by Cheri Allan
Kate pulled out her coral, tropical print bikini and tugged it on before she could chicken out.
Thankful for the waning light, she pulled her towel snug around her and followed Rachel and Grace to the dock. The mother in her noted Liam with Dick Pearson at the outdoor fireplace toasting marshmallows. The woman in her quickly saw the men at the water’s edge, laughing and jostling each other like teenagers. Carter was threatening to throw Doug off the dock. Ian was trying to block his escape, and Jim was standing to the side, laughing, an easy, light-hearted sound that rolled through the air and sent warm shivers up her bare arms.
Each was good-looking in his own way. Ian and Carter, clearly brothers, with their dark hair and broad shoulders. Doug, lean and golden-haired like his wife.
But it was Jim who drew and held her attention. Slightly taller than the others, his body all fluid muscle and masculine beauty, a soft thatch of hair on his tanned chest. He wore khaki swim trunks, and Kate’s mouth went dry as he absently adjusted the waistband.
Ruth Pearson, or Grams as everyone called her, waved them to the dock. “Took you girls long enough. I thought we might start with some races.”
Kate gulped. No one had said anything about... “Races?”
Rachel leaned in. “Grams is a hotshot swimmer. She was quite the competitor in her day. Even after her knee replacements last summer, she’s hard to beat.”
“I’m not sure...”
“Only if you want to,” Grams allowed. “I enjoy a brisk swim, limbers up the old bones, but you can sit this one out if you like.”
Kate sighed with relief even as Rachel challenged her husband to a race. Grace quickly decided she could beat Carter, and Jim’s grandmother paired off against Ian.
This was clearly not the first race of its kind. Rachel explained the rules to Kate. “We swim to the Bellevieu’s dock, rock the buoy to show you’ve made it that far, then be the first to grab the ladder at the end of our dock.”
“Ready, set... go!” Grace yelled. With that, Rachel and Doug dove into the water. Rachel took a decisive lead. The far buoy wiggled once, then twice, then the pair swam back, Doug calling out for mercy.
Rachel grabbed the ladder in triumph as Grams dove over her like a member of an Olympic relay team. Ian quickly followed.
“Go, Grams! Go!” Grace yelled as Ian began to catch up.
“Can’t you beat your own grandmother?” Carter bellowed. “Get the lead out!”
“You’re still ahead!” yelled Rachel.
Grams lost a little momentum on the return trip, but was still ahead by a whisper when Grace dove in with Carter in hot pursuit.
Kate wished she felt like a strong enough swimmer to take part, but there was no way she’d pit herself against the likes of Jim. Not with his reputation!
Grace cut through the water with single-minded determination, Carter pounding his strokes inches behind.
“Go, Gracie!” Rachel yelled. “He’s right behind you!”
Kate clapped with excitement as Grace jiggled the buoy and flipped around in one smooth turn. Moments later, Grace gave a yelp of surprise and disappeared under water. She came up howling as Carter roared past her.
He was nearly a body length ahead when he choked out a bark of surprise himself, then Grace surged forward, grabbed the ladder and thrust a fist in the air. “The women are the victors!”
Carter slicked his hand over his face. “At least the losers still have their pants on.”
“Where are they, anyway?” Grace demanded. “Don’t you know when you pants somebody you’re not supposed to rip them completely off?”
“Serves you right for buying a swimsuit so cheap it falls apart with one yank.” Carter climbed onto the dock and tossed the scrap of material onto the decking.
“You better not have torn my new bikini, or you’ll be buying me a new one!” Grace grabbed her swimsuit.
“It’s shocking, I know,” Jim said from behind Kate’s shoulder.
“What?”
“This unsportsmanlike behavior. I can see you’re shocked. As well you should be. Pants-ing is strictly forbidden. Automatic disqualification. Now we’ll never know the victors.”
Grace pointed at Carter. “He started it.”
“Regardless, there’s just one way to finish it,” said Grams. “Jim and Kate will have to compete.”
Kate felt herself pale. “Oh, no. I don’t think so. I’m no match for Jim.”
“Nonsense. You’re a perfect match for Jim! We’ll just level the playing field. Ian, fetch the chicken raft.”
Rachel clapped her hands. “Perfect! All you have to do is stay on the raft, Kate. You can’t touch each other, but whomever stays on the raft the longest is the winner.”
Ian soon returned with a bright red plastic raft about six or so feet long by three or four feet wide. He dropped it in the water by the dock. It bobbed reassuringly.
“Okay,” said Grace, fully clothed again. “Paddle out so nobody falls into the dock and gets hurt. When you’re both standing, we’ll start.”
Jim stood holding the tow line on the raft so it stayed near the dock. Self-conscious now with all eyes on her, Kate dropped her towel.
“It looks stable enough,” she said, eyeing the raft.
Jim’s eyes were downcast, his expression blank. So much for the tropical print bikini catching his eye. “Kneel on it for now. We’ll stand once we’re away from the dock,” he instructed.
Kate climbed on.
Soft waves and Jim’s paddle strokes carried them thirty or forty feet from shore, making the once benign raft feel markedly less secure. Kate knelt awkwardly on the hard plastic, trying to simultaneously relax and suck in her stomach, wondering if she’d remember how to swim if she fell overboard.
“Just out of curiosity,” she asked as much to break the awkward silence as anything else, “how deep is the water here?”
Jim glanced somewhere over her left shoulder. “I don’t know. Fifteen? Twenty feet?”
Kate nodded. They were fairly close to shore, and she was a reasonably good swimmer last time she’d been in water deeper than the kiddie pool.
“Do you want to go back in?”
She looked up. He was incredibly close, so close she could see a soft sheen of sweat on his cheekbones. He swallowed then, his sinewy neck working, and Kate’s mouth filled with something that might have been desire. “No. No. Just wondering. I’m more used to pools with depth markers.”
Jim stared over her shoulder again, his hazel eyes turning a mysterious green like the water around them. “It’s probably easiest if I get up first. I won’t start until you’re ready, okay?”
He stood with an easy grace, and Kate’s heart sank. There was no way she’d be able to stand on this thing much less knock him off when he was such a natural. She mentally rehearsed the rudiments of swimming as he extended his hand and pulled her up in front of him.
“Bend your knees a little. Loosen your hips. It’ll help.”
Kate nodded and tried to emulate his relaxed posture. But how could she relax when she was in a ridiculous little bikini over water that looked like it might disgorge the Loch Ness Monster at any moment? Okay. Forget mythical monsters. When she fell off she would just have to remember to close her mouth and let herself bob to the surface. Then, she could grab one of the raft’s hand-holds and kick toward shore. Theoretically speaking.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Ready,” she lied.
Just then, Grace yelled from the dock. “On your mark. Get set... Go!”
Jim rolled his shoulders and cleared his throat. His tongue darted out to moisten his lips, like an athlete about to race, and in the next heartbeat, he looked up.
“I like your bikini,” he said, his voice a virtual caress.
Kate swallowed. Her hands felt sweaty, and her bee sting itched on the hard plastic. “Th-thanks.” She adjusted her left foot and tried to loosen her hips some more, waiting for Jim to start rocking the boat.
Instead, he just smiled, albeit a sensual, lazy, bedroom-eyed smile that had her bent knees buckling for one brief moment.
“I, ah, like your suit, too,” she said.
“The color sets off your eyes,” he continued, as if she’d never said a thing. “Makes your skin glow.”
“Thanks. I almost wore my navy tankini.”
“I definitely like this one.” He winked. “It goes with your toes.”
For some reason, having Jim stare at her toes again made her flush all the way to her hair line. If he kept it up, she’d be completely flustered.
Unless... Wait a minute.
“Are you trying to throw me off balance?”
His eyes crinkled slightly at the corners. “Is it working?”
“Maybe.” Her lips tilted, little shivers of excitement rippling through her. Okay, who was she kidding? It was definitely working. With a wickedly boyish grin on his face and nervous butterflies fluttering in her belly, chicken raft just got a whole lot more interesting. Besides, she thought, as an uncharacteristic boldness blew in on the cool breeze, she knew something Jim Pearson didn’t.
Kate had a competitive streak.
“You have a nice tan for so early in the season,” she said.
“I work outdoors a lot.”
“Bare-chested?” she asked with wide-eyed innocence.
“Sometimes. It’s cooler.”
“I’ve thought about gardening bare-chested for that same reason. Do you think I should?”
The raft jerked in response. “You catch on quickly,” he said.
“Thanks.”
Kate could hear Carter urging Jim not to go easy on her just because she was a girl. Grace yelled, wondering if either of them was going to make a move.
“They want us to make a move,” Kate said.
“Go ahead,” Jim said. “Make a move.”
Her body swayed easily with the raft now, the motion more familiar and natural. An electric tingle raced through her. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out as her eyes traveled down his torso. Make a move. “Okay. I really do like your swim trunks, they… um… suit you.”
“I like your bikini,” he replied, his gaze sliding over her skin in a way that had her insides melting. He looked up again. “But I like topless beaches more.”
Kate swallowed the rush of awareness that flooded her mouth. Her pulse quickened. “I might… um… go topless. Under the right circumstances.”
“Really?” He sounded genuinely surprised.
“Really,” she said, wishing for all the world she seemed more the topless sort. Just once. She took a breath and assumed her most self-confident air. “You might not think this about me, but not only might I go topless, say on the French Riviera, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to swim... in the nude.”
His harsh intake of breath was all Kate needed to know she’d hit the mark. “Have you now?”
“Yes.” Was that her throaty voice? Just go with it! “Ever since I saw someone skinny-dipping one night, I’ve thought about it… with him. NO. Not— I mean, skinny dipping!” Kate’s cheeks burned. Oh, dear Lord! She hadn’t meant to say it like that! Hadn’t meant to imply anything other than swimming, but her subconscious clearly had other plans.
“Have you now?” Jim whispered, clearly having caught her double entendre.
Their eyes locked, the raft going unnaturally calm. Kate could hear his breathing, quick and shallow, not unlike her own. If she weren’t forbidden to touch him, if his family wasn’t standing—watching—she’d probably push him off the raft, throw herself at him bodily and happily let him perform mouth-to-mouth. As it was, she had a competition to win.
“Yes,” she whispered, not sure where she found the nerve to speak, but in for a penny in for a pound. She’d be darned if she’d lose this game now. “I have. And if your family weren’t watching, I… um… might untie my bikini top and dive in right now.”
“You would?” Jim’s voice was barely recognizable, his gaze riveted to her chest as she slid a single finger beneath the thin strap at her shoulder just to be sure it was still in place; although, his look said he was perhaps hoping something else.
Oh Lord! She was enjoying this game way too much—enjoyed being this bold, sensual woman who could flirt with a virtual stranger. Maybe it was because she felt a million miles from reality out here on the water with this man, but she couldn’t seem to stop the words from tumbling out now. “I might even take my bikini off completely... but only if I weren’t alone.”
She smiled at the answering whoosh of air Jim expelled.
“You wouldn’t have to be alone.”
Kate met his eyes, a nervous tremor running through her. His eyes had gone dark, his body still and tense. Serious. “Are we still playing a game?”
Jim blinked and shook his head as if to clear it, an uneasy smile flashing across his face. “No. Yes!” The smile was full and genuine now. “And you’re definitely winning.”
Kate bit her lip. Maybe she’d gone too far. “Maybe we should go back to swimsuits.”
“I’m pretty sure getting naked would be more fun,” he murmured.
It was Kate’s turn to gasp, a soft excited intake of breath that had them giggling and reaching to steady each other as the raft tipped again.
She caught and held his gaze.
He was aroused.
She was aroused.
And the game was far from over.
“Like you were the other night?” she asked.
In an instant, Jim’s smile disappeared, replaced by an intense, feral look that had her purple-tipped toes curling. She hadn’t meant to say anything, had never intended to confirm that she’d been there that night. But now... she was acutely aware of the sound of the water lapping on the shore, the cool breeze on her bare skin, his heated gaze on her body and suddenly she felt all the power and possibility of being a woman.
“You saw me,” he said. It was a statement, not a question.
“Yes.”
Then they were silent, the raft virtually still, their eyes locked in a look so smoldering Kate was surprised they didn’t spontaneously ignite. Every nerve ending pulsed with anticipation. Awareness. Need.
Then Jim’s eyes creased with humor, his lips tilting in that easy lopsided grin she was finding all too dangerously attractive.
“You win,” he said. Then he dove into the dark waters of the lake leaving Kate rocking uncertainly in his wake.
CHAPTER TEN
____________________
JIM SWAM AWAY, THE SOUNDS of his family hollering from the dock ringing in his ears. There was no way he’d return to shore now, not until the bulge in his swim trunks receded.
He treaded water, a perverse stab of jealousy heating his gut, as Carter reeled in the raft and helped Kate onto the dock. Happy laughter floated over the water to him as she stooped to grab her towel and wrap it around herself. She needn’t cover up on his account. The image of her in that bikini had permanently etched itself onto his corneas.
Then she turned, bit her lip almost shyly, and waved.
Jim nodded and returned with a mock salute. Then his relatives swept her toward the house as they fled the cooling air and fading light.
He was tempted to join them but then slid onto his back and stared at the sky. Perhaps floating in the cold water would help him return to reality.
Hot young widow. Good Lord, it didn’t even come close to describing how he’d seen her, standing on the raft in front of him, all luscious curves in that candy-store bikini. He’d never in his life felt such an intense, immediate attraction to a woman. Not even Justine, with her confidence and striking beauty, could compare.
Kate was different. There was something deeply appealing about her bold words and shy looks, as if she were testing the feel of them on her tongue for the first time. He’d wanted to grab her and taste them right along with her.
And she’d looked like she’d wanted the same.
God! He was a
n idiot for thinking about her this way. Kate in no way resembled the single, carefree woman he should be dating. She was a widow. And a mother.
What had just happened was only a game.
The thought tasted sour on his tongue, but it was there nonetheless. What did he really know about this Kate, anyway? She was the shy, blushing widow one moment, but she’d turned into a sultry seductress in the blink of an eye.
Shit.
Fact was he didn’t know if he was coming or going when she was around, which meant she was way more complicated than he had any business getting involved with.
With considerably less enthusiasm, Jim headed for shore.
Carter met him on the beach. “You dove in?”
Jim grabbed his towel off a rock. “She won.”
“No. You threw the match. Now Grace is carrying on about how women are superior and crap like that. So what gives? The hot young widow get the best of you?”
“Would you stop calling her that?”
“In that bikini, what would you call her? My God, if that isn’t hot, I don’t know what is.”
What could he say? It was true.
Carter dogged him up the steps toward the house. “So?”
“So, what?”
“Are you kidding me? This is the first woman you’ve looked at since Justine dumped you. Why aren’t you up there right now asking her out?”
“Justine didn’t dump me. I left her.”
“Right.” They both glanced at the deck, gaily lit with citronella torches and landscape lights. Kate was holding Liam now, saying her thank-yous and goodbyes. “Women like that don’t drop into Sugar Falls every day.”
“I don’t even know her.” And what he’d learned out on the lake wasn’t anything he’d tell Carter.
“What’s to know? She’s pretty, single, living next door and, most importantly, she likes you.”
“She said that?”
Carter cuffed Jim on the side of the head. “Idiot. It’s written all over her face every time she looks at you. It’s embarrassing. Go on. Ask her out. You can’t tell me you’re not interested. You get a woody every time she walks in the room.”
“Shut up.”
Carter chuckled, unperturbed. “Idiot.”