Sext(36)

"I wish." I run a hand through my hair in frustration. "I've actually  been busy with these job interviews and stuff. It's all I think about.  And then today … " I gesture blindly toward the house, unable to put into  words the conflict with my dad. Not to mention he's a total stranger. I  can't believe I'm standing here confessing all of this. "Anyway, I was  just hoping to blow off some steam," I finish. "I'm Vera." I hold out my  hand, which he takes.         

     



 

A hot jolt runs through me. His grip is firm and his hands are rough and  calloused. I can feel my cheeks heating. "I'm James London," he says.  "Nice to meet you."

I nod, reluctantly letting go of his hand. "Nice to meet you, too."

I look back toward the house, and see someone at the patio doors. It's  been only a few minutes since I left, and I'm sure it's my mother  looking out to check on me. I imagine her seeing me talking to a  caretaker and smile. There's an opportunity here, and I'm not going to  waste it. I look back at James. "Do you need any help?"

His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. "You want to help me?"

"Well, I was going to work in my garden. But since I can't … " I smile.

"Right." He laughs a little nervously. "Well, sure. I still need to  water all of the flowers here, and add some new soil. I can go grab the  bags if you keep watering."

"That I can do." My mom will see me working with James, and I have no  doubt she'll tell my dad. Being able to look at someone this hot and  piss off my parents at the same time? This is a priceless opportunity.

He hands me the hose, and I aim it at the flowers. I definitely,  definitely watch him walk away and back toward the utility building. I  wasn't focused on his ass when I was about to yell at him, but now that I  look … yeah. I didn't think it was possible to be attracted to a guy's  ass. I guess this proves that theory wrong.

When James comes back out of the building, he has two bags of soil on  his shoulder. The shirt they gave him doesn't fit him well, and it keeps  riding up as he walks, affording me some priceless views of his tight  abs. I'm about to call up that company and say thank you. The skin I see  is tan and toned, and suddenly I realize that he's looking at me  looking at him, and I'm watering the ground and not the flowers.

I look away, a flush of embarrassment rolling over my whole body.

He sets down the bags by the flowerbed I'm watering and starts to add  new soil around the existing and newly planted flowers. "So, Vera." I  think I hear a smile in his voice, but maybe he talks to everyone that  way. "What kind of jobs are you applying to?"

"Architecture."

"Following in your dad's footsteps?" It's so unexpected that I look over at him. He says, "I know who your father is."

"Yeah … " I clear my throat. "His line of work isn't exactly what I'm interested in." I move on to the next flowerbed.

"What are you interested in?"

Part of me doesn't want to tell him, afraid that he'll judge me just as  harshly as my friends and family. But I dismiss my hesitation-he's just  trying to make conversation. "Ultimately I'd like my work to be  humanitarian. Hopefully someday overseas. I probably won't be able to do  that right away, but I'd like to be part of a firm that's at least  interested in that." I glance over at him, trying to read his reaction.

He gives me a look and an encouraging nod. "That's a beautiful goal to have. I'm sorry you're not having good luck."

"How did you know that?"

He packs down some dirt. "If you were having good luck, you probably  wouldn't be home in the middle of the day or need to blow off steam."

"Right," I laugh. "Good point."

"But," he says, "You may have a promising career in over-watering flowers."

I look down, and see there's a puddle of water around the base of the  camellia I'm watering. I quickly point the hose in a different  direction. "I swear, I'm not usually bad at this."

"Don't worry," James says. "I was in your garden-I've seen what you can do."

I smile at him. "Good. But next time you want to go in my garden you have to ask permission."

"I will. I think I'd like to explore it further." He winks at me. I  didn't realize winks could be so sexy. "I promise to be careful and not  deflower any of your plants."

My mouth goes dry as I realize: he's flirting with me. Oh. My. God. I've  never been good at flirting, but his words have my imagination spinning  and the reply is easy. "Sometimes a little deflowering is healthy."

"I can't argue with that."

I feel my body heat up, and I have to move away from him. I finish  watering the circle of flower beds, and then grab the second bag of  soil. I join James on the ground and dive into filling the beds. It's  hot, and soon I'm sweating, my arms covered in dirt. James is sweating  too, and I'm desperately trying not to imagine him without his shirt on,  sweating and glorious. The work is good, and the silence comfortable. I  keep sneaking glances at him out of the corner my eye because I can't  help it. I'm pretty sure he knows it too.         

     



 

He pauses to get more soil from his bag and adds, "I wouldn't have  thought you were the kind of girl to get dirty." The way his fingers  form the soil around the plants has me imagining his fingers doing other  things. To me.

"I-" I look over at him, and he's closer than I realized. So close that I  can see his eyes are a rich coffee brown and there are crinkles around  them as he smiles. His eyes move down to my mouth, and I realize I'm  thinking about him kissing me. And what I imagine is being kissed like  I've never been kissed before, right here on the ground, his arms  pulling me tightly against his hard body, and now I'm staring at him  again. "I like getting dirty," I murmur. "Dirty is good."

His lips curl into a teasing smile. "I guess we'll have to save that for  another time, then." He gestures to the ground. "We're finished."

I hadn't even realized that we'd made it all the way around the circle. "I guess we are. What do you have left to do?"

James picks up both the bags of soil. "Clean the pool. Saved it for last."

"Great," I say, "I'll see you over there."

He laughs. "It's kind of a one person job, though I appreciate the offer."

I turn and give him my best flirtatious smile. "You're going to clean the pool. I'm going to use it."





3





James





I watch Vera walk toward the house, and I'm absolutely sure there's a swing in her hips that wasn't there before.

Damn, I'm in trouble.

When Mike asked me to fill in for him this week he told me the client's  daughter was hot. I'm going to kill him when I see him next, because  she's way more than hot. She's got curves no amount of clothing is going  to hide, and I've been half hard since the moment she ran up totally  intent on ripping me a new one.

I take the bags of soil back to the utility shed, thinking about the way  she let her hands get dirty. I've met plenty of girls like her-rich and  spoiled and totally privileged. But most of them are too worried about  looking good to do any kind of work. Vera surprised me, but she was  still planning on busting me for working in her garden. Until she saw  me.

I relive the way her eyes travelled all over me, and … I have to think  about anything but that in order to keep my body in control.

Then there's the fact that she wants to be a humanitarian. It's  something else I wouldn't have pegged her for. I like the contradictions  I'm finding even though I just met her. The image of her sweating in  the sun and inches away from me comes back. I was seconds away from  kissing her. I would have pushed her down into the flowers. I would have  kissed her breathless before slowly finding out the dimensions of each  and every one of her curves. I let myself imagine everything.

I can see the way her skin will streak with dirt and sweat, her nipples  hardening under my lips and teeth. I can feel the heat of her as I pull  my gloves off and press my fingers into her one by one, and I can  imagine the tight exquisite pleasure as I sink deep inside her.

My dick is straining painfully against my jeans, and I'm more than  tempted to take care of it right here in this little garden closet.

I think about vegetables. About cute animals. About being cold. Anything  to get me to cool down. I took this job for the extra money, and I  don't want to get fired for jacking off next to the tools. If I'm going  to get fired, it's going to be for a better reason than that.

It takes a few minutes, but I manage to get the raging hard-on under  control. I check the time-I have a couple of hours. I have more than  enough time to clean the pool and get back across town in time. If I  move fast I might be able to get some work done on the Mastersons's  house before the end of the day. I make sure all the landscaping tools  are put away and head over to the pool shed. It made me laugh when Mike  told me they had two sheds, but these kinds of houses always have more  than they need.