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“And then you told me he’d originally been trained as a guide dog,” he says. “What are the fucking odds?”
I link my hands behind his neck and lean back. Meet his gaze. “Is that something you’ve ever—?”
“Don’t,” he says. “I can’t. None of those things. I don’t want to consider them.”
“All right. We won’t, then. But does this mean you hate Ace less now? Because I hate to break it to you, but he really likes you.”
“He does?”
“Are you kidding me? Every time you come into my office his wagging tail gives him away. He’s followed you everywhere this weekend.”
Anthony’s scowl softens, disappears, as he glances to Ace. He’s flipped over onto his back, all four paws up in the air. “He’s a good dog.”
I grin at him. “Praise? From Anthony Winter?”
“I’m capable of it, in small doses.” His hands slide down and grip my ass. “When something really impresses me.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Like you, for example. And this. Not to mention these two. Or here, where I—”
I cut him off with a kiss. His hands return to my waist and tug me close as I lose myself in him and he in me, in the beautiful place where time stops altogether.
We’re both breathing hard when I lean back. Brace my legs against the edge of the pool and push away from him, back out into the deep.
“Running away?”
“Yes,” I say. Look up into the sky with the largest, goofiest smile on my face. My heart feels like it might explode. “You’re welcome to try to catch me.”
“Mmm. I quite like the view from here.”
I swim the length of the pool once, twice. Think about his words and his situation, my mind finds its way back to what he’d shared with me over the weekend.
“Why’d you choose Montauk for this house?” I ask him. “Was it because your family has a summer house nearby?”
He leans back on his forearms and tilts his head back to the sun. Eyes closed again. “It’s close enough to the city. I know the place well. It came onto the market at the right time.”
“Hmm.” I push away from the wall and start on a third lap. “Must be nice to be close to them, too.”
He doesn’t comment on that. Takes a long time to say anything, actually. But when he does, it stops me mid-stroke in the pool.
“I haven’t told them.”
“About the diagnosis?”
“No, and I’m not planning to until I absolutely have to.” The sudden tautness in his form is enough to set me on edge.
I swim toward him. “I imagine it’s difficult news to share.”
“I suppose,” he says with a shrug. “I’ve only really told you.”
The shock that ripples through me doesn’t reach my face. I’m very careful about that. “Thanks for sharing it with me.”
“Mhm.” He reaches for me when I’m close enough and I find myself once again in his lap. Despite his relaxed features, the body beneath mine is rigid. We’re in deep water again.
“Your business partners and friends don’t know either, then?” I ask.
“No.”
