Saturday morning, Blake woke up with a sense of relief. At least today, he wouldn’t have to face riding to work with Jill where he’d have to keep up a steady conversation of business to keep from asking her the question that burned inside him like a smoldering chunk of coal. Why was she spending so much time with Trevor?
The day before, he’d stayed late at the office and had Rick drive her home then come back to get him, just so he wouldn’t be tempted to give her the third degree. He acknowledged that he still would have been annoyed if it had been someone else, but Trevor made him uneasy. He had credited Jill with better judgment than to encourage someone like him. True, she’d only gone to lunch with Trevor one other time that he knew of, but all too often if he needed Jill, he would find her at his desk or him at hers. He wanted to warn her, but after his unwise comments about her social life the other day, he didn’t think she would listen anyway.
Maybe a weekend at the ranch would help him get over it. It always relaxed and focused him to do dirty, physical work and be around his animals. The part he was looking forward to most, however, was spending time with Hayden. Her attitude was always better out at the ranch, and they got along well for the most part out there. She’d be leaving home soon, and he felt a rising sense of dread that maybe he was failing as the only parental figure in her life.
It was going to be a blisteringly hot day, so Blake decided to start the weekend the way he always did during the summer—with a swim.
Changing into swim trunks, he stepped onto the deck outside his bedroom and headed for the stairs that descended to the pool courtyard below. He paused when he saw Jill doing yoga and let his gaze linger on her slim but curvy form as she stretched out on her mat—strong arms supporting her, legs stretched straight behind her, and butt up in the air.
He swallowed hard and almost turned back around, but this was his pool. He was darn well going to use it whenever he wanted. Even if a beautiful woman in skin-tight clothes was contorting her body nearby. Even if that woman annoyed the fire out of him.
Jill hadn’t looked at him, and when he realized she had earbuds in her ears, he didn’t try to say hello. He just went to the deep end of the pool and dove in.
The cold water rushed over his body, both shocking and refreshing. He swam back and forth across the length of the pool a dozen times before he hauled himself out and sat on the edge of the pool to catch his breath.
It took a moment to wipe the water from his eyes, but when he could see clearly, he realized Jill was sitting beside him. She still had her yoga clothes on, but she dangled her feet in the water next to him.
“Man, that feels good,” she said. “How do you keep the water so cold? I expected it to feel like a bathtub in this heat.”
“I’ve got a heat pump that keeps it a consistent temperature all year. I like it at eighty-two degrees.”
Jill laughed and splashed the water with her toes. “I always like seeing how billionaires spend their money.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. And I give this pool two thumbs up. It’s gorgeous.”
“But it sounds like you haven’t tried it out yet.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to impose.”
Blake laughed. “It’s a pool, not my bedroom.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to suck them back in. What happened to the filter on his mouth when she was around?
She grinned at him. “So, pool, yes… bedroom, no?”
“You know I just meant one is a private space and one… not so much. Did you bring a swimsuit with you?”
“I never go anywhere without one.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Go get it on.”
Jill tilted her head to the side, thinking about it. “Why not? Be right back.”
She stood up, her feet sloshing as she pulled them out of the water. When she was gone, Blake closed his eyes against the growing brightness of the morning sun. “What are you thinking, man?”
But when she returned wearing a black swimsuit with a deep v-cut neckline that was only marginally pulled together with black laces, he knew what he’d been thinking. Of course, the logical part of his brain hadn’t exactly been consulted.
Jill walked over and sat next to him again, and Blake quite literally felt his pulse speed up. “Aren’t you going to get in?”
“Are you?” she asked.
Blake smiled. “I already swam my laps.”
“Come on. I don’t want to swim by myself.”
Blake rolled his eyes, but just to tease her. There was no way he wasn’t swimming with her. He slid back into the pool, making sure to splash her in the process.
“Yikes! That’s colder than I thought.”
“Come on,” Blake said. “Don’t be a baby.”
Reaching out, he took her hand and pulled. She resisted for just a moment, then gave in and slipped into the water. She went under and kicked his leg as she tried to get up to the surface again.
Grabbing the side of the pool, she gasped and said, “How deep is it here?”
“Ten feet.”
“That was a bit of a shock.”
He laughed. “Hope you aren’t one of those girls who doesn’t like to get their hair wet.”
“Lucky for you, I’m not.”
She turned to face him then and put her hands on his shoulders. The movement caught him by surprise, so all he could do was tread water and try to figure out what to do with his hands. He had a strong urge to slip them around her waist and pull her close. Is that what she wanted? Was she putting the moves on him?
But before he got any further with that thought, Jill pushed down hard on his shoulders, dunking him below the surface. He was too shocked to do anything but sink, even after he went too far down for her to keep pushing on his shoulders. He was just starting to plot his revenge when she pulled up her knees, planted her feet on his shoulders, and pushed him further down.
Unable to stop it, he let out a heave of air, that would have been a laugh out of the water. As the last of his oxygen left him in a column of bubbles, he kicked for the surface, all too aware that Jill was swimming to the other end of the pool.
After taking a couple of deep breaths, he swam after her. He cornered her at the other end of the pool, catching her just in time to block her from escaping up the steps.
She was laughing so hard she wasn’t able to mount much of an attempt at escape. Bracing his arm on either edge of the pool, he stared down at her.
“That was a dirty trick.”
“I couldn’t help it. And you deserved it.”
“Oh yeah?” He grabbed her by the waist, this time with no intention of pulling her close. Her smooth skin was slick beneath his hands as he pulled her away from the edge of the pool.
“What are you doing?” she asked, gripping his arms.
“Paying you back.”
“No. Don’t you dare,” she said, though he could barely understand her through her laughter.
But he did dare, and he derived great satisfaction from lifting her out of the water and heaving her back into the deep end.
She fell backward, tilting to one side as she fell, and a big splash mushroomed out from the point of impact.
When she surfaced, she threw her head back to get her hair out of her eyes and swam back toward him. As soon as she could touch again, she put her feet down and stalked toward him with her hands out like claws. “You’re going to get it.”
Laughing, Blake caught her hands, and let her push him. She was no match for his strength, but she had some good moves. Dropping her hands, she turned to try ramming him with her shoulder, but he caught her around the waist, stopping her momentum. He turned her and pressed her back against his chest, his arms banding around her waist. Holding her tight, he felt her sleek legs tangle around his and realized his quickened breath wasn’t just from their friendly wrestling match. Every inch of contact between them made him tingle with awareness, and with his shoulders curved tightly around hers, he realized too late that he’d done a pitiful job at keeping his distance.
She turned then, so that her lips, glistening with water and slightly open, were inches from his own. Blake didn’t know whether to curse or kiss her. Both seemed like an equally good idea.
Then a sharp, high-pitched voice across the pool shattered the moment. “Blake, what are you doing?”
He turned and saw his sister standing with her arms folded across her chest and her hip stuck out.
Blake dropped his arms and moved away from Jill. “Swimming.”
“Yeah, that’s what it looked like.”
“You need to work on your sarcasm,” he said. “It’s not quite obvious enough.”
Hayden glared at him. “I thought we were going to the ranch today, but here you are putting the moves on your consultant.”
“Go inside and get ready to go. We’ll talk about this later.” When his sister continued to stare belligerently at him, he said, “Now, Hayden. Don’t push me.”
When she turned and left, Blake turned back to find Jill getting out of the pool. He moved forward and grasped her arm to stop her. “Jill, I’m sorry.”
She turned back and smiled, though he was sure it was forced. Her face looked more closed off than usual. “Don’t worry about it, Blake. I’m a big girl.”
“What are you going to do this weekend?” he asked. He hated leaving things so awkwardly with her, but with Hayden acting the way she was, there was no way he could ask her to the ranch.
“I don’t know yet. I’ll work some and play some. I’m pretty good at entertaining myself.”
Blake had no doubt about that. She probably already had a dozen men ready and willing to take her out.
“Have fun then,” he forced himself to say.
“Oh, I will,” she said over her shoulder as she walked into the pool house and closed the door behind her.
Clenching his jaw, Blake got out of the pool, the cool water sluicing off him and leaving a puddle on the hot tile. He grabbed a towel off a lounge chair and dried off, watching the dark footsteps Jill left behind drying quickly in the heat. Soon there would be no sign left that they’d even gone swimming, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t forget it anytime soon.
***
Blake looked across the seat of his truck to where Hayden stared out the window. The flat scenery with only an occasional small town and other cars couldn’t be that interesting.
“Are you going to talk to me?” he asked.
Silence.
“Look, whatever beef you have with me, you shouldn’t take out on Jill.”
“Whatever.”
“She’s a cool person. You’d probably like her if you gave her chance.”
“Sure. I bet she’s just full of personality and intelligence.”
“Yes, actually. And she’s nice.”
“That’s got to be a first. Most of the women you date are about as friendly as a barbed-wire fence.”
Blake looked across at her with lowered brows but turned quickly back to the road. “Those are dates, not women I have a relationship with.”
“So, you are in a relationship with Jill?”
Blake whipped his head back in her direction, frustrated that he was losing control of this situation. “What? No. We haven’t even gone on a date. She’s working with me for a short time, then she’ll be off somewhere else.” Ensnaring a whole new group of men.
“Well, good, because you swore you’d never marry anyone like Mom, but Jill seems an awful lot like her.”
It felt like a stone dropped in Blake’s stomach at the mention of their mother. They had different fathers, which was part of the problem. His mom had married and divorced three men in her life, and all of them had been a stepping stone in her career. She’d been a very rich and successful business woman until her career ended abruptly with a prison sentence. No one would have ever accused her of spending more time than she had to with her children though.
From their first conversation, he’d thought that Jill at least recognized that balancing a family while building a career was nearly impossible. Since they shared this opinion, and since they were both committed to their careers, it was clear that they weren’t meant to be. Images from the pool flashed through his mind, and even though his heart started pounding, he clenched his jaw and resolved to not let anything like that happen again.
“Earth to Blake,” Hayden said.
Focusing on his sister again, he said, “Sorry. Look, don’t worry. I’m not getting involved with Jill. She’s a very attractive woman, but I’m not going to lose my head over her. Will you please relax and stop treating her so badly? It puts me in a difficult position and, frankly, it disappoints me.”
Hayden frowned and shrugged. “Fine. Can we just forget about her now?”
Blake took the turnoff to his ranch and said, “Absolutely. For the rest of the weekend, it’s just you, me, and the horses.”
“And chores.”
“That’s the best part.” And maybe if he worked hard enough, he might keep his promise to forget about Jill.