Chapter 10
A loud knock on the door causes Camille to jump awake.
“It’s me,” Delilah calls.
Camille groggily makes her way to the door. She thought that she would simply rest her eyes. The morning’s activities followed by Evelyn’s news wiped her out. An hour and a half later, she was only waking up from the loud knocking. For a minute, she wasn’t sure where she was. She opens the door to Delilah, clutching a crumpled slip of paper and her cellphone. Three oversized shopping bags are sitting at her feet.
“These are for you,” Delilah says, grabbing the handles of two of the bags to walk inside. “Hope I didn’t disturb you,” she says, looking Camille over. She sets the bags on the ground.
Camille grabs the third bag and shuts the door. “You didn’t. I was just waking up from a nap.”
“Naps,” Delilah sighs dreamily, “I remember those.” She hands Camille the slip of paper. “I checked the bags. Everything you ordered is in there, and the pool is ready for you.”
Camille reaches for the paper and stops. “Ready for me?”
“Yes. Sadie told us that you and she wanted to spend some time by the pool.”
“I don’t remember mentioning that,” she shrugs.
“Either way,” Delilah continues, thrusting the paper at Camille, “it’s ready to swim. Any issues with the fit,” she nods toward the boutique bags, “you let me know.”
Camille takes the slip of paper. It’s a list of the items she ordered from the boutique. “Sure thing.”
“And Ms. Bloom set up a seven o’clock meeting in the conference room with dinner to follow. Will Miss Sykes be attending via Zoom?”
“I’ll have to see if she can,” Camille says, scanning the list of clothing items. No prices are listed anywhere on it.
“Let me know by a quarter till so I can have the computer ready.”
“Okay…” she looks up from the paper, “where’s the conference room?”
“Second floor, down the hall from the terrace where you ate breakfast this morning. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to get there a little early. Marcy will be waiting on all of you to serve dinner. ”
“Thanks.” She’s about to grab the bags and take them to the bedroom, but then she hesitates, looking back at Delilah. “Who’s ‘all of you’?”
Delilah looks back. “Excuse me?”
“You said, ‘all of you.’ Who’s going to be at the meeting?”
“Ms. Bloom will have her attorneys on the conference call, and with Wade here, I assume he’ll take part.”
Camille grins, looking forward to having him in the room. “Sounds good.”
Once Delilah leaves, Camille retrieves her phone, walking over to the windows as she dials Evelyn’s cell. The towels are out, one for each of the eight pool chairs, four on each side. Each towel is rolled up tight, sitting on the foot of each chair. Wade’s standing out on the back patio, facing the pool and talking on his cellphone. He tosses his head back, letting out a laugh. Camille smiles. His easy laughter makes her wish she were the one on the phone with him.
Evelyn’s phone goes to voicemail. Camille hangs up. As he gazes out at the water, he catches sight of Delilah marching across the lawn toward the back patio. He ducks his head, stepping over to the edge of the patio, facing the view of the city.
Wade frowns out at the city view, pursing his lips. Sadie walks out from the main house, Easton right behind her. Seeing what she has on makes Camille happy that Wade isn’t looking in her direction.
Sadie is wearing a sheer coverup that showcases the black string bikini underneath. Sadie looks fantastic, but it’s Easton who takes center stage, wearing only a bold metallic speedo and flip flops. Easton gives Sadie a sly smile when he notices Wade on the patio and moves away from her to sneak up on Wade.
Easton throws his arms around him in a bear hug, leaning back to lift him off his feet. Wade easily regains his footing. In a quick movement, he spins around to face him. At a glance, he looks pissed to have been disturbed, but the second he sees what his brother has on, he grins ear to ear, pushing Easton away from him. He says a few more things into the phone and then hangs up. Easton takes off for the pool. Sadie takes the first chair facing the pool with a view of the city. She sees Easton and shouts, but it’s no use. Easton runs full speed and jumps into the pool, his cannonball splashing her chair.
Wade walks over to the pool, smiling at his brother swimming over to the side, where Sadie reluctantly moves down a chair. It isn’t until Wade goes to pull his t-shirt over his head that Camille realizes that he’s wearing swim trunks. He tosses his phone and shirt on a chair. Camille admires his surprisingly muscular chest gleaming in the sun.
He glances up at the guesthouse. Camille jumps back, throwing her phone up to her ear as if she were talking on it and not gawking at him. She waits a second before carefully peeking out again. He dives into the pool in one smooth motion. Easton stares up at Sadie, the two of them chatting lightly as she positions herself over the pool chair like a goddess ready for her praise.
Camille giggles, seeing where Wade is heading once he’s under the water. Wade grabs his brother’s ankles, jerking him down. Easton’s face is priceless as he’s plunged into the blue water. Camille turns to the bag on top of the island.
Walking down from the guesthouse, Camille silently thanks herself for remembering to pack her sunglasses and Nancy for pushing her to try on a bathing suit. It’s too beautiful not to be outside and too hot to not be in the pool. Unlike Sadie’s coverup, Camille’s white coverup actually conceals the jiggly bits around her hips and upper thighs while still giving her that breathable, lightweight feel. Since it opens to the front, it also has the added plus that she doesn’t have to pull it over her head. It hits mid-thigh, and instead of a tie, it has a tiny metal hook hidden on the inside, making it seem like it’s being held together by nothing.
“That’s not the magic part,” Nancy told her when she’d walked out in the coverup at the boutique. “The magic part is how perfect it is at showing off your figure.”
The saleswoman assured them that the swimsuit was “one of Louisa’s latest” when Camille walked out in the two-piece. It gave enough coverage with its black lace overlay and contrasting nude lining that gave the illusion of being see-through. At the same time, the wide, under-bust top band supports as much as the thick waistband on the bottoms, making her feel like she’s secure without having to wear a one-piece.
She takes her time walking up to the pool, trying to decide where she should sit. Would it be too obvious that she was avoiding Sadie if she were to take the chair next to Wade?
But as soon as she steps off of the grass, Sadie sits up in her seat, looking in Camille’s direction.
“There you are,” she cheers. “I thought you left. Come have a seat.” She points rather dictatorially at the chair beside her. “Easty gets the wet chair since he thought it would be funny to splash me,” she purses her lips at Easton in the pool, who’s pushing down on Wade’s shoulder, trying to dunk him.
Wade shoves him off, backing up to the shallow end near Sadie and Camille. He faces Camille once he’s a safe distance from Easton.
“Don’t be boring like her,” he grins up at her. “Come get in the pool with us.”
Camille glances out the side of her sunglasses at Sadie sitting back against her chair. Being this close to her, she can see that even out in the glaring sun, Sadie looks flawless. Camille can already feel herself sweat. She looks back at Wade.
“Is there any sunscreen?”
“I was wondering the same thing,” Sadie turns to the guys. “Do I need to send your mother’s assistant out for sunblock?”
Easton rolls his eyes. “What are you worried about a tan line for? You didn’t wear sunscreen the whole time we were in Bali.”
“We have some,” Wade interjects, trudging through the shallow water to the side of the pool.
“I can get it so you don’t have to get out,” Camille offers, but he’s already at the edge of the pool, setting his hands on the hot cement.
“Nah,” he sighs, lifting himself up and out of the pool.
Camille tries not to stare at the muscles flexing in his shoulders and chest.
“I’ll show you.”
She follows him to the built-in barbecue pit under the covered patio, where he digs around in some cabinets. She pulls her sunglasses up, using them to hold her hair back from her face.
“You’re planning to get in the pool, huh?”
“Only if you don’t look at me when I get in,” she grins, only half kidding. She raises her hand for him to pass her the sunscreen, but he ignores her, turning his attention back to the cabinet.
“Let me rephrase that,” he says, taking out a small stick of facial sunscreen. He plops it in her hand, meeting her gaze as he keeps ahold of the sunscreen. “You’re getting in the pool.”
“Oh, am I?”
She curls her fingers around the tube, pulling it loose from his grasp. She smiles, looking down at the sunscreen. SPF sixty; perfect for this sun.
“That’s right,” he confirms, taking a bottle of tanning oil and sunscreen from the cabinet. He shuts the cabinet door, looking over at her. He takes a slow step toward her, moving just close enough that she holds her breath. “You’re getting in that pool, even if I have to throw you in.”
When he walks around her to return to the pool, he brushes against her. She exhales, hurrying to catch up.
“I’d say that I’d like to see you try, but I have a feeling you really would.”
He gives her a sideways glance. “You better get in the pool voluntarily then.”
It’s hard to tell for sure with Sadie’s sunglasses, but it looks like she’s watching them. Camille drops her sunglasses over her eyes to break contact, feeling her cheeks getting hot. Sadie dips her head back, resting it against her chair. Thinking about what’s about to happen, Camille goes from being thankful to silently cursing Nancy.
She’s going to have to take off the coverup to apply the sunscreen. As soon as she does that, these elitists with their beautiful smiles, limitless bank accounts, and supple bodies are going to see parts of her that even the select few guys she dated didn’t get to see. She should’ve stayed upstairs.
Sadie reaches her hand around and reclines her chair. “Hurry up, Wadezy,” she emphasizes the end of the nickname as she flips onto her stomach, “I need you to get my back.”
Camille’s hand is on the hidden hook of her wrap, jealousy bubbling up like stomach acid in the back of her throat at the thought of watching Wade apply sunscreen to Sadie’s back. She should consider it a good thing. Wade will be distracted by Sadie long enough to apply her own sunscreen and then jump in the pool before he’s the wiser.
She’s about to open her coverup when she hears, “How about I take care of Camille, and my lazy brother can get your back?”
Camille’s hand freezes at her waist.
“I can put on my own sunscreen,” she says, snatching the bottle from Wade, who gives her a long stare.
“See?” Sadie chuckles, taking her shades off. She reaches around to her back, “I’m the only one who needs help with the hard-to-reach spots.” With the flick of her wrist, she pulls the string of her bikini. The strings fall to either side of her chest. She drops her shades on the ground next to her chair, laying her head down, smirking happily in Camille’s direction as she shuts her eyes.
Camille unhooks her wrap, turning from them to glare at the overgrown shrubs lining the privacy fence. As much as she doesn’t want Wade to see her without her coverup, she definitely doesn’t want to watch him rub sunscreen on Sadie. She pops the sunscreen open, looking over her shoulder at Wade.
There’s a splash of water as Easton pops up. “I got you, babe.”
Camille can’t help but notice Sadie frown as Easton’s wet feet walk up to her chair.
“You know what,” Camille calls out to Wade. “It would be easier if you did my back.” Her back still to him, she takes off her sunglasses and tosses them on the chair. She pulls the wrap from her shoulders, allowing the coverup to fall down her back. Over her shoulder, she sees his eyes follow down her back, where it stops just short of her bikini bottoms.
“Sure thing,” he swallows, walking up to her. He glances back at Easton. “Here you go.”
He tosses the bottle of tanning oil, not bothering to see if he’s going to catch it as he turns back to Camille. She tries to hide her giddiness at how excited he appears as she hands him the bottle of sunscreen.
“Is that the oil?” Sadie grumbles from her chair as Easton dumps a glob on her back.
“What?” Easton asks, leaning down to rub the oil in. “Don’t you want to glisten in the sun like you did in the Maldives when I fell in love with you?”
Sadie lifts her head as he rubs oil across her back, reaching dangerously low on her sides where the string of her bikini top is lying on the chair. “I thought you fell in love with me over our long chats on the phone.”
Wade dumps the bottle over in his hand while she keeps a firm grip on her coverup, using a hand to scoop her hair forward, revealing her bare skin. All she can think about is his hands on her. The shock of the cold sunscreen against her upper back is quickly replaced by the warmth of his hands. She’d never paid attention to his hands, but they feel bigger than she was expecting. He rubs under the strap at her back, causing her to bite the inside of her cheek as he quickly runs out of places on her back to rub.
As if reading her mind, he asks, “Want me to get your shoulders?”
She releases her cheek. “Sure.”
He applies more sunscreen to his palms and rubs them over the top of her shoulders, making it feel more like a massage than a sunblock application. He swipes both hands under the string tied at her neck.
“Thanks,” she sighs, feeling him finishing up.
He leans forward to her ear, his voice low. “You’re welcome.” The vibration in his voice causes her breath to catch. And then his hands are gone.
She lifts her coverup over her shoulder, turning to see him dive into the pool. Out the corner of her eye, she sees Sadie watching her, Easton oiling the backs of her legs. Camille applies the sunscreen to her legs and hips in sections, keeping her coverup on. Wade does a lap in the pool, the heat she was feeling receding as he doesn’t so much as look in her direction as she finishes applying sunscreen to her arms and then to her face. She kicks her shoes off and waits until Wade pushes off from the side to do another lap. She tosses her wrap on the chair, taking off full speed for the pool.
Camille flies through the air, grinning ear to ear with her knees curled up to her chest. She lands in the middle of the pool a few feet from Wade. He splashes her playfully when she resurfaces.
She wipes her eyes, looking around at the water in amazement. “It’s way cooler than I was expecting.” She swims to the shallow end of the pool, stopping once she’s able to stand with the water at her shoulders.
“The temperature’s regulated,” Wade tells her, treading water on the deep end as casually as she’s standing on the shallow end. “We set it to fifty-five in the summer.”
“I need a pool like this,” she sighs, dropping back against the water, letting it tickle the edges of her forehead; the top half of her floats as she touches the bottom with her toes.
Easton stands over Sadie’s well-oiled back. “Done,” he announces, slapping her on the butt.
She jumps, swinging her hand back to protect her rear end from another slap, but Easton’s already jumping in the pool.
Not long after the guys start racing each other from one side of the pool to the other, Sadie lifts her head, grabbing her sunglasses from below her chair.
“Hey, Cammy,” she says, sliding on her shades.
The nickname doesn’t annoy her as much as the assumption that she’ll answer to it.
“Did Delilah—” the sound of the guys’ splashing as they swim up to her side of the pool drowns Sadie out.
As a hand grabs the side of the pool, Camille waits until both of them surface, out of breath. “Easton wins!”
“That’s right,” he cheers, pounding his chest with his fists like an ape, turning to Wade, who looks unaffected by the loss, “bow down to the king!”
Wade falls onto his back in the water. “You wish,” he says, slowly swimming toward Camille. Her eyes are on his shoulders, flexing with each light stroke when she returns her attention to the pool chairs.
“What was that?” she asks, seeing Sadie starting to sit up.
She’s curled her elbow under herself, the back of her bikini still untied. “I was asking if Delilah told you if Marcy was going to bring us out some drinks, but I’ll go ask.”
Wade turns toward Sadie, and Camille knows her intentions. As Sadie sits up, she’s going to flash him before she grabs the strings, if she even bothers trying to cover her chest.
“I’ll do it,” Camille volunteers before Wade can get a good look at Sadie.
“You don’t need to hunt Marcy down for drinks,” Wade grumbles.
On the pool chair, Sadie stops and lays back down.
“Oh, no,” Camille assures him quickly, “it’s no big deal.” She’s up and out of the pool, caring more about keeping Sadie from flashing everyone than them see her in her bikini. She swipes her wrap from the chair, slipping on her shoes as she flings her arms inside the coverup, not daring to look back. She can feel eyes on her, but she isn’t brave enough to see if it’s him or not.
“Skinny margarita and cucumber water,” Sadie calls, laying her forehead in the crook of her arm.
“Sure,” Camille replies, fighting the urge to not kick the end of her chair as she walks by, “I’ll let her know.”
Walking up to the main house, she can see the guys playing in the pool in the glass reflection. Knowing her time in the pool is ticking down the closer it gets to the big meeting tonight, all she wants to do is spin around and jump back in. Her eyes flicker to the reflection of Sadie laying out in the sun, her top still untied. Would she be able to taste spit in cucumber water?