Page 19 of To Hate Adam Connor
Did he know I’d been staked out over the wall for days?
Grinning, he waved at me.
Shit!
Before I had enough time to panic and get down from the damn ladder, the kid just went for it and hopped in, face first, arms splashing and legs kicking. From what I’d seen the last few days, that was pretty much his style, but when the float slipped off his arm because of the way he moved…my heart just about stopped.
At first he seemed okay and I was able to breathe again; he knew how to swim after all…but then it all went to hell. He panicked, his head disappeared under the water, and it was quiet for a second…a stillness that was too much for me to take. Then he came up—or more like his head came up while his arms flailed, eyes big with fear.
“Shit.” Cursing, I climbed the last two steps and looked around. Nope, no one was coming out. Hell, no one even knew anything was wrong.
“Shit! Fuck! Shit!” Making sure I was cursing repeatedly—because, trust me, the situation most definitely required that—I straddled the wall as fast as I could and basically tumbled down the rest of the way.
I landed on my hands and knees, my phone a few feet away, my face inches away from the ground, and before I could get up, the kid disappeared under the water again.
“Jesus,” I moaned before getting up and blindly running to get to him. I yelled, “Where the hell are you, people?” but didn’t see anyone coming out of the damn house. When I hit the water, his head came up again, his arms barely splashing water anymore as he gulped for air. If he had just stayed calm, he would’ve noticed that he was able to stay afloat, but how can you expect a five-year-old not to panic and get scared when he couldn’t find his footing?
I jumped in and swam toward him. It had all happened in maybe fifteen seconds, twenty tops, and when I caught him under his arms and held his head above the water so he could breathe, my heart was just about ready to fly out of my chest.
Those few seconds had shaved off at least ten years of my life. Hell, my youth was practically gone. I was fully in the right to demand payment from the sexy-as-hell dad in the form of orgasms.
Finally I hit the steps and gathered him in my arms. The kid, probably scared out of his mind, threw his arms around my neck and held on for dear life as he coughed and took big breaths of air in between. Out of the pool, I dropped down to my knees so he could feel safer when his feet hit the ground, but even then he didn’t let go of me.
“It’s okay,” I assured him. I had to untangle his arms from my neck so I could take a look at his face and make sure he was all right. “It’s okay. You’re good.”
He took a step back, looked at me with those big green eyes, and then nodded as his lips started wobbling. I pressed a hand to my rapidly rising and falling chest and dropped on my ass. “You practically gave me a heart attack, kid.”
His face crumpled and the tears started coming down. It sounded pretty bad too as he was still having a hard time catching his breath.
Not knowing what else to do, I hugged him, and he buried his face in my neck. “Ah, don’t cry, kiddo. You’re okay now.”
Then there were shouts and Adam Connor was running toward us. Aiden heard his voice and let go of me, propelling himself into his father’s arms as his sobs became louder. Then the bodyguard and the nanny came running just behind him. I got up and tried to force a smile on my face, but I was not feeling smiley at all.
I wasn’t sure if I should start yelling at the idiot nanny or the DILF himself.
Adam crushed Aiden against his chest and wrapped his legs around his waist, all the while keeping his palm at the back of his head. The kid looked even smaller in his father’s arms as his body rocked with barely held back sobs. Adam’s eyes met mine, and the stupid me thought he was thankful, so I smiled a little bigger. And…well, don’t shoot me, but the guy was seriously one of the finest guys I’d ever laid my damn eyes on, so there might’ve been some tingling going on in the lower regions of my body, too.
The smiling, though…wrong move.
“Dan.” Adam gritted his teeth and the giant of a bodyguard stepped in front of them like a big bear protecting his cubs. “How did she get in here?”
Ticked, hurt, and dripping wet, I said, “She is standing right here, and you’re welcome.”
His eyes threw daggers at me as if I were an unwelcome rat in his house—and, well, when you put it like that, maybe I was, but I hadn’t tumbled into his backyard for shits and giggles; I had just saved his son’s life.
Keeping Aiden in his arms, he turned to the ditzy nanny and ordered, “Call the cops, Anne. Tell them we have a situation with a stalker.”
“A stalker?” I balked, coming out of my trance.
Adam sliced his eyes to me and then barked at Anne. “Do it!”
“O-kay. Okay. I’m so-rry, Mr. Connor.”
“You should be sorry,” I said, taking a step forward. Her eyes met mine, but then she quickly looked away and got on with calling the damn cops. Taking a step toward them was apparently the wrong move. I didn’t even get to fully take my little step because the giant put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me back.
“Hey!” I screamed as I tumbled back, my hand rubbing the spot. “Are you crazy?”
“Step back.”
