All five of them were dressed in black SWAT uniforms. Ashton had a huge gun hanging off his shoulder and another smaller gun strapped to this side. He looked so sexy that my mouth actually started to water and my body started to get hot all over. I couldn’t drag my eyes away from his smiling face in the photo, he looked so happy. I silently wondered who the other guys were and if they were close. The uniform was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.

“Hey, don’t lose my page.”

I jumped a mile, shoving the photo back into the book and snapping it shut. I hadn’t even heard him come back into the room because I was too busy perving on his photo. “Er yeah right, I won’t.” I dropped the book quickly, praying I wasn’t blushing.

“You ready to go then?” he asked, folding two towels and putting them under his arm.

“Yep. Did you want to take a row boat over to the floating dock?” I asked as we walked through the house.

“Sounds good. Let’s stop and get snacks first,” he suggested, rubbing his flat stomach in a small circle. His hand closed around mine as we walked and I looked down at it, unsure what to think or feel. His plan was to hold hands a little each day so that I’d get used to it before we went to school, but I hadn’t expected it to actually work. But with his warm hand wrapped around mine, I realised that I actually quite liked the feel of it.

After a quick stop in the kitchen to grab several packs of cookies and chips, some fruit and a couple of bottles of water, I led him through the vast grounds and over to the little jetty around the back of my parents’ property.

“Which one do you want to take?” I questioned, nodding at the row boats that were tied there. They were all the same, just painted different colours.

“How about blue, that’s my favourite colour,” he said and I smiled as he climbed into the boat, setting down the bag of food he’d insisted on carrying.

When he turned back to help me, I scoffed and knocked his hand away. “I’m not some damsel that needs everything doing for her,” I muttered, shaking my head as I jumped lightly into the boat.

He sighed dramatically and sat down. “Right I forgot, Little Miss Independent.” He rolled his eyes, smiling at me.

I grinned and grabbed the oars, starting to row in the general direction of the floating dock. “You can row back,” I offered, chuckling at his disgruntled expression.

“You’re not letting me be very romantic,” he grumbled, crossing his arms in mock annoyance.

“Why the hell would you want to be romantic?” I asked, laughing.

“Well, I’m not making a very good impression on our first date, am I?” he replied, pouting.

Oh my God, date? He doesn’t think this is an actual date, does he? “This isn’t a date,” I said quietly.

He laughed. “Yeah, it kinda is. You are my girlfriend after all,” he countered, shrugging.

I stiffened at the word ‘girlfriend’. “No I’m not. My boyfriend died. You’re just doing your job,” I retorted, glaring at him angrily.

His face dropped and his eyes tightened. “Anna, I was just kidding. I meant if people ask, we can say this was our first date. I mean, we’ve gotta have stories and stuff, right?” he continued cautiously.

I sighed and ignored him, rowing harder until we reached the floating dock that was almost in the middle of the lake. When the boat bumped against the edge of the dock, he jumped out, tying it securely before holding his hand down to help me up.

“I don’t need your help,” I protested, annoyed again.

He sighed deeply. “Listen, Anna, this is what guys do for their girls. We need to start acting like a couple now so that it’ll be easier next week. It’s not a big deal; I just want to help you out of the boat. Please stop being difficult,” he countered, grabbing my hand and helping me onto the deck. “Jeez, you’re stubborn.” He shook his head, laughing. “Most girls would’ve fallen for my charm by now,” he boasted, smiling at me.

I snorted at his cocky attitude. “If you’re expecting me to fall for you, then you’re going to be very disappointed,” I said seriously.

He chuckled. “I know, I can tell,” he answered, grinning. I rolled my eyes at him and took my jeans off, plopping down on the dock in just my long, baggy T-shirt. I grabbed an apple out of the bag, nibbling on it absentmindedly.

When he stripped down to his shorts, exposing that incredible toned and tanned body that looked like something out of a celebrity magazine, I slipped on my shades so that he wouldn’t see my eyes wander in his direction. I forced my gaze away from him and focussed on my apple. I actually felt immensely guilty for looking at him in that way. I had never looked at a man the way I kept looking at Ashton, not since Jack. No one ever caught my interest, and I felt like I was being unfaithful to Jack’s memory by looking at my new guard.

Ashton sat down next to me, stretching out his long legs. “Let’s start with the getting to know each other. What’s your favourite colour?” he asked casually.

“Green,” I answered, closing my eyes and lying back on the wooden dock. I loved it out here; the way the dock rocked slightly on the water was soothing. I often came out here and just lay in the peace and quiet.

“Favourite flower?”

“Dandelion,” I replied, then bit my lip. “I mean roses, white roses,” I amended, frowning.

“Dandelions? You like weeds? Why?” he asked, eyeing me curiously.

Oh for goodness’ sake! Why does this guy want to know everything about me and always see through my lies? I sighed. “Jack gave me a big bunch of dandelions when he asked me out when we were five,” I admitted, smiling at the memory.

He laughed. “That’s sweet. He sounds like he was a nice guy.” I nodded, and he smiled at me. “Maybe he was a bit cheap though,” he added jokingly.

I smiled and looked at him. “He was a great guy, you’d have liked him, everyone liked him.” I rolled onto my front, putting my arms under my chin, watching the water ripple around the dock.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “Favourite food? Mine’s a tuna melt baked potato because that’s about the only thing I can cook,” he laughed.

“Seriously, you can’t cook? Do you still live with your parents? Does your mommy do everything for you? I bet she still washes your clothes,” I teased, grinning at him.

A sad smile crossed his face. “My parents died when I was ten, I grew up in foster homes,” he replied. “And no, I can’t cook. I’m pretty good at burning stuff though.”

I winced and looked at him apologetically because of my insensitive joke about his mom. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have said that.”

He smiled and shook his head, shrugging casually. “It’s fine; it was a long time ago. Favourite food?”

“Er, chocolate fudge cake? I’m a dessert girl,” I admitted, smiling, grateful for the change of subject.

He laughed. “Right, I should have guessed by the size of you,” he joked, poking me in the ribs.

“Hey, don’t make fun of a girl’s weight!” I scolded, trying to look stern. I knew he was joking though; I worked out a lot, so my figure was toned, I just hid it under baggy clothes so no one could see.

“Whoa there, sorry, ma’am,” he replied, holding up his hands in an ‘I surrender’ fashion. My stomach fluttered when he called me ‘ma’am’. From his mouth, it actually sounded incredibly sexy.

The questioning continued for about another hour and in that time I learnt a lot about him. He’d graduated two days ago – this was his first proper assignment. He’d never been undercover before. He was originally from Boston but moved around a lot because of the foster homes. He had no other family or siblings. His best friend from the academy was called Nate, and he was like a brother to him. They shared an apartment in LA. Apparently, he did know how to wash his own clothes. His dream job was SWAT Front Line.

He was really easy to talk to and was actually a funny guy. We ate while we talked, and boy he can eat a lot! I’d never seen anyone pack away as much food as he did, not without feeling sick anyway.

“How long shall we say we’ve been together?” he asked cautiously as he polished off the last pack of chips.

I shrugged. “I don’t care.” It honestly didn’t matter how long we said we’d been together. It wasn’t like a load of people were going to be hanging around and chatting to us about our relationship.

“I think we should go for a year. That way we won’t have to be too touchy-feely. People are usually over that first passion thing by a year, aren’t they?” he asked thoughtfully. I glanced at him and laughed as I realised why he seemed so unsure. “What?” he asked, grinning.

“Have you never had a relationship before?” I asked curiously. It seemed impossible that a gorgeous guy like him was without a girlfriend.

“Nope, not really. I mean, I’ve been out with girls but never seriously. You’ll be my first,” he joked, winking at me.

I raised one eyebrow knowingly. “And by never seriously, you mean you screw girls for fun before you screw them over,” I retorted.

He frowned, looking a little hurt. “I don’t screw girls over! I just never really met anyone I wanted to be with properly before, and even if I had met the right girl, I wouldn’t have had time, my training took up a lot of my time,” he protested, shrugging.

“You’re a player.”

“I am not!” he protested adamantly.

I nodded, giving him a sarcastic expression and laughed. “Whatever! Wanna swim?” I stood up, throwing my shades down onto his pile of clothes.

“Sure. Is the water warm?” he asked, sticking his foot in. He immediately gasped and jerked his foot out. “Holy shit! That’s freezing. We can’t swim in that,” he mumbled, shaking his foot to dry it.