"Interesting?" Jera asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep," Shawn said with a satisfied smirk.

"Shawn, you're smirking, and you only do that when you're up to something or you know something everybody else doesn't, and in this case I'd pick the latter."

Shane laughed, "I don't know anything. You're being paranoid again." But he did know something. He was thinking back to the day not to long ago when he and Paul had been talking about Jera and Paul had confessed that he was deeply in love with her. Shawn had been thrilled to hear that because he had always thought that Jera and Paul would make a good couple. Paul had sworn him to secrecy and it had taken all the willpower he could muster not to break his promise to Paul and tell Jera.

When Shawn glanced over at Jera and saw her giving him a skeptical look he laughed again and threw up his hands. "I don't know anything."

Jera was about to press the point further but she glanced over and saw Paul and Sean coming down the steps from the patio.

"What are you two so deep in conversation about?" Paul asked, sitting down in a deck chair across from Jera.

Shawn slid a sly look at Jera and then look at Paul. "Nothing, just catching up."

Paul could sense from the look that Jera gave Shawn that something else was going on but the question was what.

"It is hot as hell," Sean said, using his shirt tail to wipe the sweat off his face. "How can you stand it Shawn?"

Shawn laughed. "You're just used to Minnesota where it's 50 below all the time."

"Well, it's better than sweating your ass off all the time."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, freezing your balls off is a lot better."

Jera shook her head and laughed at that comment. "You guys are too much. Why don't we go swimming?"

"Sounds like a winner to me. I'm gonna go get my trunks out of the truck," Sean said.

"I'm right behind ya," Paul said, getting up and following Sean.

Jera turned to Shawn. "Are my suits still here?"

"Yeah, right where you left them. Why don't you wear the purple metallic bikini?" he said with a sly gleam in his eye.

Jera just shook her head and stood up, heading into the house. She went straight to the spare bedroom, shut the door and rifled through the dresser where her suits were. After a moment of looking she pulled out the purple bikini. She quickly changed into it and the checked her reflection in the full length mirror. The bikini was *very* reveling and was sure to get Paul's attention. Jera smiled and then grabbed a towel from the linen closet as she headed back outside. She could hear splashing and knew that the guys were already in the pool.

****

When Paul saw Jera coming down the patio steps he nearly fell over. Damn, she looked sexy as hell and that bikini left *NOTHING* to the imagination. He felt his body tightening. He wanted her so badly he ached.

Shawn glanced over and saw Paul standing in the shallow end with his jaw nearly hitting the water and smiled. He knew without looking that Jera was wearing the purple bikini.

Sean spotted Jera and gave a low whistle. "Looking damn fine baby!"

"Why thank you," Jera said, giving him a sexy smile as she kicked off her sandals and made her way down the steps into the water. "Mmmm, this really feels good." She dunked herself and came up with her hair slicked back from her face. She then swam over to where Sean was and the two of them begin splashing around trying to dunk each other.

Shawn turned back to Paul and saw that he was still standing in the same place watching Jera and Sean. Shawn swam to the shallow end and then waded over to Paul. He nudged him gently. "Hey Paulo, you freeze in that spot?" Paul's head snapped around and he looked surprised to see Shawn standing there. "What?" Shawn just shook his head and chuckled. He leaned back against the side of the pool and nodded towards Jera. "She looks pretty damn hot doesn't she?"

Paul nodded. "She's beautiful."

"You've still got a thing for her don't you?"

"Yeah, but she'll never be interested in me."

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be so sure of that."

Paul turned to look at his best friend but he could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't going to get anything else out of him.

Shawn swam off and Paul was left standing there with his thoughts in a whirl. What did Shawn know and most importantly, did he have a chance with Jera, the woman he adored?