Wiping his mouth, Aaron rose. “I’m ready.”
“I’ll finish my lunch and join you at the site,” Shelby told them.
She watched them walk out, though she found her attention focusing on Aaron. He looked darned good in his T-shirt and shorts, she thought with a very faint sigh. Those long, tanned legs were sexy as all get-out, and the way his shorts skimmed his lean hips drew her gaze straight to his nice, firm butt. She didn’t usually notice guys’ backsides all that much, but there was nothing about Aaron she didn’t admire.
When he’d walked outside, she turned her attention back to her lunch. Her gaze collided with her dad’s, and she realized that he’d been watching her watching Aaron. She cleared her throat and took a big bite of her sandwich, looking down at her plate to avoid her father’s eyes as she chewed.
With three of them to do the job, it took less than an hour to set the new grill in concrete. Steven and Aaron dug the new hole with a post-hole digger and added a thin layer of gravel. Shelby helped Aaron steady the grill while Steven poured in the concrete mix, and then Shelby used a level to make sure the cooking surface was properly aligned. Leaving the concrete to set, they stashed their tools in the back of the utility ATV.
Steven dusted off his hands. “That didn’t take long.”
“Compared to the list your uncle recited at lunch, I’d say this was one of the easier jobs on the near horizon,” Aaron commented.
Steven nodded. “Yeah. We don’t lack for projects to tackle around here.”
Most of which would be manual labor, Shelby thought, though of course Steven would be in a supervisory position even as he worked alongside the summer workers. As the older generations retired, she and Steven and their cousins would take on even more management responsibilities—Lori, too, if she wanted, though that seemed increasingly unlikely. With his degree in business management and years of experience in the business, Steven was fully qualified to run the place eventually—as she was herself, for that matter.
Maggie had said many times that she never wanted to be responsible for major business decisions, having no interest in numbers and legal regulations and licenses and contract negotiations. She liked the personnel part—interviewing, hiring, supervising, firing if necessary, though that was hardly her favorite chore. She had double majored in human resources and Spanish, and was already happily settled into her niche here.
With a degree in marketing and advertising, Hannah was a people person. She loved working the front desk, greeting longtime guests, designing advertising materials and especially the social media part of her promotional duties. Steven and Shelby were the ones interested in upper management—actually running the business itself, which their father and uncle had been doing together since Pop had stepped down from full-time administration a few years ago. At least Shelby was interested in that future. Honestly, she couldn’t say what Steven wanted these days.
Whatever his thoughts about the future, Steven seemed to enjoy playing with them that afternoon. They sped out of the marina on resort-owned personal watercraft. Proving he’d had plenty of experience with the machines, Aaron raced across the glittering surface of the lake with the same ease as Shelby and Steven. They laughed, explored nooks and inlets, jumped boat wakes, kicked up joyous tails of water behind them. Aaron was flirty with Shelby—though she couldn’t have said whether it was because of her cover story or simply because he liked flirting—and jovial with Steven. Both of them enjoyed his company.
Perhaps Shelby had to make an occasional effort to focus on her driving rather than admiring how good Aaron looked straddling the powerful machine, his dark hair whipping in the wind, his white teeth gleaming with his grins. He gave her a few appreciative looks, too, which did wonders for her ego. Her swimsuit was a purple two-piece cut more for function than fashion, but she still thought it flattered her. It highlighted her toned arms, legs and midriff without causing her to worry about anything showing that shouldn’t.
They stopped the machines in a quiet cove, took off their life vests and dove into the water for a swim, leaving wallets, cell phones and sunglasses in the watercraft storage compartments. The men had shed their T-shirts, draping them over the handlebars of their skis. All three of them were competitive, and soon they were racing. Steven and Aaron were evenly matched, and Shelby held her own despite her smaller stature.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed quite so much.
“Oh, man,” Aaron said, finally slowing down to paddle lazily on his back. “This is the life.”
Steven climbed back onto his watercraft, pushing a hand throu
gh his wet hair. “It’s a good life,” he agreed.
“It’s a great life,” Shelby said, treading water beside her machine. “We work hard, we play hard, we’re surrounded by nature and people we love. What’s not to like?”
She watched as Aaron and Steven shared a slightly rueful glance. “Maybe that surrounded part,” Aaron murmured.
Steven grunted. “You got that right.”
“Oh, come on, you guys. You know you love your families.”
“We do.” Still floating, Aaron smiled at her. “Doesn’t mean we want them watching and commenting on everything we do.”
Steven nodded as he donned his life vest and snapped the fastenings. “Amen.”
Shelby sighed and shook a wet curl out of her face. Aaron seemed completely sympathetic to her brother’s growing wanderlust. Now that she knew how he felt about working with his own family, she supposed it made sense that he’d understand how Steven felt.
Steven had taken his watch out of the watercraft’s storage compartment. Glancing at it, he said, “I’d better get back. It’s after four, and I still have some mowing to do. No need for you two to rush back, though. Take your time. Have fun.”
“See you later, Steven.”
Steven nodded to Aaron, then gave Shelby a little wave. “Be careful.”
He leaned the watercraft into a turn and gunned the engine, speeding out into the open lake and toward home. Shelby was left wondering just what he’d meant by that final warning. Was it the obvious interpretation—that she should be careful in the water, with the Jet Ski? Or a more subtle caution that she should be careful about her probably obvious attraction to Aaron?
Or was she just overthinking everything today?