I smiled as the pool manager handed me my guard shirt and first week's schedule. It was a crowded room. There were more of us this year than last, and a lot of faces I didn't recognize.

I felt a few eyes on me earlier when Cleta introduced her veteran guards to the rookies and three incredibly tall college guys I had never seen before. Cleta was a tough boss, but we liked that about her. She ran the pool with an iron fist; the stricter she was, the more fun we had in our off time.

She had a wild streak and never shorted us on well-earned play. Cleta worked for the Prairie City dispatch and thus had easy access to her guards in our free time, should we be up to any unsavory shenanigans. She owned us during the summer, but again, the perks made up for it.

I knew Lane was there. When I pulled up, his car was already in the parking lot. In my state, I honestly don't know if I saw him or even bothered to glance at him before we ended up standing side by side for the introductions. Sitting there in such a thick haze was so strange. Just hours before, the anticipation of this meeting alone had me bouncing off the walls and ready to arrive an hour early. I was glad my mood had altered. Sitting through the meeting like a sane person, calm and almost mellow, felt good. Those were two looks I had never successfully sported.

I felt Lane's stare as if he was trying to get my attention when we all separated into groups to sign up for the first month of pool parties. I was in such a fog that I noticed too late and walked right past him. It was odd. I felt a little like the comradery he and I had relied on in the lion's den was no longer necessary or the pecking order had somehow switched. He was an outsider high school guy trying to maintain his second-year lifeguard status among the big dogs, and I was... dare I say, one of them?

I was fresh bait with status and the college guys were curious about who I was. Is that all it took to have the upper hand? Look great, keep your mouth shut, and people start noticing. Ridiculous. It was Pure Pines made over, and I couldn't care less that doing nothing could potentially make me one of the ones who mattered.

A clipboard was shoved in my face, and Cleta's niece, Stacy snapped me out of my daze. "Blue or red this year?"

I looked down at the checklist of an order form titled Women's Guard Suits.

"At risk of looking like Bay Watch wannabe's, I like the red."

I heard a few chuckles from the small crowd.

"Okay, Yasmine Bleeth, I'm out voted. Red it is." Stacy shot a fake scowl at me as she tossed me a pen to fill out my suit order.

She was wild, fun, and tough. Her aunt Cleta's worst nightmare and spitting image. They were alike in so many ways, and their antics were a fun city pool staple you could count on for summer entertainment. Stacy was bossy but in all the good ways. She and I had always strangely gotten along. I don't know how. I was a goody-two-shoes compared to her. She either had a curious fix on helping corrupt me or recognized the fellow daredevil within. I never had any problem standing up to Stacy at work and always did my job. I think that's why I had her respect. She truly was a chip off her aunt's block.

My hand hovered over the check box for one piece while I stared at the descriptor next to it: Two-piece mid-drift racer back high cut bottom guard suit. Stacy stepped back toward me to grab the clipboard for the next guard when she saw I hadn't checked a box yet.

She snatched the pen from my hand. "Nah, girl, this year we're getting two pieces. I'll let all my shit hang out before I have to wrestle like a stuffed sausage every time I need to go the bathroom! It's hot as hell out there! These losers get to drop trout from the waist down with their swim trunks. They don't have to think twice about going to the bathroom." She nodded at the new college guys initiating them to the guard room with her brash tongue. "I'm not holding it for six hours in the heat because it takes my entire break just to peel spandex off a sunburn so I can pee and go back on rotation."

The guys stood and applauded, cheering in support of Stacy's rant. "Yeah, two pieces!" The new college guys certainly acclimated fast.

Okay, so we were getting two pieces. It hadn't happened as glamorously as I expected, but it happened!

"Relax, you'll get to keep that tan!" Stacy pinched the side of my exposed stomach and winked as she passed by. I was one of them! I was one of the regular trim girls who didn't have to think twice about checking the box for a two-piece! My small bubble burst slightly when I noticed the three cheerleader rookies from Prairie High School had already automatically checked two-piece. Great, the truth was, I was the only fatty holding us back. The others had probably never worn a one-piece in their lives.

I don't mean to be judgmental, but they just looked like little bitches. What can I say? I learned from the best; at least two were mirror images of Pure Pines's finest. I forced myself to look away from my summer buzz kills and trailed the room to find Lane.

A pair of green eyes were searching for mine, and they startled me. A haphazard smile coiled on one side of my face when they held my gaze. The stray green eyes belonged to the tallest of the new college guards and the one Cleta had introduced as one of our new head guards. His sandy brown hair was almost the same color as his suntan. He wore a modest gold chain that must have been significant in some way because, on first impression, he didn't seem the type to wear a guy's version of fashion jewelry.

He smiled an almost dirty smile I would have found offensive from another stranger but somehow, his smile was curious and exposed my own curiosity. Hmm.

"Well, well, look who finally decided to grace us with his presence!" Cleta's voice interrupted the chatter across the small groups still holding clipboards.

Oh no. Great. There goes whatever social status I thought I had garnered at the workplace.

I somehow knew it was too good to be true. Enter Spencer Pearce. He was Pure Pines. His mom was on the school board, and he was a Senior when I was a freshman. Apparently, he'd been away for a while in college, which was how I missed working with or under him in prior summers. He was legendary, not just in his own world of Pure Pines but here in Prairie as a guard. And he was recently familiar.

He was the one I saw in the bathroom with Robyn Mayes and Trent Childers.

Spencer high-fived the green-eyed tall guy who'd given me the curious hello with his eyes. I could consider that a goodbye under Spencer's tutelage. Spencer would no doubt be the additional head guard, and his memories of Pure Pine High either held me as a chubby dork or were nonexistent, confirming I was not part of the in-crowd. There were rumors he'd graced an upperclassmen's intimate party or two with his presence once or twice since he'd left for the University of Texas. If so, he knew I was not a part of the current Pure Pine elite invited. I saw all I cared to be reacquainted from him at the twins' party.

"Court! You ready for this summer, Bro?" My new green-eyed acquaintance laughed and shook his head as Spencer slapped him on the back and surveyed the new rookies in the room. Apparently, his name was Court. I guess I hadn't paid much attention when Cleta originally introduced him. I looked away and tried to stay far from Spencer's radar. Cleta tossed Spencer a guard shirt and continued with the meeting. I shook my head at how I ended up in this moment. Small towns certainly had a wide radius when you simply tried to step out for a moment.

I folded my schedule in half and moved to slide it into one of the back pockets of my jean shorts. I immediately felt those hands that pressed me into his lap just an hour and a half before. My stomach flipped and a million butterflies circled in a frenzy. I worried I might be blushing. I had almost forgotten my little indiscretion. As if I could ever forget that. It was strange, that reminder of my dirty little secret. It was as equally comforting in that moment at the lion's den as it was exciting and nerve-wracking.

Who cared about Spencer Pearce potentially bringing Pure Pines to the guard room?

I had the first problem of the day yet to solve. What had Adrian and I done? And what did it mean?