She made sure to close the door behind her and turned right, going under the archway which let her into another terrace with a lawn and a large driveway.
I could walk straight down and out onto the street; nobody would even notice I was gone.
She could… but she wouldn’t. A deal was a deal, after all. She followed Remi’s directions around the corner of the building and found a gate blocking her way. Thankfully it wasn’t locked, and she found herself in a beautiful, peaceful garden with a huge Olympic-sized pool in the center of it. She dropped her tote on a deck chair and kicked off her flip-flops. “Wow.”
After dipping her toe in the water, she decided it was just what the doctor ordered on a hot summer’s day, shucking her shorts and t-shirt off before slipping into the pool.
She wasn’t the best swimmer on the planet, but she managed to swim a few laps before grabbing her sunglasses from where she’d abandoned them near her flops at the edge of the pool and flipping over on her back to float.
This is the life!
I could get so used to this.
But even as a shadow drifted across the sky blocking out the heat of the sun, she knew she’d have to go back to her old life soon enough. Maybe she should treat staying here like an all-inclusive resort vacation.
With her eyes closed she floated, the peace and quiet helping her to process the events of the last few days. When the cloud which was filtering the sun didn’t move, she opened her eyes to glare up at it.
Rude.
The sound of a throat clearing nearly drowned her when she lost her concentration on floating and she floundered, splashing wildly for a second before she was able to get her bearings again. “That was mean,” she grumbled.
Colt McKinley sat on the end of one of the sun loungers, glowering at her. At least he waited until she was floating again before he came closer to squat near the edge of the pool. “If you’re just fucking with Gunnar, stop it right now,” he ordered.
Whoa, hello left field.
Well, wasn’t this a first? Being warned to be nice to a man by his brother. So much for a relaxing afternoon. She’d have to remember to tell Remi he was incorrect about nobody bothering her at the pool. “Excuse me?”
Colt pinned her with a stare. “I’m only going to say this once. It’s up to you if you want to heed me or not. If you hurt him, there is no place you can hide from me.”
“Me hurt him?” If he could share what he’d been smoking, that would be flipping awesome. “Don’t you mean the other way around?”
“No.” Colt’s reply was quiet. “Gunnar’s got the softest heart of any warrior I know. He might not look like it, but hehas. If you are fucking with what’s left of that heart, you answer to me. Understand?”
He didn’t bother to wait for a reply, but stood and stalked away.
“Being a jerk really does run in that family.” She shifted her sunglasses up her nose, and then she spotted Talon and Zombie watching her from the shadows of the trees surrounding the garden.
Oh, goodie. Here we go again.
“I suppose you have something to say too,” she called. “Well, get it over with, while you all are on a roll.”
Talon watched her silently for a moment before he shook his head, and he and Zombie disappeared through the trees.
“Jeez, it’s a good thing I wasn’t skinny dipping. There’ll be nobody at the pool at this time of day. Remi is an asshole too.”
Laughter answered, and once again she floundered in the water before managing not to swallow the whole pool and getting her floating balance back. “Damn it.”
“Sorry, Ma’am. I’m Zorro.” The operator came closer to the edge of the pool. “They are protective of each other. Don’t fuck it up.” He nodded to her once and walked toward where Talon and Zombie had been a few minutes before.
“Anyone else?” she called. “Because if anyone else has something to say…” When only silence filled the air, she huffed in annoyance and went back to floating in the pool. Maybe the water would help clear her mind, because the idea that she could hurt Gunnar’s heart was so freaking laughable it wasn’t even funny.
Ten more minutes. If I can get ten more minutes, then I’ll get out and read my Kindle for a bit. I have to find out what happens at the end of Blue Team.
She already knew there was no way Riley Edwards didn’t have at least a couple of more twists and turns to go, puttingher readers through the wringer before she provided the swooniest happily ever after on the planet.
If only real life was like the pages of a book.
If wishes were horses…
