“That’s all her,” Everly said. “She barely needed any coaching.”
“Hey, Bella.” Beau came to the poolside.
“Hi, Uncle Beau.”
“Can we see you do that again?” Without waiting for an answer, he crouched and extended his hand toward Everly as if she could shake it. “I’m Beau.”
Austin turned and smacked the kid in the chest. “She’s treading water, nimrod.”
“Right, right.” He eased back into a resting position, forearms on his knees, his grin set to stun. “I can wait until you get out.”
That made everyone laugh, including Everly. She cut a look at Austin, grinning with a y
ou-were-so-right look in her eyes before disappearing underwater. The pool’s dark blue bottom silhouetted her body as she swam to the other side and reappeared.
“Show Daddy your freestyle, Bella,” she called.
“Watch, Daddy.” She took a big breath, let go of the side, and set her arms into a sloppy windmill toward Everly. Halfway there, she lifted her head for air, then put it down again and powered on.
Austin laughed and pushed to his feet. He caught the back of Beau’s T-shirt and dragged him to his feet as well, then gave him a shove toward the side door leading to a pimped-out barracks where the guys stayed. “Time for a cold shower, kid.”
Austin would be needing one as well. If he’d thought sleep had been hard to find last night, it would sure as hell be all smoke and mirrors tonight.
Bella swam into Everly’s arms and lifted her scrunched face from the water, pushing her hair from her eyes.
All the guys clapped and whistled, making Bella giggle with delight. Austin sighed. At this rate, with a cheering squad like that, his kid certainly wouldn’t grow up with any self-confidence problems.
He turned to face the guys, who were all still riveted to Everly. “Helmet straps,” he said, hand outstretched. The guys stripped off their helmets, then detached the EEG straps from the inside and tossed them to Austin. “Clean up. Lunch in an hour.”
When he turned around, Bella was playing with floating toys on the steps, and Everly popped up from the water near his feet. She crossed her arms on the pool deck and squinted up at him. “They seem nice.”
“They’re good guys, but—they’re guys.”
She shrugged, unperturbed by their overt attention. That was good, because more often than not, there were a lot of men on this property, and they would all find Everly fascinating. “Friends from your military days?”
“Best teammates a guy could have. I’m going to clean up. You and Bella are welcome to join us for lunch, but don’t feel like you have to.”
“Okay. I’ll let Bella decide.” And she disappeared under the water again.
This time, Austin forced himself to turn away and head inside instead of watching her lithe frame move through the water.
In the mud room off the kitchen, Austin dragged off his gear and hung it on various hooks. Then stripped out of his muddy, sweaty clothes and dropped them in a special laundry basket to be washed separately. His live-in housekeeper, Renalda, would take care of everything during her daily routine.
He wrapped a towel around his waist and crossed the kitchen to the stairs toward his suite. When he glanced toward the pool on his way past, he found Everly still in the pool with her elbows propped on the deck, arms crossed as she spoke to Bella. Her gaze jumped past Bella and tracked Austin’s path, one that seemed longer than usual with Everly’s gaze on him. Just before he turned to climb the stairs, a flirty, hot little smile turned her lips.
And Austin spent his time in the shower watching the dirt circle the drain and trying to erase that sexy smirk from his mind. Along with the fantasies that came with it.
“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable, sucker,” he muttered to himself. It was a common truth in military life. One he’d thrived on by embracing it. He was glad he had the practice, because he’d be very uncomfortable until he’d found a way to strip away her sexy quotient so he could see her as just another employee.
Twenty minutes later, he was dressed and pulling a visual representation of the day’s training exercise off the printer.
He laid out all six printouts across the surface of his desk, planted his hands on the edge, and leaned in to study them.
“Knock, knock.”
Everly’s voice jerked Austin’s head up. She stood in the door in jean shorts that made him notice the length of her toned, tanned thighs, and an ocean-blue, tie-dyed T-shirt that fit every curve. Again, neither were inappropriate or even sexy on their own. But the way she filled them out made Austin’s brain slide a little sideways.
“Hey.” He straightened and glanced at her feet. The fact that they were bare made him feel a little better about not hearing her. “You sure can sneak up on a guy.”