Chapter 11
11
Liam
I was half expecting her to come out of that changing room wearing jeans, a tank top and a flannel shirt. It’s what she’d been wearing, outside of the cat costume, every time I’d seen her since she’d started paying me back.
I was hoping for it honestly. Because those linen pants and her ass had already done a number on me. Undeniably, Kit was beautiful. Dark hair, silver eyes. Skin so clear and fine she looked like an Irish actress. She was slight too, her body matched her name. She was a sleek animal, mysterious and tricky.
That night in Nashville she’d been wearing a tight red dress and high heels. Her hair had been long, then, silky waves down her back. I remembered playing with the ends of her hair, my thumb touching her skin. I remembered the way she smiled at me.
The tight clench of her pussy. How my whole gut had reacted to how right she felt.
Fuck. Stop thinking about that.
The door to the pool house opened and Kit came out in a black bikini that made the most of her curves.
Jesus, I thought, my brain going blank. This might have been a terrible mistake.
Her breasts were perfect little handfuls rising up out of that thin black fabric and her waist was lean, but her ass… her ass was something else.
That night in Nashville, things had happened so fast, I’d been so rushed, I didn’t get a pure look at what she had going on under that red dress. I had a lot of regrets about that night and missing out on that ass of hers was added to the list.
“Who is the girl?” Staski asked, leaning against the side of the pool where I was sitting and fighting a boner like a seventeen-year-old at a pool party.
“What girl?” I said, playing dumb. Like I wasn’t giving myself a headache watching Kit out of the corner of my eye as she put her stuff down on an empty deck chair. Tess ran up and grabbed her hand. Kit smiled at the girl, holding one of her hands while using the other hand to pull the side of her suit further down over her butt cheek.
It was a losing battle. There wasn’t enough material to cover that ass, and for that, the world should be grateful.
“Don’t be idiot,” Staski said. “The girl you are staring at.”
“No one,” I said.
“She looks like someone,” he said. I stared at him wondering if he recognized her from that night at the End Zone, but he was just eyeing her like a man eyes a beautiful woman.
“Good. Since she is no one to you, I will go say hello.”
Staski pushed off the wall, revealing his back tattoo of a bear tearing a snake in half. The guy was a sweetheart in real life but between the silver teeth and the tattoo he could terrify just about anyone.
“Staski,” I said, and the guy ignored me until I put my hand on his shoulder.
“I knew it!” he said, silver teeth flashing in his tight black beard. “Who is she?”
“She is Tess’s nanny,” I lied, but the truth was, the second I said it, I loved it for me. It solved a multitude of problems. “Don’t blow my shit up,” I said. “There’s plenty of beautiful women here for you to take back to your cave.”
“You are funny man,” he said, wagging his gold-ringed finger at me. “But I respect the nanny.”
Kit was in the water now, her black hair piled up on her head. Her glasses over her eyes. She was listening carefully to something Tess was explaining to her but I could see Bingham and Cohen playing catch with the football behind her. Cohen was orchestrating some kind of meet cute in the pool. He stretched his long body out, making the most of his muscles. Making sure he was in her direct path.
Nope. Not having it.
Cohen was a dog and I would not have him sniffing around my… nanny.
I made it over there in time to catch Cohen as he caught the ball, saving Kit from being plowed into.
“Watch it, man,” I said.
“Sorry, Locke,” Cohen said, looking over my shoulder at Kit.
“Hey,” I said, making Cohen meet my eyes. I shook my head, speaking very clear guy talk for stay away from her.
After a reluctant second, he nodded.
Message received. Cohen and Bingham moved to the other side of the pool.
I turned back to Kit just as Tess was trying to pull herself out of the water with her floaty still around her waist. It wasn’t working until Kit reached up and gave Tess a boost.
“Thanks,” she said and took three steps back. “Ready?”
“So ready.” Kit said with grave seriousness.
“Ready for what?” I asked. Kit looked over her shoulder at me. A shoulder that looked so soft I reached out and touched her before I even realized I was doing it.
She jerked away and glared at me.
“Do you…ah, have sunscreen on?” I asked, feeling like an idiot. “You’re getting burned.”
“Yes, Dad. I have sunscreen on. Now, watch the greatest cannonball of all time.” She counted down from three. At one Tess took a running start and launched herself into the air, knees tucked to her chest. One hand holding her nose closed.
“Perfect!” Kit said as the little girl came up for air. She reached forward and towed her back to the side of the pool. “A perfect ten!”
“No way!” I cried. “She had one hand holding her nose. You gotta take off points for that.”
“No, I don’t.” Kit said, eyeballing me like I was a monster. “She was perfect.”
“No, he’s right,” Tess said. “I should breathe out my nose, but I always run out of air and end up snorting a bunch of water.” Tess said as if resigned to her fate. “Let me try again.”
She pulled herself out one more time with a big boost from Kit.
“Whatcha doing?” Harrison’s kids, Winston and Neveah, approached the side of the pool. They had smears of white sunscreen across their cheeks and on their shoulders like they couldn’t stand still long enough to wipe it in.
“Cannonball contest,” I said.
“Yeah?” They lit right up and soon I was judging their cannonball jumps too. Neveah was the clear winner. Her cannonball was tight, she had an excellent arc. Her toes were even pointed.
A thing of beauty. I lifted her arm in victory.
“My splash was bigger,” Winston cried.
“Not a splashing contest,” I said. “A cannonball contest. Now, be a good sport and congratulate the winner.”
Winston begrudgingly shook Neveah’s hand.
“What’s happening here?” Harrison asked, stepping up to the edge of the pool next to his kids. He reached out and put a hand on Neveah’s head and she leaned in towards him. “Cannonball contest,” she said. “I won.”
“That’s only because I wasn’t in the contest,” he said and his kid’s eyes lit up.
“Dad!” Winston cried. “You go next.”
He took off his apron and tossed it on the deck chair behind him. “What are the parameters?” He asked.
“It’s all about form,” I said, stepping out of the way.
Harrison launched himself off the edge of the pool so hard, he nearly made it to the other side.
There were squeals from women getting out of the way.
Cohen and Bingham climbed out of the pool to go next.
“Terrible form,” I cried when Cohen surfaced after his cannonball that was more a jackknife.
Bingham’s was decent, but he went in sideways. These guys needed to engage their core.
“Let’s see you do it!” Cohen cried.
Well, if that wasn’t a challenge, I didn’t know what was. I pushed myself out of the pool and lined up at the spot where everyone else had jumped.
“This,” I said. “Is a little something I perfected at age ten at a Holiday Inn in Florida.” I launched myself off the side into a perfect, spread-eagle belly flop. I sucked in my belly the way my brother taught me so it made the loudest smacking sound with the least amount of pain. I had no idea if that actually worked, but because my brother told me to do it, I did it.
I surfaced to Neveah and Winston howling with laughter. I looked around for Kit and Tess. I’d only done it to make them laugh. But at some point they must have moved on from the contest and were on the other side of the pool, playing a different game with diving rings.
Totally ignoring my awesome belly flop.
“Hey,” I said, swimming over to them. “You don’t want to do cannonballs anymore?”
Tess and Kit looked at each other and then shook their heads.
My heart sank. The skin on my stomach fucking hurt. Sucking in my belly was bullshit. Of course Wyatt would lie to me about that.
Kit dropped the rings into the water and Tess waited until they hit the bottom before diving down to get them. Her feet kicking up in the air so Kit and I had to dodge them.
“Did I mess that up?” I asked Kit.
Keeping an eye on Tess as she kicked her way to the bottom, Kit shrugged. “You know, not everyone is as competitive as you.”
“It’s a cannonball contest!” I said in my own defense. “It’s competitive by nature.”
She patted my arm, her hand cool against my sun-warmed skin. “Don’t beat yourself up. She’s fine.”
Tess popped out of the water gasping for air. “One more!” She said, putting two of the rings back on the deck.
“Amazing!” Kit cried and Tess went down to grab the last one.
“You’re really good with her,” I said, watching Kit carefully.
“She’s a sweet kid,” she said, turning aside the compliment.
Her dark hair clung to the side of her throat and I lifted my hand to brush it back before I could stop myself. Her skin was warm and soft under my fingers. Her eyes went wide like she couldn’t believe I had the nerve to touch her. Or maybe she could. I had a lot of nerve.
I pulled back slowly, trailing my fingers across her collarbone. She put a hand up on her neck where I’d touched her.
“What are you doing?” She whispered, looking around. Except no one was watching us.
Tess popped out of the water, gasping for air and holding a ring in her hand. “Got it!”
“Again?” I asked. Tess nodded and I picked up all the rings and dropped them down in the water again.
The whole time watching Kit. Watching her, watch me.
She’d pushed her sunglasses up on her head and when she met my eyes I saw again how pretty they were. Gray, like smoke. Like silver when the light hit them. They were eyes that kept you guessing. Kept you coming back for more. That’s what I thought in Nashville.
This girl, I’d thought, I’ll do anything she wants me to.
I shook my head and remembered, or tried to remember, she’d made a fool of me. Seduced me so her father could take advantage of me. But sometimes when I looked at her, the memory didn’t stick. And instead I found myself remembering other things. How tight she’d been. How unaware of her own beauty. Her own appeal.
“Why did you sleep with me that night?”
“What?” she gasped.
“It’s a fair question,” I said. “I’d already emailed my accountant your dad’s information. He was going to get my money either way. So why take it that far? Why fuck me?”
Why destroy me like you did?
She turned her head away and dropped her sunglasses back over her eyes. Sealed behind that fortress.
Tess bounced up and Kit took the rings from her, before Tess dove back into the water.
I didn’t think she was going to say anything, until she did.
“You’re right. It is a fair question.”
I waited for more.
“Are you going to answer it?” I asked.
Tess popped out of the water.
“Tess,” Kit said. “Stay with Liam. I need to go to the bathroom.”
And then Kit Barrington ran away. Again.