Viola purses her lips like she’s giving this some actual thought. “I hear what you’re saying but Keith doesn’t just go around kissing girls, you know. He’s very specific about the women he fools around with.”
“He didn’t kiss me. I kissed him. And anyway, I work for him and I’m temporarily living at his place and I can’t lose this job.”
“Girl, I get you hard on that one.” She squeezes my arm. “It wasn’t easy managing Jasper’s moods when he hired me to be Ady’s nanny while they went out on tour. But I needed the job and he needed a nanny, so we tried ignoring the storm brewing between us.”
“Yes, but Keith and I are not you and Jasper. Nowhere close. We’ve known each other like not even two weeks.”
“And sometimes all you need is a minute with someone. If there’s chemistry, there’s chemistry.” She points a stern, motherly finger at me. “And you and Keith? You have chemistry.”
“Well, chemistry or not, we’re pretending it didn’t happen. Which is how we both want it to be,” I finish, so she knows this genuinely is different from how she and Jasper were. So, she doesn’t get it into her adorable head that more is going on than really is. Her and Jasper had already known each other since childhood and Jasper had always had a secret thing for her.
So yeah, different. So, so different.
“Okay. But for the record, I’ve known Keith a long time and the way he looks at you isn’t how he’s looked at any other girl. And that includes Amy. You’re nothing like her, you know. I mean that. Keith feels something for you whether he admits it or not. He just doesn’t know how to get out of his own way. Now, let’s get you changed up if you want to swim. Then we’ll eat.”
Ten minutes later, and after some very awkward help from Vi, I’m wearing a bikini that would have fit my little sister if I had had one. It’s far too small in the bust—then again, what the fuck isn’t. She handed me a T-shirt to throw over, but it doesn’t do much to hide what’s beneath.
“You look hot, but if you’re uncomfortable, just keep the shirt on.”
Right. Isn’t that what I told Keith I’d do. “No one likes a rogue nipple popping out at the family barbeque.”
Marco sees me first just as I step foot onto the patio and whistles out a catcall. “Damn. Check out my sexy beech. Slay it girl.” I glare balefully at him and he instantly throws his hands up in surrender, though the shit-eating grin doesn’t so much as slip an inch. “Come off it. If I had your body, I’d work that shit all over Sunset Boulevard.”
“Are you calling her a prostitute?” Some guy with blond hair and light eyes asks, his brow pinched at Marco until he looks up at me with a dazzling smile. “Don’t worry, honey. I’ll kick his ass for you. You don’t look like a hooker. You look stunning. I’m Ethan, by the way.” He waves at me, and I offer a weak half-wave back because I’m too embarrassed to do much else.
“Um. Hi.”
“I’m not intentionally calling her a hooker. I’m just saying she looks damn good.”
“Both of you watch your mouths,” Keith snarls, making Ethan and Marco grin from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat.
“Yes. And cool it on the swearing. My girls are in the pool and can probably hear you since you’re shouting,” Jasper gripes, taking a sip of his beer.
“Well, this was fun and all, but I think I’m going to go swim with the ladies,” I state, trying to cool the inferno that is my face. “Feels a lot safer and slightly less degrading than discussing my body and whether or not I look like a hooker in front of a group of men,” I deadpan, cocking a pointing brow just for Marco.
“She’s right. That wasn’t the nicest, guys. Objectifying women by their bodies is wrong.” Henry winks at me. “Just so you know, when you finally agree to date me, I’d never do that to you. I treat you like the goddess you are and kill anyone who said otherwise.”
“Uh huh. Okay then. I’m just gonna…” I point to the pool and head in that direction.
Keith stands almost as if he’s electrocuted out of his seat. Almost as if he’s terrified I’m going to take off my shirt since he’s eyeing the hell out of it. His eyes drink me in, starting at the hem of the clearly offending shirt that hits just above the aqua bottoms I’m wearing and glides up along to my thinly veiled tits, all the way up to my hair which Vi helped put up for me since I can’t manage that one on my own.
He licks his lips and then takes a long pull from his beer. “Be careful with your cast,” he warns, but something tells me concern for my cast wasn’t what was on his mind. I’m tempted to pull the shirt over my head because I can be a total bitch like that, but I really don’t want to show off my too-small bikini to everyone here. Just him.
Which again makes me crazy for even thinking that.
“Relax, big guy, I’m not going in past my waist.” He still doesn’t look happy, but he’ll get over it. He has no choice. Bunching the shirt up around my belly button, I descend onto the step before sinking down into the warm water.
I force myself not to look back at him.
And I do my best to block out any noise of traffic coming from over in the lounge area.
This outdoor space is like something out of a magazine, and I take it all in, enjoying the tickle of water as it laps against my lower half and the warm California breeze as it hits my face, rustling the few errant strands that escaped my updo.
Naomi Kent, the popstar and Gus’s fiancée, is in the pool. She’s with Adalyn, who is Jasper’s young, female doppelganger, and baby Cora, who is in a floaty thing with her sprig of blonde hair sticking up straight on top of her head. I make a silly face at her, sticking my tongue out and loving how a smile blindingly illuminates her chubby little face.
“Hi Ady,” I offer with a wave and a smile just for her.
She looks at me, whispers, “Hi,” in her sweet melodic voice and immediately goes back to her swimming. The first time I met Adalyn, she did a lot of staring at me without a lot of words. She warmed up, but I have to imagine having this many people around is tough for her, so I give her space to do her thing. She’s an incredible little girl. Smart, silly, sweet. Really, everything. A couple of years ago the press had a field day over her diagnosis. Like a child being autistic is somehow newsworthy.
It’s criminal the things they put them all through, especially her.
“She hates the noisy crowds,” Naomi says, echoing my thoughts.
“She’s a trooper though. And truth be told, I can’t blame her for that.”
“That she most definitely is. Still, the first time I met her, she didn’t want to say hi to me, so you’re already ahead of the game.” Naomi’s hands are on the baby floaty thing, playing and making faces similar to the ones I just was at Cora who is all giggles and excited splashes. “It’s aggravating, right? Dealing with the guys when they’re being poopy heads.” She sticks out her tongue at the baby and winks at me.
I laugh, instantly relaxing. “Just a bit.”
“I went through their initiation once. It gets better. Sort of. I don’t know about with Keith. He likes to tease, it seems.”