Jaci Burton - Straddling the Line

She put the laptop to the side. “Okay. Off the record, tell me about your dad.”

He stood. “Not now. Let’s take a break. How about a swim before it gets too hot and before I have to leave for the ballpark?”

She looked up at him. “Trevor, we’ve just started and there’s a lot of material to go over.”

He came over to her and grabbed her hand and tugged her up. “And plenty of time to get there. Come on, a quick swim and we’ll get back to work. Life is meant to be lived, Haven. Let’s have some fun.”

She hesitated, then finally nodded, figuring if she kept him happy, he’d be more amenable to answering her questions—even the tough ones. “Okay, but only a short break.”

AN HOUR LATER, TREVOR TREADED WATER IN THE DEEP end while he watched Haven sitting on the pool steps in the shallows. Her elbows rested on the edge of the pool and her face was tilted up toward the sun. She looked . . . relaxed, which was exactly how he wanted her.

This morning was going well. She’d dived into the questions, seemingly into her work, which had been the goal. Unfortunately, it had been him who’d put a stop to everything when she’d brought up his dad.

He couldn’t go there. Not right now, and never on the record. This break was just what he’d needed to get Haven’s mind on a different track. Plus, she seemed to be having a good time. Or at least, she didn’t seem down.

“How can you ever go to work when you have a backyard like this?” she asked, tilting her face up to meet the sun. “If I lived here, I think I’d live in the pool. Plus, it’s heated, so you can swim in here until at least the end of October, depending on the weather.”

“Yeah, it’s really nice. That’s why I bought the place. It’ll see me through to the championship, provided we make it that far.”

“And what do you think of the Rivers’ chances this year?” she asked.

“Pretty damn good. After all, they have me.”

She laughed. He swam toward her and pulled up a spot on the ledge next to her. “So you think you could get used to a decadent lifestyle, huh?”

She slid her sunglasses on top of her head. “What can I say? I’m easily swayed.”

“I don’t believe that. You were always so driven in college. You of the dual degrees and all.”

The look of surprise on her face made him smile.

“How did you know that? You barely paid attention to me.”

“Maybe I do know more about you than you know about me.”

“Seriously. How did you know that?”

“Your dad and I had some conversations. He was very proud of you. He said you could have done anything with your life that you wanted—you got your degree in special education and in journalism.”

“And I chose journalism.” She looked out over the water. “I don’t know if that’s very noble.”

“It’s what you wanted to do, isn’t it?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose at the time. It seemed more exciting to me. I had the opportunity to travel and I so wanted to get out of Oklahoma. Plus, I love sports. That’s why I chose journalism over teaching.”

“Sports is exciting to me. I couldn’t dream of ever doing anything else. You think what I do is noble?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it.

“Okay, then. So neither of us is noble. Get over yourself, Haven.”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand. At first I wanted to teach. I loved tutoring, loved the classes, but the lure of journalism was there, too. Hence the dual degrees. I couldn’t decide what I wanted more. And that’s why it took me longer to graduate, too.”

“So you’re beating yourself up because you’re doing what makes you happy?”

“Who says I’m beating myself up?”

And he wondered if she was really happy. “I do. Journalism is an exciting career.”

“Teaching can be, too.”

“Teaching is a grueling, thankless career and you know it. I’m sure it was a tough career choice to make.”

“But I loved it. I loved the classes, loved my students when I was tutoring, and student teaching. Why didn’t I choose that instead?”

“Because you didn’t love it enough?”

She sighed. “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s not that I don’t like this—” She looked at him. “This used to fuel me. And the opportunity I had to do sportscasting for a network. God, a year ago I would have killed for a spot like that.”

“But?”

“But then, you know, the stuff with my dad happened.”

“And it threw you off. It banked the fire some.”

“I guess so. Lately I’ve been in some kind of funk and I can’t seem to drag myself out of it.”

“Because you miss your dad, and that’s okay.”

“It’s been long enough. I shouldn’t still feel this way.”

“I don’t think you can put a timeline on grief. You feel it and it consumes you until it doesn’t anymore.”

She looked over at him. “You speak like you know about it.”

“I’ve lost some people I care about, so yeah. I do know how it feels. And I cared about your dad, too. Losing him was hard on me. I still feel like there’s a hole, like something’s missing in my life.”

She laid her hand on his arm. “I know you cared deeply for my dad. He loved you, too. He loved all you guys like you were his kids.”

“Not as much as he loved you. He talked about you all the time. He was so damn proud of you, Haven. And no matter what choices you make, he’d still be proud of you.”

She nodded, and he saw the tears fill her eyes.

“Yeah.”

She stood and started up the steps. “I think that’s enough playtime. How about we get back to work?”

He’d started this with his conversation about her dad. She’d been relaxed and having fun, and now she was hurting again. Time to change the mood.

“I don’t know. You look like you might need to get dunked.”

Before she could object, he stood, swooped her up into his arms, and dunked them both underwater.

She came up sputtering, parting her hair that had fallen in front of her face.

“Goddammit, Trevor. Talk about a blindside.”

He laughed and shook his head back and forth to clear the water from his eyes and his hair from his face.

Haven pushed away, shoving her palm over the surface of the water to splash at him. She swam to the stairs and climbed out.

“Oh, come on, Haven.”

“Whatever. You need to find my sunglasses, which are no doubt at the bottom of the pool somewhere, thanks to you dunking me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He dove down and searched, finding her glasses resting on the bottom of the pool. When he came up, he only had a second to blink before Haven cannonballed into the pool next to him. Water catapulted over his head like a tsunami. Now it was his turn to sputter.

He swiped his face and turned to see her grinning at him. She took her sunglasses from him and slid them on. “Just a little payback,” she said, before swimming away.

“Oh, I don’t think so.” He took off after her.

She laughed, then shrieked when he grasped her ankle and pulled her back. He tugged her against him, cradling her in his arms so she couldn’t escape, though she tried.

“Hey, you started it,” she said.

“And you volleyed back. That means we’re at war.”

Her body felt good against his. He liked holding her, liked seeing her breasts up close. And okay, so he was a little voyeuristic. Who could blame him, since Haven was beautiful, had a great body, and he liked to hear her laugh.

“War, huh? I do like a challenge.”

“Not much you can do about it in your current position.”

“You wouldn’t think so, would you?” Until she tugged at a few of his chest hairs, causing him to yelp and let go of her. Then she dove under the water and did the unthinkable. She jerked his board shorts down, then swam away in a hurry. By the time he’d tugged them back up, she was already out of the pool, offering up a smug smile as she reached for her towel.