Between Heats (Downtown Aquatics Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

“You know you were supposed
to ask me if I could cover for you before my shift started.”
    “I did!” Madison protested, tucking the phone between her ear
and her shoulder to free up her hands for a last-minute check. Keys. Granola
bars. Towel. Change of clothes. Extra thongs (finally). Heels (one never knew). “Days ago! Besides, Pablo knew; he was the one who told
me to ask you.”
    “Well, he didn’t say a word until this morning,” Sandra
insisted. “Which is beside the point because it was your responsibility to tell
me, not his. What, not even a text last night?”
    Last night she had been too caught up in Aaron Harding to think
about her shift, but that was also because she thought everything was already
fine. She caught a glimpse of the clock and cursed herself silently. If she
didn’t get going now she was going to be late, but she couldn’t go if she
didn’t find a solution to her shift. And she wanted to be early, today of all
days. “I’m sorry but I swear I texted two days earlier. I even cleared it with
Pablo. Are you saying you can’t do it now?”
    “That’s not what I said,” Sandra said, which made Madison want
to hit her head against a wall.
    “So you can cover for me?” Madison asked, trying to keep her
voice even. What is your problem, woman? she wanted to scream.
    “Yeah,” her co-worker replied. “Just tell me earlier next
time.”
    I’ll ask someone else
next time, Madison thought, but out loud she said, “Thanks, Sandra, I owe
you.”
    She thought she heard Sandra sniff and mumble something about
models before she ended the call, and if Madison wasn’t in a hurry, she might
have called back and given the woman a piece of her mind. She was already
struggling to make ends meet. It wasn’t easy holding down two jobs in LA, and
the last thing she needed was to have someone think that she expected things to
be easy for her.   For once, she
wished people knew how hard she worked to get to where she was.
    That was why she was in a bad mood by the time she got to the
shoot. Even though she still arrived five minutes earlier than she had yesterday
(a moment of victory for anyone who has had to brave LA morning traffic), she
was still feeling shitty. The icing on her pity party came when she was
wandering about and saw Lakeisha talking to Aaron Harding, only to have a
laughing Anna join them a minute later. Both girls were already in monokinis that showed off their trim bodies. Anna' swimsuit
in particular was cut awfully low and—did that idiot's eyes just go
there?
    She stomped away in search of wardrobe.
    “Madison!” she heard a voice shout behind her.
    Madison quickened her pace, pretending not to have heard Aaron
but the swimmer easily caught up with her. He grabbed her arm from behind and
she brushed him off, irritated. “I need to get changed,” she told him as she
whirled around.
    Why did he have to be so damn handsome? Madison had an
unobstructed view of his clear gray eyes. He was already wearing racing trunks
that emphasized the powerful muscles on his legs. She remembered having such a
good view of them yesterday… Then she blinked and blushed and the moment was
gone. She stepped away from him.
    “You didn't even say hi,” Aaron said, surprise in his voice.
    Madison tried to soften her tone. “Hi, hotshot.”
    “Hey, I was thinking, maybe we could ditch the catered lunch
and—”
    He expected her to roll over and thank her lucky stars? After
she caught him flirting with those other models? “Tell you what,” she
interrupted him. “Let me go and get changed and see what shots I need to do
first and we can talk later.”
    He raked his fingers through his hair, mussing up what looked
liked his already styled 'do. "Oh. Right. Of course. Work first." He backed up and threw her a tentative grin. "Sure,
let's talk later."
    Seeing his puzzled expression made Madison hesitate.
"Aaron…" she began then sighed. "Look, you don't have to come
and be all nice to me on