Chapter 22

"I don't think most families are like yours."

She flipped over onto her back and kicked her feet to move her body through the water in graceful, swanlike motions. "More are like mine than you'd think."

"Then you definitely need to move out of the city and find your tribe."

"I have a tribe. I don't have a village." She'd moved back into the shallow end of the pool less than three feet from me. Peyton stood, and the white bikini top left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

My dick stirred in my shorts. I hadn't thought this through. At all. "You want a beer? I don't have any wine." I needed a breather, and cold air would kill any chance of my admiral standing to salute.

"No, thanks. I need to be able to drive back to the hotel."

To keep from embarrassing myself, I turned around first, then I stood and pulled my shorts away from my body. They clung to me the same way that bikini did on Peyton's curves. Just as I'd predicted, once I got inside, the air-conditioning squashed