Page 45 of Men or Paws

ChapterNine

Rocco

Early the next morning, I did my usual laps in the pool, occasionally stopping in the shallow end to catch my breath. During those breaks, I may have glanced over at the guesthouse a few times. Okay, maybe ten times. Twenty tops.

I really needed to stop thinking about Beth.

The only reason I hired her was because Oliver assured me that she didn’t like me and would leave me alone. It would kind of defeat the purpose if I started liking her.

That was the problem.

I already liked her.

In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I thought about Beth, the more I needed to count my lucky stars that she didn’t like me. She was just the type of girl who could get me into trouble, the kind of girl who would steal my heart, then stuff it into my Vitamix and hit puree. The type of woman who would abandon me when I least expected it.

As crazy as it sounded, Beth was my type, and that was exactly why I needed to avoid her over the next three weeks. The question was, how exactly was I going to do that when she was working for me and staying on my property?

Attraction and chemistry aren’t something you can hide.

I was attracted to her.

She was obviously attracted to me.

Beth could pretend all she wanted that she didn’t appreciate my sincere compliments, but her eyes didn’t lie. Still, for whatever reason, she was sticking to her guns and making it very clear that my money and fame and just about everything about me did squat for her.

Which made me like her even more.

Even Douglas liked her, which was rare, because he never liked anybody I had over at the house. Beth was different, no doubt about it.

Stop thinking about her.

I climbed out of the pool and mentally kicked myself for glancing over at the guesthouse for the umpteenth time.

Much to my surprise, something was different this time.

One row of the window blinds was crooked, creating a small gap. I could have sworn I saw two fingers holding the blinds open.

Was Beth spying on me?

It most certainly seemed like it.

My only logical course of action was to give her a little show.

Might as well make her as uncomfortable as she was making me.

Time for some fun.

I interlaced my fingers together and stretched my arms over my head, reaching for the sky, bending to the left, then the right, giving Beth a full view of my body, especially the abs she took so much joy in teasing me about.

I reached over and picked up my towel, flexing my biceps as I dried my hair, then flung the towel onto the back of the lounge chair.

Next, I turned around to give Beth a glimpse of my backside, then flexed my butt cheeks, left, right, left, right, left. I flipped back around and did my best to keep a straight face.

I grabbed the towel again and took my dear sweet time to dry off my shoulders, arms, pecs, abs, and legs. I was just about to dry off my swimsuit, but scrapped the idea, not wanting her to think I was playing with myself.

That was all the show she would get for today.

I glanced over at the gap in the blinds again and grinned.