Read Take a Deep Breath (Lake of the Pines) for Free Online

two days.” Sara pulled him
with her toward her mother.
    His stomach flipped. “Really?” he wanted to ask, but decided
against it. As much as he wanted to know more, it felt wrong to take advantage
of the young girl’s openness. Liv probably wouldn’t appreciate him prying her
secrets out of her daughter. “Actually, I was going to give you guys a call
today.”
    Sara smiled. “I knew you would! I told Mom, you’d probably
call today.”
    Cam smiled. “You were right. Lead on darling. Let’s go see
what she’s up to.” He followed Sara across the sand to where Liv was laying.
    Liv set the sunscreen aside and dug through her bag looking
for her eBook reader. She glanced up and saw Sara coming toward her with a
strange man. He must’ve been out running as his green and black running shirt
was soaked with sweat. He wore a black do-rag on his head, keeping the sweat
from running into his face. Liv couldn’t see his eyes under the dark aviator’s
he wore. His thigh muscles rippled as he moved across the sand toward them. Liv
suddenly felt self-conscious in her bathing suit and looked around for her
cover-up.
    “Sara. Who’re you talking to?” Liv admonished her daughter.
“You know better than to talk to strange…” she broke off when she realized the
man was Cam.
Twice in one week, I didn’t recognize him,
she thought.
    “He’s not a stranger, Mom!”
    “I see that now.” Liv pulled the solid red robe around her
shoulders. She should have put on her one-piece suit. If she’d known she’d see
Cam today, she certainly would have. She no longer had the body for a bikini,
if she ever had, but she’d humored her daughter. Sara was rummaging through
Liv’s drawers that morning and had pulled out the bikini. Liv had bought it on
a sale rack at the end of last summer, but didn’t think she’d actually have to
guts to wear it in her backyard let alone in public. Sara had insisted though,
as she had on a red tankini and thought it would be fun for them to be “twins.”
Liv indulged her daughter. She’d thought it was early enough that she wouldn’t
run into anyone she knew. Her ex-husband would have hated the swimsuit, which
was probably why she bought it. She inwardly winced, thinking of the choice
words he’d have said to her had he seen her in it. She couldn’t bear to hear
those words come from Cam’s mouth too and pulled the cover-up closer around her
and tied it closed.
    “You don’t have to ruin the gorgeous view on my account,”
Cam joked with a lazy smile.
    That dimple
, Liv thought.
    “See, Mom! I told ya, you looked hot,” Sara piped in.
    Liv blushed. “Stop, you’re embarrassing me.” Liv gave Sara a
warning look.
    “Sorry, Mom!” Sara rolled her eyes and waved as she ran off
down the beach with Pup-Pup.
    “Stay where I can see you!” Liv called after her.
    Sara shook her head and waved again.
    “You don’t have to be embarrassed, you know. You do look
really “hot” in that bathing suit,” Cam said now that Sara was out of earshot.
Stop
flirting with her
; he immediately thought as soon as the words left his
mouth. It so hard not too though… His inner voice answered.
    Liv blushed again. “Thanks. I was a little chilly, that’s all.”
    I can warm you up.”
Damn, there I go again,
he
thought as the words left his mouth.
    Liv laughed. “I’m sure you could Cam, but I think I’ll have
to settle for the robe for now. It is a public beach you know,” she flirted
back.
    “Right, too bad…”
    “Are you in a hurry?” Liv fidgeted with the edge of her
robe. She felt like an eager school girl again.
    “Not really. I was out on my morning run when I ran into
Sara and Pup-Pup or should I say they ran into me.”
    They both glanced over to watch Sara and Pup-Pup playing
along the edge of the water. Pup-Pup charged into the waves after the ball. The
yellow ball in her mouth she circled Sara and then dropped the ball in the sand
a few feet away from her. The imp shook