Chapter 1
I just about keeled over when I walked into the pool on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and saw who this year's lifeguards were.
I knew them of course. Heck, just last year I'd graduated high school with them and I'd thought I'd never see them again since we'd all headed off in different directions for college.
Well, they headed off. I went to the local state university so that I could save some money by living with my parents.
Mitch and Ethan... the two guys I'd pretty much spent my entire high school career lusting over. Although with Ethan, I can't explain exactly why.
Okay, so the guy's hot. Like, even in high school he had the kind of body that resembled drawings and sculptures of a Greek God.
Girls are going to lust over him, right?
But he was such a jerk to me! There were times when I hated myself for lusting after him the way I did.
Because my last name is Walters and his last name is Walton, we almost always ended up seated somewhere near each other and he would always act like a five-year-old who was afraid of catching my cooties or something.
It's not like I ever did anything, heck I would get so nervous that whenever he tried to talk to me I could barely formulate words.
But apparently my very existence annoyed him or something.
My crush on Mitch, his best friend, made a lot more sense.
Mitch was on Varsity Swim team, Senior year he was the captain, and he looked like it too.
Broad shoulders, long muscles, and these gorgeous curls that all the girls would coo over.
He was always super sweet to me, as if making up for Ethan's jerkwad ways.
I'm a shy girl, so when a seriously hot and popular guy like him says hi to me in the hallway whenever he sees me, of course I'm going to have a crush.
But I knew it didn't mean anything special, that's just the kind of nice guy he was.
Being shy, it's a lot easier to lust from the distance than actually try to do anything about it.
"Hey, Allie! Ethan, look, it's Allie!" Mitch jumped up and hugged me, making me giggle out loud and swoon a little inside. For once it was a sunny and warm Memorial Day weekend so neither he nor Ethan were wearing shirts.
Okay, I'm not a virgin, I'm almost nineteen and I managed to pop my cherry during my freshman year at college with my very first-ever boyfriend, but when a guy like Mitch is shirtless and pressing his yummy chest all up in my face, I'm going to swoon a bit.
It happens. I bet even girls who have had sex with tons of guys would swoon a bit.
"Hi Mitch," I said, grinning up at him. Butterflies were careening around my stomach, because the man still had his arms around me, but who cares? Enjoy the moment! Vive la France!
I might be getting a little giddy, I admit it.
"Hey Allie." As usual, Ethan sounded kind of annoyed.
I peeked around Mitch's muscled arm to see him sitting at the lifeguard table, glaring at me as if he couldn't believe his high school pestilence had managed to show up yet again.
Screw you, asshole, I thought to myself. This is my pool.
I mean, it's my neighborhood's pool, but I live here and he doesn't and that makes it mine.
Plus I've spent every day of every summer here, from Memorial Day's Saturday to Labor Day's Monday.
Rain or shine. I'm like the postman, but with the pool.
And it's not an easy task, let me tell you.
In this part of the country, late May is still far too chilly for pool lounging.
Sometimes I wished I lived in Texas. Or Arizona. Although I'd miss the winter.
But I digressed. I did that a lot. Especially when I was trying really, really hard not to think about how one of my high school crushes has his arms around me and the other one is glaring at me like I'm the Bubonic plague.
"What are you doing here?" Mitch asked, after giving me a second, briefer hug. Sadly he let his arms drop after that one. My body tingled, all fizzy and happy that he'd held me at all.
"I'm the designated poolrat," I said with an answering grin.
Even though I'm shy I've always found it easy to talk to Mitch.
He's just that kind of friendly personality.
Plus, you know, you get lost in his hypnotizing blue eyes and suddenly all your little fears and doubts just melting away. "And this is my pool."
I say it loud enough so that Ethan can hear it, wanting to give him a heads-up that I'm going to be around a lot and he's just going to have to deal with it. And I try not to let the answering groan bug me.
"Ignore him," Mitch advised, ushering me over to the table where Ethan is still sitting, still looking all tall, dark and annoyed. "He likes lazy days at the pool where he can slack off because no one showed up."
"Then you're going to hate this place," I informed him cheerfully. "There's about five to six poolrats, although I'm the oldest one. I'm surprised the others aren't here yet."
Oops, spoke too soon. Just as the words were out of my mouth, the Johnson twins came barreling out of the men's bathroom.
They were the youngest poolrats, they'd joined the club last year when they'd turned eight and were finally able to come to the pool without their mom supervising.
Shockingly, they were pretty well behaved most of the time, but I think that's mostly because they were afraid of having their pool privileges revoked.
While Ethan and Mitch were distracted, I took the opportunity to scoot away and pick out my favorite chair.
It was on the same side of the pool as the lifeguard table, but far enough away that it didn't impinge on their space.
Which Ethan should appreciate. I usually make buddies with the lifeguards, just because I'm at the pool so often, but I don't know if that's going to happen this year.
We always have four guards in total, but I'm never going to feel comfortable just hanging out with them while Ethan's there, I know that already.
I wasn't quite hot enough to jump in the pool immediately, so I just arranged my towel and myself to my satisfaction and pulled out my e-reader.
Yeah, I know, it's not the best idea to bring electronics to the pool, but the kind of stuff I've been reading lately isn't something I'd be comfortable getting a real book of and carrying it around with me.
Even that 50 Shades stuff has become okay, but my fantasies have been going in a slightly different way.
.. I have to admit, the spanking and domination stuff turns me on, but lately I've been getting even kinkier than that.
Threesomes. Sex with two smoking hot men. Lexie Blake, Golden Angel and Laylah Roberts all sucked me in with hot alpha men and spankings, and then got my engine going over menages.
My eyes wandered over to the two hunky lifeguards that I'd fantasized about separately in high school and a little smile crossed my face.
I'd probably be fantasizing about them this summer too, in an entirely different way.
Hey, a girl's got a right to her own fantasy life, and with both of them prancing around with their muscular bodies and very little clothing, I know they're going to be popping up in my head later tonight when I take out my vibrator.
Smiling to myself, I hunker down into my book.
******
The next couple of weeks passed pretty much as I’d expected.
I made friends with the other two lifeguards, Gina and Teresa.
Surprisingly, neither of them are interested in Ethan or Mitch.
Teresa has a boyfriend and Gina has a girlfriend.
There are a couple of pool bunnies that show up on a pretty regular basis.
They’re different from poolrats because the bunnies only show up when there are hot lifeguards, and they don't show up every day.
I was thinking that this might be the summer where I'd get a life outside of the pool, but with Mitch and Ethan working there, how can I stay away?
Even if it means I end up masturbating every night.
Ethan seems to have resigned himself to my daily presence, although he's still not friendly.
He tolerates me. I can hang out at the lifeguard table, it just means that he ends up being pretty quiet.
At least he's not outright mean or teasing me anymore, I figure that's a step up.
Mitch, as usual, is super friendly and a lot of fun to hang out with.
He's turned into a major flirt, and he flirts with everyone—me, his fellow lifeguards, the pool bunnies.
.. It makes my heart flutter even though I know it doesn't mean anything.
From overhearing bathroom talk I know he's already gotten it on with at least one of the pool bunnies.
Listening made me jealous, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't also turn me on.
Shockingly, as far as I know, Ethan hasn't followed suit.
He just broods and does his job. Why I find the moody brooding so hot is completely inexplicable, but there it is.
Every so often, usually when I'm in the middle of a particularly hot scene on my e-reader, I get the weird feeling that he's checking me out, but when I look up at him he never is.
Still, it's a fun little fantasy to have. Makes me feel all squirmy inside.
Once or twice I've gone into the bathroom just to play with myself because I can't wait until I get home.
As usually happens, eventually the summer storms start rolling in.
When they do, the lifeguards send everyone home, but the older poolrats are usually offered shelter in the lifeguard office, which otherwise never gets used.
It's got a small couch, some armchairs, the unused lounge chairs from around the pool, and the kickboards that the swim team uses.
I'm the only poolrat given a consistent invitation to come in and play cards when the thunder and lightning starts, usually from Mitch.