Page 36 of Stone Rules

“Rule number seven, right?”

He looks surprised.

I tap a finger to my temple. “Not as dumb as you thought, huh?”

He looks annoyed with me. “I never said you were dumb. Besides,” —he touches my red hair, that when wet, extends to my lower back— “you don’t exactly fit the bill.”

“Are you saying onlyblondesare dumb?”

Well, he did sort of walk right into that one.

“Uh, no. Well, except for Gretchen. She’s dumb,” he jokes and I laugh with him.

Someone clears their throat and Ethan and I look up, having all but forgotten we had company.

“Yeah, about that,” Ethan says, nodding at the camera. “Any chance you can conveniently lose that footage?”

I elbow him. “Or at least give it tous,” I tease them with a wink.

I look at the stern expression on their faces and give them my best pouty face. “Oh, come on. That was funny.”

Ethan climbs out of the pool and stands next to them. I get it. As a guy, he more than likely felt small down here with them towering over us. But damn . . . the amount of testosterone I see before me is astounding. The collective strength of these four men standing here could power a small town.

It’s now when I realize just how big Ethan really is. I mean, Mason is a professional football player. The man literally works out for a living. But Ethan is just about as tall and almost as broad as he is. And although I’ve yet to see Mason without a shirt on, I’d bet this week’s tips that Ethan’s fine physique could give him a run for his money.

“We could probably lose the footage,” Gavin says to Ethan. “How about you join us for poker night and we’ll let you take care of it yourself. We play every Monday night in the gym office.”

“You want me to join yourpoker game?”Ethan asks, like they just invited him to become a part of some super-secret man club.

“Charlie is like a sister to Piper, Skylar and Baylor,” Mason explains to him. “That makes her our sister-in-law. And we protect our family. Anyone in a relationship with her needs to understand that. Well, that and we just lost our fourth player.”

Ethan takes a step back as if Mason’s words had physically pushed him off balance. “We’re not in a relationship,” he says, his eyes flitting over to me for a brief second. “But I’ll be happy to take your money at poker.”

I berate myself when I realize my heart just sank upon hearing that declaration. Again.This is nothing new, Charlie.

I shake it off and put my big-girl panties on. “I’ll just leave you boys to it then.” I swim to the other side of the pool and climb out to get my towel.

Faster than I can dry off, Ethan is in front of me again. “Is your leg injured?”

I look down at my slightly swollen ankle and then back up at his concerned eyes. I didn’t think any of them were watching me get out of the pool with their looming poker game and all.

“It’s no big deal. I went for a run earlier and twisted it.” I shrug. “I guess I should just stick to swimming.”

“You coming?” Griffin shouts from across the pool.

Ethan holds up his hand with outstretched fingers, never breaking eye contact with me. “Give me five to shower and change,” he yells back.

“You were limping, Charlie. Maybe you should see a doctor.”

“I’m fine. I’ll go home and ice it. It’s no big deal. Really.”

He holds my stare. He’s searching for the truth behind my eyes. I can see the questions.Did I really injure it running? Is it really fine?But I’m very good at hiding the truth. Just ask Jan Mitchell. Or the ten police officers who came to my childhood home over the years. Or any man who ever asked if it was‘good for me, too.’

I walk towards the locker room, trying my best not to limp even though it hurts like hell. “Go,” I tell him. “Have fun at poker night.”

“I’ll try,” he says behind me, walking away.

I spin around and follow him. I should tell him he doesn’t have to play along with their little game of luring him to poker night. He doesn’t have to make nice with them. After all, like he said, we’re not in a relationship.

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