Intent (13 page)

When I open the door, Ace is standing on the other side, waiting for me with the look of a man on a mission. I startle at first and release a nervous laugh. “You scared me. Everything okay with River?”

He nods but doesn’t reply otherwise, doesn’t take his eyes off mine.

“Is she having fun with your sister?”

Again, the wordless nod, but there’s an obvious gleam in his eyes.

“What is it?”

“Are you going somewhere?”

It’s a trick question, that much I know.

“I just needed a shower. And I need clean clothes. And a hair dryer.”

“You running?”

“Yes, I am,” I reply, keeping my voice soft. His face falls with disappointment and the tightness in my chest squeezes my heart. “I’m running straight to you. Straight into the flames, not away. I meant every word I said last night, Ace.”

He pulls me into him and wraps his arms around me. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear you say that.” With a quick tug on my towel, it crumples to my feet and one side of Ace’s mouth quirks upward. “Oops.”

A
CE

“
Y
ou’re not wearing that
.” I fully realize that I sound like an ass right now, but I’m willing to accept that.

Layne laughs, effectively dismissing my outburst. “Yes, I am wearing this. It’s the only bathing suit I brought with me.”

“So wear shorts and a T-shirt instead.”

“No, I’m not wearing shorts and a T-shirt all day, either. It’s almost a thousand degrees outside with a humidity level of at least three million percent. You’re the one who asked me to be in this race with you, so deal with it.”

I don’t know exactly how I’m supposed to deal with it when she’s wearing a barely-there black bikini to the inner tube race today. The race that the whole town will turn out for. The race where we’ll get soaking wet from the minor-category rapids splashing all over us. The race where she’ll most likely be in a two-person raft, sitting between my legs, and wearing next to nothing.

“Layne, sugar.” I soften my tone.

“No,
sugar
. Your sweet-talking won’t change my mind. Nice try, though.” Her saccharine-laced smile doesn’t fool me. She’s enjoying this little squabble. She’s enjoying winning it.

“You like to argue too much,” I mumble petulantly.

She shrugs. “I’m good at it. Always have been. Are you ready to go now? We’re late enough as it is because I let you win the argument earlier this morning, right after my shower.”

That makes me laugh heartily. “You let me win? That’s amusing. As I recall, you’re the one who pushed me down on the bed and had your wicked way with me. You were very intent on getting your workout this morning. I don’t recall having a say in it.”

“Exactly. I let you win without fighting at all.”

She turns to walk toward the door and part of her ass is peeking out of her bikini bottoms, just begging for my hand to caress it. Or pop it one good time.

“Ow!” she shrieks and whirls around to face me.

“What?” I feign ignorance, and more importantly, innocence. “What’s wrong?”

She cuts her eyes at me, clearly calling me out on my bullshit. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong at all.”

I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll pay for that little smack later. It was so worth it, though. She pulls a T-shirt over her head and picks up her beach bag before we walk out the door, and I hide the smirk that displays my appreciation. I know she’ll take it off once we hit the water, but the consideration is still there.

“Stop smiling,” she says without looking at me. “It’s just for the ride over there.”

“Let me carry that for you, sweetheart.” I take the bag off her shoulder without acknowledging what she just said.

On the way to the river park, Layne’s earlier comments about the heat play through my mind and remind me that summer has hit early and with full force. The last thing I want to think about is the weather turning cooler, school starting back, Layne leaving.

“You know, there’s still a lot I don’t know about you.” Honestly, I want to know everything about her.

“What do you want to know?” Her tone is sincere and open, no hint of the leeriness from when we first met.

“For starters, what do you do for a living up in New York?”

“I’m a lawyer.

“A lawyer, huh? So you do divorces and shit like that?”

“No. Most of my focus is on intellectual property, trademarks, copyright infringements, that sort of thing. Sometimes I’ll help one of the partners with family law cases—such as wills, probate court, stuff like that, but usually nothing more than paperwork. I’ve never been interested in getting into a big divorce battle.”

“What do you do for fun, after work?”

It takes her a little too long to answer and I glance over at her. Her brows are drawn down, her head is slightly tilted to the side, and she’s staring off into space. “All I did besides work and stress over having a family was draw occasionally. It’s sad that my life has been focused on no more than that, isn’t it?”

“You’re young. You still have plenty of time to do whatever you want.”

She nods thoughtfully but doesn’t respond. I turn into the parking lot of the river park, and the scene in front of us seems to bring her out of her own little world. “What the hell? Where did all these people come from? Oak Grove isn’t this big!”

“They come from all over for the fair and the race. The addition of the couples’ race today brought even more people out. This should be fun if nothing else.”

After grabbing Layne’s beach bag from the back of the truck, I help her out of the cab and lace my fingers with hers as we walk to the registration tent. People are milling about all around us, but as we walk by, almost every head turns so eyes can rake over my girl’s body. And she’s even still wearing the T-shirt.

God help the man who tries to touch her, especially when she takes it off and reveals the skimpy black bikini underneath.

“Ace, Layne, glad you decided to join us today,” Justin calls from behind me. “Did you come to get your ass kicked on the river?”

“Like you could ever beat me,” I chuckle. “Who are you racing with?”

Justin looks uncomfortable for a second before he answers. “Lily.”

“She’s watching River for me. How can she be in the race with you?”

“I asked Zoe to watch River during the race,” Lily says as she walks up. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, Zoe’s a good kid. She’s helped me out when I was in a bind before. Where are they?”

Lily points to the swings where Zoe is pushing River. River has her head thrown back, laughing and having a great time. “Give me a second, okay?” I ask Layne.

“Sure. Go see your daughter,” she encourages me.

River jumps out of the swing when she sees me approach and flies into my arms. I twirl her around before repeatedly kissing her sweet little face. “I’ve missed you, baby girl. Have you been good for Aunt Lily?”

“Daddy,” she admonishes me. “You asked me that this morning.”

“You’re so right,” I admit as I put her down.

She runs back to the swing and resumes her activity. The protective father in me can’t walk away from my daughter without reiterating the dangers of being around the water to both River and Zoe. I can’t even bear to think what I’d do if anything bad happened to my little girl.

“I promise I’ll take good care of her, Mr. Sharp. She won’t get out of my sight even for a second.” Zoe’s promise is earnest, but there’s no hiding the fear in her expression. Not fear of me, but of authority figures in general, thanks to her parents.

“I know you won’t, Zoe. You’re very good with her.” She gives me a smile in return and her face lights up from just that small amount of praise. “I’m going to get back over there with Layne. We’re doing the race together. You two had better root for us,” I insist as I turn to walk back toward my crew.

Justin, Lily, and Layne are still in the crowd of people right where I left them, but they’re not looking in my direction at first. Justin is busy talking and happens to glance over Lily’s head in mid-conversation and sees me approaching. Through the people milling about, I catch glimpses of his arm sliding off Lily’s waist and back to his side. He’s trying to be nonchalant about it but he’s completely busted in the act.

“Justin—” I start to lay into him, but the announcer interrupts me, calling us to the starting line.

“Let’s go get a good raft,” Layne suggests enthusiastically. Not obvious at all.

“Did you just say ‘a good raft’?”

“Yes, of course. We don’t want one that’s leaking air or anything.” She speaks slowly, as if I have trouble understanding plain English.

“Let’s go, Justin. It’s time to win this race,” Lily announces quickly.

As they walk away, I cut my eyes to Layne. “Think you’re slick, don’t you?”

She lifts up on her toes and kisses me. Even with my eyes closed and her lips on mine, I feel a thousand eyes on us. “Let’s go win this thing.”

“Damn straight, slick.” I then add, “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you took your T-shirt off, too. Every male here between two and two hundred has noticed, too.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous.”

“Jealous? Nah. Protective? You bet.”

I grab my shirt behind my neck, yank it over my head, and drop it on top of Layne’s bag. Her playful expression instantly changes to pure lust when her eyes land on my bare chest. Fuck, I love how she looks at me.

“Keep looking at me like that and we really will give the town something to talk about.” I threaten and lift one eyebrow in challenge.

“Move it before you get us both arrested, troublemaker,” she grumbles with a knowing smile. “All these women are lusting after you. No self-respecting New York girl would allow that.”

Good to know she’s not jealous either.

When we reach the water’s edge, Layne stops and her jaw drops open. She slowly trains her eyes up and down the bank, taking in the multitude of brightly colored inner tubes floating in the roped off waiting area. She looks at all the people standing around waiting to rush to a tube, then back at the water again.

“What’s wrong, babe?” I goad her.

“This isn’t how I pictured it would be. I thought we’d be in one tube together. Like a two-man float. Not two separate floats tied together with a flimsy string.”

“Are you afraid you’ll lose me?” I tease.

“Not at all,” she replies with her chin lifted in defiance.

The buzzer sounds and the hordes of couples rush the water, grabbing the first set of floats they can get and jumping on top of them to be the first across the finish line. I grab our linked set with one hand and pull Layne into my side with the other. “I’ll hold it for you so you can sit down first.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “We’ll never win that way. Look at all the people sitting with their asses in the water—they have no control. We need to keep our feet in the water and kick!”

My girl has a competitive streak. It’s kind of turning me on.

“Let’s do it, then,” I agree.

We enter the water and begin maneuvering our floats between people. With so many people in such a tight space, it quickly becomes a game of bumper boats. After apologizing to the first few couples we inadvertently bump out of our way, Layne starts to laugh. When the next person is knocked out of our way, her cackles are contagious and soon we’re both devilishly laughing as we paddle through.

“Umm, Ace?” The uncertainty in her voice is so unlike her normal demeanor.

“What’s wrong, babe?”

“Is that safe?” She nods downstream, and I turn my head to follow her line of sight.

“Do you want to get in my tube with me so I can protect you? I’ll make room for you right here.” I point to the area between my chest and the inside wall of the tube.

She looks around to see if anyone is watching before she flips me off. “You making fun of me now, Sharp?”

“No way, babe. This is actually one of the best ideas I’ve ever had. With you in that itty-bitty-bikini, we could make this race a whole lot more interesting real fast.” I wink, and with a seductive bow of my head to the side, I give her an open invitation to join me.

“You are such a bad influence. And here I thought you were a good guy,” she teases back.

“I’m much better than good, babe. You already know that.”

“You didn’t answer me,” she evades. But her cheeks are red, showing she’s more affected than she lets on.

“It’s perfectly safe, I promise. They’re barely even class one rapids. It just gets shallow and the water rushes over the rocks. But you’re still welcome to join me if it’d make you feel better.”

“As inviting as that sounds, I still want to win so I have to stay in my own float.”

“Follow my lead,” I smirk. “I’ll get you there.”

We easily traverse the scary rapids, dodge the other floaters, and the finish line comes into sight as we round the last curve. She squeals in excitement because only a few other couples are in front of us now.

“Kick, Ace! Put those legs to work!”

The water splashes up behind us from the turbine created by our legs. We power through the water, passing other couples who try to use their arms to propel them, and we cross the finish line first as a team. As a couple. Paddling over to the bank, we drag our floats onto the shore and meet the announcer.

“We have a winner, folks! What’s your name, young lady?” Harold, the announcer, is one of those two-hundred-year-old men who was checking Layne out before the race. Now that she’s dripping wet, I’m genuinely concerned he’ll have a stroke just from standing beside her.

“My name is Layne Elliott,” she says into the microphone.

“I’ve known this young man his whole life. Congratulations, Ace Sharp. You have a beautiful race partner here.”

“I completely agree, Harold,” I reply and keep my eyes locked on Layne’s.

Harold gives us each a cheap trophy with a generic label that simply says “Winner.” Layne seems especially thrilled with the token of achievement as she takes it from him.

“Here you go, young lady. Compliments of Oak Grove City Council—and me.” Harold winks.

The next couple exits the water and Harold takes the opportunity to pat Layne on the back, dismissing us so he can talk to the first runner-ups. Layne steps into my side and I put my arm around her, letting my hand rest on her lower back.

“Let’s go grab your bag,” I suggest with my mouth close to her ear. “So you can put that shirt back on.”

She throws her head back in laughter, knowing I’m only partially serious, and softly shakes her head. “Just to be clear, I’m putting my shirt back on because I don’t want to get burned out here in the full sun. Not because you’re ordering me to.”

“Fair enough. As long as it’s on, I don’t care why.”

“Excuse me. I don’t see a shirt covering you. I can see your man nipples.”

“Do you want to touch them?”

“Are you always going to be this difficult?”

“Damn straight.”

It feels good to have this lighthearted banter with her. It feels right to have her at my side, my arm around her, and showing everyone I’ve known my whole life that she’s mine. Some of the single ladies in town who have been after me for the last few years give us dirty looks as we walk by, but if Layne notices, she doesn’t react to it. She holds her head high and continues to chat while we make a path back to the huge live oak where we left her bag.