Page 102 of Losing Faith

“We should get a dog.” She lights up. “A big one, like Titi V’s dog.”

“Let’s go change and finish baking.” I distract her and she takes the bait as she walks off. I quickly grab her before she can leave a trail of water into the house.

“Uh uh, take your wet clothes off out here and grab a towel.” I nod for the rack of pool towels we keep out here.

Isabelle walks over to them and when I turn to Lisette, I falter.

“Your pool is warm,” she comments, her head to the side as she rings out her long hair.

My eyes land on her shirt, herwhitevery see-through shirt, and I can tell clear as day that she’s not wearing a bra since her nipples are onfulldisplay for me.

“Is it heated? Because that’s another level of rich.”

I take in the way they harden as a gust of wind blows past us and I know I’m going to be tortured by these images for the next few weeks.

“Why are you just staring like that?” Lisette looks down at herself and a light blush meets her cheeks as she sees what I do. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” She tosses her hair over her shoulder, standing proudly.

“No need,” I mumble in response. I’m sure I suddenly gained a photographic memory because the sight of her wet hair clinging to her forehead in her soaked-through shirt and perky nipples will be in the front of my mind for a while.

I clear my throat and gain the strength to be the gentleman my mother raised as I look away from her.

“Come on, slow pokes,” Isabelle says with a towel wrapped around her. She hurries past us, her clothes in a pile on the floor. “We have cupcakes to bake.”

She disappears into the house, and when I look back at Lisette, my eyes instinctively go to her chest.

Rome was right. She has very nice tits.Was he able to see her nipples through her shirt?

I swallow my annoyance and walk past her for the towel rack. With my back to her, I quickly readjust the problem in my pants. “I can see that, you know,” Lisette whispers from behind me, her giggle touching my ear.

I feel my ears heat as I snatch two towels and hand one to her. She has a smile on her face but doesn’t move to take the towel andcoverherself.

“My brother is going to have a lot to say about this,” she teases as she glances down between my legs.

He’ll have a lot more to say if I don’t walk away right now.

A groan escapes me when she smiles and I get harder. I move a hand to cover myself with my towel.

She finally puts me out of my misery and takes the towel from me. My shoulders sag in relief when she turns around. Just when I think I can walk away, she holds the towel between her legs and pulls her shirt off.

My eyes land on her bare back, and images of what she’ll look like if she turns fill my mind. Without thinking, I close the distance between us. My front brushes against her back, and she remains still for half a second before tilting her head back to look at me.

“When are you going to stop holding yourself back and kiss me?” She turns to face me and it should be illegal how pretty this woman is.

My eyes trail to her nipples and I shake my head at myself as I look back up at her eyes and find them filled with need.

What she said in the kitchen rings in my head and as images fill my head of her kissing my daughter’s cheek, calling her sweetie, andcarryingher, I think about how easy it’d be with her and that’s rare.

It’s rare for me to take interest in the women in my daughter’s life and it’s even more rare for me to think they’ll be an easy fit, but as I think of Lisette and my kid, deep down, I can see it working.

“Question,” I say after a beat.

“Proceed,” she replies, her eyes trailing down to the bulge in my pants.

“You said Belle doesn’t need a second mom.”

Her eyes meet mine.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

---