Page 13 of Tempest

“Said like a man who knows which side his bread is buttered on,” Vivi called out.

“I do love my bread buttered.”

Ivy and Ryan groaned simultaneously. “Lord have mercy upon my innocent ears,” Ivy yelled from the middle of the pool.

“I’m going to change,” Ryan called as he strode into the guest house.

When he emerged in his borrowed swim trunks, he heard an audible gulp from Ivy. She stood still in the middle of the pool with her hands on the kids’ floaties. Was that a good gulp or a bad one? He was in shape, but he had a ton of scars from his years on the Teams. He also didn’t ascribe to all that manscaping that was so popular now. He didn’t wax anything, and maybe she found it unappealing. He had never worried for a second about what a woman thought about him one way or another. He’d always figured that if the woman wasn’t interested, then neither was he.

He walked over to the pool and stepped in. When he got closer to Ivy and the kids, he saw warm desire in her eyes. Letting out an internal breath, he silently high-fived himself. The heat in her eyes told him that she liked what she saw. Whatever came out of her mouth in the next ten minutes wouldn’t mean a thing. If he had to guess, she was going to do everything she could to fight it. That was okay. She wouldn’t win in the end. The dance was starting, and this was just the beginning. He planned on getting a kiss by the end of the evening, as well as a date to Trevor and Katie’s wedding. “Jordan, let’s show these girls how it’s done.”

“What’s done?” Ivy asked as she released her grip on Jordan’s floaty.

“Baby floaty races,” Ryan responded. “The men challenge the women to a race across the pool.”

Ivy smiled at Tory and shook her head. “Victoria Elizabeth McDade, let this be your first lesson in the fragile male ego. Trust me when I tell you it doesn’t ever get better. What we’re seeing today is going to be no different than what you see twenty years from now.”

Ryan snorted, lifted Jordan’s hand, and high-fived him. “Jordan, women never understand that we do all of this just so we can impress them. All we want is for them to like us.” Glancing over, he grinned at Ivy. “We just want to impress them enough to give us a chance.”

“Is that what you want, Ryan? A chance.”

“Yes. That’s what I want.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure. All I know is that I don’t have much of a choice about it.”

“What about free will?”

“Don’t seem to have much of that when it comes to you.” He watched her head tilt and a big smile cross her pretty face. When her small hand lifted slowly and landed on his chest, his heart almost exploded.

“Well, a chance it is,” she said quietly.

He was ready to lean over and steal that kiss he’d been dreaming of, but both of the McDade twins decided it was the perfect moment to voice their opinion about the matter.

Startled, Ivy moved away and took Tory on a slow tour of the pool. Ryan followed with Jordan and figured the kiss would have to wait. A smart move, considering the twins probably saw enough kissing with their parents. Those two barely had a shred of control. Ryan hoped like hell to have a tenth of what they had someday.

***

Vivi stood at the kitchen window and clapped her hands. “It’s working, Joel.”

He ambled over and rested his hand on his wife’s back. “Your matchmaking plot may actually have a chance of succeeding.”

“The way they’re looking at each other tells me there is more than a chance. I knew it when I was in the office the other day. She looks at him like he’s a hot fudge sundae, and he looks at her the same way.”

When she straightened up and turned, she found herself in her husband’s arms. “I love you more each day,” she said, “and I want Ivy to have a chance at what we have. I know it’s going to take a strong man to take her on, and I think Ryan is the one for the job.”

“My sweet, romantic wife.”

She kissed him and then stepped away. “Let’s finish making dinner. I have a feeling that Ryan is dying to get her alone.”

“Lord save anyone who gets between you and your ideas.”

“I don’t think the Lord is going to be involved in any of the plans that I have in mind,” Vivi replied as she opened the fridge.

“Probably true,” Joel mumbled.

***

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