Page 97 of Fractured Frets

“You and Slip will have that opportunity after the tour.” Ava nodded. “Just be patient.”

Slip swam to the side of the pool and waggled his hooked finger at me. “Come here, babe.”

Butterflies and nerves swarmed through my belly. “After this glass.”

Mischief flared in his eyes. “Nah-ah. Now.”

When he looked at me like that, all reason and control disappeared. But I held my ground by a very fine thread. “Wine first.”

“I gave you fair warning.” He hauled himself out of the pool and sauntered toward me. Water glistened and dripped off his cut body. Those abs. That V. Mmmm. I momentarily forgot how to breathe. He scooped me up in his arms and turned toward the pool.

“Slip. No!” I squealed. “My drink.”

In a flash, Sutton swiped the glass from my hands. Slip dashed toward the water and jumped in with me in his arms.

Beneath the surface, water and bubbles swirled around me. The cool water was welcoming and refreshing against my skin, and provided relief from the dry summer heat.

As we came up for air, he wound his arms tighter around me and kissed me. “Much better.”

I swept his wet hair off his face. “Crazy man.”

“You love me. Can’t deny it.”

I placed my hands on his head and pushed him under the water. He blew bubbles between my legs, kissing the front of my bikini bottoms. Giggling, I swam back a foot.

He resurfaced and laughed. “Happy?”

I splashed water in his face. “When you do that...hell yeah.”

“That’s my cue to leave. I’m out of here.” Harper glided past us over to the steps and exited the pool. She stopped in our direct line of view and realigned her skimpy bikini bottom, revealing everything. No imagination was required to visualize what was underneath.

What the fuck? Dumbstruck, I pointed my hand at her. “Can you not do that please, Harper?”

“What?” She winked at Slip, grabbed her towel, and wrapped it around herself, then flapped her fingers at Cole. “I’ll take the kids inside and get them ready for bed.”

“Thanks, Harps.” Cole, apparently oblivious to what had happened, lifted Charlotte out of the water. Harper draped a fresh fluffy towel around Charlotte’s shoulders, dried her, then did the same to Josh. She took their hands and led the kids inside.

“Finished perving?” I play-punched Slip’s arm. “Did she have to flash her pussy at you?”

“Okay. That was hard not to see.” Chuckling, Slip caught my hand and pulled me into his embrace. “But she’s trying to get a rise out of you. Don’t let her get to you. She could strip naked, and I wouldn’t care.”

“That was not cool.”

“No, it wasn’t.” He rubbed my arms. “I’ll talk to her and tell her to stop.”

“I don’t want you near her.”

“I’m usually not.”

I wanted to be comfortable around her, accept her, but it was hard when she did shit like that.

“Hey?” Slip brushed his lips against mine. “Let’s go for a walk. Please?”

Tension twisted in my temples. Harper had rubbed me the wrong way. A walk would do me good. “Okay.”

We jumped out of the pool, dried off, and pulled on T-shirts over our wet clothes, not bothering to change in the hot evening and put on flip-flops. Slip grabbed a joint and lighter out of his bag, then took my hand and led me toward the vineyard. He waved to everyone as we headed off. “We’ll catch up with you later. ’Night.”

But as we ambled down the hill through the rows of vines, I struggled to put one foot in front of the other. We had to talk about so much, make future plans, but my mind wasn’t in a good place, thanks to Harper.

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