by R. T. Wolfe
For the first time in her life, she felt beautiful.
Reaching over his head and behind him, Andy grabbed the back of his shirt.
"No way." She stopped his arms. "Me." Rising from her heels, she ran her hands under and up his shirt, exploring muscle and flesh as she took the cotton over his arms. She'd seen him shirtless before. Her entire life. This was powerfully different and something she would never forget.
Andy lifted off his feet to his knees. Copying the movements he'd made, she took off his khakis. They wrapped their arms around each other, touching skin to skin and thin bits of material that covered warming flesh. The heat and humidity of the summer night added a seductive tone to her plan. A biological tone, like the rush of the water they could hear from the river in the distance. This was nature in its most basic element, and she felt completely right. Surreal. She could feel Andy was ready for her, too, and had to restrain herself from rushing in and exploring.
The feel of her heartbeat slammed against Andy's chest. He'd never had love attached to sex before. With bodies pressed together, he took her face in his hands and gently dove in. Tongues meshed. Teeth grazed. Never in his life had he held such a woman. And she had been here all along. The intensity shook him, took him.
He wound one hand around her back, under the satin while the other slid between the two of them to cup the silk. Her legs wavered at his touch. Fascinating. Supporting her weight, he lowered her to the ground before inching one of the straps from her shoulder, kissing warm flesh along the way.
Her small, breathy sighs echoed in his ears—reactions that were as intoxicating as her body. He wanted to savor this, her. This was not a performance. It was two people discovering each other. He felt her hands, earnest, gripping, exploring. When he felt her reach around to find him, he grabbed her hand.
He shook his head, steadying his breath. "Not this time."
Although he felt the deflated drop in her chest, she seemed to recover and lifted her arms straight overhead, inviting him to slip off the silk. Following her lead, he trailed his hands up her waist, then raised the satin over head. Rolling on his side, he propped on an elbow and rested his head in his hand. Watching her as she watched him. She was fit. The six-pack was as sexy as ever.
No nerves. He could tell. She looked flattered. He felt drunk. He brought his mouth close to her ear. "I love you."
"Mmm," Rose all but hummed and seemed to melt in his hands.
Taking her, he circled lazily with his thumb. She jolted and her reaction had him fighting control that balanced on a thread. He willed himself not to rush, not to just take. He moved his hand from her and leaned in to replace it with his mouth. She arched and quaked, grabbing his shoulders and digging her fingers in.
Running his hand down her sides, he took off the tiny, matching red fabric, and discarded it somewhere with the scatter of the rest of their things. He pulled her close to him. She reached and this time he let her pull off the rest of his clothes. They lay next to each other, flesh to flesh, arms and legs twined. They fit. He knew they would.
He took her mouth with his, mixing lips and tongues together, long and deep. Their hearts beat madly with nothing between them. He dug his hands into her hair, trying to get closer, legs twisting, hands groping. He wanted to learn every part of her: the expectantly firm lines of lean muscle, the soft and the tender. It unraveled him. Her uncontrolled response to his hands was enough to make him lose himself. When he reached her, she instantly bolted and sat upright.
Analyzing her cautiously, he caught his breath.
"Andy." She turned toward him, gasping for air. "Something's... happening."
He controlled his breath enough to smile. "That's... supposed to happen."
"Oh." She fell back on the single pillow, looking at the top of the tent. "Okay," then turned to him, winded. "Hang on to me."
He touched his lips to her ear. "Always."
She knew it wasn't a declaration. Just one tiny word said in the heat of the moment. But that word combined with the feel of his warm body against hers, his lips, his hands—oh, his hands. They sent her into a place she didn't know existed. The intensity was terrifying and glorious. Awakening and explosive. She would have never wanted this to happen with anyone else.
He kept his word and hung onto her. It probably was a good thing they were far away from earshot of any other campsite. Shaking with aftershocks, she experienced a whole new desperation. "Can it be time now?"
His head fell to her shoulder and he nodded but put up a finger to signal for her to wait. With wide eyes, she watched.
When she spotted the wrapper, she instinctively asked, "Can I—"
"Not this time," he halfheartedly said again.
The contrast of skin color between them glowed in the lantern-lit night. Alabaster against bronze. She felt no fear, only need. The weight of him was safety. She was floating somewhere with Andy to keep her grounded.
Linking fingers with both hands, he stared intently at her. "I won't hurt you." But, it was he who squeezed fingers, exhaling completely when they joined. He watched with brows tight.
Understanding, she answered by lifting to him, pulling him in. She kept her eyes on his, not wanting to miss any part of this. She heard sounds come from him she didn't recognize.
He let go of her hands and moved to grasp her shoulders. Gently, they moved together. United.
He buried his face in her hair before releasing. Andy covered her until their breathing slowed and finally returned to normal. He rolled next to her, pulling her partially on top of him, skin to skin, damp and lifeless. "Mmm," Andy mumbled and kissed the top of her head.
She pressed her lips together and smiled without lifting her head from his chest. "Should I feel this worn out?"
Tucking her hair behind her ear, he didn't answer but whispered, "Amazing. Sleep now, my Rose."
* * *
Brie stood looking out the window of Andy's room. The nearly finished guesthouse stood at the edge of their property almost ready for her out-of-town family. She didn't feel right about them staying in hotels each visit. Duncan was there for the week to help with the trim. She could hear Nathan down the hall as he rolled James out of bed for morning swim practice, then headed for John's room next.
She had tons to do that day and was looking forward to every minute of it. Picking up the laundry basket she'd set down, she opened Andy's closet. He was terrible at getting his dirty clothes into his hamper. She stood as she decided whether or not it was worth nagging him about when she glanced at the shelf above his hanging clothes.
She knew it.
Setting the laundry basket down once more, she stood with her legs wide and her hands resting on the back of her hips, thumbs facing forward. She could see Nathan enter the doorway from her peripheral vision but she didn't stop staring at the shelf. A small smile started at the corner of her mouth.
He was leaning against the jamb of the door. "The way the light is angling from the window around you, I could stand here for quite a while watching you."
He pushed off and walked over, stood behind her and slid his arms around her waist. Resting his chin on top of her head, Nathan asked, "Anyone in there?"
She covered his hands with one of hers and used her other to point at the top shelf. "Andy's tent is here."
She felt him shrug. "Rose has a tent," he retorted.
"And his sleeping bag."
He lifted his chin and stepped back. "Whoa."
"Yeah, whoa."
* * *
"Why do I have to putty holes while the woman uses the nail gun?" Duncan grinned as Brie puttied and wiped the walnut custom trim Nathan scribed to fit snugly along the walls of the guesthouse. Although she pretended not to hear him, he could see her smiling widely.
Near them, Nathan set the angle on his miter saw, then meticulously measured and trimmed off an extra eighth inch from his last cut.
Turning a smirk at Duncan, Brie loaded her nail gun, then politely responded, "I exp
ect you'll use this house any day now with a nice family of your own."
He stopped and lifted a brow. Holy shit. "Like that's going to happen." Dipping his finger in the jar for another wad of putty, he lifted a corner of his mouth. "I sure could have used it in high school, though. What are you going to do when the twins sneak girls in here during the middle of the night to smoke pot and have orgies?"
He covered his head with his arms as stain rags and gloves came at him in rapid fire. "All right, all right!" He gut laughed, but when he dared to look, he didn't see her.
"Mom?"
Brie was on the floor with her wrist pressed against her chest.
"Shit! Mom." Terrified, he ran and skidded down next to her. "Dad!"
Brie rolled on her side, grasping her chest, but still craned her head up at him. "Don't use that language in front of me," she said and worked out a clearly jesting grin. "Nothing's going to happen to me. Just a cramp. Hell, you'd think I was in my sixties rather than my forties."
Nathan was eyeing her carefully, asked her a few assessing questions, then held out his left hand to give her a lift up.
Brie stepped to Duncan and took both his hands in hers. "Duncan. I can have a cramp."
Recognizing his overreaction, he tunneled a hand through his hair. He felt jittery, like an idiot. "I'm going to get us something to drink. Are you thirsty?" He rotated his glance through half-opened lids from Nathan to Brie and back.
"I could use a long neck." Nathan looked to Brie.
"Sure." She picked up the discarded nail gun, checking to see if it needed reloading. "Make it two. Thanks."
Duncan headed for the front door leading to the main house as Nathan walked to her, taking the gun from her hand. "Next week," he heard him say.
Duncan glanced back and saw Brie rolling her eyes dramatically. "I'm due for a check-up anyway, Dad," she said and kissed him soundly on the mouth.
* * *
Mulch tucked easily around clusters of young hydrangeas and day lilies in the hot June sun. As much as Rose didn't want to admit it, she did like this job. The exterior crews on the spec house were finished. The sod was coming in a few days. The only guys working were the heating/cooling crew and the electricians. She worked alone. None of the landscaping work at this spot needed more than one person. Another bonus. Not that she didn't enjoy working with her mom. She was just more introverted than most. Much more so than Andy, she mused.
Thinking of the many ways they were different unsettled her momentarily as she tucked mulch closely around delicate stems and leaves. She wanted to work with animals and conservation. He wanted to work with buildings and bulldoze trees. She knew what she preferred but was uncertain about her future specifically. He had always known exactly what he wanted to do and be.
And, she hadn't told him she loved him. Why was that? she wondered. Trying not to look too deeply into it, she decided it was just never the right time. The night he declared his love to her? Cliché. While they were making love? She tightened her lips. No way.
Finally, she admitted to herself it was all a big cop out and gave in to the fact that she simply wasn't in the same playing field as Andrew Reed. Or in the same universe. He was Andy. Gorgeous, well spoken, well liked. Gorgeous.
Sitting back on her heels, she sighed as a red truck pulled into the drive. Speak of the devil.
Andy stepped out of the passenger side, followed by a man that didn't look much older than him. The man wore stained jeans and possibly hadn't washed his hair in days. From the driver side, a much older man stepped out. He was fit, clean cut, with a full head of snow-white hair. She recognized the older guy as one of the masonry subs Greenberg Construction kept exclusively. She had no idea if the relationship between her and Andy was hidden to more than just their families and decided to be safe and just nod in polite greeting, then kept working.
Relief flowed over her when Andy walked right up, winked and introduced her to the men he was with. Trying her hand at extrovert, she worked up a friendly greeting and a few short minutes of polite, empty conversation before getting back to her flowers.
Hoping she wasn't completely obvious, she watched Andy's muscles flex as he unloaded equipment. She tried to get her work done. He was a distraction—a nice distraction.
It didn't take much time before the scruffy one carelessly laid a corner of his scaffolding right on top of the newly planted hydrangea nearest the drive. As she stood with hackles rising, she had a moment to realize that the mason work had already been completed and to wonder what the hell they were even doing there. Her mom specifically waited until the brickwork and siding were finished so that rude, careless workers such as scruffy couldn't come along and trash their work.
She picked up the edge of the scaffolding and rotated it to the drive.
"Excuse me, little honey, but I put that there for a reason."
She thought he sounded like he was speaking to a kitten.
"You'll need to step back out of the way now," he continued.
Andy's eyes widened. The palm of his hand wanted to instinctively hit his forehead. Instead, he waited and let his eyes dart between Rose, who was turning all sorts of colors, to the rookie, who had already started to put the scaffolding back on the mulch and flowers.
Without hesitating, Rose lifted the end of the metal frame and pushed it, not too softly, into the rookie's stomach. "Call me little honey again and you'll eat this. Ruin one more piece of my work and you'll eat more than the scaffolding."
Chapter 12
The rookie sighed and closed his eyes as if mildly annoyed before walking around and reaching to take Rose's arm from the edge of the bars.
Andy dug out of the hole he had crawled into long enough to speak up before he reached them. "Dude, I wouldn't touch her if I—"
Andy nodded as he watched Rose, expectantly, forearm block the rookie's grip with that lightning speed of hers and grab hold of his wrist, twisting it enough to really piss him off.
"Why you little bitch." The rookie cradled his arm where she twisted. Wimp.
He knew she could take care of herself. Knew he should feel sorry for the dude just about then but he struggled not to join her. Didn't matter. The rookie was slow as hell. He twisted from her grip skillfully enough, but he was actually winding up to backhand her. She saw it coming so easily, she knocked his arm down and dug her knee into his nuts before he'd even shifted his weight into the swing.
Andy smiled wide as he turned to the crew leader and assessed what he would do about it.
The crew leader shook his head and didn't look too surprised or unnerved by the physical altercation. Instead, he called out to the rookie, "Get your skinny ass in the truck before I join the little lady." He walked and stood over him, then lifted him up by the arm, not so carefully.
The rookie held onto his balls as he limped to the bench seat of the truck.
She didn't look nearly as offended when the crew leader called her, 'little lady.'
"Listen, Rose," the crew leader addressed her. "It is Rose, right? We can patch the loose bricks right up and stay on the drive. We won't touch your work." He reached out a hand to shake. "Pretty flowers."
* * *
Brie stood in her bedroom, looking out her back window this time. The outline of a great blue heron showed in the dark. It perched on top of the watermelon-sized rocks that held the lake back from gushing over into the creek. Leaning against the side window trim, she waited.
Nathan came up behind her and wrapped his arms over and around her shoulders. "Feel better?"
She curled the tips of her fingers over his forearms. "Much. Thanks."
"Duncan's reaction..."
"Yes. I worry about him. Mother's privilege." She let her head drop back on his shoulder.
"Speaking of worry, did you ever find out more about the unused sleeping bag?"
Just as Nathan asked, she saw what she was waiting for and nodded her head toward the window. "See for yourself."
Nathan narrowed
his eyes and stepped closer to the window as a bobbing light came from the direction of their house. "What the hell?"
"Wait, wait. Don't get too close... and... now."
A second light bobbed from across the creek, heading toward the bridge. Both led toward the guesthouse. Nathan laid his hand over his eyes. "I built that bridge. And the house."
"They're grown, Nathan. Are you going to go down there and ground him?" She took his hands, much like she'd done with Duncan earlier that day. "You might feel better that I found a missed condom wrapper on the floor when we were working the other day."
Nathan covered his ears. "Hear no evil."
She pulled him by his hands away from the window and to their bed.
* * *
When they were close enough they could see each other's faces, Rose watched as Andy turned off his flashlight and dropped it in the grass. He took the last several steps in two long strides, taking her face in his hands and kissing her deeply. The electricity hadn't faded or even come to be something she was used to. It intensified each time his urgent mouth took hers.
"There you are." He linked their fingers and pulled away, looking at her.
She wore her cut-off jean shorts, a summer tank and flip-flops.
"Mmm, hello." Turning, she pulled him inside. "Today was like old times."
He followed her and plopped on the wicker couch, propping his feet on the matching coffee table. Andy explained that the rest of the furniture was due later in the week... along with the air conditioning. "It's different with you as my girlfriend."
Girlfriend. How could she possibly be Andrew Reed's girlfriend? Distracted, she tried to keep up. "I hate bullies. They never grow up."
"We're not kids anymore. The dude's a jerk, but he's a full-grown jerk."
She sat down and faced him, watching his lips as he spoke. She pressed hers together. "I'm smart and I'm careful."
"You are smart." He set one of her feet, then the other onto his lap. "And hot-headed and not at all careful." He ran his thick hands up the length of her long and lanky legs, stopping only when he reached her hip. "And beautiful and sassy and I love every part of you."