“Pfft. I’ve got women coming out my butt.” Tony ran his hand along his muscular pecs.
“That’s the problem.” Caden rose to his feet. “They’re not supposed to be coming out of anywhere, especially your butt. I’ll see you guys later.”
Kurt pushed out from the table. “Hold up. I’ll walk with you. I have to get some writing done.”
Jamie’s phone rang. He watched Jessica walk over to the pool steps and stick her toe in the water. She held on to the metal railing and stepped down onto the first stair, looking beyond sexy in her pink bathing suit. His phone rang again.
“Get your phone, bud.” Tony pushed the ringing phone closer to Jamie.
He answered the call from Mark, but his attention was focused on Tony as he joined Jessica on the steps of the pool. Tony’s dirty-blond hair had sun-kissed streaks of lighter blond. His muscles glistened in the sun, and Jamie knew the way he was leaning against the concrete edge of the pool, his palms flat, elbows behind him, was a purposeful pose to pump up his enormous biceps. Bastard.
“Sorry, Mark. What were you saying?” He’d been too busy watching Tony to catch what Mark had said.
“Come on, Jamie. Focus. This is important. There’s something going on with the search engine, and it’s worse than we thought. A bug. Every time kids search for…” Jamie lost focus on Mark’s voice as Jessica walked into the water and Tony reached for her hand, drawing her deeper. What is he doing?
“What do you think?” Mark asked.
“What?” Jamie snapped, angry about Tony messing around when he knew Jamie was with Jessica. Tony never did stuff like this. Jamie didn’t know what was up with him today, but he was acting like he was looking for a fight.
“Come on, Jamie. What are you doing? This vacation was a mistake. I told you it was. You should be here dealing with this headache,” Mark seethed.
“It’s my first vacation in eight years, Mark.”
Tony grabbed a raft and lifted Jessica onto it. His hands wrapped around her waist, and when she shifted, her butt was about an inch from his face. Jamie shot a look at Amy, who was scowling, unlike Bella and Jenna, who were rolling their eyes.
“I’ve got to go, Mark. You can handle it however you see fit.” He ended the call, stalked to the deep end of the pool, and dove in. He broke the surface on the other side of Jessica’s raft and shot Tony a dark stare.
Jessica reached for his hand. “Hi.”
“Hey, babe. Enjoying the sun?” He shifted his eyes to Jessica. It was a good thing he was in the water, because he was getting turned on just looking at her, despite his annoyance at Tony, who swam away.
“Yeah. It’s nice. Want to climb up with me?” She patted the raft.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She wrinkled her brow; then her eyes bloomed wide as understanding dawned on her and she dropped her gaze to the pool with a sexy smile. “Oh.”
Bella, Amy, and Jenna jumped into the water, splashing both of them. Jamie pulled himself up halfway on the raft to shield Jessica from the splashes.
“Mr. Chivalrous, look at you,” Jenna yelled as she doggie paddled around the deep water.
“Lame excuse to get closer,” Tony hollered.
“What’s up with him today?” Jamie asked Bella.
“Ames had a date last night.” Bella swatted Jenna as she tried to cling to her. “He’s been grumpy ever since.”
“Poor guy. He had his chance. How’d it go, Amy?” Jamie climbed off of Jessica but kept his hand on hers.
Amy had a foam noodle beneath her arms as she floated around the pool in her baby-blue bikini. “It was nice. We’re going out again tonight.”
“We’re all going so we can check him out.” Jenna grabbed a noodle and floated over to Jessica’s raft. “You two should come. We’re going to listen to a band play at Marconi Beach. I’m going to make Petey dance with me.”
“I’ve never even seen a band on a beach.” Jessica squeezed Jamie’s hand. “Do you think Vera would want to go?”
“You have no idea how much I love that you want to include her, but she’s been going to bed early these days. I’ll ask her, but it’ll probably be just us. Do you mind if I go spend a few minutes with her?”
“Of course not. Go.”
After a quick kiss, he swam the length of the pool, grabbed a towel, and joined Vera, the call with Mark all but forgotten.
“YOU CAN BURN a hole through a man if you stare too much,” Bella teased.
“Do they sell full-body heat protectors, then? Because there’s no chance that I’ll be done staring at him anytime soon.” Jessica couldn’t believe she’d admitted that out loud, but she was practically salivating over Jamie’s muscles as they bunched and flexed while he dried his delicious body—the taste of which was too fresh in her mind to forget.
“Said by the woman who suspiciously didn’t answer the door this morning at seven thirty.” Bella raised her brows.
“Bella!” Amy yelled. “We said we wouldn’t embarrass her.”
Jessica pulled Amy’s noodle closer and asked quietly, “Did you guys really come by?”
Amy nodded. “Don’t worry. We didn’t stick around and listen or anything. But we heard enough to know that we shouldn’t bother you.”
“Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness.” She covered her mouth and shot a look at Jamie. He was laughing with Vera. She loved how attentive he was to his grandmother. “Oh no. Did Vera hear us, too?”
“No, Vera was playing her violin,” Amy assured her. “Tony was too angry about me going on a date to be aware of anything, Kurt had his nose in his computer, and Caden was out running, so it was only us girls.”
“Oh, thank heavens. I’m sorry I didn’t answer the door.” No, she really wasn’t. She’d had the best morning of her life, and every time she revisited the feel of Jamie lying with her, or… She had to stop thinking of him.
“Don’t be. At least you’re not like Leanna.” Amy laughed. “She leaves her windows open and all of Wellfleet can hear her. That’s probably the real reason they stay at their house on the bay instead of the cottage.”
“Oh, that’s awful. If we ever do that, please, please tell us, because I’d be mortified.” She realized she’d used the term us. It felt natural. It felt good.
“You guys are such a cute couple. I wish my favorite surfer dude would ask me out. I’ve been in love with him forever.” Amy’s eyes went soft when she looked at Tony lying on a lounge chair.
“If he’s that mad over you dating, it means he likes you. I know he was only helping me onto the raft to make you jealous.” Jessica lowered her voice to a whisper. “He looked right past me and stared at you.”
“Well, he sure doesn’t act like it, but I do like the guy I’m going out with,” Amy explained. “Jake Ryder, he’s Blue’s younger brother.”
“Much younger brother. She’s a cradle robber,” Jenna said.
Did that make Jamie a cradle robber, too?
“He’s only twenty-eight, but he’s some kind of hot, mountain rescue guy, so…” Jenna wiggled her eyebrows in quick succession.
Amy swatted Jenna’s arm. “Stop trying to stir up trouble.”