I shook away the fog in my brain and eased myself into a sitting position as a giant splash came from the pool right outside my window.
What the hell?
My heart jolted into my throat, and I shot forward onto my feet and into action. I snatched my phone off the coffee table and pulled up my employer’s phone number. When I got to the front window that looked out at the pool, I slowly pulled down the wooden blind and peeked through it. All I could see was water splashing as a figure I couldn’t make out swam across it.
My hands shook as I pushed the button to call Simon Hogue.
It might have been my safest bet to call 911, but it wasn’t like someone was breaking into the pool house. They were just… swimming.
I released the blind and threw my back against the wall, rationalizing all the possibilities while the phone rang and rang. Perhaps Simon and Bridget had cut their vacation short. Maybe they’d given a neighbor permission to use the pool.
Neither of those options seemed likely. The Hogues would have informed me if they’d given someone permission to enter, and they certainly would have warned me that they were cutting their trip short.
I swallowed at the other possibility, the one I desperately didn’t want to believe. What if it was a complete stranger? Someone who had decided to take a late-night dip in a random pool, thinking that no one was home. The last thought brought a shiver up my spine.
When Simon’s phone sent me to voicemail, I let out a frustrated groan. What options did I have? I could confront whoever was out there or flicker the lights to let them know someone was here. No, I couldn’t do any of that. I would have to call 911. Before I could begin to dial the emergency number, my phone’s screen lit up in my hands, and it started to vibrate, alerting me of a call coming through.
Pulling in a deep breath, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to steady my nerves. I was being ridiculous. “Hey, Simon,” I rushed. “There’s—”
“Hiya, Chelsea,” Simon started before I could even finish my sentence, seemingly unfazed by my panic. “How are you getting on? Good, I hope.”
My eyes turned to the front window still masked by blinds. “Let’s just say I’m glad you called. I know it’s late where you are, but—” I swallowed, willing my nerves to settle so Simon could understand me. “You wouldn’t happen to know who’s swimming laps in your pool at this hour, would you?”
Simon’s light chuckle sent a shot of relief through my veins. “That’s just Liam, my late best friend’s little brother.”
Relief rushed through me the moment Simon identified the late-night swimmer by name.
Simon continued on. “There was—uh—a bit of an emergency back home. He had to get away quite abruptly and asked to stay at our place. We were just heading to bed, and I saw his message that he arrived unexpectedly early. I was hoping to warn you before you—”
“Called the cops?” I finished with a roll of my eyes. I was glad my employer couldn’t see me, but a little warning would have been nice. “I’m glad you called me back. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Simon’s laughter boomed through the line. “We’ll be home next week, as planned. Liam will stay in the basement guest room of the main house, so he shouldn’t be a bother. He’ll surely keep to himself, but if you need anything, feel free to ring.”
We said our goodbyes, and I hung up, annoyance replacing my relief. I’d chosen not to say anything to Simon about the rude way I had been woken up by his friend, but this Liam guy wasn’t going to get off the hook that easily.
I opened the door and stepped out onto the patio to find Liam swimming laps across the water. He reached the opposite end, flipped around, kicked off the wall, and swam toward me. I stepped around the patio table and chairs to walk toward the edge of the pool. I waited for him to come up for air—to introduce myself and to kindly ask that he turn down the volume. Simon had mentioned this Liam guy was someone’s little brother—but when my eyes registered the body that swam past the underwater pool lights, I realized I wasn’t dealing with anyone little at all. Simon’s friend’s little brother, Liam, was very much a man.
Liam hadn’t seen me, but I saw enough to know he was tall, lean, and sculpted. He cut through the water like an experienced swimmer, only popping his head up to sip the air before twisting back below the surface.
A knot twisted in my chest when my eyes skimmed the man’s taut muscles as he pushed against the water with one fluid stroke then another. Every ridge and line of his back, arms, shoulders, and calves perfectly defined his strength. He swam another two laps, keeping his pace and taking sips of air so effortlessly I questioned if he had gills for lungs.
The man was an athlete, a beast underwater, and for the second time that day, I found myself transfixed by a stranger.
I stepped back slowly, suddenly anxious about interrupting his intense workout, but on my next step backward, I failed to remember the round table and chairs I’d skirted around to get to the pool. The back of my leg hit a chair, making it scrape across the travertine. When I reached back to catch my fall, I could find nothing to grip.
I landed hard on my ass, my palms slamming into the surface behind me. I howled at the pain that shot up my wrist. Of course, that caught Liam’s attention. His head popped out from the water, and he swam toward the edge. He shot out of the pool so fast, I didn’t even have time to react.
“Who’s there?” he boomed like I was the one who’d just intruded on his peaceful night.
My defenses were on alert. I pushed my shoulders back as the pain in my wrist faded, and my chin tilted up as I prepared to let him have it. But then my eyes caught on the man’s face, now illuminated in the dim orange patio lighting. It only took a second to realize we’d met before.
He was shirtless, dripping wet, with tattoos fully covering both arms, and his eyes were free of the dark shades that had hid them earlier—but I knew he was the same arrogant man who had passed me at Spill the Tea.
“Well, hello again, love.” Liam flashed me a beaming smile, a wicked gleam in his beautiful green eyes. “Heading out for that proper shag I hope.”
Shit.
3
Liam
The poor love sat there, her emotions completely unmasked. Everything she felt was written across her beautiful face—confusion, intrigue, disappointment, more confusion, fear, anger.
It was the anger that gave me pause, that made me stare deeper, hoping the transparency she wore went beyond her glowing fair skin and silver-moon eyes. I wanted to know where that anger came from because I knew I couldn’t take all the credit. She didn’t even know me. Yet.
Perhaps I should have gone with a different greeting—one that didn’t have to do with shagging some man with a giant knob—so I tried for something different to spark conversation. “You must be the nanny.”
“And you must be the early arrival.”
I bit down on my smile and reached out my hand to help her up, but she didn’t take it. Instead, her eyes widened as they scrolled past my hands to my arms and traced the ink canvas.
I was intrigued by her reaction to me, both at the tearoom and again here. She gazed at me like I was half-man, half-alien, and a very strange part of me deep in my black heart felt a thrill from it. To have someone assess me like I was an actual stranger and not the public failure I’d become was refreshing, to say the least.