I glanced out the window again, seeing both girls take hands before jumping into the pool. They resurfaced, laughing and racing to the edge to do it again. It’d been so long since I’d swum like that, just for the fun of it instead of just a quick cooldown.
As I remembered the days I used to play in the water with my brothers and sister, I suddenly realized that I could do it again. Right now. Just with Jennifer and Lu instead of an entire pack of Westwoods.
With my mind made up, I headed to my bedroom to change into swim trunks. Then I grabbed some supplies to start grilling lunch later and went outside. Bear followed me, his ears perking when another splash sounded from the pool.
“Bear, no—” Before I could even tell him that they were fine, he lunged forward, jumping into the water without hesitation to save them.
I watched him swim over, calling to the kids to warn them. “Bear thinks you’re drowning. Just let him see that you’re fine and he’ll start playing instead of trying to be a rescuer.”
Jennifer squealed with joy when he reached her, flopping onto her back to float while he paddled over to check on Lu next. She reached out to scratch behind his ear, and seconds later, the three of them were playing, looking and sounding like they were having a good time.
I dropped off my supplies at the grill before I strode over to the pool, stopping next to Adeline’s lounger. She glanced upat me, but those blue eyes were hidden by a pair of oversized sunglasses.
“Why aren’t you in there with them?” I asked.
“Oh, I’m not hot enough yet,” she said, but only after hesitating for a few seconds, which told me she was dancing around the real answer.
I lifted my finger toward the sky. “It’s a million degrees and you’re wearing more layers than an onion. You’re definitely hot enough.”
“I’m not wearing that many layers,” she objected, but it was weak. “It’s just a cover-up.”
I dragged my gaze from the high collar around her neck all the way to where the hem brushed against the middle of her ankles. “Well, it does a good job of that. It covers literally every inch.”
“My skin is sensiti?—”
“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” the girls started chanting while even Bear yapped from the step he was now standing on, still in the water and not looking like he would be climbing out any time soon.
“I’m not getting in,” she said quickly. “I’m here. I’m watching you. I don’t have to be in the water.”
They kept going like she hadn’t spoken at all. “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”
“Leave her alone,” I said playfully, trying to rationalize with them. “If she wants to be boring, let her.”
“I’m not boring. You’re not in the water either.”
“Yeah, but I will be soon,” I said.
“So do it.”
“You’re the one they’re requesting,” I said, then turned back to them. “See, when people get old?—”
Jennifer splashed me. “She’s not old. She’s just afraid of showing her butt.”
Lu cackled with delighted laughter. “Her butt!”
“Since when are you allowed to saybutt?” Adeline scolded them, but it clicked for me then that Jennifer was right.
Adeline was suddenly blushing so hard that her whole face was bright pink, but then she stood up, grumbling under her breath. “There’s nothing wrong with my butt.”
It finally looked like she was relenting, but when the dress thing started coming off,Iwas the one getting uncomfortable. I was suddenly hot.
Hot in a way that stirred something primal in me I hadn’t felt in years.Fuck, she’s gorgeous.
I watched way too closely as the fabric slid up her legs, revealing smooth, pale skin inch by inch, and when the swimsuit bottoms finally came into view, I nearly groaned out loud. A sliver of her stomach came next, not as flat as it used to be and certainly a little softer, but shit.
My hands twitched a little at my sides, itching to reach for her. The mounds of her breasts were different too, a little bigger than I remembered, but I sure as hell wouldn’t mind feeling the weight of them in my palms again.
My heart started hammering against my ribs, my blood running hotter by the second. Only Adeline had ever affected me this way.
