Rival by Penelope Douglas Page A

lot of men in his life or chances to keep practicing. He loves it. I try to bring him as much as possible during the warmer months.”
    Her eyes narrowed, and she looked lost in thought as she stared out at the water.
    “Come on,” I nudged, walking past her.
    Trudging through the chilly water, I walked forward as it covered my feet, then my calves and my thighs, and then my stomach. Kicking my feet up, I shot up and dove back down headfirst into the cool depths.
    I fucking hated the lake. It’s dirty and muddy. And cold! You’re swimming around not being able to see what’s happening underneath you.
    Freaks. Me. Out.
    But it’s one of the only things to do in this boring-as-hell town, and I’ve been here too many times with too many drinks and too many girls around. There was a time when that was fun. Hanging out, getting drunk—when you had nothing better to do.
    But now I was only here for Lucas, and for some reason I had wanted Fallon along today. We were probably going to get in a fight in front of the poor kid. And with Jared and Tate doing their thing by—surprise, surprise—fighting again, there would be no buffer zone if Fallon brought out her claws.
    I should’ve left her at home, I guess.
    I popped my head up out of the water and looked to the beach, seeing her in her bathing suit.
    Or maybe not.
    Holy hell. Son of a bitch.
    My dick jerked and instantly hardened—seriously?—even in the cold water.
    Her white bikini was just that. A bikini. In every possible definition of the word, it was evil and temptation in its worst form.
    The bottom piece covered all the important parts, but the top part had strings that tied in the front instead of the back. All you had to do was pull. Not reach around. Not fumble as you try to find the correct string blindly. Nope. You just had to pull and everything would come spilling out.
    She let her hair down out of her ponytail, and all of a sudden my hands felt too empty.
    A splash of water hit me in the back, and I winced.
    “You little . . . ” But I caught myself and just splashed Lucas in return.
    “You looked like you could use some cooling off.” He laughed, throwing his arm back and swimming away.
    Cooling off? Did he even know what he was talking about?
TV.
That’s where kids got this shit.
    Fallon still stood on the beach, hands on her hips and pacing the water’s edge, dipping her toes in every once in a while. She looked half ready to either throw herself into the water or turn around and run for the parking lot.
    I jerked my chin up, shouting, “Stop giving the kid a lesson in female anatomy and get in the water already.”
    Her gaze flashed to mine for a second, but I could feel the heat of her anger even in the chilly water. After teetering for another minute—just to piss me off—she stepped into the lake and waded out until she could dive in.
    About an hour passed as we played and swam in the water. Lucas had fun, even if it took Fallon time to get over herself. At first she stayed back, floating on a raft, treading water, and keeping her distance. But when I got the raft and Lucas tipped her off of it, she’d finally loosened up.
    They raced each other. She didn’t let him win.
    He and I dunked each other. She started smiling more.
    Jared and Tate came back with two smiles they sucked at hiding.
    And Fallon stayed as far away from me as she could get.
    Which was fine. There was nothing I wanted from her right now anyway.
    Oh, who was I kidding? I was ready to bang my head against abuoy for bringing Lucas out here when all I kept thinking about was ripping those fragile white strings loose.
    “Lucas!” I growled. “Go sit on the blanket with Jared and Tate. Hydrate and eat your snack.”
    “Oh, man,” he whined.
    And I smiled, seeing him swim off as I headed over to Fallon. She sat in the purple recliner raft with her arms resting on the inflated sides. One of her feet dangled off the edge, dipping into the smooth surface of the