That Blue Gibson: Another Round

forty-seven

"Hey, Al."

Dave looked up from the water when Liz stepped out onto the patio with two cups of coffee and her phone wedged between her ear and her shoulder. Leaning against the pool skimmer in his hands, he smiled a thank you when she set a cup on the table nearest him and jumped when she laid a loud swat on his ass as she walked by. Feigning injury, he rubbed at the spot her hand had been while continuing his task of trying to fish his shorts out of the bottom of the pool.

"They're all still asleep in the playroom... Oh, stop. You know we don't mind having the kids overnight... Yeah? That sounds fun! I don't think we have any plans yet. I need to check with Dave, though."

Swearing quietly to himself while glaring down into the water, he tossed aside the skimmer and stripped off his shirt. He noticed Liz set down the towel she had just picked up and slowly perch at the foot of a lounge chair, reducing her replies to Allison's conversation to just soft hums as he stepped around the corner of the pool to the stairs in just the black boxers he'd slept in.

He glanced back at the quiet house before wading into the water, confirming that it was still too early for any of their kids or the visiting Hawkins' kids to be awake and dove to retrieve the clothes they'd left in the bottom of the pool the night before.

By the time he surfaced and shook the water from his eyes, her phone was face down beside her and she was casually sipping away at her coffee. "The Hawkins' want to throw a Halloween party."

He tossed the clothes into a soggy heap on the concrete beside her, "Yeah? That's our anniversary."

"Is it?" she took another long sip and raised a brow at him from over the rim of her mug.

Sensing the challenge hidden in her teasing, he lifted himself out of the water enough to reach for her ankle, "Get in here with me."

She set her coffee down at her feet and gently kicked his hand away, "You expect me to just willingly saunter in there after what you did to me last night?"

"I seem to recall you enjoying yourself, Elizabeth," he taunted while swimming to meet her at the pool's steps.

Her lips pursed into an irritated smile, but she dipped her feet into the water all the same. He waited until the hem of her robe began to float on the surface before pulling her in against him.

"We're gonna have to get this pool cleaned," she sighed when he mouthed at her collarbone, making him chuckle.

"You want me to be your pool boy, baby?"

Her laugh made his heart flutter, but the way she wrapped herself around him as he swam them to the deep end made it pound. A year ago he'd been frantically packing his drum kits and band shirts into boxes, trying to finalize the deal on the house before Liz could change her mind, but now...

He took a deep breath and dragged her under the surface with him, grinning when she blinked against the chlorine sting and her hair floating in her face. Her robe drifted up around her waist, sending his stare to the black silk shorts she'd thrown on to say goodbye to Taylor and Wiley just hours ago and as she peeked out from the dark red strands swirling around her, she smiled back at him with a hint of bemusement. Until he tugged her back through the water and smashed his lips against hers.

It seemed like an awesome idea at the moment, something straight out of one of her movies, but when the sting reached his sinuses and her hands gripped his shoulders in a panic, he lifted her to the surface by her waist and hurried to follow. Leaning against the ledge in a harmony of spluttering coughs, he heard her manage a laugh.

"That wasn't as romantic as I thought it'd be," he choked out.

"A for effort, dude," her words started low and ended in a loud squawk when a blast of icy cold water splashed against her face.