Playing For Keeps (8 page)

“Anyone up for a swim,” Marianne asked.

“Oh yeah,” Wyatt replied as he stood up.

“I can never remember a time growing up when we would still be able to get in the pool at this time of year,” Gaia murmured as she stood.

Everyone murmured their agreement as they stood up and headed for the house. Keirra was sort of surprised at how hot it was. It was a good day for a swim. She went into the guest room and pulled out the three swimsuits that she had chosen to bring upon Eric’s instructions. She grinned when she looked at the raspberry colored bikini. It was her favorite. The bikini covered up the most yet it revealed what she needed it to. She began to strip and put on the swimsuit.

At the last minute she decided to put on a sarong. Parading through the Brooks house half naked was the last impression that she wanted to make. Walking over to the mirror, she wrapped her ponytail into a ball and pinned it. The chlorine wasn’t good for her hair. With one last glimpse in the mirror, she exited the room and ran right into Marianne.

“Oops.”

“Sorry.”

Marianne locked arms with her. “No problem. Although I am sure Eric wouldn’t mind having one less sister.”

Keirra laughed. “Well believe it or not he loves you guys and wouldn’t trade any of you for anything.”

Marianne smiled in return. “Believe it or not we wouldn’t trade him for anything either.”

Marianne led her back through the house and outside. They were the last to arrive at the pool. There was a natural sparkle of friendliness in Marianne’s eyes when she looked at Keirra.

“Well I hope that you are enjoying yourself.”

Keirra found herself smiling. “I am, and thank you for making me feel at home.”

Keirra looked around and hoped that she looked half as good as Gaia, Irene, and Marianne did after having kids. Her attention slowly went in Eric’s direction. Keirra felt her mouth go dry. The man was good looking with clothes on. He was even sexier without them. Now she could see the muscles she had felt so often. She had to avert her gaze before she made a fool of herself.

Owen was the first to slide into the pool. Everyone began to follow him in. Keirra walked over to the edge of the pool and sat down. She slid her feet into the water. A laugh escaped her as she saw Gaia and Owen share a quick kiss before she dunked him. Marianne and Wyatt were floating together side by side, and Irene and Scott were swimming around the pool together. It made her wonder if she would share anything like that with Eric, but even if she didn’t, whoever did would be lucky.

Keirra let out a shriek of terror as Eric appeared in front of her without warning. He chuckled as she placed a hand to her rapidly rising chest.

“Good Lord, Eric, you nearly scared me to death.”

He swam closer to her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

Reaching for her legs, he tugged her closer to the edge of the pool. “Why aren’t you in the swimming pool?”

She smiled. “I’m not good at swimming.”

A look of surprise appeared on his face. “Yeah right. You not good at something?”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Yes, I’m not perfect, you know. Trust me, dog paddling is the best that I can do.”

He laughed in response. “Well, I want you to come into the water with me.”

She shook head. Her last intention was to get into the water. She really was a bad swimmer even in the shallow end. As athletic as she was, water was her one weakness.

“I will hold on to you.”

She laughed. If that was supposed to reassure her, he had another thing coming. He must have interpreted her thoughts.

“I won’t drown you, nor will I let you drown yourself. I promise.”

He held up his hand in what she guessed was supposed to be Scout’s honor. It only took her a minute to decide that she really did want to get in the pool. She hadn’t been in one in years.

“Okay, but I want to get in on the shallow end.”

He nodded and swam in the other direction of the pool. Keirra allowed herself to enjoy the ripples of his back and arm muscles as he moved through the water. She stood up and walked down to the shallow end. She unwrapped the sarong from around her body. Eric’s eyes widened, and she smiled.

She had gotten the reaction that she was looking for. Tossing the cover-up onto a nearby chair, she slowly stepped into the pool.

He grinned after she did, and she knew it was because of the blissful look on her face. The water felt great. She continued into the water until she stood in front of him.

“You ready?”

She nodded, and he placed his arms around her waist and started to move backward.

“Wrap your arms around my neck.”

She did as he asked, and he lay back. Her arms tightened instinctively.

“Loosen your arms some.”

She did as he asked, and he continued moving backward in the water. He had made a few laps before she relaxed completely. The man was a good swimmer. She didn’t know how he managed to swim and stay afloat with her practically laying on top of him. He also seemed to be using every muscle he had, and there were plenty of them to use. They swam by Irene and Scott, who waved at them. Eric swam around the pool a few more times before swimming over to the edge. Standing up, he placed his hands under her arms and lifted her out of the pool. His strength was extraordinary.

“How was that?”

She nodded. It had been very enjoyable, with the exception of when he had first started swimming toward the deep end of the pool. Being in such close proximity to him had been nice. A long moment of silence passed between them. She began to wonder what it would be like to be married to him, to have kids with him. Dividing the holidays up so that they were spent in an even amount of time between their two families. It would definitely be different from what she was currently used to. She knew what her plans were for every holiday without having to think about it.

She sighed and looked away. His hands came up and turned her head until she looked back at him.

He sucked in a deep breath at the intense look in her eyes.

“What are you thinking about?”

She shook her head not wanting to share something so personal, so intimate with him so soon. He came closer to her.

“Well, I will tell you what I am thinking about.” He moved even closer. “I am thinking about kissing you.”

Her eyes widened, and before she could blink, his lips were coming up to meet hers. She leaned forward, and he pulled her back into the pool with him. His warm tongue slipped into her mouth.

She gasped as he lowered them into the water. A second later, she found out why he had. His hand came up and found her breast. All sorts of thoughts started raging through her head.

She had been kissed before but never like this. His kiss was making her world tilt off its axis. That axis quickly righted itself when his hand slipped between her thighs. She lifted her head breaking their kiss.

“What are you doing?” she asked, after she gasped.

He let his hands do the explaining for him, and she gasped again as he pushed her bikini bottom aside and slid his finger inside of her. It was a different sensation for her. She had to bite her lips to keep from crying out as he added a second finger. The feeling it produced in her was overwhelming.

She closed her eyes as his mouth came back down on her again. His lips had barely touched her again when someone let out a shrill whistle. Eric took his time releasing her. He was even slower to remove his hand from underneath her bikini bottom, and she really didn’t mind.

She should mind because the water didn’t hide much, but they were far enough from everyone else that their activities probably hadn’t been noticed. A glance around told her that everyone seemed to busy doing their own thing. She looked up to see Arthur standing at the opposite end of the pool.

“I hate to ruin your fun, kids, but the food is ready, and my grandchildren are hungry.”

Owen hopped out of the pool and pulled Gaia out behind him. “Dad, I think that I may have more gray hair than you do. I think that I have outgrown being called a kid.”

She could tell that it was a slight exaggeration on Gaia’s part, but the comment was still funny.

Everyone exited the pool and headed for the tent. Within minutes, they were sitting down at the tables eating. The food was good, and Keirra had to force herself not to overeat.

“So Eric tells us that you are a triplet,” Irene commented, as she reached for her drink.

She nodded. “It is hard for some people to believe, but it is true.”

Gaia picked up the bottle of mustard. “Who is the oldest?”

Keirra laughed at the question. “My sister Kayla by three minutes. It seems that I didn’t want to come out first, and I wasn’t too anxious about coming out second, but I had to. Kristen was behind me pushing.”

There were a few chuckles around the table.

“What is it like have two identical sisters?” Marianne asked.

Keirra shrugged. “It is fun being a triplet. I also consider myself lucky because I was born with two best friends. Now don’t get me wrong. We don’t always get along, but we are always there for each other.”

“Well, hopefully we will be seeing you again and maybe your sisters as well,” Marianne said.

Keirra’s gaze flew to Eric, and he smiled and shrugged. He seemed okay with the idea, and that made her a little nervous. A playboy should not be willing to accept anything that was permanent especially when it came to relationships. Maybe he really was trying to reform himself. Half an hour later, the adults were still sitting around the table, and the kids were off playing.

“Anyone have any suggestions on what we should do next?”

“I do, but the kids can’t be involved,” Owen stated in response to his wife’s question, and it earned him an elbow in the ribs.

Gaia gave Owen a pointed look. “That is how we got those three in case you forgot.”

Owen wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Yes, but we fixed that, didn’t we?”

Marianne interrupted before Gaia had the chance to reply. “I say it’s time that Mom opens her presents.”

Eric stood seconding the suggestion. It took a few minutes to put the leftovers up and to gather the kids up, but moments later they were all sitting in the living room. She was surprised that people living in such a beautiful home would walk around in their swimsuits as if it were an everyday norm.

She could see why Eric was such a well-rounded person. She gasped as he physically picked her up and sat her in his lap as if she weighed absolutely nothing.

“What are you doing?”

“Giving Irene a place to sit so Mom can have the recliner. Keirra looked up and realized he was telling the truth. She had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn’t realized they had run out of room.

Scooting back a little, she settled herself in his lap. If her sisters could see her now, they would be rolling over each other laughing. Eric’s persuasion had her doing things that she normally wouldn’t do. He was definitely starting to make her rethink her ideas and opinions of him.

Charlotte seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit. She had already opened Eric’s gift. He had bought her a beautiful blouse she had been fawning over but had yet to buy. Keirra was a little surprised a man who told her he didn’t like to shop was able to pick out such a nice gift. Keirra tried to clear her mind and focus on the presents Eric’s mother was opening. If her mother were alive, she would be four years younger than Charlotte. Sometimes she believed that her mother had just stayed around until she was sure that her daughters were okay. Then again who really knew.

Aneurysms were so unpredictable that it was hard to say. Her mother had been a strong woman, but Keirra was still smart enough to realize that her mother and father had had a relationship that was rare. The term
soul mates
always came to mind when she thought of her parents.

She turned and looked back at Eric wondering if she would ever feel that way about him. At first glance, she thought that they were exact opposites, but they seemed to be more alike when she really thought about it. He pushed her beyond her reservations, and he did it so effectively that it was starting to become a little scary. She smiled because this was going to be a very interesting development. “What has you smiling?”

Keirra almost jumped off his lap, and he chuckled. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

She shook her head. This time, it was her fault. She should be paying attention to the presents that were being opened. After all, it was a birthday party.

“I will tell you later.”

She really did turn her attention back to Charlotte who was opening her last present. It was a cream-colored cashmere sweater. The sweater must have been something that she had wanted as well judging about her reaction. Charlotte thanked everyone for her gifts before everyone pitched in and helped to clean up the living room.

Gaia rubbed her hands together in anticipation. “It is time for cake and ice cream.”

Keirra felt her stomach grumble and groaned. There was no way she should be hungry considering the amount of food she had just consumed. But if there was one thing she had, it was a weakness for ice cream. Especially Ben and Jerry’s
.
There were always at least three containers in the freezer in the event of an emergency.

Everyone headed back outside, and she followed. She gasped as she was pulled into a corner without warning. When she realized it was Eric, she relaxed but not before hitting him in the chest.

“You just insist on scaring the hell out of me, don’t you?”

He pulled her close to him. “It isn’t intentional. I promise, and it does seem that you are the one who is always daydreaming.”

She dropped her forehead onto his shoulder. He had a point there. His hand came down and lifted her chin up.

“Besides I pulled you back here for a reason.”

Before she could ask what that reason was, his lips came down on hers. His talented tongue slid into her mouth, and she melted against him. The man made her knees weak with his kisses.

“Yeah, Mom, they are still in here, and they are making out.”