AllFreeNovel
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Me:It won’t work.
Aunt Lori:What? I’m not a mind reader.
Me:Whatever. I’ll remember your old bones when I eventually take my kids camping. I won’t trouble you by asking.
Aunt Lori:But I love camping! You’d better invite me.
Me:Then just admit what you’re doing.
Aunt Lori:I have no idea.
Me:Fine. Whatever. I’m leaving now.
Three days later, my kids wore me down, and I agreed to take them swimming. Abby had said there weren’t any events that day, and I had it off. When given the choice between helping me fix up the storage space or going swimming, the pool had won hands down.
I didn’t know where Emmy was, though, and rather hoped she’d be in town or away visiting with a client. Watching her during the baseball game on the Fourth of July, grinning and unafraid to dive for a ball at one point, had stayed with me. Add in how hard it’d been to ignore her during the fireworks display when all I wanted to do was pull her close and kiss her, and, well, the damn woman had ended up visiting me in my dreams over the last few nights.
Dreams that had resulted in me waking up hard and aching and having to take myself in hand to release some tension. Several times.
Fuck.When had I started to think of Emmy that way? And if she showed up in a bathing suit, even an old granny-style one, I would be doomed to stay in the pool and hope the cold water would tame my dick.
We reached the wooden gate leading to Emmy’s backyard. I reached over, lifted the latch, and walked inside.
The area was different and yet the same from when I’d been over here as a kid, back when Rafael “Rafe” Mendoza and I had been best friends. The rectangular pool hadn’t changed, ranging from three to eight feet with a diving board at one end, but there was now a hot tub situated a few feet from the pool. I could easily imagine Emmy and Abby sitting in it, laughing and drinking wine, relaxing after dealing with some difficult bride or groom. Not to mention the plants that surrounded the yard, hiding most of the fence, made it feel isolated and special, like a private retreat.
Avery tossed her bag down, kicked off her flip-flops, and tugged off the little swimsuit cover dress she wore. We’d all put on sunscreen right before we left—it was an ordeal—so I didn’t have to worry about it until later.
Avery grabbed my hand and pulled. “Hurry up, Daddy. You promised to teach me to swim in the deep end today.”
Wyatt was stripped to only his swimming trunks and sat on the steps in the shallow end. He splashed water over to hit his sister, and Avery shrieked. “Stop it, Wyatt! I don’t want to have a water fight.”
So, of course, my son splashed her again.
I bit back a grin—I’d done the same to my brothers when I’d been their age—and tugged off my T-shirt and removed my sandals. “Come on, Avery. Time to learn how to swim.” I glanced at Wyatt. “Stay only where you can stand, like you promised, okay?”
Wyatt nodded and eyed the deep end before shivering. “I don’t want to go over there.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Once I’m done with Avery’s lesson, I can blow up the ring for you.”
Before Wyatt could answer, a familiar female voice came from over my shoulder. “I can do it, if you want.”
Slowly, I turned around and did my best not to stare. Emmy wore a black bikini, the top fully covering her small breasts, and the bottoms highlighting her curvy hips. Unlike my family—where everyone was tall, broad, and almost too much—Emmy looked almost delicate. Fuck, if she was under me, I’d worry about crushing her.
Just no.Clearing my throat, I said, “We don’t want to bother you.”
She rolled her eyes. “If I didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t offer.”
Avery spoke up. “Daddy’s going to teach me to swim in the deep end today!”
Emmy smiled warmly at my daughter, and the ice around my heart cracked a fraction.
“That’s amazing, Avery. It might be hard at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s like riding a bike—you never forget it.”
Avery walked over to Emmy. “When did you learn to swim?”
Emmy laughed, and fuck, it was hard not to stare at her tits as they wobbled. Which they’d also do if I pressed her legs up and thrust hard into her.
Damn it, what was wrong with me?
