy. And then, with it taken away—it was, like, all of a sudden, I didn’t even exist. That’s what it felt like.”

“That sounds scary.”

“It was at first, but now it feels—I don’t know.”

“Good?”

He looked at her for a long time. “Maybe.”

Nicole nodded. “Can I ask you something really personal?”

“Anything,” he said, his face serious.

“Do you remember your mom?”

“No. I wish I did.”

Aidan looked so sad Nicole regretted bringing the subject up.

“I’m sorry. I should have been more tactful.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m here hanging out with you after chasing you for days. You might as well have given me a truth serum. I think I’d tell you about anything right now.”

Nicole laughed. “Okay. Good. I was worried I made you feel uncomfortable.”

“No,” Aidan said, eyes sparkling. “I don’t mind talking about my mom. It’s just so sad that I don’t remember her, because I know she loved me. Even if I don’t have memories, part of who I am is because of her. Those first two years of a person’s life are important, and she was there to shape me for them. I do know this about her. She was kind, generous, and loving. My brothers told me she and my dad were really in love. Even as little kids, Kyle and Jake could see it.”

There was a twinge in Nicole’s chest. “That’s really sweet.”

He exhaled long. “Yeah. I wish knowing that helped me understand my dad more. Why he’s so invested in me making him happy. I tell myself it’s because he’s trying to redirect his pain over losing my mom, but I don’t know.”

“You don’t think that’s the case?” Nicole asked.

“It might be true, but I don’t know if that makes me change how I feel.”

“Your dad is hardcore, it seems.”

“Some people would call that an understatement.”

Nicole trailed her fingers across a little mound of sand. “I wonder what it’s like to grow up with two parents who are in love. Or who even just like each other.”

Aidan laughed. “Yours never did?”

Nicole scrunched her nose. “I don’t even know why they got married in the first place. I never remember them being particularly happy. My dad was always gone, and when he was home they’d fight. About stupid stuff, too. Like one of them forgetting to bring the mail in or something. It was crazy.”

“I’m sorry. That’s not something a kid should have to see.”

“Plenty of kids see much worse,” Nicole pointed out.

“True.”

Nicole wiped the sand off her palms and leaned forward. “So where are your brothers now? You said they want nothing to do with the entertainment business, right?”

“Right.”

“Smart guys,” she grinned.

Aidan laughed. “Jake lives in L.A. and does web development. He’s kinda like the tough, ladies’ man, single guy of the family. He loves living on his own. Kyle is in Austin. He has a bicycle repair shop and he just got married.”

“Are you all different from each other?”

“Kyle and Jake are smarter.”

Nicole giggled. “Stop.”

“You think I’m being self-deprecating to be funny?”

“I don’t know,” Nicole said, still laughing.

Aidan’s face grew serious. “Honestly, though, they’re both great guys. They were always there for me when I was a kid. They let me follow them around and hang out with them and their friends. Good bros. I’m really lucky when it comes to them.”

Nicole tilted her head. “That seems nice…having siblings.”

“You have the only child syndrome?”

“Explain that, please. You mean, like, am I spoiled?”

“Nah, you’re anything but spoiled.”

The intense way Aidan looked at her then made electricity shoot through Nicole. A lump formed in her throat and she swallowed against it, not sure what to say next, but just knowing she wanted to sit on that blanket with Aidan until the tide came in, the sun set, and they had no choice but to go home.

“Incoming!” Mikey called.

The football hit the blanket, making Nicole jerk back.

“Was that intentional?” Aidan asked as Mikey and Lauren jogged up.

“Yeah.” Mikey gasped, dropping to the blanket. “I wanted to kill any romance that might have been happening over here. Pass me some water, will you?”

Aidan handed them both bottles. As they busied themselves with drinking, he gave Nicole a smile—one meant only for her. Nicole grinned back, that familiar heat on her cheeks. Except, this time, she had no desire to hide the blush. She wanted Aidan to know what he did to her.

“Ugh.” Mikey dropped back onto the blanket, his face toward the sky. “I don’t want to get on that plane tomorrow.”

“You’re leaving tomorrow?” Lauren asked.

Nicole’s mouth went dry and her stomach dropped faster than an anchor. Somehow, she’d managed to ignore the fact that Aidan’s stay in Florida was that short-lived.

“Yeah,” Aidan answered slowly. He looked over at Nicole, likely searching for her reaction, but she turned her face away from him.

“When will you guys be in Los Angeles next? Will it by any chance be next week?” Aidan asked. He made it seem like a joke, which made the whole thing hurt that much more.

“I never go there,” Nicole answered.

“Ah,” was all Aidan said.

Mikey continued to stare up at the sky and Lauren frowned as she looked between Aidan and Nicole.

“Cali is great,” Lauren said. “Nic, we should plan a trip there for this fall. Or even next month.”

Next month. Would Aidan be single then? Nicole didn’t think so. The man was simply stunning. She couldn’t imagine pursuing a long-distance thing with someone so desirable. How would she be able to compete with all the women who probably threw themselves at him nonstop back in L.A.?

It looked like her initial apprehension had been right. Trying anything with him was just a bad idea. For all she knew, he was only looking for a quick fling, anyway. And she certainly didn’t do those. Never had. Never would.

“I’m going swimming,” Nicole announced, standing up.

“I’m in,” Aidan answered.

The four of them rushed into the water, Nicole making a point to look at anything but Aidan. So he was leaving the next day. All right. It just meant she would be forced to move past him sooner. As she tried to convince herself that she could do that, she suddenly felt her chest tighten with sadness.