“Really?” he said. For the first time since I’d met him, there was uncertainty in Lucas’s voice. It made me even hotter for him.
If that was possible.
“Really,” I said softly, but firmly, trying to convey how much I wanted to see him in that one little word.
“I’m borrowing a car. I can pick you up.”
“Why don’t I meet you there? I can walk.”
“Okay. Like, eleven?”
“Eleven is good. I’ll meet you at the pool.”
“See you then,” he said.
“Okay,” I said. Neither of us hung up. “Lucas?”
“Yeah?”
“I wasn’t out that late,” I said. “And I thought of you the whole time,” I added, then quickly cut the call.
Chapter7
Lucas Kade was even moreimpressive in board shorts. He had one tattoo circling a well-defined bicep. Stark and black, it wasn’t barbed wire or a tribal symbol, but a chain of what looked like ivy. On the back of each arm was the number eight.
“Eighty-eight was my number when I played ball,” he explained when he caught me looking.
And look I did. My God, what a body. Lean and long, but strongly muscled. His back bore the ink “Andy” very small across his shoulder blade, and I smiled as I saw the name ripple with muscle while Lucas lugged Andy around the shallow end.
“You’re doing great, buddy,” Lucas said. Andy, of course, was in heaven.
And yeah, so was I.
We played a game of Marco Polo close to the edge so Andy could keep a hand on it if he needed to. By the end of our session, he was leaping—albeit with his eyes open—away from the wall a few times to Polo Lucas and me.
“That’s it for today, buddy,” Lucas said when Freddy, who was picking up a shift as the lifeguard on duty, called the end to the open swim time. For the last hour we’d been the only ones in the pool. And for the last half-hour I’d swum laps while Lucas worked with Andy on putting his face in the water.
I swam to a corner of the shallow end, where the two brothers were.
“You’re an awesome swimmer, Lily,” Andy said.
“Thanks, Andy. Keep practicing and you’ll be able to swim that long too.”
Andy gave me a skeptical look, and it was the first time I saw a resemblance to Lucas. And, I have to say, it was a bit disconcerting.
“She’s right. Keep at it, buddy, and you’ll be swimming laps with Lily someday.”
I noticed the skepticism left Andy’s face when Lucas piped in. Serious case of hero worship going on there.
I knew Lucas was no hero, but the way he was with his little brother certainly made his stock rise with me.
And those rock-hard abs didn’t hurt his stock, either.
We all moved to the ladder, and Andy scampered up first, then moved to the side of the pool where we’d laid out towels. He wrapped up in one and plunked down on the bench, watching as Freddy moved some of the unused lane markers on the other side of the pool.
I moved for the ladder next, but Lucas reached out and wrapped his hands around my waist, pulling me back into him.
“Is it wrong that I got super hard watching you swim?”
