His Strings to Pull by Cathryn Fox

Chapter One
    With a rescue tube tucked under her arm, lifeguard Jenny Andersen walked the length of the outdoor pool, keeping one eye on the kids splashing and playing in the shallow end and the other on the gorgeous man peeling his shirt off near the lounge chairs directly across from her. Two young girls ran around him, and with a playful look on his face, he twisted his towel and snapped them gently on their rear ends to shoo them away. As they squealed and jumped in the water, Jenny couldn’t help but smile at his antics, nor could she help but wonder if those rambunctious kids were his. Her glance strayed to his left hand, but past experiences had taught her that a ring-free finger meant little or nothing.
    He moved to the deep end of the pool, each stride of his long, muscled legs purposeful and sexy. He stretched his arms over his shaved head, and his tanned, athletic body glistened invitingly in the early morning sun. Jenny noted the way all the women were watching, or rather, drooling, from the comfort of their lounge chairs.
    Speaking of drooling…
    Her glance slid up the length of him to broad shoulders covered in tattoos, before traveling downward again. Good God, his body was like a Plinko game, all hard ridges and muscles that guided her gaze down to the jackpot hidden beneath a pair of low hanging swimming trunks. She swallowed against her suddenly dry throat and damn near died when she looked back to his face to find him watching her. He gave her a playful, lopsided grin that further weakened her already wobbly knees, and then dove into the water, leaving her wondering what the hell it was about him that left her panting like a sheep dog in the sweltering heat of the summer.
    Watching his long frame glide through the rippling waves, she once again wondered if he was taken. But thinking about his marital status had her thoughts going back to her last relationship. She gave a disgruntled shake of her head, hardly able to believe that her ex had had a wife and kids waiting for him at home. Looking back, all the signs had been there—they could never go back to his place, the phone calls he had to leave the room to take, the nights he said he was out of town on business and couldn’t call her—she’d just been too blinded by infatuation, too trusting, to see them for what they were.
    Honestly, didn’t anyone believe in monogamy anymore? Were there no guys out there looking for the same thing as her? She wanted what her parents had before her dad died a few years ago—love, trust, respect. Was that so much to ask for?
    Sadly, she was beginning to think so.
    She watched the tattooed hottie surface in the shallow end. Like a fish drawn to a shiny lure, she walked the length of the pool toward him. The young girls he’d been snapping earlier jumped all over him, trying to drag him under the water. Jenny recognized the children he was with. Their townhouse was in walking distance of the community pool, and they came here often with their mother. Jenny had never seen them with this man before, however. Perhaps, like her brother, Garrett, he was a military man, and had recently returned home from overseas.
    He picked one of the girls up and tossed her into the water. Jenny stopped abruptly, drawn to the fun-loving scene, but as her feet came to a sudden halt, something, or someone, crashed into her from behind. Before she even realized what was happening, the rescue tube flew out of her hand and she landed in the water with an undignified belly flop.
    Her hands flailed, and as she gasped for air and worked to find her footing, a strong pair of arms lifted her from the water. She opened her mouth and closed it again, struggling to fill her deflated lungs. Not because she’d taken in water, but because the tattooed hottie was looking down at her with dark eyes she could so easily lose herself in.
    She opened her mouth to tell him she was okay, but no sound came. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her lust-filled