Billy & The Beast (Ever After, New York #3) - Eli Easton Page 0,22
who happened to be incredibly hot.
Besides having an enormous crush on him, I was also simply curious. There had to be a lot more to his situation, why he was living here at Malfleur all by himself. It was a riddle I wanted to solve, not only for my sake, but because I felt like I could help him, too. And the visit from Emmanuel Clark had only raised more questions.
So far, Aaron had resisted my attempts to get him involved in gardening or even just hang around and talk. I’d brought him stuff—cookies my mom made, a morning latte from the drive-up coffee shop in town, books I thought he might like. He accepted them with thanks, and gave gifts of his own—a cooler filled with bottles of water on the front porch and the offering of sandwiches at lunch. He even ordered me to upgrade the blower, trimmers, and other tools to high-end new ones, which made my work a lot easier. But these exchanges hadn’t led to any more contact.
And then I’d thought of the pool. It was a big project, and hopefully an appealing one. I wanted him to work with me on it. He bailed, though—yet another strikeout.
Except now . . . now we were having a poolside cookout. It was gonna be great!
I got the cooler out of my car while Aaron made several trips down from the house with stuff—towels, a bucket with ice and beer, condiments and chips in a shopping bag. It was too early to start the charcoal for lunch, but we got things set up and ready. Then we kind of stood around awkwardly.
“Go ahead and swim,” Aaron said, taking a seat on a lounge chair. “Want some music?”
“Sure!”
He messed with his phone and music started playing from speakers around the patio. It sounded like a party mix.
“The speakers out here work with your phone? That’s cool,” I said.
He looked a little embarrassed. “There’s a system in the house, I can Bluetooth into it.”
“And you already figured out how to get it out here, huh?” I teased. “So you’re more interested in this whole pool thing than you let on.”
“There’s an option on the dashboard that says pool. It wasn’t hard,” he said dryly.
“Uh-huh. You’re totally into this. Don’t deny it.”
I kicked off my tennis shoes and took off my shirt and the shorts I’d worn over my swim trunks. I hadn’t been shirtless on the property since Aaron bought me those work shirts. Hint, hint—cover that chest, kid. I felt self-conscious now. Not because there was anything wrong with my body in particular. I wasn’t exactly buff, but I had some decent upper body strength due to all the gardening work. No, it was because I wanted Aaron to notice.
Just the thought of him looking at me made my body flush with heat. I dove into the pool before I could end up with a boner. I swam some laps while Aaron sat on a lounge chair with a hardback book. I played with Jack, throwing one of his balls for him to swim after, play-wrestling with him, and even racing him end to end.
Jack won.
I looked up after that ignominious defeat to find Aaron watching us, his expression inscrutable.
“Come join us,” I said.
He’d changed into a light linen shirt, but it was still long-sleeved and buttoned up to the neck. He wore slouchy, lightweight pants that looked like they belonged in Saint-Tropez or something. But with his omnipresent mask and gloves, he still looked overly warm. The day was heating up.
He lifted his chin. “No thank you.”
“Come on. You haven’t tried the pool yet.”
“I’m not swimming. We did it for Jack, remember? And for you, apparently. But carry on. You’re entertaining my dog.”
Was I entertaining Aaron too? I thought maybe I was. I played with Jack for a while longer before deciding I’d had enough. I got out and went over to the lounge chair near Aaron’s. He’d put a few towels on it. I dried myself off while he continued to read. His gaze was fixed on his book.
I flopped into the lounge chair and closed my eyes. “Ah, summer. The sun on my face. The heady scent of chlorine in my nostrils.”
“Pretty young pool boys lounging around half-naked,” Aaron said dryly.
I turned my head and squinted at him. “Pretty?”
He glanced over to give me a raised eyebrow, then went back to his book. “You’d fit the stereotype—in a pinch.”