Not Yet (2 page)

Exhaling loudly, I turned my key in the ignition and
fired up the hamster wheel that served as my engine. “Dream on,
pretty boy.” Slamming the gear into reverse, my car spun back on
the gravel lot, and I got the hell out of Avon as fast as I
could.

***

“YOU COMING OVER for dinner? Ma wants to know.”
My best friend Dean called me almost every night with the same
question. I’d been mooching dinners off his mom since I was eight
years old. I loved that woman, and I really loved her homemade
pirogues.

“Yup. Be there in twenty.” I paused before filling
him in on the biggest news of my day. “I met the new pool manger
this afternoon.” One of my buddies told me that the Club board had
hired a college girl to supervise the pool for the summer. I was
immediately stoked. Being that our previous manager was an
unemployed, fifty year old dude with chest, back, and arm hair that
resembled a wool sweater, this was a major step up. Personally, I
was hoping for a sorority chick who was mostly interested in
deepening her tan and wouldn’t ride me too hard. Or… she would ride
me hard and that would be pretty great too.

“And… is she hot?” Dean always got right to the
point. Good man.

Emma Harris was hot. No doubt about that. That dorky
swimsuit she wore? Well, damn that faded yellow thing was see
through as hell. I’m sure it was ‘cause it was old as shit, but I
didn’t question the reason. I just took a moment to appreciate it.
And there was a lot to appreciate. The kicker was, it was a
freakin’ one piece. Granted, she was swimming laps, but any girl I
hung out with would swim in a bikini. Okay, any girl I hung out
with was probably not swimming laps either, but if they did and
something popped out, they’d just giggle and roll their eyes at
that pesky little nipple escaping, calling it a ‘wardrobe
malfunction.’ And I’d know they did it to impress me, so I’d act
stunned and we’d make out. It was a win-win situation.

This chick was not at all like those girls.

Emma was short and petite, with a huge rack and
curves that would stop an Indy race car in its tracks. She had a
cute little nose and small pink lips that were almost always curled
in a sneer when she talked to me. We needed to work on
that—because, in their natural state, those lips could break a man.
But it was her eyes that really got to me. She had huge, green eyes
that twinkled like mad when she was irritated. It was like
kryptonite, and I swear she could kill me with one look. I could
only imagine what they looked like if she was ever happy. That, I
wanted to see.

“Yeah, she’s hot. When I got to the pool she was
swimming laps. Talked to her for a while and then went to
orientation. That’s about it.” I left out the fact that she seemed
to hate me. She didn’t even know my name, and she was pissed off at
me. It was pretty funny. When I told my one-liners, she acted like
she was deaf. If she was, I’d understand her brush off—and probably
learn sign language to really razz her—but I knew from our snippy
introduction that she was just ice cold.

“So, you have a hot new boss. Why are you coming
here? Didn’t you ask her to the lake?”

This was going to suck balls. “Yeah, I did. She
turned me down. Actually, she called me a ‘pretty boy’ and then
burned rubber getting away as fast as she could.” I waited. Five
long seconds before I had to pull the phone away. Dean’s howling
laughter filled my ears.

“No shit. Someone told you no? That’s so fuckin’
awesome. I like this one already. Tell me more about her.” If I
were in the same room as that poontang, I’d knock his teeth out.
Since I was driving, I ignored his hilarity and moved on. I didn’t
know much about her. But I had to agree with Dean on one thing. I’d
never met a woman who’d turned down my invitation to the lake. I’d
found more action on that sandy bank than Magic Mike at ‘over forty
ladies night’ in Broadripple. This was new, and very interesting,
territory.

Flirting was what I did best—both giving and
receiving. Teens, moms, cougars, and one granny—that was the most
disturbingly disgusting and yet ego stroking proposition of my
life. But I didn’t take it any further than that at work. I liked
my job too much to jeopardize it for a girl. Besides, I had plenty
of eager volunteers outside of my work. My rule about hook ups was
that they were frequent and fun.

But Emma? No, she was not an eager volunteer. It was
more like she recoiled with repulsion. Was she into girls or
something? That’d be cool if she was. Hell, I was a lover of love.
Didn’t bother me who the participants were. But my gut told me no.
Emma liked guys. She just didn’t like me. And something about her
compelled me to change that.

“So, I have a new goal for this summer.” I paused,
waiting to hear if Dean had stopped laughing at me.

“What’s that? To convince your new boss to let you
dive into her
deep end
?”

“Dude. You’re the only one dreaming of deep ends.” My
Dad taught me early on that you never touch a woman unless she asks
you to touch her. I don’t
convince
females to do anything
with me. I’ve taken it one step further… I sort of like them to beg
me.

“No, my goal isn’t to just hook up with her, twat
hole. It’s to get to know her. I need to understand how I turned
her off so quickly, and then I plan on remedying that mistake.” It
wasn’t a goal of world peace, or shit like that, but this was small
town Indiana. I had to start somewhere. And if we ended up at the
lake? You wouldn’t hear me complaining.

***

I LOOKED IN the mirror of the pool dressing room
and frowned. Since when did female lifeguards start wearing
bikinis? Granted, these weren’t string bikinis—they were more like
athletic two pieces—but still. They showed a lot more skin than the
standard one piece I had worn in the past. This was most likely a
decision made by the all-male, Viagra-using, board of the country
club. They probably thought it would be entertaining to see young
girls working at their pool in bikinis. Typical men.

I was not amused.

Unlocking the gates and opening the pool officially
started my summer. Early morning at a pool was my favorite time.
The air was cooler, the water smooth and calm, and the smell of
fresh cut grass permeated the air. I didn’t like having to spend my
days around the Richie Rich’s of the world, but I could appreciate
the beautiful scenery surrounding me, courtesy of their checkbooks.
I took a moment to enjoy the peace of the club before the craziness
of the day began.

The club house and pool grounds were surrounded by an
expansive golf course in the valley below. The pool was L shaped,
with the longer portion for laps and play, and the shorter portion
housing the diving well and board. Off to the side was a fenced-in
baby pool. Scattered throughout the area were small wrought iron
tables and chairs, along with chaise lounges topped with thick,
colorful cushions.

The pool filled quickly, and soon I was climbing into
the guard chair by the diving well. Landon walked the pool area,
greeting guests and talking with many of the children. He was
obviously a regular part of the summer routine for the members and
was loved by the moms, kids, and of course, the teenage girls. I
made a mental note to remind all of the guards to keep their
flirting, especially with members, to non-pool hours.

Landon had already ditched his T-shirt, and he was
wearing only the red swim shorts that were the male lifeguard
uniform. I couldn’t help but stare. I wasn’t a fan of cocky guys
like him, but he was amazing to look at. He clearly worked hard at
maintaining his body. Every muscle was tight along his back and
legs and the mountain emerging from bicep was enough to stop
traffic. I had actually passed a group of grannies discussing his
ass a few minutes ago. I thought about correcting them, that in
reality he
was
an ass, but I skipped it.

Not professional.

All in all, it wasn’t the uppity crowd I had expected
to be here. People seemed to obey the rules and were content to
relax and have fun without ordering my staff around, like I had
thought would be the case. The afternoon sun beat down as a group
of golfers entered the area. They settled at a table close to the
pool and motioned for a waitress. They were already drinking, and I
knew we had to keep an eye on them.

Landon and I were next up for a break, and I was
doing one last walk of the pool perimeter to ensure members were
strictly observing the rules about toys and flotation devices.

“Look here, Gavin. Our new pool manager is a mighty
fine addition to the staff. I bet she’d like to go up to the club
house and see what a real man looks like.” The group of
forty-something year olds looked me up and down with loose smiles
and red eyes. Old guys were so gross. I didn’t get how they could
think any young girl would find them attractive talking like
that.