Emily raised her chin in playful defiance. “Bring it, Blake.”
With both teams positioned on either side of the net, the game began. The kids screeched into a loud burst of laughter when Emily jumped up, spiked the ball onto Gavin’s head, and knocked his sunglasses clear off his face. After Gavin resurfaced from retrieving the sunken shades, his eyes trained on Emily as he smiled with a guaranteed promise of retaliation. She gave a quick high-five to Theresa and shot Gavin a smirk—quite pleased with herself by the point gained for the girls.
Tossing his arm around Timothy’s shoulder, Gavin whispered something into his ear. He chucked his sunglasses onto a beach chair and eyed Emily with a devious smile. She knew he was up to no good. She shook her head and laughed. Before she could warn Theresa of her uncle’s mischievous intentions, a tidal wave of water splashed into her face—courtesy of Gavin.
Emily let out a gasp, spitting water from her mouth. She shot Gavin a smirk and splashed him back. With all his little might, Timothy tossed the beach ball over the net, scoring a wicked point for the boys. Startled by the sudden attack, Theresa began to cry out in hysterics. Without hesitation, Gavin swam over to her and scooped her into his arms.
Perched on the pool stairs, Gavin cradled her. “Theresa, Uncle Gavin’s sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Uncle Gaffin, you hurt Emm-mi-me,” she sniffed.
“No, Theresa, he didn’t hurt me.” Emily held out her arms, coaxing her to sit by her. Theresa sat herself in Emily’s lap. “He just splashed me, that’s all.”
Theresa sniffed again. “Uncle Gaffin is a meanie; you should hit him.”
Gavin playfully frowned as his eyes widened. “You think she should hit me?”
Theresa giggled and nodded.
Gavin looked to Emily and shrugged, pointing to his arm. “I guess Colton and Melanie are raising some hostile children,” he laughed. “Take your best shot, doll.”
Smiling, Emily acted as though she hit him, and Gavin howled out in his best wounded voice.
Theresa laughed, quite satisfied by the blow.
“Mom said you made my daughter cry, Gavin?”
Gavin turned around and smiled. “Hey, Mel. Yeah, I scared her a little, but she’s okay now. Aren’t ya, squirt?” He tickled Theresa’s toes.
She laughed and kicked her feet away from him. “Uncle Gaffin’s girfend hit him for me.”
With a sweep of her arm, Melanie motioned to Timothy to get out of the pool. She then tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder, quirked a curious brow, and smiled in Gavin’s direction.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Gavin laughed, standing up. “She’s Dillon’s girlfriend. Emily, this is my wonderful sister-in-law, Melanie.”
Holding Theresa’s hand in hers, Emily rose to her feet and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s all mine,” she said, returning the smile.
“Your children are adorable,” Emily said.
“Thank you, but I bet you’d beg to differ when they’re screaming and fighting with one another over a box or something crazy like that.”
Emily laughed.
Turning to Gavin, an impish grin slid across Melanie’s mouth. The threat in his eyes told her not to even go there—but she would.
She turned back to Emily. “Emily, do you have any available sisters or friends that Gavin might be interested in dating?”
Emily looked to Gavin. “Ongoing family thing?”
Crossing his arms, Gavin shook his head and smiled. “Bingo.”
Emily laughed and looked over to Melanie. “I do have a sister, but she’s married already. I can call a few friends though.”
“Perfect,” Melanie replied, placing her hand on Gavin’s arm.
With that, Theresa tugged at Melanie’s leg as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. Melanie picked her up. “Emily, make sure to call them soon. My brother-in-law’s getting too old to still be single,” she quipped and took off in a pretty fast pace toward the backdoor.
Letting out a sigh, Gavin smiled and handed Emily a towel. “She’s a…difficult one, my sister-in-law.”
“She seems nice though.” Emily accepted the towel from him as she tried to drag her gaze away from his tattoo that was now wet and glistening in the sunlight. Blowing out a breath, she swallowed hard and refocused her eyes back on his face. “I find it funny that everyone’s trying to get you hooked up with someone.”
“Yeah, tell me about. They have this odd thing about me being single right now.”
As Emily was about to ask him if he really wanted her to call some friends for him, Dillon snaked his arms around her waist from behind and kissed her neck. Surprised, she jumped and laughed at her sudden shock. The rest of the anglers strolled into the backyard looking sunburned, tired, and just a tad intoxicated. After some light conversation regarding the amount of fish that each man caught and a little more teasing of Gavin not being able to attend, the group dispersed as everyone went to take showers.
“So you went swimming I see,” Dillon remarked, peeling the shirt from his body as he and Emily entered their room. Closing the door behind him, he shed the rest of his clothing and tossed them into a pile.
“Very good observation,” she laughed.
Dillon walked into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and got in. “I hope you kept the body that belongs to me covered up around my friend,” he called out.
Emily rolled her eyes and searched her bag for a particular red gauzy sundress that she’d brought along. It was one that her mother had purchased for her on their last trip to see her sister in California. She smiled when she found it, holding it up against her body as she looked into the mirror.
“You’re not answering me, Emily. Did you cover yourself up?”
Walking into the bathroom, she let out a frustrated sigh. “Dillon, what do you see right now?” she asked, motioning her hand over her body, her voice a touch irritated by his question. It was clear to her that she wasn’t baring too much skin.
“What do I see right now? I see my hot girlfriend’s ass hanging out from beneath her college T-shirt. So why don’t you get in the shower and give your man what he needs?”
“You think I’m having sex with you right now?” she asked, her eyes bulging. “There’s a shitload of people downstairs.”
“Get in the shower, Emily,” he commanded simply.
“What the hell’s wrong with you, Dillon? I said no.”
“Come on, Em. It’s just hard for me to see you looking like that and not want to fuck around,” he calmly replied as he got out of the shower. He walked over to where she was leaning against the vanity. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you while I was gone.”
Pressing his body against hers, he quickly dipped his hand into her bikini bottom, making sure to slide his fingers inside her.
A faint moan escaped her lips as she tried to push him away.
“See, you like that.” His voice notched down huskily as he grazed his lips over hers. Sliding his fingers in and out, he used his other hand to glide her bikini bottom down past her thighs. “This pussy’s mine. No one else’s, Emily. Mine,” he groaned against her cheek.
As she pushed him away again, a knock came at the bedroom door. Shooting Emily a hard glare, Dillon yanked a towel from the rack, tossed it around his waist, and leisurely strolled over to answer it. It was Trevor, letting him know that a potential client eager to speak with him regarding a commodities plan was downstairs. Within five minutes, Dillon was dressed and out the door to go talk business. Emily was left alone in the room, wondering what the man—whom she desperately loved—was really morphing into.
By the time Emily calmed her nerves, showered, and got ready, it was a quarter past seven, and the party was in full swing. True to Dillon’s words, there had to have been at least 150 people scattered throughout the property. She wove through the crowd of unrecognizable faces as she searched for him. When she couldn’t find him among the masses, she took a seat at one of the bars set up on the patio.