I leaned down to kiss her softly.

"Still like fireworks?" I whispered.

"This show has more competition that it will ever know."

By the time the show ended my house had fallen quiet. Noelle followed her friends to a party, and Tatum and Nick hid themselves in the guest room for what little alone time they each got together-as he was in the army and always gone, and she was a nurse and always on call. Marta took care of my father, and then it was just Everly and I. We sat with our feet in the pool under the stars, listening to the ocean's chant.

"Is it cold?" she asked.

My foot swirled the water. "It feels good to me. I'm not cold."

"If I snuck under that waterfall would you follow me?" She nodded to the side of the pool where water sheeted from a cliff of rocks.

A kiss dabbed innocently on her shoulder was my only reply.

Everly pushed off the side of the pool and swam fully clothed until she vanished behind the waterfall. I pulled off my shirt and swam to her, both of us were tucked inside a rock cocoon, veiled by a sheet of water. And inside of this too-close little hole in the world, everything heightened. Her hair swirled in slow motion as she waded. Long skinny arms almost touched me at every pass. Hazel glowed from the underwater lighting. Wet skin shimmered from the darkness.

I was never more alive. I watched everything all at once.

She sunk beneath the water and left her clothing at the bottom. Her eyes never looked at me as she twisted and swam for the large rock behind us. She just pulled herself up and sat there. I folded my arms on a smaller rock and watched.

"I was right."

Everly finally looked at me. "About what?"

"You look like a lost mermaid."

She smiled and pushed her long peach hair forward to cover her breasts. "Better?"

I shook my head in awe. "If I caught you I'd never set you free."

She looked down to her body. "What about all the ugly scars? Bruises?"

I swam closer and twisted to show a long scar along my side. "I had to have my appendix taken out when I was ten. Do you think it's hideous?"

"Callum," she sounded defeated, "My scars and bruises are never ending. They're everywhere. All people do is stare at me if I dress normally. Once this woman started shouting at Timothy. Called him every dirty name she could summon because she thought I was being abused. And then there are the endless questions. You ..." she almost laughed. "That scar does not mar your body in any sort of way. I bet Amelia saw it and thought it was an incredible turn-on."

I looked up at her. "I just told you I thought you were beautiful. Didn't you hear me?"

"Well you'd be the only one."

"So there have been other men you've taken beneath a waterfall to strip for?"

She looked away and I thought she was upset but when she turned back, she had the ghost of a smile on her face. "Of course not."

I reached my hands out for hers. "Come down here." Everly slid back into the water and I sunk down to be eye level. She was so close. She was too far. I moved my hands to her wrists and tugged her toward me. "Still have butterflies?"

"No. Right now it's more like the flying monkeys of Oz."

I half-laughed, "I'm not going to do anything to you, I swear." I tried to let her go, but I had it all wrong. She captured my hands under the water.

"If I were any other girl what would you do right now?"

"That is a huge "if", Everly Anne."

"What would it be?" she pressed.

"Oh let's see . . . beautiful, mermaid-rivaling, naked girl all alone in my father's pool late at night . . . I think I'd want to wear flannel pajamas and play Scrabble."

She pulled herself closer. "If I were any other girl, I'd want you to act on what you're feeling. But I'm not. So promise you won't ever cross that line. Not even on our one free day."

I feigned offense. "Then get away from me with all your nakedness, Temptress."

Everly leaned in and kissed me before she swam to the bottom and found her clothes. The pile sat on the edge of the pool as we swam under the light of moon.