I looked back at him. He lifted my cold foot from the water and kissed my ankle. Right where he had been rubbing it. A rush of warmth raced up my calf and thigh then hit my core and dissipated outward into all my extremities. How I wanted him to do that again and again until I melted from the heat searing me internally.

  “You’ll find the strength, I know it. You headed to uni?” He lowered my foot back into the water and I gasped at the cold touching my sole.

  “Yeah, about fifteen minutes away from home. I was supposed to be seeing Europe this summer, but my mother sprang this vacation on me as a graduation gift.” I spread my toes, the water washing between them made my skin rise in gooseflesh. “What about you? How did you get to be here?”

  “That, Dane Forrester, is a long story for another morning.” He gave me a smile then released my feet and drifted back from the edge of the bank. “I have to open the pool at six for the aqua class. Want to hang out tonight?”

  “Yes. I would like that so much.” My cheeks burned but saying it felt so wonderful. I was taking to air, my waxen wings lifting me from the ground one mighty wingbeat at a time. The words unspoken were still locked in that box inside me, but the lock had been picked. It was only a matter of time until all that was Dane was spoken out loud. “Can you come to dinner with us?”

  He floated over what must be an incredibly deep washout, his arms and legs working to keep him on his back as the water rolled over and around his legs and up over his flat stomach. Oh, to be that water…

  “Sure. I think tonight is family movie night. Want to see if we can catch that?” He righted himself with ease and that selkie myth flared to life in my mind again.

  “Sure. Yes. That would be great.” I winced at my enthusiasm. “Was that too much?”

  He laughed as a robin trilled up in the trees bowing over the creek. “Nope. Nice to know a man is so excited to watch a movie with me.”

  I grinned at him, dropping down into a crouch as he sliced through the water and climbed up out of the creek with ease. The rising sun looked magnificent on his wet back. His briefs clung to his ass and my cock filled with blood. Biting down on the inside of my mouth, I watched him pull on his white pants, turn, lift his hand, and wait for me to return the gesture. He then grabbed his mat and whipped it open. I rose and went back inside. I know he said that he was pleased to see people were curious about Islam, but this was his time with Allah. To intrude would be akin to him sitting outside the confessional as I told the priest my sins. Thank goodness they didn’t have those dark, claustrophobic boxes here. I’d be up to my neck in penance just for this twenty-minute visit with Khalid at the creek bank.

  ***

  “Dane, you’re going to wear out the floorboards with your pacing,” Mom chided as I made another pass back and forth over the front porch. “I’m sure your friend will be here soon. I’m so happy to see you making friends and going out. Back home you were so reserved.”

  Back home I was hiding who I was but here, here with Khalid, I can be Dane, and Mom, it’s the most amazing thing ever.

  “It’s nice here. Thanks for doing this for me.” She gave me that shaky Mom smile they get when a child of theirs says something sweet. Then she went back to dabbing paint on the ceramic garden gnome she’d bought in town. “He’s looking good.”

  “Thank you, baby.” She sat back, thin brush in hand, and admired her little man in the red pointed hat. “Oh! Is this your friend?” Mom waved, and I spun on my heel, my enthusiasm nearly sending me toppling off the porch.

  Yes, it was Khalid. Beautiful Khalid. He bounded down the gray gravel path, big sneakers kicking up stray stones, eyes glistening like a brown enstatite gemstone I’d owned back when I was big into collecting rocks and minerals. He skidded to a halt at the bottom step and looked up at me staring down at him. How deeply I wanted to kiss him or touch him in a loving way. Instead, I had to offer him my hand and make stilted introductions.

  “Such a handsome young man,” Mom gushed making Khalid flush a bit. I stood at his side, my arm rubbing his on occasion. I could smell chlorine coming off his skin and clothing. He looked as if he’d just left the pool. Bright blue trunks, white tank top, and those floppy sandals. Around one ankle was a thin rainbow band of woven threads. “Let me go wash the paint off my hands, and then we’ll go to eat. I bet you boys are starving.”

  She pattered inside, and I peeked at Khalid. He leaned into me, shoulder bumping mine.

  “She seems nice.”

  “Yeah, she is.” I let my pinkie finger touch his. He curled his finger around mine. Wanting more but not quite daring to be so bold, we stood there, pinkie fingers wound together, until my mother appeared in the screen door.

  Mom stepped out, pulled the door shut, and gave us both a wink. “I bet I’ll be the only woman being escorted to dinner by two handsome men.” She took our arms, turned us toward the gravel path, and led us along. Khalid shot me a confused look over her dark head. Mom talked the whole way to the lodge about church, James, my dad’s position as a loan officer at the bank, and how I had won so many English and writing scholarships.

  By the time we took our place in the buffet line, Khalid knew all about my rock collection, my love of Nightcrawler from the X-Men, how my high arches made buying shoes for me difficult, and how she just knew I’d be winning a Pulitzer before I turned thirty. If it was really possible to die of embarrassment, I’d be several shades of dead.

  “So, Nightcrawler, eh? I was always a big Cyclops man myself,” Khalid said after we were seated with four other couples who were all much older than even my mother.

  Dinner was delicious and light, roasted chicken and some red potatoes with parsley, hot wheat buns, large slices of watermelon and chunks of cantaloupe topped off with blueberries and a dollop of cream. Khalid and I talked to each other mostly. As we ate I noticed the looks he was pulling from the silver-haired people at our table. The longer it went on the more I began to dislike it. Our conversation about comic books kept Khalid busy chatting, which was why he probably didn’t notice those sneaky looks. Or so I’d thought.

  “Oh them, yeah, I’m kind of used to that,” he casually replied later when we were spread out on the lawn we’d played badminton on not that long ago. “They either disliked the fact that an employee was eating with them or they disliked my necklace.”

  I lifted a finger and touched the silver moon. Khalid watched me from under heavy eyelids. His long legs crossed at the ankles, and his elbows bent and supporting his upper body off the grass.

  “The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.”

  “Wow, that was profound. Your mom is right about that Pulitzer.”

  My cheeks grew warm. I wiggled around from my cross-legged position facing him to look out on the massive lawn covered with blankets and lawn chairs, and small tables holding flickering citronella candles. Down by the tree line, where I’d stood under the shade of the firs, was a big screen.

  “Mahatma Gandhi said that,” I confessed as a soft little wind moved over my legs. I sat back on my elbows, just like Khalid.

  “Well, he was pretty profound as well.” We both laughed at that then spoke of other things, like his childhood in the UK. His family had fled Serbia when he was too small to remember the atrocities that spurred them to leave. They’d settled in Great Britain, in a small town called Ealing. There he, his parents, and his paternal grandparents had settled into a tiny house, and he’d spent his youth much like I had—trying his best to be what his family wanted him to be.

  “Five years ago, my dad got an opportunity for advancement in his work. Only drawback was having to move to the states. Mum was less than thrilled to come over. My dad manages a huge warehouse in Bushkill that distributes cleaning supplies to over a thousand businesses and restaurants in the New York/Pennsylvania/New Jersey area.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty impressive.” The sky was growing dark in a lazy manner as if night was in no real hurry to shove her brother aside.

  “Not too shabby for a bunch of immigrants,” he responded with a little more acid than I think he’d intended. “Look there. Bonnie and her mates.”

  I followed the jut of his chin and saw Bonnie with several other people. She walked right by us and never once gave us so much as a glance.

  “Looks like you’ve gone and made her mad. She’s a right cow.”

  “She said that I shouldn’t spend time with you because you’re different.”

  “Fuck her,” he snapped then fell back into the grass, his jaw tightly set. What a damn shame I couldn’t roll over and kiss him to take his mind off the ignorance of the world. I laid down as well, arms resting on my belly just as Khalid’s were. “We’ll not let that shite muck up our movie night, will we?”

  “Nope.”

  We pushed all talk of ugly things away. My mother arrived with a cocktail and a lawn chair, sat right behind us, and began filling us in on the ruckus with the Perlman’s and the Christoff’s for prime viewing seats in front. Guess when you have cataracts you need those good seats near the screen.

  One of the older staff members, who’d walked among the moviegoers selling raffle tickets at dinner, stood in front of the screen shouting that number seven nine eight had won the prize. I used my flashlight app to check tickets.

  “Dude, you won!” I shook Khalid’s little yellow ticket in the air. He snapped it from my fingers and leaped to his feet. Mom clapped and cheered. He raced down the hill, his phone supplying light so he didn’t step on anyone sprawled out on the grass. When he returned, he dropped down beside me and held up some old peace sign pendant hanging off a leather necklace.

  “Wonder what box they dug this prize out of?”

  “The one marked nineteen sixty-nine,” I commented, and my mom snorted in amusement. “It’s pretty cool in a retro sort of way.”

  He leaned in close and fastened it around my neck. The smell of warm Khalid slipped seductively into my sinuses. Eyes closed, I inhaled and held it while he fumbled with the tiny clasp. Sitting back after it was secure, we looked at each other, the light from my phone illuminating our faces from below, which was really creepy and kind of hilarious.

  The film began, and Mom giggled when we saw it was the original The Love Bug starring Dean Jones and Buddy Hackett. My grandmother loved this movie, which is how I knew the names of the stars. We’d watched it a hundred times at her house when she used to babysit James and me. I even knew some of the dialog. If it had just been me and Mom, I’d have fallen asleep, but with Khalid there, I was on edge but in a pleasant way. My nerves and giddiness kept me awake and a little jittery.

  As the movie neared its end, Drew showed up with a pretty black girl I’d never seen before. They flopped down on the other side of Khalid. He introduced me to Drew and his girlfriend, Evonne, who worked in the small town of Silver Fir as a waitress. Evonne was a little on the chubby side with a light little laugh. Her hair was gathered back into a thick ponytail. I felt a little foolish now since I had been jealous of Drew, who was obviously not into Khalid like I was.

  “You missed most of the film,” Khalid said as the closing credits began running.

  “Had better things to do,” Drew commented, which got him a slap on the shoulder from his girlfriend. “You two want to go hang out by the pool? We have keys,” he added in a tempting sing-song voice. As if spending time near a pool at night was some sort of enjoyable way to spend time. “We can skinny dip,” Drew tacked on when no one spoke up. Oh yeah, being naked would make the whole water thing just that much better. God no! Although seeing Khalid naked might be worth the humiliation of crossing that bridge then melting into a panic as soon as I neared the pool…

  Khalid looked at me. Pulling my lip between my teeth I mulled on a reply. The dancing candle behind us made reading his expression difficult. Was he put out with me or internally making fun?

  “How about we hang out by the bridge?” Khalid offered. I nearly fainted in relief. “After we escort Dane’s mother home.”

  Mom was gushing after that. I guessed Drew and Evonne were okay with chilling with Khalid no matter where he was. We gathered up our stuff, the blanket and Mom’s chair, and blew out the candle in the metal bucket. Then we got Mom to the cabin. James was there with his friends, all guys his age. Mom gave me a pat on the cheek and told me to have fun while James had to say goodnight and come inside. I could hear him bitching about me being able to roam around after midnight but not him.

  We talked all the way to the bridge. Evonne and Drew walked to the middle and sat down with their backs to a rail wound tightly with small white Christmas lights. Khalid took about ten steps out onto the wooden planks then turned around and held out his hand to me.

  Chapter Five

  I pulled in an unsteady breath, my soul crinkling up and dying inside me. Khalid came back to me, took my hands, and stood there looking into my eyes. Right now, I was glad we were kind of shadowed from the small solar-powered lights lining the paths. Standing with my back to the lights he couldn’t see into me well. He’d be sickened to view all that cowardice that lived deep in me.

  “Hey, it’s okay.” His voice was low, his grip on my hands firm but gentle. “Let’s try dancing across. You a good dancer?”

  “Uh…yeah, I guess so.”

  “Drew, give us some music, will you?” Khalid called over to his friends but stayed facing me. “And not that rubbish pop you listen to. Something Dane and I can dance to.”

  Dance? Did he say dance? My dancing was generally confined to stiff formal things like proms or weddings.

  Fingers sliding through mine, Khalid began to sway side to side when a Pussycat Doll’s song filled the night. Bullfrogs croaked along with the music.

  “Now, you just need to focus here on this big nose of mine,” Khalid softly said. I looked at him. His hair, his brow, and his nose. It was a perfectly nice nose on a perfectly wonderful face.

  “Your nose fits your face,” I muttered, picking up his rhythm as it blended with the roll of water over rocks.

  “What are you two whispering about over there?” Drew shouted.

  “We’re dancing and we’re fine,” Khalid called back to his friends, pulling gently on my hands until I took a small step. Still earth under my feet. Gravel crunched softly so I was safe. His chest now brushed mine, our swaying tempo picking up to match the dance floor beat.

  He stepped up, his hip bounced off mine, and then he stepped back, taking me with him, my hip sliding over his. We did this a few times, my attention tight on where my feet were. If we stepped onto wood, I would tense up, and he would dance us back to the path. This went on through the entire song and then into the next. This one was “Icarus” by the Purple Cows. Everyone under sixty must have it on one of their playlists.

  Khalid kept moving, just slowing the pace to match the hauntingly slow song. Drew and Evonne began singing along, her voice lovely and clear as it lifted into the cooling night air. My body moved toward his, pulled by the magic that is attraction. We still held each other’s hands, but now we were chest to chest, his brow resting on mine, and my heart thudded in my chest!

  “Meet me under the willow tree and soothe my burning skin,” he sang as we swayed, his thigh meeting mine each time we moved. My eyes drifted closed. My skin was prickly with awareness. Every sense was heightened tenfold. Khalid sang so only he and I could hear, his allure sweeping over me and numbing me to the shuffle of our feet as we danced. “I leapt from the tower and fell to the sea, don’t take my love away from me.”

  “Don’t take my love away from me,” I parroted, my voice nothing but a weak whisper.

  “You move nice.” There was nothing I wanted more than to put my mouth on his. He would never know how tempted I was, how madly the war waged inside me. “I like this…dancing with you. Want to dance with me tomorrow night?”

  “I’d like that.”

  Evonne stopped singing as the song faded away. Now there were no sounds but the rush of water, the whine of a mosquito, and the thundering of my pulse in my ears.

  “Bridge dancing at midnight. It’s a date.” He nudged at my nose with his, a swipe really, nothing more than that, and then he stepped back, keeping us linked by our hands.

  My eyes opened slowly, my mind bound up in the moment as tightly and securely as if the man had wrapped me in velvet ropes.

  Khalid tapped his foot on the gravel under us. The slap of his sandal lost for a moment in the fluff packed into my head. When the sound of heel on rocky trail registered, my eyes flared, and I lost the ability to breathe. We were across. That was the most pleasurable bridge crossing I’d made in years.

  “Oh fuck,” I coughed weakly, my sight moving to the stones under our feet. “That was nice.”

  “Yeah, it was. Want to dance back across?”

  Khalid slow-danced me back off the bridge, one slow step at a time, until my left foot skidded over gravel yet again. I shook free of his hands, my palms and upper lip slick with sweat.

  “Only way to make that kind of crossing, am I right?” he asked.

  I launched myself at him, pressing my nose into his throat, inhaling warm man. He felt marvelous, hard-muscled flat chest tight to mine.

  “Definitely the only way,” I breathed into his neck as his arms tentatively settled around my waist. A flash of light moved over us. Drew shouted to us to get a room and turned up the volume on his phone. Evonne chided him about making fun of the new lovers.

  “You okay, mate?”

  “Three boards over the water.” I repeated because it was the only verbiage that seemed to be forming on my tongue. This man was a miracle. And he was holding me as if I were one as well. The Eiffel Tower couldn’t hold a candle to Khalid, I was sure of that.