Reagan
Dad’s mad at me, I can tell. He has been glaring at me all afternoon. Pete stares at me, too, but in a completely different way. He shed his shirt about two hours ago, and he walked over to me carrying a bottle of sunscreen Gonzo’s mom gave him. Dad intercepted him, though, and spun him around to rub sunscreen on his shoulders himself. Pete let him. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. When Dad finished, he slapped Pete’s naked shoulder really hard and pointed him back toward the group of hearing-impaired kids who had just arrived at the pool.
Pete has organized water volleyball and water basketball, and I watch the boys play. My mouth goes dry as he slices out of the water to hit the ball, jumping high as he volleys it back to the other side of the net with his uninjured arm. His body is amazing, and I finally get to see all of his tattoos. I want to trace them with my fingertips and see how far they go beneath his swim trunks. His suit hangs low on his hips, and he has those ridges and a patch of hair leading down his belly that would make any bright girl become stupid. Like now. I can’t take my eyes of it. I want to follow the path like it’s the yellow brick road. My dad is the cowardly lion because I think he’s a lot more afraid of my feelings for Pete than I am. I…I am the wicked witch.
Pete swims over to the side of the pool in front of me. “Come swim with me,” he says, splashing water toward my legs.
“I’m on duty,” I say, and I blow my whistle at one of the boys.
He jerks a thumb over his shoulder toward the group and says, “They’re deaf, you know?” He laughs. “Your whistle is pretty ineffectual.”
“Then let’s hope they can all swim.”
“They’re confined to the shallow end.” He grins at me.
I look at the boys. They’re watching Pete from where they’re still hitting the ball back and forth. “They like you,” I say. Of course they do. Everyone likes Pete. Even my dad likes him, though I’m not sure he likes the burgeoning relationship between us.
“They like you more,” he says. “I told them I was going to come and put the moves on the pretty lifeguard.”
A grin tugs at my lips. He thinks I’m pretty. “You did not.”
“Oh, yes, I did.” He smiles, and my heart trips over. “Prepare to be moved, pretty lifeguard.” He hoists himself out of the pool, careful of his injured wrist as he goes up the ladder, and stalks toward me, water sluicing from his body. When he gets close to me, he stops and lays his crossed arms over my lap, and looks up at me. “You don’t mind me touching you, do you?” he asks.
My heart’s beating so fast I can’t take a deep breath, but it’s not because I’m afraid of him. He makes me feel things I’ve never felt before. “Apparently, my inner goddess is a slut. Yeah, I read Fifty Orgasms.”
He lays his forehead on his folded arms and laughs into the space, his shoulders shaking. I thump him on the top of his closely shaved head.
He covers his head with his hand and looks up, scowling at me. “What was that for?”
“You laughed at me.”
He snorts. “You were talking about Fifty Orgasms. Of course I laughed.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Do you even know what book I’m talking about?”
“Anastasia and what’s his name,” he says with a breezy wave. “I read it.”
My mouth falls open.
“The last one was the best.” He grins. “His surrender was kind of sweet.”
“He didn’t surrender.”
“What do you call it then?” He laughs. “He totally changed for her. And he loved every second of it.”
I lay back heavily against the chair I’m in and glare at him. “You skipped around and just read the good parts, didn’t you?”
He looks offended. “Just because I’m pretty doesn’t mean I’m not smart.” He chuckles. He lifts my hand with his so he can thread his fingers though my mine.
Pete jumps when my dad slams through the pool gate. Dad glares at him, but he doesn’t move his hand from mine.
“Reagan,” Dad barks.
I blow out a quick breath and say very nicely, “Yes, Dad.”
“Chase Gerald’s father just called.” He looks at where my hand is tangled with Pete’s, and if death rays that shoot from the eyes existed, then Pete would be a puddle of ashes on the ground.
“Is that the guy from the drugstore?” Pete whispers.
I nod, slicing my eyes toward Pete for a second. “What did he want?” I can already guess, and my heart sinks at the very thought of it.
“He said Chase came home talking about you being at the drugstore with some thug.” He glares at Pete, and Pete stiffens, his hand tightening on mine.
“Did you explain who Pete is?” I ask. I don’t want to leave anyone with a misconception about Pete.
“I told him that he’s someone my daughter is crushing on, but that I wasn’t worried about it because she’s a smart girl with her head on straight.” His voice rises on the last words, and his glare at Pete grows even fiercer.
“I’m not crushing,” I protest. But I so am.
Dad faces me. “Then what would you call it?”
I don’t know what to call it because I don’t know what it is. I shrug. Pete stiffens more when I do that than he has since Dad came through the gate.
“Chase wanted to know if you might want to go to the party at the country club tomorrow.”
“I already told him no,” I say. But I can already see the look on my dad’s face. That’s not going to work.
“I told him you’d love to.” He opens the gate and stops, looking at me from over his shoulder. “He’s picking you up at six.”
I growl under my breath. Mainly because there’s not much more I can do since Dad is gone. The gate slams shut behind him. I pull my hand from Pete’s.
“Where are you going?” Pete asks.
“To catch my dad so I can tell him I’m not going.”
“Do you want to go?” he asks. He watches me closely, his blue eyes blinking slowly.
“If I wanted to go, I wouldn’t have told him no.” I heave a sigh.
He steps back from me and takes all the warmth I was basking in a minute ago with him. “I think you should go,” he says quietly.
“Why?” I ask softly. Something is really, really wrong. He doesn’t usually distance himself like this.
“Your dad wants you to go,” he says with a shrug. “You don’t want to piss him off.”
He starts to walk down the length of the pool. He signs to the boys, and they all start to put away the balls and the floats and they line up by the door.
“I’ll see you later,” he calls quietly. Then he leads the boys from the pool area back toward their cabins.
What did I do wrong? I seriously have no idea.
I see Dad going through the back door of the house, and I run to follow him. I don’t know why he just did that, but what he said made Pete mad at me, so he needs to go apologize.
“Dad!” I call to his retreating back. He doesn’t turn around to talk to me. He keeps going.
He’s ignoring me now? What the hell?
I follow him into the kitchen and see him glaring at my mother, who looks a little bemused. “How could you do that?” I ask. My heart is thumping like crazy, and I can barely catch my breath.
“What did you do?” my mother asks.
Dad shrugs and washes his hands at the sink. He ignores me completely. Mom raises her brow at me in question.
“He called Pete a thug, and then he told me I have to go on a date with Chase just because his father called and snapped his fingers.” I snap mine for good measure.
Mom’s inquisitive grin turns into a scowl. “What?” she asks. She grabs my father’s shoulder and turns him to face her. “You of all people called Pete a thug?”
“To his face!” I shout. “Then Pete left. And I don’t even know what he’s thinking.”
“I know what he’s thinking,” Dad murmurs. Mom frowns.
“He’s thinking you don’t like him!”
Dad makes a noncommittal hum. That’s it? A hum?
Mom’s face softens. She can read Dad like a book. I just wish I could.
“What?” I ask. I look back and forth between them.
“Your dad is afraid Pete’s trying to get in your pants,” Mom says. She lifts her brow at Dad. Dad just glares at her. He won’t even look at me.
I throw up my hands. “That’s just it!” I cry. “He’s not trying to get in my pants. He won’t even kiss me!”
“Oh,” Mom breathes.
Dad murmurs something, and Mom rubs his shoulder, her eyes soft as she looks at him.
“What?” I ask again.
“Your dad’s afraid you’ll get your heart broken,” she says quietly. She looks sympathetically toward my dad.
I take a deep breath and steel myself. “Most girls get to have their hearts broken when they’re eighteen or so. Maybe sixteen or whenever they find their first boyfriend.” I jab a finger toward my chest. “I’ve never even had a boyfriend, Dad,” I say. My eyes fill with tears, but I blink them back. How messed up is this? “I like Pete, and he’s someone you can like, too. So, what’s the problem? We haven’t even been on a date!”
“I saw him watching you at the pool.” Dad heaves a sigh. “He looks at you like I look at your mother.” He tips her chin up so that her eyes meet his. “I saw her and I knew she was completely out of my league, but I wanted her more than I ever wanted anything.” He looks at me. “And that’s how Pete looks at you. That’s what scares me, Reagan. Not that he’s a thug or that he’s poor or that he’s been in prison. He looks at you like he never wants to stop looking at you. I’d probably like him more if he was just trying to get in your pants, because that’s something you can get over. But a man loving you, that’s completely different. You’re not ready for it.” He shrugs his shoulders. “You’re just not.”
He may as well have stuck a knife in my chest. “How do you know what I’m ready for?” I ask.
“I saw what that a*shole did to you, Reagan,” he says. He slams his fist down on the kitchen counter, making the dishes jump. And me, too. “I saw you walking around here, jumping at shadows, wrapping yourself in a protective bubble so no one else could hurt you. You learned how to protect your body, but no one ever taught you to protect your heart.” He pounds his fist against his chest. “You’re unprepared for what Pete wants. Completely unprepared.”
“What do you want me to do?” I ask. I can barely hear myself, but Dad hears me.
“Stop it before it’s too late,” he spits out. “Just stop it.”
“Okay,” I breathe. “You win.” I turn and walk out of the room.
I just met him two days ago. Why do I even feel like my soul already knows him intimately? I don’t understand it, either. Maybe Dad’s right.