Crash Into Me(104)

I had the urge for a swim, so I headed to the indoor pool for some relaxing laps before I figured out how I was going to tell Jordan and Kim that in less than two months I wanted them to join me on some island Tristan had in mind for our wedding. I'd loved the pool since that first night he'd brought me here, but I'd only enjoyed it once or twice the entire time I'd lived in the house. A quick swim and then my plan was to have Jenson take me to Jordan's suite by late afternoon.

My hot pink and black striped bikini from two summers ago still fit, thankfully after all the dinners Tristan had treated me to, so I slipped it on in the dressing room adjacent to the pool and got ready to jump in. The crystal blue water felt so refreshing as I descended to the bottom at the deep end. As I swam to the surface, though, I felt something strange on my legs and before I knew it, I had no bikini bottoms on and they were floating six feet away on top of the water.

It was Jimmy Mitchell's pool party in sixth grade all over again, except no one was there to see me, thank God.

I swam my bare ass over to where the fabric bobbed up and down in the water and grabbed my bottoms, happy that the flashback to that summer in middle school was the most embarrassing part of my current mishap.

And then I heard a man's voice and there was a fresh new humiliation. I turned quickly in the water and saw Tristan's gardener before I raced flailing toward the side of the pool to hide myself. I only needed to see his face for a second to know he'd seen all that God had given me. Wriggling into the bikini bottoms, I tried my best to be cool.

"Hi. I didn't realize I wasn't alone. I'm Nina."

He hung back away from the side of the pool and smiled a shy smile. Nearly as tall as Tristan, he was thinner and less built but he looked like he was closer to my age than his employer's. His blue eyes focused on me for a moment before he realized he was staring. Looking away, he stammered an apology and finally said, "I'm Blake."

With my bottoms finally in their rightful place, I relaxed and moved away from the wall slightly. "Hi Blake. I've seen you before in the summer."

He turned his gaze back toward me and nodded. "I'm Mr. Stone's gardener. I didn't know you were in here. I was just cutting through taking a short cut to the back of the house. I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. No harm done. Did you work here before Tristan bought the house last spring?"

A look of confusion crossed his face and he looked over my head toward the back wall. "I've worked here for almost two years, miss," he said in a far icier tone than before. "It's nice to meet you, miss."

He walked quickly toward the back door of the pool area before I could say another word. I returned to swimming wondering what I'd done to obviously offend him but with bigger things to think about. Ten laps later, I was ready to begin my day.

I climbed out of the pool and looked up to see Tristan standing on the deck next to the chair where I'd left my things. Dressed in a suit, he didn't look like he was there to swim. "Hey!" I said as I walked toward him to get my towel. "I thought you left for work already. I would have asked you to join me for a swim."

Tristan silently stared at me as I dried off. "I see you met my gardener."

Knotting the towel around me, I nodded. "Yeah. I think I offended him. Sorry about that. I must have said something wrong."

"You should be more worried about offending me."

His tone was cold and matched the look in his eyes. Confused, I shook my head. "What?"

"You heard me."