AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They’re in the middle of training, so I don’t want to disturb him. We’ll just put them upstairs in his office.”
I bite my tongue to let out the enormous gust of air I want to exhale in relief. Then I hop out of the car and rush to the trunk. “Well, let’s do this.”
The faster we’re out of here the better.
She chuckles behind me, and a few minutes later we walk inside my dad’s office. It’s pretty sparce since he spends most of his time at the pool, but I know even a swim coach needs some time behind the desk. At least my dad does.
Sharon drops her box in one of the armchairs, so I follow her lead and walk to the other one to dump mine. That other chair just happens to be closer to the small window that overlooks the pool. I’m pretty sure my dad told me once that it’s like a mirror from the other side, so you can’t see inside from below.
They can’t see us, but we can see them.
And boy do I see them.
It doesn’t take me long to spot Ryan. He’s standing on the side listening to my dad, with only his tight swimsuit on and a towel around his neck.
Holy shit.
Obviously, I’ve seen him naked before, but seeing his body never gets old.
How did I catch the eye of such a vision of a man? He’s statue material with his good looks and never-ending lean muscles. Those wide shoulders leading to narrow hips with tight abs in between and the most beautiful V at the bottom.
The epitome of male perfection. My male perfection at least.
I have a really hard time taking my eyes off him, and my super spy stepmom sidles up next to me, probably sniffing out my secret from a mile away.
“That’s your dad’s newest swimmer.”
“Mmm-mmm.” My voice totally went up like ten octaves toward the end.
“He’s quite the sight, isn’t he?”
My head snaps to the side at her comment, and I gasp at her. It’s mostly fake, and I’m sure she knows it, but she still laughs.
Holding up her hands, she has a hard time calming down. “What? Just because I’m older doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate beauty around me. I’m not blind after all. You don’t think he’s gorgeous?”
Well, damn it. I should have seen that coming.
My reply gets stuck in my throat when my dad squints at Ryan before clapping him on the back. Ryan throws his towel on the bench, his long legs eating up the way to one side of the pool where he gets up on the starting block. After checking his swim cap and goggles, he bends down to get into position. My dad blows the whistle, and Ryan pushes off the block to jump into the air, his body a beautiful straight line in the air until he disappears into the water.
“Wow.” I’m unable to stop the word from escaping my lips.
Sharon chuckles in response, clearly enjoying my semi-public display of appreciating Ryan. But there’s no way I can’t. He’s not like any other man I’ve ever met. The fact he’s also one of the kindest ones hasn’t escaped me either.
The instant he asked me last night if I wanted to date him, my hormones were pretty much doing a conga line inside my body, chanting yes, yes, yes.
I didn’t lie when I said I’m scared because I am for so many reasons. Just like there was a lot at stake for my parents with me as their future baby, Ryan and I are in the same exact boat. On top of that, we live on opposite coasts which only makes things more difficult. Yet, after a few seconds, the excitement over saying yes to a date with him completely overthrew the fear, almost crushing it under its boot.
Now I can’t stop smiling every time I think about him and our date tonight. I felt a little bad for asking him to stay in again, but I was glad he didn’t seem to mind. My plan is still to leave in the next few days, so the more time I can spend with him alone and out of the public eye the better.
Sharon links her arm with mine. “Are you ready to leave, or do you want to stay a little longer?”
I’m barely able to drag my gaze away from Ryan’s powerful body moving in the water to blink at Sharon. Was she standing this close before?
Her words finally break through my mental fog and process. Man, I was out of it. Totally gone in Ryan la-la land.
Plastering on a smile, I nod. “I’m ready.”
“Let’s go then.”
