“But, Daddy . . .” Her tiny lips pursed, and her eyes filled with tears. His thudding heart twisted at the look of devastation on her face.
“Do you understand why I’m mad at you?”
Her tears began to fall, and he could see how much his words affected her by the way her face twisted. “You’re mad at me?” she asked brokenly.
And boy was it hard to cling to that anger when all he wanted to do was hug her and tell her everything was all right. She looked like her entire world was crumbling at her tiny feet.
“I’m very mad at you, Julie. You scared me. I thought you were hurt.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy.” She held out her arms for a hug, but he wasn’t going to let her off the hook that easily, no matter how much he wanted to.
“You’re in time out.”
> Her face fell. “I don’t want to be in time out,” she yelled at him.
“Go sit on that chair,” he said, pointing at a nearby lounge chair that sat low to the ground. She should be able to climb into it without his assistance. He really hoped he didn’t have to bodily drag her to the chair and make her sit in it.
“But, Daddy, I won’t do it no more. I promise.” She touched his shoulder, the look on her face so sincere that he almost laughed.
“You won’t do what anymore?” he asked.
“Go swimming by myself.”
“I’m glad. Now go sit in time out so you don’t forget.”
She wailed a protest as she climbed to her feet and ran to the chair, flopping herself into it with dramatic flair. “I hate time out!” she screamed.
“Four minutes,” Amanda said, handing Julie a kitchen timer.
“Four minutes?” Julie shouted. “I only have to do it for three minutes!”
“You had a birthday, remember?” Amanda said. “You’re four—a big girl—so that means time out is now four minutes.”
Julie frowned at her aunt, but didn’t argue. The timer beeped as Julie started the countdown and sniffled miserably. Apparently, this was not a new punishment to her even if it was the first time Jacob had been forced to use it. And why did he feel so bad for yelling at her and putting her in time out? She needed to be punished so she learned an important lesson.
Amanda slid into the water beside Jacob and patted his shoulder. “You handled that well,” she said quietly.
He flashed her a brief smile for the vote of confidence. “I shouldn’t have yelled.”
“She needed to see how upset her actions made you. You don’t get cross with her often, so when you do, it has a big impact on her.”
“It breaks my heart when she cries.”
She kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear, “Your tenderness with Julie is what I like most about you.”
“Hmm,” he said and shrugged. “I thought it was the tight leather pants.”
Amanda chuckled and slid a hand down his back, gripping his ass beneath the surface of the water. “Maybe I should reevaluate my priorities,” she murmured near his ear.
“Three minutes!” Julie announced. She was watching the countdown on her timer as though she was about to celebrate the arrival of a new millennium, which gave him the opportunity to reciprocate Amanda’s exploration. Only he slipped his fingers beneath the seat of her bikini. His hand gripped the curve of her ass and then shifted until his fingertip breached her tight back entrance.
Amanda’s mouth dropped open and she pulled away. “Naughty,” she hissed at him.
“Are you going to put me in time out?” he asked quietly, not even trying to conceal his ornery smirk.
“Your punishment shall be slow and torturous,” she promised. Her hand slid into the front of his trunks, but stopped short of touching him where he most wanted her slow, torturous touch. “But it will have to wait until after lunch.”
She didn’t need to say why. That was Julie’s naptime. And Jacob planned to exhaust the poor child with swimming and then fill her up with plenty of food so she’d sleep soundly.
“Two minutes,” Julie said, still staring down at the timer, but getting a bit squirmy in her seat.
“For as much as she protests, she doesn’t seem too upset to be in time out,” Jacob said, not feeling quite so bad about making her sit there.
“It’s the timer,” Amanda says. “If she has something to focus on, she doesn’t scream bloody murder the entire time and she knows exactly how much time she has left.”
By the time the gadget beeped, Julie had stopped sniffling and fidgeting. “Can I come swimming now?” she called from her chair.
“You’d better,” Jacob said. “Your Aunt Mander is pretty boring. All she does is float on her back.” And he was doing a piss poor job of not ogling the shiny wet globes of her cleavage peeking above the surface of the water. Her orange swimsuit could not be ignored.
Amanda sent a half-assed spray of water in his direction for his insult. “I’m relaxing,” she said.
“Watch me jump, Daddy!”
He turned just in time to catch the splash from Julie’s rather impressive cannonball directly in his face.
Amanda laughed as he wiped the water from his eyes, and then he held out his arm for Julie to hold onto as she surfaced and treaded water.
“You got him, Julie Bean!”
“That was a huge splash,” he said to Julie’s smiling face. “My turn.”
Julie swam over to Amanda as Jacob climbed out of the pool. Julie was still mostly doggie paddling, but she added a few breaststrokes to expedite her journey through the water. She took to water the same way Jacob had as a child and somehow that little connection between them made him proud.
“Are you ready for a tidal wave?” he asked as he climbed the diving board’s ladder at the deep end of the pool.
“Can I do the diving board, Daddy?” Julie asked.
“When you’re older,” he promised. He’d love to teach her to dive, but not until he got past the fear of her getting hurt. Which would likely be never.
When he was sure his two guests were out of harm’s way at the far end of the pool, he took a brisk step toward the end of the board, feeling it dip beneath his weight. At just the right instant, he used the momentum of the upward swing of the spring board to push himself into the air. He did a front summersault in midair—yeah, he was totally showing off for the ladies—and extended his body to enter the water with a quiet slosh. He surfaced to cheers and a vigorous round of applause.
“That was an awesome flip,” Julie said. “But you only made a tiny splash.”
“Guess I need more practice,” he said with a soft chuckle. He showed Julie how to dive from the side of the pool. She dove in head first, climbed the ladder, hurried around to the edge of the pool and dove again. He couldn’t believe how quickly she caught on or that she wasn’t exhausted yet.
“Maybe I should get her a diving coach,” Jacob said to Amanda.
“I think you’ve got yourself a little Olympian there,” Amanda said, still floating lazily on her back. He mostly used the pool for exercise, but was starting to think Amanda had the right idea. “Wish I had half her energy.”
“Can I do a flip this time?” Julie asked, jumping up and down in the puddle she’d made on the decking.
“You need the diving board to do that.”
She eyed the diving board without a shred of fear in her gaze.
“And if you try to climb that thing and jump off without permission, you’ll be in time out for four years,” he threatened.
“I wish I was big,” she said glumly.
And he wished she would stay this size forever.
To divert her attention from the diving board, Jacob collected pool toys from the deck box. Amanda joined their games, though she really sucked at diving for batons. She kept grabbing Julie’s ankle instead. Julie giggled every time. They had sword fights with pool noodles and contests to see who could hold their breath underwater the longest. By the time Julie said, “I’m hungry,” a couple of hours later, Jacob was running low on fuel and energy. Who would have thought a tiny little girl could completely wear out two adults?
“I’ll start the grill,” he said and pulled himself out of the pool with shaky arms.
While he got lunch cooking, Amanda started a rousing new game of Who Can Float on Her Back the Longest without Sinking. He supposed it was her version of the Quiet Game. Julie didn’t have flotation devices built into her chest yet—and thank God for that—so the game was a real challenge for her and kept her well occupied.
“Do you want a hamburger?” Jacob called from behind the grill. “Or I can cook some brats?”
“I’m not a brat,” Julie assured him. “Don’t cook me.”
Jacob grinned and shook his head. “I’m talking about a bratwurst.”
“What’s worse than a brat?” Julie looke
d to Amanda for direction, but Amanda was caught in a fit of giggles.
“This,” Jacob said, holding up a bratwurst for Julie to see.
“Oh, a fat hotdog,” she said and crinkled up her nose. “I don’t like those kind.”
“One hamburger for Julie,” he said. He flopped a raw patty onto the grill. It hissed satisfyingly. “Amanda?”