The Pool Boy (Nashville Neighborhood 2)

“You saw us arguing,” she guessed.

I gave a plain look. “What I saw was Mr. Graham being a fucking idiot. He turned you down when nearly every other guy in the place would have killed to be with you. You know that, right?”

It didn’t look like she believed me, but it was the truth.

I made a face. “That shit pissed me off. How could he pass on you?” I crossed my arms. “I watched y’all together after that night, but it made it worse. He never touched you, didn’t pay attention. Sometimes, I don’t think he was aware you were even in the room.”

The breeze blew, ruffling her hair, but she didn’t move to push the strands back out of her face. The intensity between us had her locked in her chair.

“I always knew when you were around.” My voice went soft. “So, I figured if he wasn’t interested . . . I’d try to show you a guy who was.”

She blinked, slowly processing all of it. “You’re saying you learned to play the guitar, because you wanted to . . . fuck me?”

My chest expanded with a deep breath, and I rubbed the pads of my fingers against my forehead. “Okay, so it doesn’t sound great when you say it like that.”

It was encouraging that she didn’t look like it sounded all that bad to her. Warmth colored her cheeks. “But we never talked.”

“I was working up to that.” I quirked the corner of my mouth into a pained smile. “Your pool is the only one I work on.”

She pressed her lips together. “Your master plan was to seduce me with clean skimmers and perfectly balanced pH?”

I laughed. “I told you, I was working on it.” I didn’t know how long she’d need after her divorce. She wasn’t dating yet, according to my mom. “Look, maybe it’s weird or it doesn’t make sense to you—but it makes sense to me. You’re hot. Us together? We’d be off the charts. And don’t act like you’re not interested.” My dirty mouth hadn’t shocked her before—in fact, she’d responded to it. I smirked as I went in for the kill. “Shit, you’re looking at me right now like you want me to bend you over this table.”

She straightened uncomfortably in her seat, which told me everything I needed to know. She was visualizing it right this second, me pulling her from her chair, getting her pants down, and bending her over until her tits were pressed against the wrought iron.

I loaded it with seduction. “You want me to?”

She tangled her fingers together in her lap, pinching her knees together. “It doesn’t matter what I want, because you can’t do that.”

Was she kidding? “Yeah, I fucking can.”

“No.” She sighed. “I mean, we can’t.”

I flexed the muscles in my jaw with annoyance. “Why not?”

“Because if I slept with you, I might lose my job.”

I . . . hadn’t thought about that, but there was an easy solution. “We don’t have to tell anyone,” I offered. “I’ve already proven I can keep a secret.”

Hadn’t I? I wasn’t talking about hiding what we’d done in the pool house from my mom or my performances at Blanche’s either. I meant the years I’d gone secretly wanting her. Waiting to strike when the time was right.

Wasn’t it now?

She sucked in a heavy breath and stared at me like she wanted to give in.

Just say yes, Erika.

“You’re asking me,” I said, “to take a chance on this audition. I think it’s only fair you take a chance on me.”

She gazed at me like she was standing on the edge of a cliff. “That’s it? Your final offer?”

“Yeah.” I was confident she was going to agree to it. How could she not?

The breeze stopped blowing, and the moment hung for an eternity. Much longer than I expected it to, and I searched her eyes for her answer.

She rose from her seat. “The pool’s been cloudy the past two days. Come see me when you’re done.”

What?

No.

It felt like I’d been punched in the chest. My mouth dropped open, and I sat in shock, watching as she strode quickly toward the house, abandoning me at the table with the two glasses of melted iced tea.

I’d fucking blown it and I didn’t know where to go now or what to do next.

I’d been so sure she’d see this was a total win-win. But she didn’t come back out of the house, and . . . I couldn’t sit there all day like the idiot I was.

I took my time while cleaning her pool, trying to come up with a way to salvage the situation. I considered my options as I tested the water, skimmed its surface, and added the right chemicals in to balance the alkalinity.

When I put away the last of the supplies and made my way across the covered patio, Erika was waiting for me just inside her house. She slid open the back door and hovered, her hand still latched on the handle. I slowed my pace as I gazed at her, confusion wiping out the things I was going to say.