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Justin shook his head. “I guess… I mean… it’s just weird. I don’t like thinking of her like that.”
“I don’t think Patrick does either.” Adam sighed, rubbing his hand over his goatee, the way he often did when Angel was badgering him about something. A sign of frustration and resignation. “I doubt she would have listened if he’d told her to cover up, anyway.”
“Who can understand women anyway,” Rick said, thinking about Maria’s inexplicable behavior.
For all her self-assuredness, she seemed to have had some very set ideas about how he would react to her. Not to mention her brazen flirting at his door in contrast to how she’d acted with him this morning, which had been mostly friendly with just a little bit of flirting. Both of which had appealed to him. Really, it was just her that was appealing, in any form.
He still couldn’t decide if she’d toned back her approach because of his reaction, or if she was just naturally flirtatious and trying to be friendly. Trying to figure out what was going on in her head was completely impossible. After he’d basically threatened her with a spanking, he thought he wouldn’t see her again. Just a few days later she was ambushing him at the pool and showing off all those gorgeous curves.
Better than at his door where he had to fight off his urge to drag her back to his bedroom. Run his tongue along her curves and see what she tasted like. Bury his hands in all her wild hair. See if her body was as soft and welcoming as it looked.
“I think we’ve lost him again,” Justin whispered, making Rick blink and focus back on his two friends.
They were grinning at him expectantly. Like teenage girls awaiting a particularly juicy bit of gossip.
“So... about your neighbor...” Adam drawled.
“Oh look at the time, better get back to work,” Rick said, pushing his chair back as he stood and grabbed the remains of his lunch to throw away. He definitely wasn’t going to talk about Maria to his friends. Just mentioning her to Jared had already had unforeseen consequences.
And there wasn’t any point in mentioning her, because there wasn’t anything going on.
6
“So if you had a time machine, and could go back to anytime, where would you go and what would you do?”
Rick gave Maria a look. “Seriously?”
It was the fourth day in a row she’d shown up early enough to see him at the pool once he’d finished his work out. The first two days they had just chatted while she dangled her legs in the water next to him. Yesterday there had been someone else wanting to use the lap lane and so they’d both ended up in the main part of the pool, floating around and talking. She’d learned he had a married older brother who lived in Pennsylvania. Rick spent the holidays with when they weren’t visiting their parents, who had retired to Florida.
This was the first summer in a long time he hadn’t spent teaching summer school, and he told her about the odd jobs he was doing for some of his friends. From what he said, she definitely got the impression his group of friends were very close and spent a fair amount of time together. Something she envied, considering her recent revelations about her lack of close friends outside of her family.
She was trying to get to know him better. And flirt a little. So far, the more she got to know him, the less frightening being spanked by him sounded. Although it still didn’t sound like something that would be good.
Splashing him a bit, she cocked her head inquisitively. “Seriously. Where would you go and what would you do? This answer will give me great insight into the workings of your mind. I swear.”
Rick rolled his gorgeous blue eyes and leaned back into the water, letting it roll over his shoulders. Damn. She never got tired of looking at him and seeing the way the water shifted over his muscles. Little droplets ran down the lines of his body and made her want to press her tongue against his skin to lick them up.
They didn’t touch each other, ever, while they talked. They just kind of circled around each other in the water, half-treading it. It was almost a metaphor for the way they were dancing around their attraction to each other.
“You know, my immediate thought is to say I would go back and see one of Shakespeare’s plays at the original Globe, during the time he was writing, but the other day I was listening to a comedian who said he’d go back and stop George Lucas from making the first three Star Wars movies. I think I’d have to do that.”
“Really? You were listening to a comedian who was talking about this exact topic?” Maria couldn’t help but laugh. Rick had definitely not struck her as a sci-fi kind of guy. Good thing she hadn’t actually said anything like that out loud. He didn’t need to know she’d still been trying to fit him into some kind of box. She really needed to cut it out.
“Patton Oswalt,” Rick said, grinning at her. “He’s not the only one. Dane Cook did a segment on time travel too.”
“Okay, so why stop the new Star Wars movies?”
This time the look Rick gave her was frankly disbelieving, with a little bit of shock thrown in for good measure. “Are you kidding me? You actually liked them? I might have to...” His voice trailed off, which was too bad because it had gone kind of growly and hot.
“What?” Maria looked at him curiously. Had he been about to say “spank her?” Because of some movies? Or was she just being hopeful? And how stupid was it that she would be hopeful he might?! Maybe just because, as flirtatious as he’d been, he definitely hadn’t hinted at wanting to do anything with her past talking at the pool in the mornings.
Knowing he was still interested in doing naughty things to her would be nice. At least, that’s what she told herself, ignoring the tingling excitement and hope she’d felt when she had thought he was going to threaten to put her over his knee.
Rick just shook his head. “Nothing. Never mind.” His voice had gone back to normal, although laced with near-horror and disbelief. “But you actually liked them?”
Maria just splashed at him, shaking her head as she laughed. Boys. They got so serious about the weirdest things.
“I’ve never seen them.”
