Keeping the handshake agreement brief, he said, “Give me all the details on your upcoming social calendar—that is, anything that involves Clyde. We’ll make this work. I promise.”
Chapter 2
He had a week before he needed to visit her again, but that didn’t stop Ford from noticing every damn time she stepped out to her yard, drove off in her car, or arrived back home. For the last five days, if he was around, he was aware of her.
Talking with her had become easier, though it was still pretty superficial. He kept thinking he needed to invite her to his pool, but that would cross a line, right?
Luckily his own schedule had been busy, so he hadn’t been able to spend all his time focusing on her. Only about eighty percent or so. Much as he’d fought it, she even inhabited his dreams. Some of them were casual. Some . . . not so much.
Best dreams he’d had in a very long while.
Had to be from denying himself. With most women who caught his eye, he’d make the natural suggestion of getting together for mutual enjoyment. She’d either accept or he’d move on. Nothing with Skye was that simple.
Finally, with an evening free, he’d invited his friends over to enjoy the pool. June was hotter than usual this year and the water had already warmed comfortably. While everyone chatted around him, enjoying his new patio furniture and the usual camaraderie, Ford stewed.
He didn’t like stewing, damn it. Again, he glanced over to Skye’s house. Should he have invited her to join them? She knew the guys now and . . . No. She’d made it clear that she didn’t want to get too friendly. Theirs was a business arrangement, period.
While he was attempting to convince himself of that, her back patio doors slid open, drawing his attention. Not even glancingtheir way, she stepped out in tan shorts and an army green halter, barefoot, and headed to the hose wrapped around a decorative hanger.
“He’s staring,” Knox said.
She was impossible to ignore now that he knew her a little better. Now that he’d touched her.
Now that he’d sensed her vulnerability and seen what she was up against with Clyde-the-obnoxious.
“Because she looks good.” Bray, with Karen beside him, also watched as Skye watered the plants on her back patio.
“She’s deliberately not looking at us.” Marcus frowned at Ford and added, “Probably because he made her feel unwelcome.”
Voice low and distracted, Ford said, “You already know I made it up to her.”
Lucy, who was there with Marcus, left her chair, stepped down from the deck, and started across the yard.
Alarmed, Ford sat forward. “What is she doing?”
Karen smiled. “You already know the answer to that.” She, too, left.
“Damn it,” he hissed. “That’s not our agreement.” Skye didn’t want his friends becoming her friends. She didn’t even want him.
The two women stopped at the edge of his property. Lucy asked, “Skye, right?”
Looking up, Skye paused, then turned off her hose and walked over. Not even for a second did she glance at Ford. “Yes. Can I help you?”
Lucy gestured back at the men. “I’m Marcus’s wife and a friend of Ford’s. This is Karen, married to Bray.”
Wincing, Skye said, “I hope I didn’t overstep the other day. I asked right off about who was single and who wasn’t.”
With a laugh, Karen waved off her concern. “No problem at all. I’m glad you took the initiative. I had a similar situation once.”
“Oh?”
“Then I trusted Bray, and that meant trusting all of them, because they definitely pull together.”
Lucy said, “I was already one of the guys, so they were always around to lend me a hand.”
Confusion left Skye floundering. “One of the guys?”
“A neighbor, a friend. We all regularly hung out together.”
