Chapter 13

She’s a maid?

I barely managed to keep my jaw from dropping as I stared back at Jewel. Sitting there in that bikini that had nearly made my eyes fall out of my head that first time I’d seen her, it was hard to imagine her on her hands and knees, scrubbing someone else’s toilets and floors.

I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to handle that. I understood that people had to do what they had to do to make ends meet, but shit. Being a house cleaner seemed like a rough way to do it.

Wishing for the first time in a long time that I hadn’t said anything, I wondered if I would really be able to have this beautiful woman cleaning up after us. Honestly, I didn’t think so.

“You’re in the best hands with our company,” she gushed, seeming downright giddy. “Brittany and I are excellent at what we do. You can check out our reviews on social media. You won’t be sorry you hired us. I promise.”

Scott handed a water to me and clapped me on the shoulder. “Just watch out. My little sister has had the girl version of a hard-on for the house since she was a kid.”

“What does that mean?” Colten asked curiously as he glanced between her brother and me.

Scott turned neon pink and shot me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I’m not around kids much. I wasn’t thinking. She just really likes the Manor.”

I chuckled, but thankfully, Jewel saved me from having to have that extremely uncomfortable conversation with my son in front of an audience by defending herself. Her golden-brown eyes flashed with indignation as she cocked her head at her brother.

“This has nothing to do with how much I appreciate that beautiful old house. It’s business and Brittany and I are the best.”

“You’re also the only people in your business,” he replied with a teasing smirk. “That means you may be the best, but you’re also the worst.”

“We’ve never had one bad review,” she scolded him, her cheeks flushed as she glanced at me. “Really. You can look it up. Every last one of our clients love us. We’re thorough, efficient, and respectful. We’re also reliable and affordable.”

“I never said you weren’t,” he retorted, his voice thick with barely restrained laughter. “I was just being nice. They should know that if they hire you, you’re going to spend the first day or so just gaping and then you’ll get to work. I’m sure you’ll be plenty thorough and efficient once you get started. It’s just that you won’t be getting started immediately.”

She scoffed at him. “That’s not true. I can marvel and work at the same time.”

Her brother guffawed, but she ignored him, turning back to me instead with a pleading look in those bright eyes. “Don’t listen to him. I’m a professional. What do you say, are you going to hire us?”

I was uncomfortable letting her—of all people—come in to clean our house, but I couldn’t say no when she was looking at me like that, so I nodded. “Of course. Yes. Sure.”

Tossing her arms up in the air, she did a little jig and stuck her tongue out at her brother, but my gaze had dropped to her chest. It was only for a second, but I hadn’t been able to help myself when she’d done her victory dance.

Her cleavage was so pronounced in that bikini top, the curves of her breasts so round and voluptuous, that I kind of wanted to bury my head between them. I groaned internally, silently begging her to put her damn arms down and stop moving before my problem became too obvious.

Mercifully, Scott had walked back to the boat and he came back with a football from a storage area under one of the seats. He tossed it to Colten, who fumbled it terribly, picked it up, and handed it to me instead of throwing it back at Scott.

“I’m not really a sports person,” he explained quietly. “Chess is more my thing.”

To my surprise, Scott grinned at him. “Well, that’s okay. I’ll teach you how to throw a football, kid. By the time I’m done with you, the NFL is going to be knocking at your door.”

As he motioned for Colten to get up and join him, a flare of annoyance shot through me. If anyone was going to teach my son how to play ball, it should’ve been me. Yeah, but you’ve had years to teach him and you’ve never done it. Why?

Exhaling slowly, I realized that the guy wasn’t stepping on my toes. He was doing me a favor by getting Colten on his feet and out of his head.

Watching them on the beach, with Scott patiently taking the time to explain to him what to do and how to hold the ball, I felt guilty as hell. This man, with his faded cut-off T-shirt and his board shorts that had seen better days, had met my son last night and he was already getting more involved with him than I was.

Jewel chuckled at my side, poking me in the ribs with her thumb. “You should go join them. I might even join them myself. Brit and I are pretty good, though. Maybe it’ll be better for Scott’s ego if we pretend to let him be doing the teaching before we kick his ass.”

Scott must’ve heard her because he laughed and cocked an eyebrow at her. “Oh, we’ve got a big mouth today, have we? Come on over here and prove how much better you are.”

“Fine,” she agreed immediately, getting up without wasting any time. “The teacher is about to become the student, though. Watch me, Colt. You might just learn something you wouldn’t have from this old man.”

As she dusted some sand off her butt, she suddenly broke into a run, laser-focused on her brother. He pulled his arm back, letting the ball fly toward her without appearing to be pulling any punches. I nearly fell over when she caught it perfectly and dodged him when he launched himself at her. She threw a perfect pass to Brittany, who I hadn’t even noticed standing up.

Clearly, these three did this often, but when the ball came back to Jewel, she called a heads-up to Colten, who let out an ooooof when he caught it, but then he shot a proud grin at me and held it up above his head.

“Look, Dad! I did it! I got it.”

“Yeah, you did,” I said, trying to be encouraging. “It’s just, uh, you’re supposed to pass it back to Scott.”

“That’s okay,” he said, clapping his hands as he grinned at Colt. “You’re a fast learner, bud. How about you toss it back to me and we’ll do it again?”

He seemed determined to teach Colten how to play, and I realized I was the only one whose ass was still on the sand. Way to go, Dad of the Year.

I almost rolled my eyes at myself, but I wasn’t one to sit around and mope. I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before, but I got up when they started again, joining in the fun instead of just watching.

Working with Scott instead of being a dick about it, I managed to teach Colten with him, and by the end of the day, my boy was catching almost every pass. Scott ruffled his hair when he took the ball back from him for the last time.

“It’s getting late. We should probably start getting back.”

I glanced at my watch, blinking a few times when I realized how many hours had gone by. Jewel looked up at the sky instead of at a watch. “Crap. It is late. What do you think, about an hour until sunset?”

Scott dipped his chin in a nod. “Maybe an hour and fifteen, but no more than that.”

Brittany reached up to rub her own shoulders. “Thank God. Don’t get me wrong, that was fun, but my arms are killing me.”

As she started toward the boat, Scott murmured something to her I couldn’t hear, but it brought a deep flush to her cheeks. I glanced at Jewel, wondering if she’d seen it too, and she rolled her eyes, the ever-present smile on her lips as she strode over to the spot we’d been sitting and started gathering her things.

Climbing back on the boat, we were all sleepy and blissed out from a day in the sun. Colten seemed happy, though. With a faint smile on his lips, he gripped the line and held on as Scott drove away from the shore.

For the first time in a long time, he actually looked his age, relaxed and little smug too. I smiled and Jewel winked as she sent a pointed look at my son. I nodded at her, a silent thank you for having included us in the day.

After we arrived back at the beach, we were loading our things back into the truck when Colten caught my gaze. “I had fun today. I’d really like to do it again.”

“So would I, buddy,” I said honestly. “Let me talk to Jewel and see about making plans for it, okay?”

I’d been wanting to charter a boat while we were here, but now that we’d been out with them, I doubted Colt would have as much fun with only me. These people knew the lake and what to do on or around it. We hadn’t gotten around to tubing today, but she’d mentioned how much they enjoyed it.

I glanced at where she was helping her brother secure the boat and wondered if I could impose. Then I remembered that she was going to be cleaning our house soon. Shit.

While I looked forward to seeing her regularly while we were in town, I was seriously doubting hiring her as a cleaner. It was bound to be uncomfortable, but I had already said yes.

“How about this?” I said to Colten, deciding against inviting ourselves on another outing with them until after she’d spent her first day on the job. “If Jewel ever wants to spend time with us again after she’s seen the mess we’ve made back at the house, I’ll talk to her about it.”

Colt blanched. “Yeah. Maybe we should straighten up a bit ourselves tonight?”

I dipped my chin in a nod as I shut the tailgate. “Sounds like a plan, kiddo, but we’re going to have to straighten up more than just a little bit if we want to get invited back out on the lake with them.”

Just like that, I was going to be paying someone to do the cleaning while also being a lot neater about things myself. But if that was the cost of giving Colten another day like today while getting to see more of Jewel at the same time, I would happily fork over the cash.

Fuck. Maybe the vodka wasn’t just in the lemonade. It’s got to be in the air around here or something.I’d never had those kinds of thoughts before, but it seemed June Lake was scrambling my brains.

The worst part of it was that I honestly couldn’t say I minded.