Intent(40)

“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.