She’d teased and enticed him, rubbing against his body and stroking — and one time soaping—his cock until he was as hard as could be for her. His last dream had been so vivid, he could still smell her, a combination of moist earth and lush plant life, with a sweet cider underscent. But even in his dreams, she’d denied him, leaving him painfully hard.
He’d have to find satisfaction the old-fashioned way. Matt reached for his cock, and groaned as pain shot through his arms and shoulders. That wasn’t going to work.
He staggered into the bathroom, and after a quick piss, stepped into the shower’s hot blast. Slowly, the heat soaked into his muscles, soothing the pain. Closing his eyes, Matt imagined Ally as she’d been in his car washing dream, a tiny triangle not quite hiding the strawberry blond down between her legs, two even tinier triangles barely covering her pointed nipples, and with foamy white suds up to her elbows. Iridescent bubbles trailed over the curves of her otherwise naked body, begging him to caress her slick, soapy skin.
Fumbling for the bar of soap, he quickly worked it into a lather, dropped the soap, and grabbed his cock. In his imagination, Ally covered him in lather, then began working her nimble fingers up and down his cock, circling the head, then sliding up to finger his balls.
“God, Ally. Yes!”
Her hand tightened on his shaft, squeezing and releasing with a teasing grip as if his cock was buried inside her while she was coming. He panted, straining toward the release he knew she could give him.
“Faster! Faster!”
She slicked her fist up and down his cock, faster and faster until her soapy fingers were a blur. Matt grunted, rocking with her rhythm, thrusting his hips with every soapy stroke.
With a hoarse cry, he came, spurting his seed like a cannon.
And he realized he was standing alone in his shower, his fist wrapped around his now flaccid cock. Thick white cum streaked the blue and white tile wall in front of him.
He hung his head, still breathing hard, and let the hot water pour over him. God, he was pathetic. Ally hadn’t given any sign that she was interested in him as anything other than a friend. She’d be horrified if she ever learned he’d fantasized about her while jerking off.
He’d never tell her. But that wouldn’t keep him from doing it again.
The pounding of the hot shower and two more painkillers restored most of his range of motion, and he was certain that his muscles would loosen up the rest of the way once he started using them. It was going to be a long day, though.
After dressing quickly, he drove to Ally’s farm in the gray light of early morning, stopping along the way at the 24-hour coffee shop for two ham, egg, and cheese bagels, strong coffee, and the Sunday paper. The editor had promised he’d run a story on the maze, and Matt wanted to be sure Ally saw it.
The barn door was open when he arrived, so he checked there first.
“Good morning. Anyone in here?” he called.
His eyes quickly adjusted to the darkened interior, and he scanned the familiar bulk of a tractor and its attachments, including cultivators, harrowers, and even an honest to God pull-behind combine. He didn’t think they even made those anymore.
Other, lighter equipment hung from brackets on the walls. A faint odor of apple cider filled the open space, and he suspected the spreader Ally had used the other day was hidden behind one of the large tractor attachments.
The barn was subdivided, about two thirds of it being the large, open space he stood in now. To his right was a hayloft, with the area beneath walled off. A thin line of light shone on the wide plank floor of the barn.
“Ally?” he called again.
The door opened, and Ally stepped out, wearing plastic safety goggles. She reached up and pulled off the goggles, shaking out her long blonde hair, then absentmindedly twisted her hair back and into a ponytail.
“Good morning, Matt. I was just sharpening the machetes. Have you had breakfast yet?”
“At the coffee shop.”
She smiled and shook her head. “Too bad. Susan makes a mean scrambled egg and sausage.”
Ducking back inside the other room, she dropped off her goggles, then emerged a moment later holding the two machetes. She held one out to him.
“Ready to get started?”
“Sure.” He reached for the machete, wincing as he raised his arm. His muscles were already stiffening up again.
“Matt? What’s wrong?”
“Guess I’m not used to physical labor anymore. My arms and shoulders are a little stiff. They’ll warm up as soon as I start moving around.”
She frowned, chewing her lower lip, then turned and motioned him to follow her into the other room, leaving their machetes propped against the wall beside the door. “I’ve got a healing salve that will work on muscle cramps. It oxygenates the muscles, and encourages breakdown of acids that can cause cramping.”
He followed her, then stopped just inside the doorway. It was like stepping into another world.
A wide counter circled the room. The counter against the left hand wall was covered with plants growing beneath grow lights, some simply in pots and some in terrariums or under plastic tents. Against the right hand wall, the counter held cut plants laid out on newspapers to dry, knives and scissors neatly stored in a knife block, and stacks of books. An arrangement of glass beakers, coils, and burners on the center section of countertop gave the room the air of a laboratory, or perhaps a distillery. Shelves above the counter held supplies for testing soil and water, jars of seeds and dried flowers, and plastic storage bins labeled in neat block letters too tiny to read. Higher still, bundles of dried flowers and herbs hung suspended from the ceiling. He dropped his gaze, and spotted the grindstone she’d been using to sharpen the machetes stowed beneath the counter, along with a motley collection of large pots, jugs, and containers.
Ally walked to one of the storage bins, slid open a drawer, and removed a small jar full of a pale green creamy looking substance.
“So, this is what a botanist’s workshop looks like.” Matt strolled closer to the right hand counter, investigating the moon phase calendar filled with notations in flowing script.
Ally interrupted his investigation by tapping his arm and holding up the jar. “If your muscles are that sore, you won’t be able to apply this yourself. Take your shirt off, and I’ll rub it on for you.”
All thoughts of his surroundings vanished as he was suddenly plunged into one of the scenarios from his dreams. “You don’t have to—”
“Yes, I do. You obviously can’t lift your arms high enough to reach your own back.”
He turned around, facing the door so that she wouldn’t notice if he embarrassed himself while she was touching him. Then he pulled off his flannel over-shirt and his T-shirt, holding them loosely in front of his groin to hide his reaction in case anyone else came into the barn looking for her.
Ally smoothed the cream onto his shoulders, her fingers gentle yet insistent. Matt closed his eyes and smothered a groan. She immediately snatched her hands away.
“I’m sorry. Am I pressing too hard?”
“No. No, you’re fine.”
“The salve’s a little cold. The barn’s not heated when no one’s inside.”
The faint chill of the cream was nothing compared to the scalding heat of her touch. Then whatever ingredients were in the cream started working. It felt like sheets of flame were cascading over his shoulders.
He caught his breath, fighting not to say anything. He didn’t want her to think he was a wuss.
Then the burning sensation soaked below his skin, as if his very blood was boiling. Her feather light touch upon his back was magnified a thousandfold, and he locked his knees and hips to keep from writhing in response. Whether in agony or delight, he neither knew nor cared. Probably both.
His cock swelled, pressing against the confines of his jeans and he shifted his weight slightly, hoping to ease the pressure against the teeth of his zipper. Surreptitiously, he slipped one
hand into his pocket and pulled his swollen cock to safety.
He bit his lip, the sharp pain focusing his thoughts, and slid his hand back out of his pocket. Bad enough Ally’s healing salve was giving him a hard-on. He wasn’t going to let her catch him fondling himself.
Her touch shifted. No longer spreading new salve onto his skin, she was now stroking his back, shoulders, and upper arms, massaging it into his aching muscles. He wanted to purr and flex beneath her touch like a cat. He also wanted to turn around, push her up against the wall, and have hot, passionate sex. He settled for standing as still as he could, locking his bones and muscles in place.
Ally trailed her fingers down his spine, a last caress that had nothing to do with the salve. His pulse kicked up another notch. Did she feel this connection between them, too? Maybe she was interested in him, and had stepped back yesterday because she thought his relationship with Cece was a real one. Given what she’d told him of her history, no doubt she was reluctant to be the one encouraging a man to abandon a relationship.
“Give it another minute or so to dry, then you can put your shirt back on.”
He heard her moving away, opening and closing the storage bin, then returning. Meanwhile, he mentally recited the list of Buyer’s Rights he’d had to memorize for his last Realtor’s exam. The boring task helped distract him from thoughts of Ally’s hands on his body, and his erection faded.
Then she brushed his shoulder with the back of her hand.
“Okay, it’s dry. How do you feel?”
He swallowed to keep from blurting out a truthful answer. Instead, he flexed his shoulders and swung his arms, testing the muscles. To his surprise, there was still a slight stiffness, but the pain was gone.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore!”
Ally chuckled. “Well, that was the general idea.”
“I had no idea they taught such practical things in botany. I thought it was all identifying a plant by the shape of its leaves, and things like that.”
“Mostly, it is theoretical knowledge. The practical application of plants was part of an independent study. Are you ready to put your shirt back on and get to work?”
He dutifully pulled his T-shirt on, but didn’t bother with the flannel over-shirt. The lingering effects of Ally’s salve, and her touch, kept him more than warm enough.
They walked back into the main barn, Ally flipping off the workroom lights and closing the door behind her. Taking their machetes in hand, they headed out toward the field, the empty wagon already waiting for them.
Easily falling into the rhythm they’d established the day before, Ally allowed her mind to wander, reflecting on what had just occurred. Matt was the first person outside her family to have entered her workroom, and he was too damn observant. Susan was oblivious to most of what happened around her, and Cindy was too young to know what a botanist’s workshop was supposed to look like. But if she hadn’t distracted Matt by applying the salve to his back and shoulders, he surely would have noticed some of the irregularities in her workroom.
Touching him like that had been a major miscalculation, though. She hadn’t wanted to keep her touch light and impersonal. She’d wanted to rub up against him, using her body to massage the salve into his skin. And she could have sworn he’d responded to her touch, too, arching ever so slightly beneath her hands even though he tried to hold himself still.
What she didn’t know was why. Last night at the hose, she’d sensed that her physical attraction to him was reciprocated. His eyes had practically blazed with lust. But was he attracted to her? Or would he have reacted the same way to any woman in a cold, wet T-shirt?
The same question bothered her about this morning. Was he reacting to her touch, or to the heat of the salve soothing his aching muscles?
His knowledge and hard work would mean the difference between the corn maze’s success and failure. She needed him here. She couldn’t take the chance on saying or doing anything that might make him uncomfortable and possibly drive him away. Until they were finished with the corn maze, he’d be her friend, and nothing more.
Matt interrupted her musings with a casual question. “So, tell me more about your botany studies. Are you planning to go back at some point?”
“Yes. I took a leave of absence to come take care of Susan and Cindy after Brian died. I thought it would just be for a few months, but now I don’t know how long it will be. It depends on Susan. Maybe a few more months, maybe another eight years until Cindy graduates from high school and leaves to go to college.”
“You’d put your studies on hold for that long?” He looked up from the ears of corn he was laying in the wagon.
Ally shrugged. “Family comes first. And it’s not like I’m completely out of the loop. I still read the journals. And I’m doing test plantings for the University.”
“That seems a pretty extreme devotion to family. What if you got married yourself and had a kid? Would you wait eighteen years to go back to school?”
Ally snorted, severing an ear of corn with a particularly vehement chop. “Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about that. I’m in no danger of getting married.”
“I didn’t think women thought of marriage as a danger to be avoided. The ones in Hargrove don’t.”
“I’m not like the women of Hargrove. Just ask any of them, they’ll tell you.” She heard the bitter tone creeping into her voice, and forced herself to sound more cheerful. “What about you? Why haven’t any of the lovely ladies of Hargrove roped you and dragged you to the altar?”
Matt laughed. “They tried. I was going nuts with all the young, single women asking me to show them houses, taking all my time away from real clients. My friend Cecelia came up with a brilliant plan. She’s a lawyer, very dedicated to her business, and was tired of her family forever trying to find dates for her. So we go out to dinner once a week, tell everyone we’re dating, and the busybodies leave us alone.”
Ally caught her breath. Was he hinting that he was available, or that he was gay? She thought of his reaction to her touch. He definitely wasn’t gay. That meant he was available. But it didn’t mean she should pursue him.
It took most of the day, dropping hints and leading questions, since neither of them seemed inclined to come right out and admit that they were interested. But by the time dusk fell and Susan came out to tell them dinner was ready, they’d harvested all but the final row of the field, and established that both of them were physically interested in the other.
Matt had seemed overly interested in her future plans, but she wasn’t sure how to interpret that. She’d already learned that he was extremely methodical and wanted to plan his life in exacting detail. Was he testing her planning abilities, hoping to find a kindred spirit? If that’s what he was up to, he was doomed to disappointment. Or was he concerned that having an affair with her would ruin the smoke screen he had going with Cecelia, and the benefit wouldn’t be worth the cost unless it lasted for some minimum time?
Meanwhile, she’d tried to feel out the flexibility of his attitudes. He was a great guy with a hot body. That would be enough for a brief affair, something to make her feel alive again, instead of in hibernation while she took care of her family. But if their affair was to be about anything other than sex, sooner or later, she’d have to tell him what she was. If he couldn’t handle that, she wanted to know now, so she could keep her heart from getting involved.
They ate quickly, neither wanting to give their muscles a chance to stiffen, then pushed their chairs away from the table and stood.
Susan popped to her feet as well. “Do you need my help bringing in the final wagon?”
“No, you’ve got the dinner dishes to do, and Cindy to watch over. It’s only one wagon. We can bring it in.”
Matt bent and stretched, groaning as he flexed overworked muscles. “When we’re done, I want to beg some more of that salve from you.”
The thought of running her hands over Matt’s firm body heated Ally’s blood more than any sa
lve could do. But two days of nonstop chopping and carrying had taken their toll on her muscles, too.
“Only if you’ll return the favor.”
A spark leapt in Matt’s dark eyes. “Gladly. It’s the least I can do for someone who will give me relief.”
She dropped her gaze to the crotch of his jeans, just as he turned toward the door. Briefly, the denim stretched taut, outlining his bulging cock. Then he was walking away, the tantalizing glimpse hidden from sight, although the way his jeans cupped his ass almost made up for it.
“You coming?” he called back over his shoulder.
Not yet. But she would be soon, once they took care of the harvest. Pausing only to give Cindy a goodnight kiss, Ally hurried after him. The low-hanging orange moon glowed sullenly on the horizon, filling the sky and shedding plenty of light to work by.
By the time she reached the field, Matt had already harvested the ears from the first five stalks.
“In a hurry to finish?” she asked.
He sliced off another three ears. “God, I ache. I can’t wait for you to rub that salve on my muscles. Across my shoulders, down my back, not just near the wing bones, but all the way down.” He groaned. “God, even my ass is sore.”
Ally nearly dropped her machete. “You want me to rub the salve on your ass?”
Her mouth went dry as she imagined running her fingers over his tight, toned ass, cupping it as snugly as his jeans were doing. Then she’d slide her fingers to the side, over his slim hips, to the front, where his cock would be waiting, hot and heavy, for her eager caress. She smiled, picturing his reaction to having the salve spread along the length of his cock. He’d be on fire, and have no choice but to thrust into her with savage abandon, stroking her inner walls until she was on fire as well.
She realized he was watching her, a knowing smirk on his face, and blushed so furiously her cheeks felt like she’d already applied the salve to them.
“You don’t look like you’d mind.” His low voice vibrated, somewhere between a purr and a growl. “Where do you want me to spread the salve on you, Ally? Where do you need relief?”
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