I don't know how I ended up walking away from the festival and down the beach with Alex after we stuffed ourselves with funnel cake, but here I was. The sun still shone brightly overhead, but it was slowly setting, casting long shadows across the sand. Away from the noise and activity of the festival, everything felt at peace.

"So, what do you do when it rains?"

I glanced at him, confused. I knew for a fact that it rained in New York, so what kind of question was that? "I use an umbrella?" I answered.

He glared at me. "I meant what do you do for the festival if it rains?"

I snorted. "Oh, right. Well, usually the exact date isn't confirmed until a week or two away, so we have some sort of idea of what the weather will be like. But if something unexpected happens, we just go with it. It's only rained a few times that I can remember, though."

"And do you bring an umbrella?" Alex asked drily.

"Obviously."

"It seems like a nice tradition, though," Alex commented. "The whole town really comes together, doesn't it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, people get really into it. Opening night is a big hit, too. Did you end up going yesterday?"

"I ran past, but I didn't stay. There was someone talking about the town and the excitement for this upcoming tourist season, all that. It didn't seem all that interesting."

I laughed. "No, it never really is. That's why I never go."

"Right," Alex said, a smile creeping up on his face. "You clearly had very different plans for last night."

I stopped. What did that even mean? "And what do you mean by that?" I asked, crossing my arms in defiance but unable to help a small smirk on my face.

"I mean no offense," Alex said innocently. "All I meant was that you were dressed to kill, so I imagine your night was much more eventful than mine."

There was a fair amount to unpack in that statement. Dressed to kill? Okay, so I guess he did think I looked more than just 'nice' last night. Unfortunately, that realization made a faint blush appear on my cheeks and for heat to spread through my body. "Dressed to kill, huh?" I asked. I wasn't about to let him get away with that without more explanation. "You think so?"

He had slipped up, I could tell. It took him a moment to come up with a response, and he shifted his weight between his feet.

"Well, you were," he finally said. "And you knew you looked good, don't try and tell me otherwise."

"I knew I looked better than good," I fired back.

"Fair enough," Alex said, a hint of a laugh in his voice. "I suppose you did look better than good."

He definitely thought I looked hot. "And as to regards of my night," I said, beginning to walk along the sand again. "It was perfectly satisfactory."

"That's it?" he asked. "You're not going to give me anything else?"

I gave him an innocent look. "Why would I say anything more?" I asked. "What could you possibly want to know?" Part of me wondered how he would react if I told him I spent a couple of hours grinding on some random guy and then making out with him, but that was still a line I wasn't willing to cross. And another part of me was kind of turned on by the idea of his imagination running wild thanks to my vague answers.

He held up his hands in surrender. "I guess nothing."

"Good." I walked ahead of him a little bit. "But I can assure you it was more exciting than going for a run and then a Netflix binge."

I let out a gasp when I felt the sting of cold-water droplets hit my back. I whirled around to see him ankle-deep in water and laughing, his hands dripping with seawater. "Oh, so you think my life is boring, then?"

I took off my backpack and threw it up onto the sand before splashing into the water myself, leaning down and spraying him back. He leapt back, but my actions started a full-blown war between us.

"I know very little about your life," I said between splashes. "And I'm down for Netflix nights. Trust me, just ask Emilia. I'm just saying they're not very exciting."

At this point, I was up to my knees in the water, and the top half of me was basically soaked from all the splashing.

"Alright, alright, truce, truce," Alex said, shaking water out of his hair and laughing. He came up to me with his hands raised. "I think that was a fair fight. Sorry about your lipstick, though."

I ran my thumb just below my bottom lip and it came back pink. "Yeah, you will be sorry." As a wave broke against us, I leaned forward and shoved him as hard as I could.

He fell on his butt and his head went under. A moment later, he came back up sputtering. Without a word, he launched himself at me and we both went under, together.

Between the sudden submerge and the laughter, I came up gasping for air. "Alright, I accept your truce," I said between gasps. "I accept, I accept."

Clearly feeling vindicated, Alex got up and offered me his hand. Although I didn't completely trust him, I took it anyway and he pulled me to my feet. His hand lingered on mine for just a moment too long before he dropped my hand. But even after he let go, my skin tingled.

We dragged ourselves back up to shore, and I suddenly became very aware that my white shirt was soaked and fairly see-through. At the same time, though, I became just as aware of how Alex's shirt clung to his body, showing off the apparently very defined muscles that lay beneath it. I found myself wishing that he would take it off so he could dry.

He didn't, and we found ourselves up and away from the water, sitting side by side at a picnic bench as I squeezed out my hair and wiped my lipstick off with my hand.

"Sorry about all of this," Alex said. "I didn't mean for things to get out of hand."

I rolled my eyes. "Relax," I told him. "This wasn't the first fully clothed water fight I've gotten in, and I doubt it will be the last." I bumped my shoulder against his. "You should be less tense. It's just water."

Alex turned his head to look at me. "Maybe you're right."

"I usually am."

Now I realized how close we were sitting, and with our heads turned toward each other, his lips were very, very close to mine. Maybe a little too close.

Shit. Now I was staring at his lips. I looked up into his eyes, only to find that he was staring at my lips as well. The humid air somehow became thicker between us, creating a tension you could cut with a knife.

Alex leaned a fraction of an inch toward me. Damn was this it? Was I about to break my no coworkers rule right here and now on a completely public beach?

I stood up, my heart hammering and my breath shaky. No, not today. Not here. "Come on," I told him. "I should probably get back and see how things are going with Emilia." I looked down at my still wet clothing. "Although I'll probably have a lot of explaining to do. I'm not going to dry off before we get there, not with this humidity."

Whether or not he actually had wanted to kiss me, Alex didn't seem angry or disappointed. He simply nodded and grabbed my backpack off the table as he stood up. "I could use something to eat. Although," he looked ahead toward the now very distant fair, "I think we have a bit of a walk before we get there."

A/N: And the tension builds...