thing could be done. At least not by her.
“Ellie? Are you still there? What’s going on? Why aren’t you saying anything? What do you see?”
Ellie swallowed tightly. There was no way she could tell Darcy what she was staring at. Barely breathing through constricted lungs, she merely said, “I’ll call you back later.” Refusing to listen to any argument from her best friend, she clicked off the phone.
As if the clicking sound had the ability to travel through the frame of the house, through the trees and toward the lake, Uriel glanced up toward her house, and before she could move out of the way, his gaze found hers as she stood staring at him through the window like a deer caught in headlights. He returned her stare.
She felt the flush of embarrassment flicker from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. Uriel Lassiter had caught her watching him in his very impressive birthday suit.
Chapter 3
Uriel’s lips formed in a tight line when he recognized the woman who was standing at the window spying on him.
Ellie Weston.
Oddly, he felt not even an ounce of shame at having been caught naked. How was he to have known she was over at Ms. Mable’s house?
He grabbed his towel, deciding he had given her enough of a peep show. Since she was still standing there, he wondered if she had a fetish for naked men. Too bad the show was over.
Wrapping the towel around his waist, he broke eye contact with her and began walking back toward his house like he had all the time in the world, fighting the temptation to glance back at her. She was the last person he wanted to see, and in the past he would have asked his parents about her comings and goings at the lake to make sure their paths never crossed. But he hadn’t done so this time. Big mistake.
Uriel kept walking, and when he made it to the back door and went inside, he leaned against the kitchen counter and pulled in a deep breath. At a distance, from what he could see through the window, Ellie Weston had grown from a pretty-looking sixteen-year-old to an attractive twenty-six-year-old woman.
He frowned, thinking, so what? It had been expected. Her mother was a nice-looking lady, so Ellie had probably inherited some pretty good genes.
Moving away from the counter he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. He popped the top and took a huge swig, not caring that he was standing, dripping-wet, in the middle of his kitchen. His mind was filled with too many thoughts of the woman he hadn’t seen in ten years.
Woman.
It was safe to think of her as a woman now, and not a kid any longer; although, at sixteen, she hadn’t really looked like your average kid, not at the rate her body had been developing. Even now he could recall how she had looked that day she and her friend had pulled one over on him.
He wondered how long had she been standing by the window watching him? How much of him had she seen? He would be the last person to admit to being an exhibitionist, and would never have considered a skinny-dip if he’d known someone was next door—especially if that someone was her.
When he finished off the beer, he sat the empty bottle on the counter, wondering if he was being unreasonable for still holding a grudge after all this time. She had been sixteen, and teenagers had a tendency to act silly and do stupid things. Hell, at that age he could remember all the trouble he and his five god-brothers used to get into. They would spend at least a week together every year while growing up, and would get into and do all sorts of crazy stuff.
He then thought about Ms. Mable and all the kindness she had bestowed upon him as a kid, and even through his adulthood. Although he hadn’t made it to the funeral, he had sent a floral arrangement. But he hadn’t spoken to anyone in the family.
The decent thing to do would be to go over there and offer his condolences in person. That was the least he could do. Nothing less. Nothing more. In addition to that, the gentlemanly thing to do would be to apologize for going swimming in the nude.
And with that decision made, he moved up the stairs to get dressed.
Ellie paced her bedroom, feeling the heat of embarrassment enflame her body with every step she took. Why did she have to share her most humiliating moments with Uriel Lassiter? First it had been the kiss, and now this. He had actually caught her spying on him while skinny-dipping. She didn’t want to think what he probably thought of her for doing such a thing. This was a great way to renew their acquaintance after ten years.
Realizing that wearing out the floor wasn’t getting her anywhere, she decided to sit in a chair—the same one she had sat in earlier, before getting into so much trouble. At least now she had pulled the drapes, so if he decided to go streaking across his back porch he would be doing so without having her as a captive audience.
She wished she could place the blame squarely at his feet without feeling guilty. After all, no one told him to parade around without any clothes on. She was a woman. Of course she was going to look. Come on now, get real.
The only thing real about it was how good he had looked. Even from a distance she had appreciated every inch of him that she saw; every body part, individually and collectively. She sighed deeply. When had she developed an interest in male body parts? Probably after seeing such outstanding workmanship on him earlier today.
Her cell phone rang and she didn’t have to wonder who it was. No doubt Darcy was calling to see what was going on after she’d all but hung up on her earlier. But given the choice between checking out a naked man and talking on the phone to Darcy, the naked man would win hands down.
She reached for her cell phone. “Yes?”
“Girl, you were wrong for doing what you did. The only reason I’ll forgive you is if you say you hung up because you decided to get naked and go join Uriel for a swim.”
Ellie rolled her eyes. “You’ve been reading way too many of those romance novels, Darcy.”
“I haven’t been reading enough. That’s how it goes when you don’t have a love life. It’s me, a good book and Bruce when I need him. It’s safer that way.”
Ellie couldn’t help but smile. Bruce was the name Darcy had given her little toy. Her friend was simply scandalous. “You have no reason not to get out and start dating again.”
“I do, too. I’m not ready. And until I am, Bruce will have to do. Now, enough about me, what about you and Uriel?”
Ellie frowned. “You’re saying it like we’re a couple.”
“You could be. You’ve always had a crush on him, you know. Some things you were able to outgrow, but I don’t think Uriel Lassiter was one of them.”
“I did outgrow him.”
“I don’t think you did, but I won’t argue with you about it. Just tell me how he looks now, and I’ll settle for above the waist, since you’re determined not to tell be about anything down south.”
Settling comfortably in the chair, Ellie closed her eyes and envisioned the much older Uriel. “Oh, Darcy,” she said, not realizing how much in awe she sounded. “He was always handsome. But now that I’m older, I see more things than just his eyes that used to make me drool. He has a cute nose
