a call and ask him to take you for a vision exam. There is something seriously wrong with your eyeballs. And you are thirty-two. That’s nine fewer years of gravity dragging things down. And nine fewer years of collagen loss shriveling things up. And nine fewer years of donuts making things jiggle.” When Nancy opened her mouth, Brooke held up a hand. “The wrong things.”
Nancy’s arms dropped to her side, and her mouth took on a disapproving frown. “Brooklynn Paige Williams, you will put this bathing suit on, or I will body slam you to the ground, strip you down, and put it on for you. Do you understand me?”
It took all her strength not to laugh at Nancy’s fierce exasperation. If it were anyone else, she’d sigh then put on the one-piece, but Nancy was crazy enough to do as she threatened. “Yes, ma’am,” Brooke said, though it came out as more of a garbled chuckle.
“Thank you.” With an exaggerated roll of her eyes, Nancy handed over the thing she called a bathing suit.
“I feel bad for David,” Brooke said as she examined the stretchy material. “You’re scary.”
“Don’t you forget it.” Nancy winked. “But I give a damn good BJ, so it all works out for him in the end.”
Barking out a laugh, Brooke shook her head. “Scary and crazy. I’m gonna put this on now before you come at me.”
“Good idea. I’ve already got mine on under this.” Nancy indicated her adorable white coverup dress. “I so need a day to lounge by the pool. Work has been beyond crazy lately, and I haven’t had a chance just to chill.”
“I hear that,” Brooke said as she walked into the bathroom. She shut the door and stripped out of her T-shirt and yoga pants. “What’s David up to today?” she called out.
“Golfing with the boys. Blech.”
Without peeking in the mirror, she finished undressing and stepped into the bathing suit bottoms. Huh, okay, they weren’t too bad. The waist came up pretty high, giving a slight flattening to her stomach pooch. Brooke ate pretty well, exercised, and didn’t hate her body. She just wasn’t twenty-five anymore, and it showed. Also, after years of being told she was always too heavy, followed by too masculine when she would ramp up her workouts, then disgusting and gaunt once she lost dropped some weight, having a positive body self-image wasn’t easy. Evan had found flaws in her figure no matter what she’d done or how hard she’d tried to earn his admiration, including sticking to his strict diet and exercise plans.
Nothing she’d done impressed Evan or met with his approval. Of course, now she knew it was more about his issues than how she looked or what she did, but the cutting words still played in her head now and again. He’d taken the most offense to any signs of aging. A wrinkle here or gray hair there would set him off on a tirade about how he’d shackled himself to a lazy wife who refused to care for her body and forced him to seek out other women.
A shudder ran through her. “That’s over,” she whispered. “Nothing he thought matters. Stop thinking about the loser.”
“You say something?” Nancy asked.
“Just talking to myself,” she called back as she tied the halter strap behind her neck.
“Talking about how hot you look?”
“Ha. You’re hilarious. Okay,” Brooke whispered to herself. “On three.” She counted in her head, blew out a breath, then turned to the mirror with a hand over her eyes. Then she counted to three again and spread her fingers.
Well, she looked…pretty good. She let her hand fall to her side. She had pretty good-sized boobs. A thirty-six C. Over the years, they’d begun their downward journey, but this suit gave her lift and cleavage. A lot of cleavage. And the high-waisted bottoms kept her abdomen smoothed out. Of course, the little bit of cellulite on her legs would show whether she wore a one or two-piece, so that was a sunken cost.
All right, this was passable, especially since it would only be her and Nancy lounging by her pool for the next few hours.
“Time’s up. Get that fine ass out here.”
Oh, her ass. She turned and craned her next to look at her bottom in the mirror. This bathing suit lifted everything. “Coming.”
She opened the door and stepped into her bedroom to a low whistle.
“Damn, Brooke. You are absolutely insane to put yourself down. You look amazing. I’d kill for those boobs. Look