Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
And all the way across the deck, behind the bar, in the shadows, almost completely out of sight… was Theo.
Unlike everyone else, he wasn’t in swim attire, but rather a perfectly fitted beige suit with a navy tie that made the dark specs of blue in his eyes pop. His blond hair curled a little where he’d gelled it, and the stubble on his chin looked freshly trimmed. He held a drink just like Joel, but where Joel’s jaw was open in a goofy grin of shock, Theo’s lips were flattened in a hard line, his jaw tense, and even from this far away I saw the muscles of it tick as he watched me make my entrance.
“I told you you’d be a showstopper,” Celeste murmured under her breath, and it was the first sentence that I heard clearly. Her words snapped me into the present like a taut rubber band.
“I’ll say!” Emma chimed in, still inspecting me. “Girl, I had no idea you had a body like this hiding under those clothes. Look at this little ab line!” she said, poking my stomach as I shied away from the touch.
“Joel, you going to come kiss your girl or let one of the other guys beat you to it?” Ivy called in a tease, and then Joel popped up out of the hot tub, padding his way over.
I wrapped my arms around myself as much as I could, wishing I had a cover up. My cheeks were on fire, and all I wanted was for everyone to go back to what they were doing before we all walked in.
“I think it’s too much,” I whispered to the girls.
“You look hot,” Ivy argued, and then as if on cue, Joel swept me into his arms and kissed me hard and long in front of everyone to seal the sentiment.
There were distant cheers, laughter and atta boys, but I pressed against his chest to stop the public display of affection.
“Holy shit, babe,” he breathed, holding me in his arms as he pulled back to take it all in. “You’re a bombshell.”
“Can I borrow your shirt?”
He chuckled like I was joking, pulling me into his chest with a kiss to my forehead before he started walking me toward the pool. “Alright, alright,” he called. “Enough gawking over my girl. Let’s get back to the party!”
That earned another round of cheers, and then the music blasted once again, and blessedly, all eyes were off me.
Well — all eyes except for two very intense ones behind the bar.
Joel walked me right in Theo’s direction, and I felt the weight of his stare like an anvil on my chest. My feet were heavy lead, dragging behind me as I fought the dizziness a look like that brought on.
“What do you want to drink?” Joel asked me when we made it to the bar. He winked at Theo. “Boss man is actually serving us tonight, if you can believe it.”
I didn’t know how long I was quiet, how long I stood there pinned by Theo’s gaze. His eyes didn’t move from mine, didn’t trace my body, didn’t take in the swimsuit or my body.
And still, I felt naked as the day I was born.
“Babe?” Joel asked.
I shook my head, croaking out water as best I could.
Joel chuckled, throwing his arm around me as he faced Theo. “She doesn’t drink,” he explained. “Never has. My little good girl.” He kissed my cheek. Then, someone called his name from the pool. “Come join us in the pool once you’ve got your water, yeah?”
I think I nodded, because he patted my butt below the bar where Theo couldn’t see and scampered off toward the pool. I heard a big splash and a chorus of cheers a moment later, but I just stood still, watching Theo watching me.
His nose flared. “Sparkling or still, Miss Dawn?”
Those words seemed to snap me from the spell, and I shook my head a bit, dusting off the remnants. “Still,” I said, surprised at how steady my voice was.
Theo reached into the cooler below the deck for a bottle of water and poured it into a cocktail glass over ice. Then, he added a sprig of mint and a couple raspberries before sliding it across the bar.
“Thank you.”
He nodded, watching me as I took my first sip. I turned toward the pool, watching Joel and Ace play some sort of game that involved a lot of thrashing and wrestling. Instinctively, I positioned myself behind the corner of the bar, crossing my arms over my middle.
“I have to admit,” I said after a moment, not taking my eyes off the scene in the pool. “I’m surprised by all this.”
I hoped the comment landed in the easygoing, I-totally-didn’t-notice-you-had-a-hard-on-the-last-time-I-talked-to-you zone.
“By the party?”
I nodded. “You’re a billionaire, and you hired these people to work for you for the summer. Dealing with guests and difficult circumstances is part of their job. And yet, here you are, rewarding them for what they were hired to do.” I arched a brow when I finally looked at him. “And serving them alcohol to boot.”