Ellie had grown up with the Lupo brothers because their mothers were best friends, but she didn’t have one nice thing to say about them, especially Gianni, who was our age. Not that I entirely blamed her—he’d always tormented her relentlessly. It hadn’t helped that they’d grown from scrappy, skinny boys with gangly legs and scabby elbows into gorgeous, brawny teenagers with unfair bone structure, thick tousled hair, and irrepressible grins.
Then there was the infamous night of the Cherry Festival when we were seventeen, which involved a dunk tank, several pies in the face, and a highly controversial game of Seven Minutes in Heaven.
“I still haven’t forgiven him for what he did to me,” Ellie said. “It was so humiliating.”
“Come on, that was five years ago. We were in high school. Maybe he’s matured by now.”
She gave me a look that would have singed hair at twenty feet. “Guys like Gianni Lupo don’t mature, Winnie. They don’t have to, because even though they get older, they can just keep dating younger girls who don’t know better.”
“I thought he was in California. Wasn’t he doing some next generation version of the reality cooking show his dad was on?”
“Yeah. Lick my Plate,” Ellie sneered, rolling her eyes. “I can’t even believe my parents are considering hiring that clown.”
“I will reach out to Felicity and see if she’s interested.”
“Thank you. That would save me from death by testosterone. Or going to prison for murder.”
I laughed. “What are friends for?”
Later that afternoon, I was unloading the dishwasher when I heard a little voice coming in through the sliding screen door. “Hi, Winnie.”
I glanced over and saw Luna and Hallie standing on my patio, wrapped in large towels, their hair wet and dripping. “Well, hi,” I said, noticing Hallie wore swim socks. “You finally went swimming, huh? Did you like the pool?”
“Yes,” Hallie said. “Will you come out and swim with us?”
“Me?”
“Daddy said we could ask you.” Luna paused. “Well, at first he said no, we weren’t allowed to bother you, but then we bugged him until he said yes.”
I laughed. “Sometimes that works.”
“So will you?”
Glancing at my phone, I saw it was just after three. I could hang out with the girls at the pool and still have plenty of time to clean up and make it to my parents’ house for six o’clock dinner. “Okay,” I said. “I just need a few minutes to get my suit on. Do you want to come in?”
“We can’t,” Hallie said, glancing over her shoulder toward the pool area. “Daddy said we have to stay where he can see us. And we’re still sort of in trouble for wandering off yesterday.”
“But we have our emergency plan now,” added Luna seriously. “If there’s a fire, we’re going to meet at the pool gate.”
I nodded. “That’s a good plan. Okay, I’ll be right down.”
I hurried upstairs and opened a dresser drawer, debating between a skimpy two-piece and more family-friendly tank. Considering the situation, I decided on the blue and white striped tank. It had a low V in the front with a ruffled neckline, but wasn’t too revealing. I didn’t want to look like I was trying to be sexy or get Dex’s attention.
Tossing a cover-up on over my suit, I put on flip-flops and grabbed a towel. Downstairs, the girls were patiently waiting for me on the patio. I slung my pool bag over my arm and put on my sunglasses, sliding the door shut behind me. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”
They scampered across the lawn like puppies, and I walked fast to keep up. Beyond the black fence, I saw where Dex was reclining in a lounge chair, the back propped all the way up so he could see all the way to my patio door. His feet were crossed at the ankle, his arms were folded over his chest, and he didn’t look all that thrilled as we approached. I wondered if he’d been hoping I wasn’t home.
“See? Told you he was hairy,” Hallie said to me.
Luna raced ahead. “We found her!” she cried, trying unsuccessfully to open the gate. “She said yes!”
Dex got out of the chair and came over to open the gate. “I see that.”
“Hi,” I said, ignoring the way my heart was thumping at the sight of him in dark blue swim trunks. His chest was every bit as magnificent as I’d imagined, and not at all too hairy, despite what his daughters thought. His six-pack abs were taut beneath golden skin, and my eyes immediately wandered to the trail of hair beneath his belly button and the V lines that showed above his waistband.