Skintight by Susan Andersen

turned her face to the side to draw in a breath, and for a moment she faltered. A second later something hit the water with a huge splash, and she scrambled to get out of the way.
    â€œRufus, no!” Carly yelled. “Oh, Ellen, I’m so sorry.”
    Dropping her legs to tread water, Ellen turned to see Rufus paddling like mad in her direction, his black and brown fur sleek from the water, his mouth open in a big doggie grin. She had to smile at the sheer joie de vivre he managed to project.
    Clearly, Carly wasn’t as amused. “Heel!” she yelled. “Dammit, you worthless mutt, come here!” When Rufus continued to ignore her, she leaped into the pool after him.
    Ellen laughed aloud. Carly’s skimpy workout gear was the next best thing to a bathing suit, so she couldn’t truthfully say her young friend had jumped into the pool fully clothed. Carly had, however, forgotten to kick off her little canvas ballet slippers.
    Life was so much more interesting than it had been before she’d moved into the complex and met Carly and Treena. She adored both of the young women, and was tickled on a near daily basis by their impetuosity, their friendliness and their easy laughter.
    And as a diversionary tactic, Carly’s gambit worked spectacularly. With a joyous woof, Rufus changed direction midpaddle, making a beeline for his mistress. The showgirl laughed and sidestepped his furiously churning paws. Grabbing him by the scuff of his neck, she guided him over to the side of the pool and with a hand under his belly boosted him up onto the concrete apron.
    â€œYou really are worthless,” she said fondly, and hikedherself up to sit on the tiled edge, water squishing out of her soaked workout gear. “Great,” she muttered as the dog shook chlorinated water all over her. But she gave his head an affectionate scratch when he flopped down beside her.
    â€œWhat’s going on here?”
    Recognizing the gruff voice calling out the question, a dirty word flashed across Ellen’s mind. It was such a truly nasty one that never before in its entire long, misbegotten existence had it made its way into her vocabulary—and for a moment she was ashamed. But just for a moment. Because of all the bad luck! She’d thought she’d been able to avoid Mack Brody this afternoon.
    â€œAre you letting that mangy mutt swim in my clean pool, Carly?”
    â€œSorry, Mack.” She smiled wryly. “It wasn’t intentional—he just got away from me.” She slung an arm around Rufus’s neck. “He’s a stubborn little cuss—aren’tcha bud? Or maybe headstrong is a more accurate word.”
    â€œTry brainless.”
    Carly laughed. “Oh, yeah. That’s a definite possibility. However you define him, he’s taking longer to train than any dog I’ve ever had.” She gave the mutt a tender look, and Rufus panted up at her with happy, clueless devotion in return. “But he’ll get there. It just takes longer with some.”
    Ellen shot the sweet young woman and the older man surreptitious glances. Carly, even in her bedraggled wet clothing and ruined slippers, looked fresh and sexy, but Ellen would give Mack credit for never once looking at any of the young females in this building with even a hint of old goat lasciviousness.
    Still, there was no way she intended to get out of the pool in front of him while the pretty dancer was there. Mack had a way of making her feel like a sexless old crone at the best of times. The last thing she thought she could bear was a comparison between Carly’s perfect figure and her own month-and-a-half-away-from-her-sixtieth-birthday body.
    She resumed her interrupted Australian crawl to the deep end of the pool.
    Stiffness rendered her strokes awkward at first, but once she’d performed the flip-turn at the blue-tiled wall she lost her self-consciousness and settled down to swimming some nice