Chapter 17 #2
see Robin, but she wished Batman would trust her to solve her own issues. Still, when it came to being protective—like mother,
like son.
Watch dashed across the deck to greet Kristin, who assessed him for ferocity then stroked his head. Clint stopped at the top
of the stairs, his face set in hard lines. “Mom, I told you last night to butt out. If you can’t respect that, you need to
leave.”
Dancy shot out of her chair. “Don’t talk to your mother that way. She’s only trying to protect you.”
Clint cocked his head, unsure what had just happened.
Dancy turned to Kristin. “You’re not entirely wrong about what you said, but you’re wrong about some of it.
You’re also beyond annoying. But you’d do anything for your son, and I respect that.
Come on, Watch.” She stopped at the top of the stairs and turned back to Clint.
“You have no idea how lucky you are to have a mother who cares so much about you.”
Watch followed her down the steps. At the bottom, he gave a joyous yap, raced to the end of the dock, and jumped into the
chilly gray water.
“Shit!” Dancy screeched.
Watch paddled happily away, but without a life jacket, he’d get tired soon, and with no accessible shoreline for an easy exit,
he couldn’t get out of the water himself. “Stupid dog!”
She took his life vest from the wall, tossed it in the water, and kicked off her sandals. She refused to subject her new clothes
to lake water, so she stripped out of her jeans and pulled her gauze top over her head. With one clean dive, she was in the
water.
Clint watched it all from the deck. “That woman is one of a kind.”
“There was an empty liquor bottle outside the caboose this morning,” Kristin declared, standing next to him.
“Was there?” He crossed the deck to the stairs.
“Don’t you dare go in after her,” Kristin called out. “Use the boat hook. That water is too cold, and you’ll get sick.”
Clint rolled his eyes and jumped onto the dock.
Dancy was perfectly capable of rescuing Watch by herself, and there was no need for him to join her in the water. If his mother
hadn’t pissed him off so much, he’d have grabbed the boat hook just as she’d said and stayed where he was. Instead, he stripped
down to his boxer briefs and dove in.
Dancy was almost twenty yards out. She’d reached her tired dog and was treading water as she worked to get him into his life vest.
“Need help?” he asked, as he swam up behind her.
She spun around. “What are you doing?”
“I haven’t had my swim today.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“I know.”
She shook her head. “This is going to drive your mother right over the edge.”
“That’s the general idea.” He helped get the dog’s rear legs secured. “Kristin said she found an empty liquor bottle outside
the caboose. Interesting that you could drink all that and not have the mother of all hangovers today.”
“Iron stomach.”
“Bullshit. You dumped it.”
“Total waste of good liquor.” She snapped the buckle on top. “Kristin is the world’s best overprotective mother. She’d take
a bullet for you.”
“You can have her.”
“I wish I could.”
Temporarily happy now that he was more buoyant, Watch paddled right behind them as they began swimming toward the dock. Dancy
wiped the water from her eyes. “As soon as Watch sees the dock, he thinks it’s playtime. Perhaps you could remember next time
to leash him?”
She was so prim and proper, he held back a grin. “Perhaps.” Lavender straps crossed her shoulders, and the tops of her breasts
rose above the lacy cups of her bra. “I like your underwear. Very sexy.”
“Erin doesn’t believe in basic.”
He peered into the water, but couldn’t see much except the shadows of long, graceful legs. He’d caught a hint of her underwear before she dove in, but some situations needed more clarity. “Give me a hint. What’s on the bottom?”
“Your sweatshirt.”
“Not the bottom of the lake. On your bottom.”
“Not much.”
“Meaning how much?”
The dark spikes of her lashes fringed mischievous eyes. “Erin’s a fan of thongs.”
“I love that woman.”
“Only because you don’t have a thread of scratchy lace in your butt crack.”
He submerged. Going deep. Willing the cold water to wash away the evidence of the images her words had provoked. Ironic that,
in only a few days, a man who’d lost interest in sex could become such a pervert. He opened his eyes underwater, but he was
too late. She’d already swum off, pulling Watch along by his life vest.
On the dock, Kristin waited for them, towels at the ready in an echo of the previous night. “Can I please kick Mom out?” he
asked as he drew next to Dancy.
“She’ll only hate me more. I’m the one who needs to leave.”
His amusement faded. “Don’t even think about letting her drive you away.”
She regarded him with a steady, serious gaze, even as water droplets played on her cheekbones. “It’s not only her. You know
that. As soon as Roth and I are done, I’m going back to LA.”
He wasn’t ready to have this conversation, and he swam ahead. Getting to the dock first meant he’d be able to watch her emerge from the water in all her wet lingerie glory, and he quickly climbed the ladder.
His mother, however, had other plans. As soon as he stepped out, her sharp elbow dug into his gut, catching him unaware. He
automatically moved back only to have her wedge in front of him and hold the towel wide for Dancy, blocking his view. He was
left with the less than thrilling job of extracting Watch and getting him out of his life vest.
His mother curled her lip at his former girlfriend as Dancy anchored her towel. “You still seem to have trouble keeping your
clothes on.”
“What’s the point?” Dancy cooed. “Your baby boy will just rip them off again.”
He grinned. “Dancy’s baiting you.”
His mother was clearly unamused.
With a delicate snort, his ex-girlfriend gathered her things and proceeded along the dock, her dog trailing after her. As
she reached the end, she lifted the towel with both hands. And there, for all the world to see, were two round, glistening
buttocks dissected by a tiny strip of lavender lace.