Page 25 of Slippery When Wet

“As far as kissing strangers in pools, I’m the only one I want you kissing from here on out, so I hope you got that our of your system yesterday,” I playfully scolded, and she giggled.

“Okay.”

“Good.” I pressed my lips to the top of her head. If I kissed her, I wasn’t sure I’d stop.

“Abe?” she called, and I looked at her. “You were my first kiss,” she reminded me, and I grabbed her again. My head dipped down to meet her eye level.

“You have no fucking idea how fucking honored I am that you chose me.” Our lips grazed lightly against one another. Our mutual air mingled just faintly before I stepped away. It killed, but I had to think long term.

This was our first official wild lesson, and all I’d done was take her out to work sites. I ran my fingers through my hair and frowned. I used to be a freaking SEAL, for goodness sakes. I jumped out of planes and swam in ice-cold waters in the dead of night. I pulled people out of terrible situations and carried them to safety.

But this was the craziest lesson I could come up with?

Maybe I’d lost my edge?

Would I be too boring for her?

“We should get started.” I cleared my throat. My voice sounded scratchy in my ears.

“Right.” Her gaze dropped to my lips with so much longing, longing I felt to the tips of my toes. But I knew if we didn’t get going in there, nothing would be done.

I didn’t care about the pool. I could have easily called one of my guys to come out first thing. Hell, I didn’t care if the fucking thing turned black. But this is for Abby.

I reached and grabbed the tools I’d need with one hand. My free hand was taken a moment later without me having to reach for hers because she took it and tangled her fingers with mine.

And fuck me if that didn’t feel right.

“So, this place is just… empty?”

“For now.” I skimmed the water. My eyes moved to her. She was walking by the edge of the pool. Fear crept its way up my neck. She was so damn close to the edge. I’d sprayed the patio area down, so the concrete was wet.

“Careful, baby, it’s slippery when wet,” I warned, wishing I had grabbed her a pair of work boots for the millionth time throughout the day. Who the hell was I? Worried? Me?

Love did funny things to a man.

But as a man, even a worried one, I couldn’t stop checking her out.

My eyes roamed up her legs, and when our gazes connected, everything inside of me froze. My arms stopped mid-stroke. There was a glimmer in her dark eyes. A naughty little smirk that played on her perfect lips had me going hard in less than sixty seconds flat.

"Is it now?” Her lips twitched. My forty-two-year-old brain woke the hell up really fast at the double entendre my sweet little princess was making.

“You tell me,” I countered. Her eyes dropped shyly.

I changed the topic and went on to tell her everything it took for maintenance of the pool, the pump, and the water. I knew this shit like I knew the back of my hand, but I kept getting distracted by her.

The way she moved around the pool.

The way she tossed her hair up in a ponytail only to pull it down and let the wind make it dance in the soft breeze.

I kept stuttering, and I wondered if she thought I was some kind of old babbling idiot. “So, the water’s safe?” she asked. “I mean to swim in?”

“Oh, yeah.” I nodded after checking the levels even though I’d known it was fine. It was perfect, actually. The thing hadn’t even needed a bit of chlorine because someone else took care of this spot for me.

I’d just taken her there to see what she thought of the place and take her out onto the sand to have a bonfire after having to shift our plans last minute. Thankfully, one of my guys had run to the store for me to grab supplies for me without her noticing.

“This is my favorite pool of all the ones we saw today,” she mentioned, and I smiled. I was proud of the work we’d done on this property.

“It was one of my first jobs,” I shared, and she grinned. “The place is mine.” Her eyes widened.

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