“It was an accident. You didn’t have to pull me in with you.” She splashes water in my face.
I splutter and wipe water from my eyes. “You did not just do that.”
“Yep, I did.” She pulls a smug expression before hitting me in the face with water again.
“Oh, you’re going to get it now.” I aim a missile of water at her. She squeals with laughter.
We keep splashing at each other until candles are flying around the pool.
“Hayden! Alyssa!” a stern voice snaps from the edge of the pool. I look up to see Harper glaring at us. Oh shit. For a moment, I’d forgotten where we were. “What are you doing?”
Alyssa swipes water from her face. “Hayden pulled me in,” she explains sheepishly.
“That’s because she pushed me in,” I defend myself. We’re sounding like two kids trying to get out of trouble.
I’m rewarded with another splash of water to the face.
Before I get my revenge, Harper holds her hand up like a stop sign. “Go dry off in the pool house. There are plenty of towels in the cupboard. I’ll bring you some clothes to change into.” Harper shakes her head at us before storming away.
Finn squats at the edge of the pool. “You’re going to make it up to Harper big time.”
First thing in the morning, I’ll arrange flowers.
Lucas is standing behind Finn, grinning from ear to ear. “Best party ever.”
In the pool house, we avoid eye contact and don’t speak. We find the towels and go into separate rooms to dry off. When I head back into the main room, Alyssa is sitting on a chair, waiting for Harper to bring clothes. A white towel is wrapped securelyaround her body, exposing a lot of dark olive skin. My tongue practically rolls out of my mouth.
Her eyes trail over me too, like she’s liking what she sees. Her gaze lands on the towel wrapped around my waist. If she keeps staring, it will only take a second for me to give her something to look at. I need to divert her attention.
“You have a little drool.” With a grin, I tap my chin.
“What? Where?” She swipes the side of her mouth.
When I chuckle, she narrows her eyes at me. “Do you like what you see?” I ask. Because I fuckinglovewhat I’m seeing.
She shrugs her shoulder. “You look okay for an old man.”
I choke on a laugh. “An old man? How old do you think I am?”
She taps a finger against her chin as she scrutinizes me. “Maybe around forty?” A twinkle of mirth shines in her eyes. I know she’s playing.
I mimic her finger-tapping gesture. “Well, I’m not much older than you. You’re around thirty-six, right?”
She gasps with a flash of irritation in her eyes. “I’m only twenty-four.” Younger than I thought.
I squint my eyes like I’m trying to see it. “If you say so.” I hide my grin. “I’m thirty-two. If you want to know.”
“Hmm, interesting.” She jokingly screws up her face like she doesn’t believe me. Then with all seriousness, she says, “Are you going to tell me what happened out there?”
I lean my shoulder against the wall. “We fell into the pool.” I know that’s not what she’s talking about. I don’t know what to tell her. It’s all such a mess in my mind.
“Not the pool. You tearing me away from Michael like I’m your possession.”
That’s exactly how it felt seeing her with another man. Like she’s mine. That’s crazy. I have no right to think of her like that.
“I should have come to you and apologized for acting like an ass lately, and I ended up behaving like a bigger one.”
She stands and walks toward me, the towel just covering the curve of her butt. With a quick flick of my fingers, I can have the towel floating to the floor. I inwardly groan.Keep it together.