“Quite the selling point there,” Erin said. “But do you even know if Grace is into guys?”

Grace pointed her drink in Erin’s direction. “Yes, exactly right. I like women, Austin. Sorry.”

Matt started laughing and caught Erin hiding a grin.

Austin rolled his eyes in good humor. “Yeah, yeah . . . okay. But if you change your mind, I could use an older, wiser woman to teach me a few things.”

“News flash, kid . . . no woman wants to be described as older and wiser,” Matt said as a free tip.

“I already used beautiful and sexy, and that didn’t work.”

Grace pushed up from the side of the pool. “I need more alcohol for this.”

Austin grabbed a pool noodle to float on, his eyes fixed on Grace.

Matt shook his head.

“Are you going in?” Colin asked him.

“Did you bring a pair of trunks?”

Colin pointed to a chair where he’d placed a couple of towels and the swim shorts.

Matt grabbed them and then looked at Erin. “Mind if I change in your place?” It was closer than walking all the way up to the main house. And besides, there was something about changing in her personal space that put a spring in his step. Even if she wasn’t there. He realized that might have sounded a little warped, but in his own mind, he figured he was safe.

“Go ahead.”

He walked around the pool and down the short walkway to her front door. He’d been in, out, around, and even on top of the house all day, but walking in and closing himself in her bathroom to change made him feel just about as desperate as Austin was acting in the pool.

The bathroom was full of the usual chick stuff. Lotions and potions women thought they needed but not one man could identify. Considering he could count on one hand the number of toiletries he had at any given time, he thought the entire cosmetic world and how they reached into every woman’s purse and pulled out handfuls of money was this side of brilliant.

Kinda made him wish he had extra money for stock options.

He forced himself not to open her medicine cabinet and pry and instead removed his clothes and pulled on his brother’s trunks. They were a little tight, but not enough to embarrass him. Matt folded his clothes and left them on the side of her bathtub. He’d have to change before leaving so he didn’t see the point in taking his clothes back outside.

He used the bathroom since he was there and made sure to lower the lid just like his mother taught him. Although in his own home, and at the fire station, lid lowering wasn’t needed. He gave himself kudos before exiting her space.

Colin had joined Austin in the pool, and the women were sitting under the patio enjoying the shade.

“How’s the water?” he asked his brother in an effort to draw Erin’s attention his way. She had her back to him talking to Parker and Grace.

“Perfect. Especially after working in the heat all day.”

Matt walked around the pool and over to his drink. He moved to the middle of the women and took his glass. “You ladies going in?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” Grace said.

Erin finally turned his way. Her eyes landed on his chest and locked into place.

“I will.” Parker’s words hardly registered.

Erin was staring. Maybe the woman wasn’t completely unaffected by his presence.

He pretended not to notice and turned to the side much like a peacock showing a female another angle to consider. He sipped his drink, turned, and put it down right in front of Erin. Her gaze jolted to his face as if she had been caught doing something wrong.

“What about you, Erin?”

“Excuse me?”

“The pool? Are you going in?”

“Yes . . . wait, no.”

Was this her speechless? He liked it.

“Maybe.”

He would take the maybe and run with it . . . later. For now, he’d give her a little distance and something to watch.

He walked over to the edge of the pool and dove in.

The rush of cool water tapped his hormones down a notch and invigorated his body as he stretched out in the water. He popped his head out with a shake.

“I know where I’m spending the rest of my summer,” he announced.

“Great. Be sure to come on Sunday mornings when it needs to be cleaned,” Austin teased.

He glanced over and met Erin’s eyes.

When he smiled, she looked away.

“Deal.”

CHAPTER FIVE

She was tipsy.

Maybe even a tad drunk. And that was almost unheard of. The last time she felt her head buzz was on New Year’s Eve when she’d said a little too much to Parker about her past. Erin never relaxed around testosterone-filled humans. That she was doing just that with two-and-a-half men present—Austin didn’t feel like a full-fledged, card-carrying man quite yet—surprised her.

Dusk had fallen, dinner was only a memory . . . yet the margaritas were still being sipped and the fire pit was smoldering.

And she was tipsy.

She put her drink down and reached for a bottle of water.

Grace was sharing stories about her childhood to everyone’s enjoyment. “Our parents wouldn’t allow us to have computers in our bedrooms for the longest time.”

“That’s your fault,” Matt pointed out.

“One hundred percent,” Colin agreed.

“Why?” Parker asked.

The grin that split Grace’s lips spoke volumes. “You tell the story better than I do,” she told Matt.

“Colin was going into high school, I was in junior high, and Perv here was in what? Fifth grade?”

“I don’t remember,” Grace said.

Erin smiled, loving the family interaction.

“Colin finally convinced Mom and Dad to allow a computer in his room.”

“Up until then we were forced to use a central computer that our parents could police,” Colin added.

Matt groaned. “It sucked. Anyway, Colin was gone . . . don’t remember where, and Grace and I went into his room to watch YouTube or something.”

“Only that’s not what we ended up watching,” Grace said.

“Am I telling the story, or not?” Matt teased.

Erin laughed.

“Go ahead.” Grace sat back.

“So we click on YouTube and Gracie starts talking about a better YouTube she heard about at school. And now that our parents weren’t over our shoulders, we should check it out.” Matt glanced at Erin.

“There’s a better YouTube?” Erin asked.

“Debatable. So Grace here types in RedTube, presses enter, and our minds were blown.”

Austin immediately started laughing.

Parker and Erin just looked at each other.

“What’s RedTube?” Parker asked.

Grace sat back. “I don’t feel so bad anymore.”

“Porn,” Matt pointed out. “It’s an online porn site.”

“In my defense I hadn’t even had the conversation with my mother when this happened. I didn’t know an adult YouTube meant naked people.” Grace was all smiles.

Erin sat forward in her chair. “So what did you guys do?”

“We watched it. For a good twenty minutes.”

“Until Mom walked in,” Grace said.