She couldn’t wait to swim a few laps. A quick glance around showed no one about, so she dropped her sundress and dove in.
The water was perfect. One of her favorite things to do was head to the YMCA after work and swim to drive away the stress of the day. It was great exercise and never failed to rejuvenate her.
After several laps, she stopped in the center of the pool and floated on her back, enjoying the heat of the sun on her face and the utter quiet of being partially submerged in the silent water.
Ryan found Faith lying on her back in the middle of the pool, completely oblivious to the world around her. She barely moved, occasionally fluttering her arms or legs to maintain her balance as she allowed the sun to worship her body.
He had never seen her this close to unclothed before. Why in heaven’s name did the woman hide under business suits two sizes too big and way too long? She had a magnificent body, perfectly proportioned. Sleek and athletic, with slender hips and slim legs. Trying to hide her figure under that ugly navy tank suit did no good. It hugged her body like a sports car on a sharp curve.
He’d always had a thing for petite women, and Faith was small and perfect, right down to her pink-painted toenails. Cute. Incongruent in a woman who made trying to look plain an art form.
Her dark hair floated around all sides of her face, and he caught a tiny tinge of freckles across her cheeks and upturned nose. He wondered how long he could stand by the edge of the pool and watch her before she noticed he was there?
Why in the world was he even down here, and in his swim trunks?
Ryan never took the time to swim. In fact, this was the first time in years he’d even contemplated taking a dip. His normal use for the pool was as decoration for social events held at the mansion.
But that was before he’d spotted the water nymph from his office window. Without thinking, he’d thrown on his swim trunks and made a mad dash for the pool.
Now that he was here, what was he going to do?
An idea popped into his head. He couldn’t. It really wasn’t a mature thing to do, and God knows it had been years since he’d done it. He still remembered the stern look on his grandfather’s face when his golf partners had gotten wet. Ryan had received a thirty-minute lecture on propriety and acting like a child. But then again, he had been a child when it happened.
But there she was, looking calm and peaceful in the center of the pool, just begging for someone to splash her. He grinned.
Screw it. He was going in. Taking a few steps back, he ran toward the water, leaped high in the air and tucked both knees up to his chest. He hit the deep end with his first adult cannonball.
A good one, too. He landed on the bottom and quickly pushed off to the surface, throwing his head side to side to sluice the water out of his eyes before opening them.
In front of him stood one seriously drenched water nymph.
Faith spit water through hair that fell over her face. When she managed to pull the strands aside and c**k one eye open, Ryan almost laughed at the picture she presented. Almost.
She blew the strands of hair out of her mouth. “You scared me half to death!”
He tried to keep his lips from curling. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
“Well, next time try harder.”
Ryan’s eyes widened as he heard Faith complain for the very first time. In five years of working with her, he’d never heard a cross word or protest from her. At times she could be annoyingly agreeable, or at least if she had a differing opinion she diplomatically presented her case, but always accepted Ryan’s decision as final.
Right now she looked pissed as hell. It certainly enhanced her appearance considerably, her small, high br**sts heaving in indignation and her face bright with creamy color from the sun. She looked warm and lush and utterly delectable. He fought the urge to lick the droplets of water off every inch of her skin.
“If I promise to behave, will you stay and swim with me?” he asked.
“If I promise to stay and swim with you, will you promise not to act like an eight-year-old?”
It was all he could do not to laugh out loud at the sheer joy of the moment. He had been, in fact, eight years old the last time he’d tried the cannonball trick. And just now he’d felt that long ago childhood freedom as he’d sailed in the air before plummeting with glee into the safety net of the pool’s depths.
“I’ll try,” he said, desperately trying to keep his smile in check.
“You do that.”
She looked like a schoolteacher giving a lecture. Except she didn’t look like any of the teachers he’d had, nor did her current appearance in any way reflect the way she presented herself at work. Without those owlish glasses to hide behind, her blue eyes sparkled like sapphires.
Funny how they always seemed a duller blue behind her specs.
Her shoulders were thrown back, pushing her chest out. He liked the indignant look—especially when she pointed her erect ni**les in his direction.
“Are you cold?” This time he couldn’t fight the smirk.
Faith shook her head, seemingly confused. Then she followed his eyes to her chest and quickly wrapped her arms around her br**sts.
Was she trying to hide her body from him? Hadn’t she already adequately done that in that antiquated version of bathing attire?
“So, are you enjoying the pool?” he asked.
“I…um…I came down here to swim a few laps and read. Alone.”
“Is that your not so subtle way of saying you’d like me to leave?”
A look of alarm crossed her face. “Oh, no! I mean, this is your house and your pool. I certainly wouldn’t presume to tell you that you couldn’t be anywhere you chose.”
There was the always agreeable, prim and proper Faith. For a moment there he’d wondered where she’d gone when she’d turned into an oh-so-pissed-off bathing beauty. He’d enjoyed that small glimpse of spunk.
“I just wanted a quick dip, anyway.” With a turn, he cut through the water and hoisted himself out. He grabbed a towel from the stack and dried himself. “I’ve got some work to do in the office downstairs tonight, so I probably won’t surface until later. Leland will see that you get dinner.”
“Okay.”
Her gaze fell to the water, whether from disappointment or relief, he couldn’t tell. She’d made it clear she didn’t want him to stay, so why did she seem unhappy with the fact he was leaving?