I don’t want to startle her, but she jumps anyway.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there.” She turns back toward the house. “I don’t want to bother you.”
“Hey, join me.” I grab one of the beers and hold it out to her.
“Really?”
“I wouldn’t mind the company.”
She grabs the bottle and plops down into the seat next to me. “Thanks.”
“Cheers.”
“I feel like I should be buying you beers,” Stevie says, taking a sip of her pale ale.
“Because I’m letting you stay here?” I ask, quirking a brow at her.
She laughs. A warm sound that feels like bourbon on a cold night. Soothing and sweet.
“I meant because I was going to use your pool. I can’t remember the last time I went for a swim.”
“Oh, right. Well, you’re welcome to use it.”
The thought of her using it? Stripping down to a bikini? It has dirty things rolling through my head. Things I definitely shouldn’t be thinking about.
“Listen, I don’t know much about you. Tell me something.” Stevie’s eyes sparkle in the quickly darkening night.
“What do you want to know about me?”
She laughs. Again with that laugh that does funny things to my insides. “You were terrible at getting-to-know-you games in school, weren’t you?”
I shrug a shoulder. “I was great at my favorite hockey player, but it didn’t come up much.”
“Okay, so who’s your favorite hockey player?” She quirks a brow, bringing the bottle to her lips and taking a sip.
Does she realize what she’s doing? The mind games she’s playing with me with one innocent move?
Stevie may look pure enough, but I bet there’s a devious streak inside her.
“Bobby Orr.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
I groan. “Of course you don’t. God, I have so much to teach you.”
“Sorry. If you want a favorite Spice Girl, or which version ofPride and Prejudiceis better, I’m your girl.”
“Pride and Prejudice?” I ask. Now I’m the confused one.
“You don’t knowPride and Prejudice? You never read it in school?”
I shake my head, gulping down my beer. “If we had to read something in school, it was likely that I got the summary online.”
“You missed out.”
I nod. “How about an easy one. Favorite game?”
Stevie sets down her beer and folds her legs together on the chair. The T-shirt she’s wearing slides down her arm, exposing the graceful line of her shoulder. All that tender skin there is begging to be sucked.
