Page 3 of Charm

“Are you the pool guy?” I ask, stabbing the umbrella in the air toward him.

It can’t hurt to remind him I’m armed and semi-dangerous.

“The pool guy?” he questions back with a light laugh. “I told you I’m the neighbor.”

“If that’s the case, you have your own pool,” I say in my best ‘gotcha’ tone. “The owner of this house told me that all of her neighbors have pools. If you have one, what are you doing here?”

He takes two steps toward me, causing the water around him to lap against his midriff again. It takes all of my self-control to keep my eyes on his face.

“The pump in my pool died,” he tells me. “They’re coming in the morning to fix it. I spoke to the pool guy myself, as you call him. I call him Martin because that’s his name.”

“Aha!” I snap that off my tongue. “I know for a fact the pool guy is named Paulie, so you’re busted. Get out of here now before I call the police.”

He cocks one eyebrow. “Martin is Paulie’s dad.”

“Yeah, right.” I point the umbrella right at him. “Out now, mister, or I’m calling the police.”

He holds both hands up as if he’s surrendering. “No need to call the police, but you might want to turn around before I get out.”

I gesture to the right with the umbrella, hoping he takes the hint to make his exit right now. “So you can tackle me? No way.”

“Tackle you?” He huffs out a deep laugh. “Why would I tackle you?”

“I. Don’t. Know,” I say each word with purpose. “Why do you swim in random people’s pools?”

“For the third time, I’m the neighbor.” He rakes a hand through his hair, andholy bicep,that thing is huge when it flexes. This man could have me up and over his shoulder in no time flat if he wanted to. He could cart me off to his kidnapper’s lair, and I’d never be seen or heard from again.

I take two steps back to get closer to the sliding glass door. I kick off my flip-flops, too, so I can bolt back inside if he charges at me. “Get out of the pool now, or I will call the police. That’s the last time I’m saying it.”

“I warned you,” he says before he walks toward me.

I inch back again. “Warned me about what?”

“This.” He moves toward the pool’s edge before he starts to make his way up the ramp that leads out of the water.

With each step he takes, more of him is revealed, until…oh, my God.

He’s completely nude.

He does nothing to hide anything, and I can’t stop myself from staring.

Everything below his waist is just as impressive as everything above.

I’ve seen a few naked men in my life, but this guy puts every one of them to shame. Speaking of shame, I should not be staring at him right now.

I drop the umbrella and cover both of my eyes with my hands. “Grab a towel or something.”

His laughter flows around me before I hear movement, and then, “Feel free to look.”

I inch my fingers apart so I can peek. A white towel is wrapped around his waist, so all the good parts are covered. Impressive parts better describes what I saw…no, magnificent parts.

“I’m going home.” He jerks a thumb toward the left. “Because I am, in fact, the neighbor.”

“Okay,” I say, because what else is there? He’s not making a move to knock me out cold, so maybe he really is who he says he is.

“Don’t trip over that umbrella.” He tilts his head toward where I dropped it. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Maybe you will.”