Page 11 of Just the Pool Boy at Vampire Mansion

I watched his face soften, and his eyes go a little bigger. “Yeah, about that⁠—”

“No.”

He stopped and smiled, trying to use that smile to lever under my defenses. “You don’t know what I’m going to say.”

“Doesn’t matter, it’s a no.” I smiled my sweetest smile to fend off his sly one.

“Okay, sure.” He hopped off the counter, slipped his phone into his pocket, and stepped inside my personal space, making my tiny kitchen shrink around us. I got a waft of my own shampoo off him, and had to blink to stop my thoughts from tumbling over and my body getting all interested in the slab of sexy male within kissing distance.

No. Nope. Heck no. Wasn’t thinking about his lips. How they made a mouth shaped like a little bow. How the skin of his neck might feel between my teeth. How firm his body would feel under my roaming hands. What it might feel like to have his hands on me. To walk him back against the counter, and get all up and all over him, to hear him gasp, and oh-kay . . .

I looked up, catching his gaze. His dark eyes stayed on mine a second longer than was polite, like they had in his garden. What did he see? I wasn’t much to look at. Sandy hair, Florida tan from working outdoors. Blue eyes from my mother. Average, boring. Definitely did not have a nipple ring.

“Yeah, so . . .” He cleared the croak from his throat and stepped back. “Your kitchen’s real small, you know that?”

“Yeah, so is my paycheck. It’s like there’s some kind of correlation.”

“My bathroom is bigger than your whole place. I’ll have to show you sometime. Anyway—” he rushed on, before I could refuse, and ambled into the living area by my tired couch. “So, the body we saw . . . Yeah, turns out the dead guy was the local pool boy.”

“Yeah. I figured.”

He blinked. “You knew?”

“Yeah. While you were out cold in the shrubbery, the creepy guy in the black robe offered me the dead guy’s job.”

Theo’s dark eyebrows pinched together. “Wow. You work fast.”

Now he was making out like I’d made a calculated business decision “I didn’t—it wasn’t deliberate.”

“You accidently took the dead guy’s job while his body was floating in the pool?”

“No, I mean yeah, maybe. It happened fast. I wasn’t really thinking.”

He stared for a beat, thoughts working behind his eyes. “Wow, okay, so . . . anyway . . . After you kidnapped me⁠—”

I leaned against the kitchen counter and folded my arms. “After you stowed away in my car.”

“We definitely left together.”

“No, we definitely did not.”

“Whatever. Someone put the pool guy in my pool, then called the cops. I got the po-po crawling all over my home, asking where I am.”

Wait, the police were at his house? All my thoughts came screeching to a halt. I slowly unfolded my arms and crossed the floor toward him. “Oh . . .” I tried to keep my face blank while my heart galloped along again. “That’s . . . real bad. Maybe you should go fix that? Door’s there. Bye now.”

He made a face. “I’m not gonna walk into that disaster.”

“Uh, no. Not my problem.”

“You know, most guys would pay to have me in their shitty apartment.” He huffed a disbelieving laugh and spread his arms. “I am increasing your property value right now.”

“Yeah, well, I rent, so . . .” I pulled a face. “Also, I’m not most guys. Nice meetin’ you an’ all. The door’s right over there.”

He didn’t move. Just stared from three feet away. “You know I didn’t have anything to do with the dead pool guy. You can talk to the cops for me. You were with me. Be my alibi.”

I was shaking my head while my thoughts spiraled. Bet had been right. He couldn’t be here. “I don’t know anything. But you should definitely go talk to the cops. Right now.” I pointed at the door. “Over there. Outside. Away from me.”

His pinched eyebrows tightened. “You hiding something, Owen?”