Was he speaking now? Was he giving me the answer I wanted? I had no idea.
Nathan’s body…He was such a liar. He’d told Oliver it had been six years since he’d played football, yet he was built like he’d never given it up.
His muscles were defined, thick in his shoulders and biceps but not bulky. He had a lean, long, sculpted torso, abs without flexing, and narrow hips. I followed the dusting of hair below his navel to his swim shorts. They hung low, at least two, three inches below his waist.
I squinted, studying.
No, three inches for sure. Thank God for these glasses. I could openly stare without anyone knowing. Nathan had no idea.
“So, nothing to say to that?”
My head jerked up. “Huh? Nothing to say to what? Did you say something?”
“I answered your question…”
Oh shit. What good were these glasses if I couldn’t properly maintain conversation? I’d totally been had. Time to guess.
“Um, right. So, he’s married, then?”
“No. I said he’s not married.”
“Oh.” My voice came out breathy. “Well, you know…it’s hard to hear you. With the music…” And your body. What a distraction.
Wait. Waitwaitwait.
Okay, so Davis wasn’t married. He was coming over here to hit on me. And knowing that, Nathan pushed him into the pool?
My heartbeat accelerated.
I stared into Nathan’s eyes, waiting for him to answer the unspoken question that hung in the air between us, but he didn’t. He wouldn’t say a word. He simply looked at me.
When Rihanna cut off mid-song and “A Groovy Kind of Love” began playing, a laugh pushed past my lips.
What the…?
Nathan frowned, his dark brows pinching together. Both of us turned to look over at the DJ booth.
Davis stood behind it, arms drawn across his bare chest and hair sticking up wildly from the pool. He smiled directly at us.
“Jesus,” Nathan muttered, putting his back to his friend. He shook his head.
“Kind of an odd song to play right now.” I giggled. “Is he a big Phil Collins fan or something?”
“Don’t pay attention to him. He’s taken a lot of blows to the head.”
Bold laughter cut through the air. “Nudge!” Davis yelled.
Nathan cursed under his breath, then bent down and swapped the bottle of sunscreen Marley was holding for a pool toy, keeping her occupied. “Let’s get in the pool,” he said, moving urgently. He squirted lotion onto his palm and smeared it over his chest and shoulders. When his hand grazed his abs, I gulped in a breath and bit my tongue.
Lord, yes, get him under the water.
Nathan dropped the bottle onto a beach towel and scooped up Marley while I gathered my hair off my neck and secured it into a messy bun. Imagine Dragons was playing now. Some of the crowd sang along. Others cheered, grateful for the song change. We walked side by side to the pool, silent, neither of us bringing up the previous conversation.
I couldn’t forget it though. It ate away at my mind.
I waved at Oliver and Olivia as they waited behind a row of kids for the slide. My two couldn’t stop smiling.
“They’re having so much fun,” I said.
“Yeah.” Nathan’s face was tense when I peered over at him. When he halted at the stairs, I did the same. “Jenna, I need you to ask me.”
“Ask you what?”
“Why it matters if Davis isn’t married.” He turned his head, eyes boring into mine.
I was still wearing my glasses, but Nathan wasn’t. And even though his pledge to keep them on was one of the sweetest gestures anyone had ever done for Olivia, I was grateful for the break. I would’ve missed how carefully he was staring at me right now if he’d been wearing them.
“Um…” My hand tensed around the metal rail. “Okay, why does it matter?”
“Because I don’t want him hitting on you,” Nathan said. “And if anyone else tries something, they’re getting shoved in the pool too. I don’t care who it is.”
I smiled immediately. It was purely reactional—I couldn’t help it. Nathan was telling me what I’d been hoping to hear. The reason I would’ve begged for. He didn’t want his friend hitting on me because…Well, we weren’t there yet. Okay. But we were getting somewhere.
This was a good thing. I wanted Nathan smiling now too. But even after that admission, he still looked so serious and unsure.
“What if they’re already in the pool?” I teased, entering the water one step at a time. I watched him over my shoulder.
Nathan’s mouth twitched. He waded in until the water reached his waist. “Then I guess I’m tossing them out of it.” We circled each other with Marley between us, smacking at the water and giggling at herself.
“Nathan.”
He stared at me over the top of her head. “Jenna.”
My cheeks were on fire. I could feel it. “I don’t have much upper-body strength, but I’ll try to do the same if Davis hits on you.”