River's End (River's End Series, #1)(78)

He got out, and started up the porch steps, eager to return and see his boys, and… well, maybe he was even glad to see Erin. So what? He’d gotten used to her presence over the last few weeks. He stopped dead when something blue caught his eye and curiously walked down the porch, turning the corner to the far side of the house.

There, smack dab in the middle of his alfalfa field, was a big, blue, above-ground, round pool. It was hideous. It stood off the ground about five feet, with a white ladder that hooked over the end nearest to him. And there, in the middle of the pool, was Erin, floating in an inner tube with her legs trailing along and the water up to her shins. Her butt hung down and her arms rested on the sides. Her head was back with a pair of sunglasses stuck on top of it. She wore a bikini. That same damned, flowered, yellow-and-pink bikini she wore to work. Now she was wearing it in the middle of his alfalfa field.

He stalked over, but she didn’t seem to know he was there. She floated along as if worry free and without a care in the world. Bees buzzed in the wildflowers, and the heat seemed to shimmer off the land, nearly blinding him.

She was sound asleep.

“What the hell is this piece of shit?”

Her eyes popped open and she almost fell right into the water. She looked at him, disoriented, for a moment and finally caught the edge of the pool with her hand before she could steady herself. With his eyes firmly on her face, he tried to ignore the visible strain and pull of her bare thighs as she tried to reposition the inner tube. She had gorgeous legs, small, slim and tan, with well-shaped knees and slender thighs that blossomed into a small, trim ass.

“Jack! You’re back.”

“Yeah, I’m back.” He mimicked her exclamation with a grumpy tone. He nodded at the monstrosity in his field. “Now what the hell is this? And why is it in the middle of my alfalfa field?”

“It’s a swimming pool.”

“I can damn well see that, Erin. What is it doing here? How did it get here, for that matter?”

“Oh… well, Ian and Ben helped me. Shane couldn’t because he took off a few days ago on his motorcycle. I’m sure Ian knows where he was going and why.”

“Who bought the pool?”

She squirmed around in the inner tube, her legs slipping and making squealing sounds on the plastic. A crease marred her forehead. “Uh, well, I guess you did.”

“I sure as shit didn’t buy a white trash pool and put it in the middle of my horses’ alfalfa fields.”

“Well, it was the only flat spot we could find,” she said, her voice sounding as if that was a perfectly reasonable excuse.

“You used my money to buy this? How?”

“No. Not your money per se. It was more like the ranch money. You know, for ranch improvements.”

He shut his eyes and counted backwards from ten. “You took petty cash for this?”

She shook her head vigorously. “No, I didn’t,” she said with a hearty shake of her head. “I would never do that… but, well, Ben did.”

“You convinced my son to take money from me?”

“It wasn’t like that. It was a hundred degrees or more each day you were gone.”

“And we have a nice, cold river located right down there.”

“Well, yeah, but we can’t spend all day there. This helps a lot and Charlie just loves it. It was his idea. I simply, you know, helped him pick out the best one.”

He sucked in a breath and slowly exhaled. “Let me get this straight: you drove my younger son into town, to buy this monstrosity of a pool with money you had my older son steal from the ranch funds, and then you had them set it up here?”

Her gaze seemed suddenly weary as she swallowed and nodded, “Well, yes. I suppose so. But it wasn’t like that. Certainly not as sinister as you’re making it sound.”

There was a sudden ruckus behind him and Jack turned to find Charlie running across the porch before launching himself into Jack’s arms in a happy hug. Ben, too, came forward with a hug, and Ian stood at the edge, smiling, until he saw Jack’s face.

Jack glowered back at Erin. Charlie jumped around, appearing very excited. “Isn’t it great, Dad? We use it every single day.”

“It’s in the middle of my alfalfa field.”

“You surely won’t miss this little bit,” Erin muttered.

He glared at Erin. “And what do you know of how much feed I need for the horses? You know exactly shit about my business. And you had no right to put this… this piece of crap here or spend my money on it.”

Charlie’s face fell and Ben took a step back. Erin slid off the inner tube to stand up. The water came up to her collarbone. She walked towards the ladder.

“You’re overreacting, Jack.”

“How did you get it all set up?”

She looked towards Ian, who glanced at Jack before he smiled and shrugged. “You helped them?” Jack asked incredulously.

“Sure. They asked me. And it seemed harmless enough. It has been hot, Jack.”

He opened his mouth to speak and looked at Erin, and then at Ian. They shared a smile. Since when did these two get so chummy? As far as he knew, they never once talked to one another. Now they were… what? BFFs?

Suddenly walking over to the ladder, Jack climbed up on it, and leaned down to grab Erin by her waist. He pulled her up and threw her over his shoulder. Her wet body dripped, soaking his denim shirt as she twisted, squirmed and screamed. He put a hand on her ass to hold her there.