Page 41 of Bombshell (Whiskey Dolls 1)

With that, I took off after Marin, putting my thumb over the stream so it sprayed harder and wider. Her momentary confusion was her downfall. Before she could figure out what was happening, I hit her square in the face with the water, soaking her to the bone.

She sputtered and coughed when I lowered the spray, swiping at her face.

“Get her again, Dad! Get her again!” Eli shrieked from the safety of the trampoline.

Marin narrowed her eyes at me and lifted a finger. “Don’t you dare.”

A slow, wicked smile stretched across my face. “Or what?”

“Or...” She took off running and I chased after her. She went straight for the trampoline, diving through the opening of the safety net and grabbing my boy around the waist, holding him in front of her like a shield as I drenched them both.

They were both a soggy mess by the time I was finished, and we’d laughed so hard the muscles in my stomach were tense and spasming.

“Truce, truce!” Marin shouted. “No more!”

“Say ‘Pierce is the best.’”

“Pierce is the best!”

“My dad’s the coolest!” Christ, I loved hearing that.

“All right. Truce. I’ll go shut off the water.”

I dropped the hose and started for the shut-off valve, realizing my mistake almost instantly. But it was too late.

“Eli now!” I heard just before a stream of icy cold water got me right in the back.

* * *

“Today was a lot of fun,” Eli said sleepily as he snuggled deeper into his pillow.

“Yeah, bud,” I said softly, brushing his hair back and pressing a kiss to his forehead. “It was, wasn’t it.”

After the impromptu water fight in the backyard, we’d gone inside and dried off. Marin had a change of clothes in the back of her car. The only problem was, they were rehearsal clothes, meaning the shorts were hardly longer than underwear. The only saving grace was the big black hoodie she wore up top. But those mile-long curvy legs were on full display, driving me out of my mind.

Dinner had gone off without a hitch, but when we’d moved into the living room, her legs once again became the only thing I could focus on. We put on one of Eli’s favorite movies, but while they stared at the screen, I’d stared at her legs from the corner of my eye. She’d been sitting against the arm of the sofa, curled up in a dainty little ball, and all I could think was: I wonder what she’d feel like if I pulled her against me. Would she feel as soft as I imagine? Would she fit against me as perfectly as I think she would?

Those thoughts were interrupted when it came time to get Eli showered and into bed for the night.

Before we headed upstairs, my son climbed into Marin’s lap to give her a hug goodnight.

“Night, Cool Guy. I’ll see you Monday, okay?”

I felt a sudden uncomfortable pang in my gut at the realization that I was about to go two days without seeing her. Today was Friday, meaning I’d be home for the weekend, so Eli wouldn’t need a sitter.

“Okay, Mar-Mar. Love you.”

I saw her eyes go wide for just one second before they squeezed closed and she held him even tighter. “I love you too, sweetheart,” she said, her voice taking on a throatiness alluding to the emotion she was feeling just then.

And I wasn’t immune. Not. At. Fucking. All.

There was a sensation in my chest, hearing my son tell this woman he loved her, that made it hard to breathe. A crushing weight rested there, creating a pressure I didn’t know what the hell to do about.

The only people who’d ever gotten that from him were me and my mother. I wasn’t sure how I wassupposedto feel about this, but I couldn’t help but love the fact that my boy had another person in his life to give that gift to.

Now he was lying beside me in his bed after I’d read through two books, sleeping like the dead, and the woman who now had a special place in my boy’s heart was downstairs, waiting for me just like she’d promised she would before I’d headed upstairs.

After that night on the deck, everything had changed. I’d come to a decision. I was done trying to ignore my attraction to her or will it away. To hell with Frank, and to hell with my mother’s opinion of her. Maybe if I just gave in, I could eventually work her out of my system.

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