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“Not Paul. Just me. By the time Paul found out what was going on we were too far in.”
Miles leveled a keen stare on his younger son. “One last thing. You really need to tell your grandfather the whole truth.”
Ethan shook his head. “I considered that, but decided that if Grady found out we tricked him on top of losing Ava’s daughter, it would be a bigger blow.”
“The problem with the whole DNA testing angle,” Miles said, “is that Grady will believe Ava’s daughter is still out there.”
“I’ve been thinking about that.” Ethan opened his briefcase and pulled out the test kit he’d ordered in the days after he’d concocted his scheme to pass Lia off as Grady’s granddaughter. “Maybe you could help me find her for real.”
Eight
The morning of his best friend’s wedding, Paul spent a few hours at the office, but found he couldn’t concentrate. That had been happening all too often in the days since that long afternoon in Lia’s camper. Despite the unusual surroundings, or maybe because of them, Paul knew the time with Lia was indelibly etched in his memories. They’d made love for hours, forgoing new truck shopping and skipping dinner. Only after their exertions made their hunger for food more urgent than their appetite for each other did they get dressed and grab a couple burgers at a fast-food restaurant.
He hadn’t been exaggerating: giving in to their attraction was going to complicate things. She wasn’t like any woman he’d ever known and he hadn’t crossed the line with her lightly. This left him with a dilemma. Sneaking around with her compounded his discomfort about the lies they were perpetrating. But the thought of giving her up left him in an ill-tempered funk.
Following the compulsion to see her, Paul left his office and drove to his grandfather’s estate. The sound of feminine laughter reached his ears as he exited his SUV, luring him toward the pool. Expecting to find his cousins clad in their customary bikinis, lazily floating on rafts in the turquoise water, he was besieged by wonder and a trace of amusement at what greeted him instead.
His cousins and Lia balanced on paddleboards in the middle of the pool, engaged in yoga moves. While both Dallas and Poppy wore bathing suits, Lia was dressed in her daily uniform of black yoga pants and a graphic T-shirt that flattered her lean curves and drew attention to her high, firm breasts. Given that both his cousins had wet hair and were wobbling dangerously on the ever-shifting boards while trying to hold a standing yoga pose, Paul assumed it must be much harder than Lia was making it look.
She moved fluidly on the board, shifting from one pose to another with barely a ripple in the pool. Her confidence fascinated him. At every turn she surprised him with a whole range of unexpected talents from cake decorating to accompanying Grady’s drumming on the harmonica to assorted art projects geared toward children that now adorned Grady’s bedroom.
With each day that passed, she endeared herself to his entire family more and more, and even Paul’s high level of skepticism had failed him. Lia was a whirling dervish of energy and optimism and it was hard to remain detached, especially when every time they occupied the same room, she became the focal point of his awareness. His determined distrust had given way beneath the pressure of the undeniable energy between them. The maddening chemistry was more than sexual. The hunger to be near her was a fire that burned throughout his entire body.
He found her stories of life on the road fascinating. Her kindness toward his grandfather wasn’t an act. Every minute Paul spent in her company boosted his optimism and lightened his mood. The tiniest brush of his hand against hers sent a shower of sparks through him. Dozens of times he’d caught himself on the verge of touching her in front of his family. Whenever they occupied the same room, he had to struggle to keep his gaze from lingering on her.
Spying Grady in the shade of the pool house, Paul approached and sat down beside his grandfather’s wheelchair. Grady reached out and gave Paul’s arm an affectionate squeeze. With the return of his grandfather’s love and approval, Paul had no more need to arm himself against the grief that had caused him to guard against personal relationships. Another positive change in his life he could attribute to Lia. Was there no end to her uplifting influence? Did he really want there to be?
Once again Paul was struck by concern for what the future might hold after Lia’s departure. While Grady grew more robust with each passing day, finding out that Lia wasn’t his granddaughter was certain to hit him hard. Would his depression return?
“What are they doing?” he asked, crossing his ankle over his knee as the afternoon’s humid air made its way beneath the collar of his navy polo.
“Yoga,” Grady sang, bright amusement in the gaze he flicked toward his grandson.
“Why are they doing it on paddleboards in the middle of the pool?”
“Harder.”
Seeing Grady’s fond smile, Paul felt a familiar stab of guilt that they were perpetrating a fraud on the old man. His grandfather loved Lia because he believed she was his long-lost granddaughter. That she wasn’t ate at Paul more every day.
“I can see that. The twins look like they’re struggling.”
Even as he spoke, Poppy lost her balance, but before she tumbled into the pool, she dropped to her knees and clutched the edges of the boa
rd. She laughed in relief while Dallas and Lia called out their encouragement.
Paul guessed this wasn’t Lia’s first time doing this because she was rock-solid on the board. “It’s good to see you outside,” Paul said, tearing his gaze away from her. “How are you feeling today?”
“I’m feeling strong.” Grady spoke the words with triumph.
“You’re getting better every day,” Paul murmured. “That’s wonderful.”
The two men sat in companionable silence and watched the three women for another half hour, until Lia brought the session to a halt.
“Nice work, ladies,” she called, towing the paddleboards toward the storage room at the back of the pool house while his cousins toweled off.
Paul went to help her, eager for a couple seconds alone, somewhere out of the way so he didn’t have to guard his expression. He took in the light sheen of moisture coating her skin, tempting him to ride his palms over her sun-warmed arms and around her waist. If he dipped his head and slid his tongue along her neck, he knew she would taste salty. His mouth watered at the memory of her silky flesh beneath his lips.
“You’ve done that before,” Paul said, letting her precede him into the large room crammed with pool toys.
