She assumed the guys who now stood before her in wrinkled clothes were also football players. But even though they had bulging muscles and the letter O was shaved into the side of one man's head, they seemed no more fearsome than little boys.
"Why don't you head home, take a shower, eat something, and get some rest," she suggested to them.
"Who are you?" asked one man.
She smiled. "Ty and I go way back."
Everyone in the room simultaneously smirked so she said, "He asked me to clean up some messes for him," then looked pointedly at their collective untidiness. She caught Ty's shrug from the corner of her eye and had to hold back a giggle when the biggest, brawniest, meanest-looking guy said, "I don't know who you're calling a mess, dude, but I'm outta here."
"Me too," said the others, but not before they helped themselves to a couple of sodas and doughnuts on their way out.
"Close the door behind you, please," she called out, feeling deliciously puritanical. Unfortunately, Ty knew exactly how to keep her from enjoying her newfound pleasure in kicking butt. "You've got to check out my pool," he said, just as a stunning young woman unfurled herself—all long arms, legs, enormous naked br**sts, and tiny waist—from his hot tub. And there wasn't just one Amazon lounging in perfect near-nakedness beside his pool, but two.
Julie knew she was attractive, but in a beauty competition with women like these, she was the sure loser.
Her second thought was even odder. For the first time, it occurred to her that it must be quite a burden on Ty to be so good looking. And so rich and successful too. How could he know if any of these people were true friends? If they really liked him, or found his jokes funny?
Incredible. All the bronzed, toned flesh and silicone was making her so loopy, she'd actually spent five seconds feeling empathy for a man who had it all.
But why did everything in his life have to be so senselessly over the top? Yes, he was trailer park boy done good, but couldn't he do good for other people as well, rather than just himself and his equally pretty friends?
And then, she smiled. Because she'd just figured out how she was going to reform Ty: not only in the public eye, but for his own good too. He was going to spend the summer doing good things for other people. Even if it went against the natural inclination of every bone in his body. The first stop on that train was pulling the rest of the leeches off and throwing them back into the water. Bye-bye, girls!
With unmitigated glee, Julie said, "Hi, ladies, I'm the new cruise director. It's nice to meet you." The topless redhead scrunched her nose. "Urn, we're not on a cruise." Julie didn't laugh; that would be downright cruel. "Nope, just a figure of speech." She clapped her hands together. "In any case, your friend Ty has a lot of important things he needs to take care of, so I'm afraid you'll have to be on your way."
The blonde slipped her sunglasses off. "Anything I can help with?" Ty smiled at Julie. "Cindy here is real good at following directions." The fact that fire didn't shoot out of Julie's ears was a miracle. A vivid image of this girl touching Ty, doing all the things to him that she'd done so many years ago, that she'd helplessly dreamed of doing again and again for a decade, nearly did her in. Julie wanted to take the blonde down, rip the silicone out of her br**sts, and make sure she never came within a mile of Ty. Instead, Julie smiled and said, "Don't worry. I'll give you a call if we need you for anything." Likewhen he needs his toilet cleaned.
Surreptitiously, she watched Ty to see if he was drooling as the girls put their very skimpy clothes back on. Strangely, he didn't seem to be all that interested in the show they were putting on for him. Instead he pulled out his BlackBerry and checked his email, typing in a quick message. Even when each girl pressed against his arm and gave him a peck on the cheek, he barely looked up. She'd never met anyone who appreciated a woman's curves as thoroughly as he did, so what could be the explanation for his diffidence with these women? What man on earth wouldn't be dying to have immediate sex with them?
Ty slipped his BlackBerry into his back pocket and grinned at her. "Good work. I couldn't have cleared the place better myself."
She frowned. He wasn't supposed to be happy with her kicking his friends out. She'd been trying to get under his skin, piss him off a little.
And he definitely wasn't supposed to focus his attention on her and say, "Looks like it's just the two of us now."
What have I done? It was her own damn fault for thinking she was smarter than Ty. Or that she had a prayer of a chance of resisting him.
CHAPTER FIVE
It was a turn-on to watch Julie be such a ballbuster, even though he was pretty sure that wasn't the intended effect. He knew she wanted him to think she was in charge of the game, and he was perfectly happy to let her act like she was leading him around on a short chain. But he was glad she'd kicked his friends out of his house. Sure, he enjoyed the constant party, the sense that he lived in a resort with bikini-clad girls by the pool and an endless supply of good food and drink at hand. But sometimes it did get a little old.
Sometimes he wanted to be alone for a little while. To turn off his smile, drop the banter, escape the pressure to be playful and sexy with the ladies. If he were a nice guy, he'd tell Julie that he hadn't slept with Cindy or her friend. But he liked seeing Julie jealous. Even more he enjoyed watching her work to tamp it down, to pretend that she didn't care who he slept with or how big the woman's br**sts were.
Oh yes, Julie cared. And Ty was extremely glad that she did.
He hadn't spent a lot of time feeling bad about himself or wishing he could be a different person. He'd grown immune to insults long ago. Growing up with a drunk in the house did that to a guy. But somehow, when she said he was worthless, it kind of grated. Just enough that he noticed. Sure, she was only a youthful infatuation made more important by the fact that he hadn't seen her again after their one rocking night together. But he still wanted to impress her. And not just with his car and his house and his bank account. That wasn't enough.
He was going to take her into his private sanctum beneath his house. No one, except the men who'd built it, had ever been below his garage. Ty had designed and furnished the space himself, to suit his needs on the days when he wasn't up for the party.
"So," she said, "where should we sit down to start ironing out your new schedule? We'll need to get your agent on the line, as well."
She was eyeing the large dining table, probably hoping she could sit at one end while he sat at the other.