I sat down on the bed next to him and slid my hand casually back across the bedspread toward the tights and leotard, now behind him on the bed.
“So are you saving yourself for me, is that it?” he asked and met my eyes.
Chapter 2
With Max sitting so close I could feel the heat of the outside of his thigh pressed against my jeans. I tried to keep my breathing steady as I looked into his eyes. I knew that he was joking. I’d seen the women he dated, and they did not look like me. But he was always lavishing me with praise, as if I was just as beautiful. Sometimes, I wasn’t sure if he was teasing me or being serious, but he never put me down.
“I’m going to a class,” I said quietly, snatching up my black leotard and tights.
“What kind of class?” He leaned back on my bed, placing his hands behind him.
“Sort of a dance class,” I said, thankful that I’d gotten the leotard out of the way before he could spot it.
“What’s this?” Max sat up with a piece of paper in his hand.
I thought nothing of it at first, until I realized what it was.
“Max, give me that!”
My heart was pounding. I so did not want to deal with telling him about this right now. But he was already reading it.
“Pole dancing,” he read out loud. “Why is this highlighted and surrounded by stars?” He glanced up at me as I lunged across the bed, grabbing the list out of his hand.
“Mine!” I said just a little too loudly, and he laughed.
“Is that the dance class? Pole dancing?” He narrowed his eyes as he looked at me.
“Maybe,” I said, tucking the list into my pocket.
“So that’s what the leotard is for.” He had a mischievous grin on his face, and I was annoyed that he’d seen the outfit despite my best efforts to get it out of his eyesight. “Put it on. Let me see you in it.”
“No way, Max.” And he was not going to convince me otherwise. “Some things are private.”
He was quiet for a few seconds as he looked at me intently. “Even from me?”
Oh, definitely from you, I thought.
“This has nothing to do with you, Max, so wipe that pout off your face. It’s not happening.” I got up from the bed, leotard in hand. “The only people that are going to see me in this are the teacher and the other students in the class.”
“Well, where can I sign up?”
I laughed and threw my leotard at him. “Only if you try this on first.”
He grinned and shook his head. “Not my style, Sam. But I think you’ll look fantastic in it. I dare you to wear just that to class. Don’t cover yourself up so much.”
“I know, I know, I’ve lost so much weight, I should be proud, blah, blah, blah,” I said, walking across the room towards the mirror. I had lost about seventy pounds over the past year, leaving me at my new svelte size of one hundred and eighty pounds.
“No, Sammy,” he said and sat forward a bit on the bed. “You should be proud no matter what you weigh, because you’re gorgeous. Nothing can change that.”
I smiled at him in the mirror and he smiled back. He always knew just what to say to make me feel better.
“So are you going to do it?” he asked, his smile turning devilish. “Just the tights and the leotard, nothing else.”
“Maybe. But you won’t find out because you’re not going!”
“Fine.” He threw himself backwards on my bed, silent for several seconds.
I wondered what he was thinking, as there was nothing particularly interesting about the ceiling that he seemed to be studying so intently.
“So what’s the paper for?” he asked. “I noticed it’s like a list.”
“None of your business,” I said, turning back to the mirror, trying to look as casual as possible.
“So many secrets.” He frowned and stared at my reflection. “I thought I was your best friend.”
Max was very good at laying on the guilt trip, but I didn’t have time for any of it at the moment.
“Best guy friend.” I smiled at him. “That means you don’t get to be in on some secrets. You should be grateful for that,” I added with a laugh.
“I’m not grateful at all. That’s just discrimination,” he said, and I couldn’t help but notice that he seemed genuinely upset. “I thought you were more evolved than that.”
“Nope, I’m not more evolved than that,” I said and turned to face him. “Now get off my bed, get out of my apartment, and go fix some computers.”
He wiped his hand over his eyes and mouth and shook his head. “That is not what I do.”
I knew what was coming next and I really didn’t have time for it.
“Would you like me to explain it again?” he asked.
“No, please don’t.” I laughed and shook my head.
Max had tried several times to explain his high-tech job to me, but I still didn’t quite get it.
“I think you should quit your tinkering and come back to the Fluff and Stuff.”
“Ah, the good old Fluff and Stuff,” Max said with a slight shake of his head. “The only laundromat where I can wash my boxers and buy a box of junk.”
“Like you wear boxers.” I winked at him.
It was Max’s turn to blush a little.
“And it’s not junk, it’s unique one-of-a-kind items,” I said, always quick to defend the job that had come to mean a lot to me over the years. “I love the Fluff and Stuff. You used to love it too.”
“Right, while I was still in college, studying for my real job.”
His words stung a little and took me by surprise. I frowned as I turned away from him.
“It’s real enough to me,” I said quietly.
“I’m sorry, Sam. I didn’t mean it that way,” he said quickly. “I just meant—you know—when we started working there, we were both just out of high school. It was a college gig for both of us.”
“But you finished college and I couldn’t pick a major,” I said and shook my head, annoyed at where the conversation was headed. I started to push Max towards the door. “I have to get to class.”
Max turned to face me. “Sam, please. You know I didn’t mean anything by it.”
I looked back at him and couldn’t help but smile. His obvious concern for my feelings was touching.
“I know you didn’t, Max. Besides, I’m the manager now, and that’s much more important than fixing computers,” I said with a shrug.
“Sam, that is not what I do.”
“Well, whatever you do”—I waved my hand towards the door of my apartment—“go do it, so I can get ready for class.”
“Remember, just the leotard!” he hollered over his shoulder, and I could hear him laughing as he walked away.
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Lifeguards and Liars (Summer in Diamond Bay, Book 1)
Chapter 1
The rumble of the waves that crashed into the sand was punctuated by the laughter of children. Blu Parker took a deep breath of the salty air. She loved getting away from the busy city life to spend the summer at the beach house in Diamond Bay. It was one of the best perks of her current nanny job.
She watched Marley’s damp blonde curls bounce as she ran back and forth across the sand in front of her. Joey threatened her with a fist full of wet sand.
“Joey! No throwing sand!” Blu’s sharp voice shattered the otherwise peaceful beach.
Joey stuck out his tongue and puffed out his chest.
“Joey, put it down right this second!” Blu unwound herself from the comfortable position she’d settled into moments before and sprang to her feet.
Joey seemed to sense how t
hin her patience was as he dropped the mud. “She keeps trying to step on my castle! Make her stop!”
“I am not!” Marley stuck her hands on her hips.
“Here.” Blu used her big toe to draw a wide circle around Joey’s castle. “Marley, you’re not allowed to go inside of this circle. Understand?” She met the four-year-old’s bright blue eyes with her own.
“Okay.” Marley stuck the tips of her toes at the edge of the line.
“Stop it!” Joey stomped his foot.
“I’m not in the circle!” Marley stuck out her tongue.
Blu took another deep breath of the salty air. “Look at that, Marley—a little crab.” She pointed to the small creature that scuttled across the sand.
Marley chased after it, forgetting all about her brother’s castle.
Joey was seven, lanky, and on the verge of being a teenager—according to him. He didn’t have much patience for his little sister’s antics. Blu looked forward to the two spending a little time apart when Joey would be going back to school at the end of summer. But summer had just begun, and Blu had to find creative ways to keep the siblings from torturing one another.
She settled back down on the beach blanket and glanced over at the lifeguard tower. She always tried to arrive early at the beach to get a spot near the lifeguard. She chose to be close, because she felt it was safer for the kids. Other nannies fought to be near the tower because of the bronzed god that perched atop it.
The pristine sand was dotted with other young nannies all in perfect shape and unafraid to wear string bikinis, no matter how ridiculous they looked when they bounded after the toddlers they looked after. Blu, on the other hand, had never been able to wear anything other than a one-piece—she felt naked otherwise.
She dug her toenails into the sand to hide the paint job that Marley had done on her nails that morning. There was more polish on her toes than on her nails.
Marley ran by and whacked Blu’s brown ponytail. Blu laughed and caught the little girl around the waist. She pulled her close and tickled her belly. As Marley squealed and broke free Blu was reminded of what a good life she lived. Most of the time she was surrounded by luxury and she got to spend her summers at the beach.
“Blu, want to go for a swim?” Joey looked up at her with one of his rare bright smiles.
“Sure, Joey. Let me wrangle Marley.” She stood up and scooped up Marley before she could evade her. “Let’s cool off in the waves for a bit.”
“Careful now, there’s a strong riptide.”
His voice was as smooth as one of the waves that rolled in the distance. Blu squinted through the sunlight to smile at Sam, the lifeguard. “Thanks for the warning.”
He nodded and returned his eyes to the water.
She could feel the jealous stares of the other girls. That’s what they were to her—girls. At twenty-eight, Blu considered herself a nanny for life, while many of the others were just there for the summer—a way to help pay for college for many of them.
She shielded her green eyes and looked out at the other people in the water. It wasn’t too crowded. She could see one familiar face. “Maddie! Hey, Maddie!”
Maddie ducked a big splash that a ten-year-old girl sent flying in her direction. Her black hair was soaked and her already tanned skin was baked even darker by the sunlight.
“She’s trying to drown me, Blu!”
Sam stood up on the lifeguard stand. “Everything okay out there?”
For just a split second Maddie looked as if she might sink down into the water just to get his attention, but at the last moment she waved her hand to show that she was okay. Blu rolled her eyes. Maddie didn’t care that she was twenty-seven and far too old to be lusting after a man barely out of his teens. Blu, Joey, and Marley waded their way into the water.
“Chrissa, stop it!” Maddie splashed the ten-year-old back.
“My hair, Maddie! What are you thinking!” Chrissa touched her glossy brown hair. “Really, you know better.”
Blu cringed at the way Chrissa talked to Maddie. It wasn’t unusual for spoiled kids to boss their nannies around, but Chrissa could be especially difficult to deal with.
“Well, if you don’t want to get your hair wet, then maybe you shouldn’t be in the water.” Blu spoke in a polite but pointed tone to Chrissa.
“That’s not really any of your business, is it?” Chrissa fluffed her hair, then she dove right into the next wave with no concern for her hair.
“Wow, she’s in rare form today.” Maddie rolled her eyes.
“Don’t let it get to you, Maddie. Remember she’s going to push all your buttons. You have to be able to keep your cool.”
“I know, I know. I don’t know how you’ve done it for so long. I mean, I’m just getting my feet wet, so to speak, and what has it been? Almost ten years for you?”
“Eight. I started nannying while I was in college to help pay my tuition.”
“Right. I remember.” Maddie laughed. “While I was busy trying to get Glenn to marry me, you were busy trying to become a journalist.”
“You see how well that worked out for both of us.” Blu grinned.
“Watch it! The divorce is still fresh!” Maddie laughed. “You’re right, though. Who knew when we graduated high school that our lives would end up like this? I always thought we’d be the rich and the elite, not the ones raising their kids.”
Chapter 2
Blu looked over at Marley and Joey wistfully. “They have their whole lives ahead of them. I always wonder where they’ll end up.”
“Hey, our lives aren’t over! In fact, I have a date tonight with an investment banker.”
“Liar!”
“What?”
“They’re never investment bankers. Any guy that claims to be an investment banker is probably a teller or one of those fly-by-night stockbrokers.”
“Oh, kill my dream, why don’t you!” Maddie stuck out her tongue. “Doesn’t matter—he’s hot enough he could be a bus boy and I wouldn’t care.”
Blu rolled her eyes and splashed her friend. “I thought you were waiting for Sam?”
“Yes, well, Sam might be a bit young for me.”
“Now you see it?”
“I’m not even sure if he’s old enough to drink yet.”
As if summoned by their conversation, Sam leaped down from the lifeguard tower and charged into the water. Blu turned to look in the direction he was headed. She saw that a young boy—about Joey’s age—had been pulled past the waves.
“Maddie, watch Marley and Joey for me!”
“Sure. Why?”
Blu didn’t take time to answer. She dove in and took off swimming toward the boy. She was much closer and could reach him much faster than Sam. As her arms swung through the water she could see that his head had started to bob. He was losing his ability to stay above the water.
She swam harder and faster. Then she felt the smooth skin of his arm. She grabbed it and pulled him close. The boy clung to her a little too tight. In his panic, he pulled at her neck and shoulders. She fought to keep them both above water. Just when she thought she would go under, a strong arm wrapped around her waist.
“It’s alright, I’m here. You’re safe.”
Blu smiled with relief. Sam swam them back toward the shore with the boy tucked under his arm and Blu nestled against his side.
“I’m fine, I can swim from here.” She started to pull away, but he held her tight.
“Not until we’re on the sand.”
Blu tried to ignore the impact of being held by Sam. No, she wasn’t enamored with him, but she also wasn’t immune to the way the warmth of his muscular chest made her forget about what had almost happened.
Once they were on the beach, Maddie and the kids rushed out of the water after them.
The boy’s nanny ran toward him. “Joshua! I told you not to go out so far!”
“I’m sorry.” He started to cry.
“Thank you so much.” The young woman gushed at Sa
m. “You’re a hero.”
“I had some help.” Sam winked at Blu. “But you should be more careful. He could have drowned you.”
“I learned my lesson.” Blu smiled in return.
“Are you okay?” Maddie gave her a quick hug.
“I’m fine.”
As Sam walked away, Maddie leaned closer to her friend. “Oh, I bet you’re more than fine. You got the royal treatment, hm?”
“Oh, Maddie!” Blu rolled her eyes.
“I’m bored. Can we go?” Chrissa flipped her hair over her shoulder, interrupting them.
“Sure, alright. Get your stuff.” Maddie waved to Blu as she walked away.
Blu played in the sand with Joey and Marley as the afternoon hours faded away. She played beach volleyball with them toward the end of the day.
One of her goals as a nanny was always to keep the kids as active as possible. She’d been very active as a child and believed it was a great way to stay healthy and happy.
Joey sent the beach ball flying across the sand. Blu chased after it. It enlivened her to run, as she’d spent her entire high school years on the track team. She fetched the beach ball and turned back to the kids.
As she walked back across the sand, the sunset drew her attention. It was a beautiful evening for a walk on the beach.
Marley tugged at her hand. “I’m starving, Blu. Please, I’m so hungry!”
“We’re going to go have dinner now. As soon as I find your brother’s shoe.” She shook out the beach blanket. In the sand she caught sight of the blue tip of a flip-flop. She reached down to dig it out of the sand. As she did, she heard a familiar voice.
She glanced up in time to see a woman beside the lifeguard tower. Her expensive dress had no place on the beach and she looked totally out of place. Though she wore a wide-brimmed black hat, Blu knew exactly who she was.
Penelope Ross—one of the wealthiest and high-powered female CEOs in America. But in that moment she seemed as enamored with Sam as Maddie was.
“Don’t look, Blu, it’s not your business.” She tried to focus on folding up the blanket. The kids kicked small fountains of sand up into the air as they waited for her.
Forty and Free: A Sweet Romance Series Bundle - Books 5 - 8 Page 51
