Page 21 of A Favor Owed

“I’ve got to get going,” she says just as the sun is beginning to set. The party has turned into a full-on rager, drunk people everywhere, dancing and swimming. Good thing I invited the property manager. He’s wasted, too.

“You didn’t even get a chance to go in the pool.”

“I’d be too tired for work if I’d gone swimming.”

“You’re going to be tired anyway after running your ass around like crazy all day.”

“I’ll be fine,” she says and turns to head upstairs for her things. I grab her hand. She looks down at our hands and then up at me, but she doesn’t say anything. She also doesn’t pull away.

“When do I get to see you in that swimsuit?”

She smiles slowly, her eyes never leaving mine. “You want to see me in my swimsuit?”

“Is the Pope Catholic?”

Her eyes take a nice, slow walk down my body. I’m wearing a T-shirt and board shorts, but I feel like she burned them off me with that look. I swallow.

“I have to go,” she says, her eyes returning to mine.

“What about tonight? When everyone else is gone? I’ll pick you up from work.”

“You want to go swimming in the middle of the night?”

“Yeah,” I say. “What do you think? You down?”

She looks at me for a long moment. I brush my thumb across the roses on her shoulder and feel the faintest tremor run through her body. “Down for just swimming,” she finally says.

“That’s what I said, right? Swimming.”

“I know what you said.”

“It’s also what I meant.” I mean, come on, I might be a total stalker asshole, but I’m still a gentleman. Kind of…I guess…

She looks at me for what feels like a long time.

“Okay,” she finally says. She withdraws her hand from mine and starts heading toward the exit.

“Wait up,” I say. “Hey, Caleb,” I call. “Take over the grill until I get back.”

“You got it.”

Angela shakes her head. “It’s cool, I can get an Uber.”

“Yeah, right, Pines. I dragged your ass here. I’ll take you to work.”

“Whatever you say, McDaniels,” she says with a shrug. We go upstairs, and I wait for her to change in the bathroom. When she comes out, the plaid sundress is gone, replaced by her green Finnegan’s T-shirt and a short denim skirt. She holds up her tote bag.

“I’ll leave my things here, okay?” she says.

Hell, yeah, it’s okay.

We’re both quiet on the short drive to her work. That’s normal for her but definitely uncharacteristic for me. I have Angie on the brain again. Angie in practically no clothes, in the pool with me at night. This is definitely a win-win situation.

Chapter Nine

Angela

This is a lose-lose situation. Brady is a distraction, and I’m a disaster waiting to happen. And now, thanks to a momentary lust-infused lapse in judgment, I left my things at his place and promised to go swimming with him tonight. What the hell was I thinking?

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