Page 53 of Fierce-Matt

She was smiling when she said it.

“Work might play a small part in it,” he said, holding up his fingers in a pinch and squinting one eye.

She gave him a playful shove. “More than a little part.”

“I showed you mine, are you going to show me yours?”

Anya had a purple sundress over her suit. She slipped her flip-flops off and lifted her dress over her head.

As a teen, she loved prancing around in her bikini in front of Matt.

She had more curves to her body now, some more tone too.

“Well?” she asked. He was staring at her.

“Shit,” he said. “I’m not normally at a loss for words.”

The pink and blue bikini did its job.

Which was saying a lot because the strings were working extra hard holding the triangles around her boobs and the swatches covering her butt and crotch.

She took a risk wearing a revealing suit like this. The one she only had on at the pool in her apartment when she wanted a tan.

Guys hit on her all the time when she wore it, but that had never been the intent.

She wanted minimal tan lines and this suit provided that.

But what she wanted more than anything was the guy in front of her to have his socks knocked off.

“Why don’t we get a drink?”

They walked toward the stairs to get into the water. The only way to get one was at the bar in the center of the pool.

Matt pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and held it up as they walked into the waist-deep water, then over to the bar.

He got a beer; she got a blue fruity drink that looked like the theme of their day. Fun.

He paid with a card off his phone, then they found a table they could stand at to place their drinks on.

“This is nice,” he said.

“I’m glad you thought of it. I remember coming here as a kid with your family. You and Ben took off and left Phoebe and me with your parents.”

He smiled. “I know you had a good time. Phoebe talked about begging you to stop going on all the crazy rides. That she didn’t want to throw up.”

Anya laughed. “I have a pretty strong stomach. You were willing to go on them with me last time, so I assumed you’d be fine today. You did well.”

She had noticed him swallow a few times, even dread the last ride, but he got on like a trooper.

She would have loved to go through them another time, but it wasn’t about that.

It was about him giving her a day to let go and enjoy herself.

Something that he noted over a decade ago and gave it to her as an adult.

Anya didn’t know if anyone had ever put that much thought or consideration into her enjoyment.

“How long has it been since you’ve been here?” he asked.