Free Next Song I Sing (NEXT TIME AROUND) by Donna McDonald Page A

butt ugly green thing you brought with you from back east. Emma and I obviously can’t compete with the fascination of all that milky skin being revealed by those holes.”
    “I told you the suit was going to be dangerous,” Emma said, openly gloating and smiling when the lusty beauty in the black suit rolled her eyes even higher than usual.
    Chloe pushed herself out of the lounge chair and stood, hands on hips, looking down at her two best friends in the world. “The only danger I’m in is from being teased to death about something I cannot control. To prove I’m not trying to lure guys, I’m heading to the pool to cool off. We’ll see if wet doggy hair slows them down.”
    She walked to the edge and dove off, cleanly parting the turquoise water with ease.
    Jasper’s gaze was on Chloe cutting through the water as he slid quietly into the lounge chair she had just vacated. “Hello, ladies. Enjoying your afternoon?”
    “Not as much as Chloe is,” Taylor said, laughing. “We figure she’s a novelty and that’s why so many men have been trying to pick her up. Em and I can’t compete.”
    “Were you trying to compete?” Jasper asked with a smile.
    “Not really,” Emma answered, lifting her sunglasses to the top of her head. “We just like teasing Chloe.”
    Jasper laughed easily, watching Chloe boost herself up high as she climbed out of the pool to perch on the edge, every bit of her straining strips of spandex as she did so. It took everything he had to bite back the frustrated sigh inside him.
    So what exactly are you going do? He could still hear Max taunting him.
    Rising, Jasper picked up the towel from the back of Chloe’s lounger and headed over to where she now sat, feet still dangling in the water still. At least she’d be covered temporarily, Jasper thought, dropping the towel around her wet shoulders.
    He stooped in his dress slacks until he was almost at eye level with her. Chloe’s hair was dripping, water running off it and down her breasts. His thoughts were so wicked that he had to count to ten before he spoke.
    “Got time for a drink?” Jasper asked as casually as he could, tucking the towel more completely around her. “I know this little pool bar, very intimate. The hotel owner is a friend of mine.”
    “Considering the other offers I’ve had today, I have to give you a three for originality. However, your delivery in that sexy voice of yours is at least an eight or nine,” Chloe said sincerely, her brown eyes full of laughter. “Is there a mai tai in it for me?”
    “You can have anything you want,” Jasper told her, standing up in shock of the stark sincerity in his own voice. He automatically reached down a hand to help her.
    “You sure you want to do that. I probably weigh as much as you do, skinny man. We could both wind up in the pool,” Chloe warned, grinning at the hand Jasper was offering.
    She heard herself and winced at her obsessive need to keep pointing out what she was sure Jasper was not fully comprehending. She had never really hated her weight, or her full-figured size fourteen body, but she truly could send the svelte Jasper Wade flying with an enthusiastic tug. While ultimately it might be funny, it also would definitely put an end to their flirting.
    Jasper laughed and shook his head. “Chloe. Where do you get these ideas? You do not weigh what I do. Looking at you in that suit, I could use a cooling off in the pool anyway. Let’s live on the edge. Take my hand and let me help you up.”
    Chloe grinned finally and put her hand in Jasper’s. He pulled her to her feet with much less effort than she had imagined it would take. For a second or two, she had a sense that he had to prevent himself from pulling her into his arms.
    “You’re pretty strong for a lean guy,” she teased, reaching out to squeeze his bicep, the towel slipping down her arms as she did so. For some reason, her urge to flirt seemed always on around Jasper. Today she was sober and