Page 28 of The Cheerleader is Off Limits

“Not too hard and over there.” She points toward the deeper side of the pool labeled six feet.

“Yesssss,” she cheers before taking off toward that side.

“Don’t run!” Ellie calls after her before giving me a stern look. “Be careful with her. She’s stressing me out with these newfound feelings of fearlessness surrounding the pool. I’m glad the swim team has made her so confident, and she’s enjoying it, but I want her to remember that it’s still dangerous.”

“She’ll be okay. She can swim, and we are both right here.”

“I’m not worried about when I’m here. I’m worried about when I’m not.” Her eyes move to where I know Isla is before turning back to me.

“Uncle Riiiiiver!!!” Isla calls from the other end of the pool. She’s now on the diving board, bouncing up and down on it, but not jumping in.

“Okay, off from there,” I tell her as I jog toward her, waving her toward me, and then she’s standing next to me on the side of the pool. I kneel so that we’re at eye level.

“Hey, what’s with ratting me out?”

Her light brown eyes widen, and she shakes her head back and forth. “I didn’t!”

I raise an eyebrow at her, and she does her best to mimic me, but it comes off like she’s scowling at me. I almost chuckle at her attempt, but I want her to take the next thing I say seriously. “No letting anyone else throw you in, alright? Except your dad.” I know Ellie is a little overprotective when it comes to pool safety, but a voice deep down is happy that she is. With Rowan’s job,there was a time when he wasn’t around as much, so I’m glad they’ve seen the opposite end of parenting in the form of Ellie’s constant hovering and, at times, “helicopter nannying,” which is what SJ calls it.

“Daddy never comes in the pool!” She’s removed her sunglasses and pulled her goggles up over her eyes, pink ones that also match her swimsuit, and a sneaking suspicion tells me she’s got different colors to match different swimsuits, just like she’s known to do with her sunglasses and outfits.

“Okay, well, don’t let SJ throw you either,” I tell her.

“I won’t!” she says with a clap before pointing toward the water. I can see she’s already thrown in some toys and a unicorn-shaped raft, and I know that will entertain her for a few hours at least. I give her a countdown from three before I toss her in, and when she resurfaces and begins swimming toward the shallow end, I walk back toward Ellie while still keeping an eye on her.

I sit back down next to Ellie, and she hands me her phone. “Okay, that’s Erin and Lucy,” she says, pointing at a picture of the three of them at dinner. Erin has brown curly hair that falls around her in spiral coils, brown eyes, and Lucy has reddish brown hair chopped at her shoulders and striking green eyes; both have similar builds and tits that I can definitely appreciate. I zoom in on the picture and would absolutely call both of them gorgeous and could see myself going out with eitheror both.

“How have I not met these girls yet?” I ask because while Rowan and Ellie don’t throw frequent parties, they did have an engagement party about five months ago, and Ellie’s birthday was last month.

“Youhavemet Lucy. Erin couldn’t make my birthday party, and they’re relatively new friends from the gym so I didn’t know them when we had our engagement party. Lucy thinks you’re hot, and they arebotha little older. I think Erin is actually thirty-one. Lucy is closer to my age; I think maybe twenty-seven?” Shelooks up like she’s trying to recall before turning to me. “Both of them are looking to settle down and?—”

“Did you tell them I was?” I ask her with wide eyes, ready to fucking fire her over being myself-appointedwingman or whatever she thinks she’s doing if she’s going to be telling women I want to settle down. I can already see the hearts in their eyes and the baby fever written all over them if that’s the case.

“No, of course not! Relax. Lucy actually asked about you, and I haven’t mentioned you to Erin, but if you’re interested, I would.”

A feeling of relief that she might actually be chill about this whole thing washes over me. I look at the picture again.I did say I wanted to get more serious about dating, and I can’t be seriously considering a relationship with a girl who’s about to start her freshman year of college. She can’t possibly be considering it either. She’s going into four years of partying with guys in fraternities and going out three to four nights a week.

I don’t want to stand in her way of fun. Especially with being an hour away.

“Okay… yeah. Can you give me Lucy’s number?” I didn’t owe Sloane anything. We’d had one weed-induced conversation and had engaged in some light flirting. There wasn’t anything wrong with me going out with someone else that I could potentially see a future with. Sure, Sloane was gorgeous and undeniably my type out of all three, but what future did we actually have right now? Did I even want to get serious with someone who still had so much life to live before she ideally would want to settle down?

“Are you going to call off the date with Sloane?”

I give her a blank expression. “No?”

She puts a hand over her eyes briefly and sighs. “Oh my God, River.”

“What?”I know she can’t possibly think I’ve never dated multiple women at once.

“I’ll hold off on talking to Lucy until after your date.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d rather you not be taking my friends out under the guise of serious dating while you’re messing around with another woman.” I go to interject when she puts a hand up. “And while I know you may not want to get serious with Sloane necessarily, I know you, River Kincaid, and if she’s willing, you’re going to get in her pants.”

God willing.

“Maybe not.” I lie because I may have thought about it. I may even have planned to have my housekeeper come tomorrow, instead of her usual Friday, to give my house a thorough clean in case we wind up back at my house.