Page 41 of Whiskey Wednesdays

After lunch, Connor took me out to the small pool house to try on the extra swimsuits he kept there. The pool house was about the size of my apartment, but much nicer.

Connor opened a large closet. “Try any of these.”

There were a dozen or more brand-new suits, along with new beach towels and other pool paraphernalia. When he left to check on Elodie, I tried a few on and quickly realized they were all pretty skimpy.

I finally gave up and chose a teal blue polka dot bikini that had just a little more material than the others. Wrapping my towel around me, I walked out to the pool area.

The sun was out, and when I put my foot in the pool, it felt like bathwater.

Elodie jumped up and down in the shallow end, waving me in. “Come on. It’s warm.”

Connor lounged on the side, watching me. I took a deep breath, then unwrapped the towel, laid it down, and started to get in.

I hadn’t made it two steps when Connor pointed to the outdoor dining table several feet away. “Before you get in, will you grab Elodie’s towel?”

“Okay.” I studied him suspiciously before I reluctantly turned around and grabbed her towel off the table. When I turned back to the pool, Connor’s eyes were glued to my ass. The swimsuit was cut high in the back and showed off a good portion of my butt cheeks.

He didn’t seem to care that I’d caught him staring. In fact, he studied me carefully and his eyelids lowered. He spread his arms out on the pool ledge, and his shoulders glistened with water droplets. It was hard not to stare at his chest and the intricate tattoo there.

Elodie paddled over to me as I laid her towel by the side of the pool and got in. I bent my knees and submerged myself up to my shoulders so she could wrap her little arms around my neck. I reached around and took hold of her thighs to help her hold on.

We bounced around in the shallow end for a few minutes and chatted about her school and soccer.

Connor watched us, and I finally waded over to him. “Thanks for lending me a swimsuit. What there is of it, anyway.”

He grinned. “Rachel did a good job picking them out.” I thought Rachel was probably his last assistant.

Elodie unlatched herself from me and got out to get a pool toy.

I bobbed in the water next to Connor. “This feels so nice, especially for early February. It’s rainy and cold in Seattle this time of year.”

He leaned back and stretched his long legs out. “Vancouver has the same shitty weather in the winter. Are you going back to Seattle after you graduate?”

It was a question I asked myself almost every day. “I don’t know. Dad lives here now, and Liam, my brother, is in D.C., soSeattle doesn’t have as much appeal to me. But I do have friends there.”

Elodie got back in with her toy and latched onto me again. “Your swimsuit is pretty. I want one like it.”

I laughed at the look of mock horror on Connor’s face. “The Brazilian cut isn’t that funny now, is it?”

Elodie slid off my back and waded over to his lap, wrapping her little arms around him.

He cuddled her close and put his chin on her head. The content, happy look on his face melted my heart.

Damn it. Of all the men I knew,hehad to be the one who gave me tingles.

“You should move here,” Connor said. “The high is usually around seventy degrees in the winter. You can’t beat that.”

“Are you going to move here full-time, now that Elodie’s in school?”

He studied me. “I think so. It depends on a few things.”

My rabid curiosity was killing me, but I didn’t ask him what those few things were. If they had to do with Elodie’s mother or another woman, I didn’t want to know.

Elodie let him go and started dog paddling toward the deep end.

I watched her. “Do you know how to swim, Ellie?”

“Yeah. I like my floaties though.”

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