Page 14 of Swinging for the Deep End

I nod.

It’s pretty clear that some guy - probably athletic - broke Piper’s heart.

I’m an easy target for her.

“Hey, Cutter, not to be disrespectful here, but I have a conference coming up…”

“Go for it,” I say to Brian. “I’m fine.”

“If Piper gives you any issues…”

“I said I’m fine.”

At some point Brian walks away.

I stand in place and watch as Piper cheers on the elderly aquatic exercisers.

She wants them to make noise. Make waves.

In other words, she really does not want me here.

Well, this should make my stay here in town a little more interesting, huh?

4

Piper

I’ve been on edge since I made the dumb decision to look up Cutter Buckley.

Yes, I, Piper Maple, not only looked up who Cutter was, but from the second I saw his steel-cut jaw, narrow, dark eyes, messy hair, and insanely built figure (yes, he wore a shirt in all the pictures I saw) I knew this would be a problem.

Something about rugged, handsome guys made me want to punch them.

Maybe that’s my attempt at flirting or something?

No, it’s not that.

It’s… this is my town. Okay? This is my pool. Well, not my actual pool. I don’t own a pool. Saxon keeps bugging me to put in a pool, but that doesn’t matter right now.

Oh, I’m scrambling, aren’t I?

Of course I’m scrambling.

Cutter is staring right at me.

Standing there with his gym bag thrown over his left shoulder, watching as I egg on the elderly women who are in the water for some morning aerobics.

Yeah, I have the music turned up a little louder than normal. Yeah, I may have told the normal instructor (a sweetheart in her twenties named Bailey, who is in nursing school and wants to work with the elderly) to take a long morning coffee break.

My entire existence has been around this moment.

Cutter standing there, looking at me.

Thinking he could just show up and command the pool?

Uh… no…

I don’t care if he’s a star second baseman. I don’t care how many home runs he hits. I don’t care about his contract or anything about him.

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