When Patrick's hands touched Sabrina's body, she shivered and his hands stilled on her shoulders. Sabrina played off her reaction by whispering, "Cold." When Patrick grunted an "Uh-huh" in a disbelieving voice, Sabrina knew that he knew she was lying.
Ever since their meeting in the stairwell, Sabrina had worked overtime to put Patrick out of her mind and focus on Will, who'd become very important to her. In fact, because of Patrick's shenanigans, Will constantly did romantic things to one-up him and they'd actually gotten closer than Sabrina had ever anticipated or could have hoped for. Sabrina had been pretty successful in keeping Patrick out of her mind - until today.
Since Will had to work, Sabrina came ahead of time to secure a good spot for them by the pool, but, of course, she'd been swayed when Emma asked her to come sit with her. Sabrina distracted herself from Patrick by focusing on Emma and, when that was no longer an option, decided to put all her attention into her book. Except for a few minutes in the beginning, she'd been successful, but then Patrick had to knock her off kilter by offering to apply her sunscreen. Even though Sabrina knew his consideration was largely born out of giving him a reason to touch her, she couldn't help but appreciate his thoughtfulness.
As Patrick resumed massaging the lotion onto her shoulders and back, Sabrina reveled in his touch and found herself relaxing and leaning back toward him. In response, Patrick leaned forward until the front of his body was inches from the back of hers and then he whispered, "Isn't this better than being stubborn?"
Sabrina turned her head over her shoulder again and nodded almost imperceptibly as she locked eyes with him. Unable to break the eye contact, Sabrina found herself frozen as Patrick leaned in toward her. He was seconds away from kissing her when Sabrina heard a throat clear and Will's voice saying, "So, is this a private party or can anyone join in?"
Trance broken, Sabrina jumped up from the lounge chair and faced Will. As she exclaimed his name and smiled as she ran to greet him, Sabrina heard Patrick growl under his breath. After kissing Will hello, Sabrina excitedly said, "You're here! I thought you weren't coming until later?"
Will returned her smile. Then, he said, "Change of plans. I got off early and decided to surprise you," as he snuck a knowing glance in Patrick's direction.
"I'm so glad you did!" Shooing Patrick from her chair, Sabrina began gathering her stuff. When she was done, she eyed another cabana and grabbed Will's hand. "Let's go over there." With a nod at Patrick, Sabrina said, "I'll see you later. Thanks for the company."
As Patrick watched Sabrina practically drag Foster to a nearby cabana, he cursed the guy's timing. He'd finally been able to get his hands on Sabrina for the first time in weeks and was breaking down her defenses when the pain in the ass had to show up and ruin the moment. Of course, the second Foster arrived, he gave Sabrina an excuse to surpress what was happening between the two of them.
He couldn't help growling in frustration when Sabrina jumped up and rushed over to the interloper. He also knew that Foster and heard him and, when he glanced Patrick's way, indicated that he was onto him. Patrick didn't care what Foster thought and had no intention of backing down in his quest to steal Sabrina away. All is fair in love and war, right?
Patrick watched the two of them settle in, with Foster being more than happy to pick up where Patrick had left off. The only difference was that Sabrina seemed to relish the attention and was impatient to return the favor. They flirted as Sabrina felt up Foster under the guise of applying sunscreen. When Sabrina modeled her bikini for him and he pulled her in for a kiss, Patrick made a beeline for the bar. There was no way he would get through the rest of the day without help - and he couldn't disappoint Emma by making her leave.
A few hours later, Emma was on a blanket waiting for the fireworks with her friends as Patrick, still at the bar, eyed the sickeningly happy couple with annoyance. He had just taken a swig of his beer when he heard a voice next to him say, snarkily, "Looks to me like the fireworks aren't in the sky this year."
Patrick removed his eyes from the couple and glaced over. "Robin," he said, with no feeling whatsoever.
"Judging by the little show miss goody-two-shoes is putting on with Dr. Delicious, I'm guessing your quest to win her back isn't going quite as planned."
"I'm not discussing this with you," Patrick said coldly. He pointed to Emma and added, "Emma is over there if you want to say hi and watch the fireworks with her before you take her home."
"Thanks. I'll go get her."
Before Robin left, Patrick blurted, "You don't have to do this, Robin."
"Yeah, Patrick. I do."
"Why? To get back at me for cheating on you?"
Robin shrugged. "It's only natural for me to want as much time with Em as I can get. If it happens to make you miserable in the process, then I consider it a bonus."
Patrick got pissed. "You left her and me willingly for months. No judge on this earth will side with you over me - the parent who raised her singlehandedly for the last three years."
Robin put on a wounded face. "I was ripped away from my family and tortured for two years. Then, when I sacrificed my own happiness to save a man's life, my devoted husband cheated on me for months. I don't know... but I'd say I have a decent shot at winning."
"By making me the bad guy for moving on?" Patrick, still angry but attempting to be conciliatory, asked, "Why can't we just settle on custody out of court? It is what would be best for Emma. She doesn't deserve the upheaval this will cause."
Robin looked at Patrick as if she was considering his request when she (and he, and, hell, the whole damn pool) heard Sabrina laugh at something Foster had whispered in her ear. She looked over at them and back at Patrick, who mustn't have been able to hide the jealousy from his face. "Who are you trying to protect, Patrick? Emma - or your mistress?" Then, as Robin walked away, she said, "I'll see you in court. Enjoy the 'fireworks'."