“No, I better get going. I’ve got to shower, and then I have new assistants coming for interviews today.”
“Hmmm, shower? I could help with that,” she teased.
“No, you are not helping with that. Come on now Anna, I need to go in.”
“Just one minute on the trampoline. Trust me; it’s impossible to be grumpy after just a minute.”
“I’m not grumpy,” I protested.
“Well… I disagree.” She giggled. “Come on. One minute.”
As Anna turned the sprinkler toward us, the cool water felt magnificent. I stood still as the water moved from one side of the trampoline to the other. I glanced at her driveway and saw that both her parents’ cars were gone. And then, I did the one thing I knew I shouldn’t have done.
“One minute,” I said firmly and jumped up onto the bouncing backyard toy.
Anna’s smile grew to twice its size as she held her arms up for me to help her onto the trampoline. Her tanned skin was wet from the sprinkler, and I had to grab her forearms to get a good enough grip to pull her up. Of course, she pressed herself against me as she made it up to the top of the stretched fabric. Her plump chest ignited my body instantly as she stayed there for a moment before pulling away.
“I’ll be your assistant,” she said seriously as she started jumping.
“Absolutely not.”
“Why? I’m great with my hands. Not too bad to look at. And I’ve got some mean typing skills.”
“No, no, no.” I laughed. “I have to get the work done, and you know damn well you’d never allow that.”
“What do you mean?” she asked as she jumped toward me and grabbed onto the waist of my shorts. Her hands slid in, and I felt her fingers next to my skin. Only inches away from my throbbing body, and she wasn’t letting go. Her fingers grabbed tightly as she and I bounced playfully.
“This, this is exactly what I mean.”
“Oh, I can be a hard worker too,” she teased as she let go of my shorts. “I’d be the best damn assistant you ever had.”
“Well, I’ve never had a personal assistant, so yeah, you probably would. But Anna, seriously, I have to hire someone who I’m going to boss around, and they will have to listen.”
“Tell me what you want me to do,” her seductive voice said. “I’ll do whatever you’d like.”
Every inch of me was throbbing at the idea of Anna doing what I’d like. Maybe it was just as much me as it was her that couldn’t be trusted. No matter what the reason, Anna wasn’t going to work for me. That was the end of it.
“Stop jumping in that damn swimsuit,” I joked.
“Stop doing this?” Anna said as she continued jumping.
“See, you can’t even listen. It would never work.” I laughed and moved toward the edge of the trampoline so I could get off.
“Jason, you know you want to tell me something else to do. Come on, try it again.”
I sat down with my feet over the edge of the trampoline and was just about to climb off. There were so many things I’d love to have Anna do, and every single one of them was dirty and deliciously perverted. “I’m going to head inside now. Enjoy your afternoon in the sun.”
“Stay,” she said as she thrust her body onto my lap and straddled me. “Stay here for a minute.”
“Anna Cook, you are killing me. Certifiably killing me right now.”
“Hmmm, it feels like you are getting a little stiff.” She laughed as her hips wiggled on top of me, and she pressed against my obviously hard member. “I think you really want me to stay right here.”
As her hand slid down and rubbed against me, she repositioned so my throbbing dick was pressed against her clit through her swimsuit. Anna hadn’t been this bold before. She’d never had me in a position like this, but then again, I’d normally avoided coming into her yard.
There were only a couple thin layers of fabric between the two of us, and I wanted to rip them off and thrust my body into hers. My hands wrapped around her ass, and I squeezed it hard as she thrust her hips in a grinding motion against me. I couldn’t help it. As much as I wanted to say no, every inch of my body throbbed for this girl, and I couldn’t walk away. I wasn’t actually screwing her, there was fabric there. We were separated by my shorts and her swimsuit.
“Anna…” I started to say but couldn’t come up with any other protests.
“Jason,” she responded as her mouth moved to my earlobe. “I want you inside of me.”
“You should go find yourself a nice boy your age.”
“I want you. No one has to know. I’ll just come over for a little bit.”
Her damn sexy body was literally irresistible as I held onto her and didn’t make a move to leave at all. It had been a whole year since I’d had a naked woman, or nearly naked woman, on top of me like that. As much as my mind told me to push her away, my body wanted her. I ached for the closeness and primal delight I knew could happen if I’d just say yes to her.
“Anna, you know I can’t,” I finally muttered.
“Yes, just say yes, Jason,” she said softly into my ear. “Think about what it would feel like. Think about how tight I am and how you’d love to slide inside of me. Think about how I’d scream out in pleasure with each of your…”
Just then, a car pulled up into her driveway. We couldn’t see it, but it was close enough that I knew it was either her mother or father. I quickly lifted her off me and climbed off the wet trampoline. I hadn’t noticed just how soaking wet the two of us had gotten. “Shit, Anna, I’ve got to go.”
“Let me be your assistant? Or let this happen,” she asked one last time as she pointed between the two of us.
“Absolutely not. You can’t be my assistant. I’ve got to do this deal with your dad right now. We can talk about this when that business is all done.”
We heard the front door to her house close, and I quickly grabbed my mower and pushed it toward my garage. I had to get some space between the two of us. I needed to just make it into my house, and then my willpower would return.
“Fine, fine, I guess I’ll have to just keep teasing you into submission.” She laughed as she leaned against the fence.
I stopped and looked at her one last time as she smiled back at me. Then I pushed the mower into the garage and shut the door. Being around Anna was intoxicating. She was young, vibrant, and so full of life. Her upbeat personality could literally make anyone smile, and she’d done a great job of distracting me over the last year after my wife and I divorced.
The harmless flirting that marked most of our interactions had escalated over the last few months. I ran into her and a friend once while out walking and literally couldn’t stop staring at her breasts while she and her friend talked to me. Up until that day, I’d successfully limited our conversations to a minute or two. But after that day, I started seeing her more often when I was coming or going from the house. She was fun to talk to; I was admittedly a little isolated because of my divorce and trying to care for my son. Our fun conversations did make me smile, and she always left me in a great mood.
The trampoline had ratcheted things up to a level that I’d never intended, though. My late—night fantasies were right there with her in that moment. The line between the things Anna and I did in real life and in fantasies was starting to blur. In an effort to stop thinking about her, I dialed the nanny as soon as I got into the house.
“Hi Rosie, how was Clyde on the way to school?”
“He was good.” She seemed a little thrown off by my phone call. I normally didn’t bother her during the day when I knew Clyde was at school because it was Rosie’s time to herself.
“Um, okay, good. I just wanted to remind you I’m working from home this afternoon. But I’ll probably head into the office around three.”
“Okay, is there anything else?”
“Yeah, I’ll call Clyde at five to talk, and I should be home by seven.”
“Like usual?”
“Oh, yeah, yeah, just like usua
l. Okay, um. Have a good day. Sorry for bothering you.”
“You too. I’ll see you around seven tonight.”
“Yep, seven it is. Okay, bye.”
The utter stupidity of that conversation had me laughing as I fell back onto my couch. I’d literally made a fool of myself in an effort to forget about Anna. This girl was driving me crazy, but crazy in the sort of way that I liked.
Since my wife decided she was going to run off with a musician and be his groupie, I’d had a bit of low self—confidence in recent months. Not enough of a matter to actually think about, but Anna’s flirting made me happy, without a doubt. What man didn’t like to be wanted by a young woman? It was a surefire way to boost my confidence as I rambled along and back into the world of dating.
My phone rang, and I welcomed the distraction as I picked up the call from my business partner, Kevin. “Yo, what’s going on Kev,” I said in a hip-hop gangster tone, jokingly.
“Nothing much, dog. What’s up with you, homeboy?” he said with a laugh.
“I just had a nineteen-year-old grinding on top of me while water sprayed down on us until her parents came home and I ran into my house and am now hiding. How’s your day?”
“Dude, what the hell? Don’t tell me about your scandalous neighbor again. I can’t take it. I’ve got a wife and two kids. My fantasy life consists of dreaming about having the television to myself for one whole hour this weekend.”
“I don’t know if I can say no to this girl much longer. She’s impossible to resist.”
“Jason Hartley, you can’t screw that girl. We need this deal. It’s the only thing we have on the schedule this year, and it has to be perfect.”
“Her ass is perfect. When was the last time you had your hands on a nineteen—year—old’s ass? I can tell you—it was perfect.”
“Dude, I was nineteen the last time I had my hands on a nineteen—year—old, and it was my wife. Just stop talking to the girl for now, please. I need this deal. We are buying a new house, Jason. I can’t have this deal fall through. Plus, we need the reputation for being easy to work with so we can get new projects. You understand, right?”
I understood exactly what Kevin was talking about, but I wasn’t sure he understood just how unbelievably hard it was to say no to Anna. I was going to have to hire someone to do my yard work and totally avoid her if I was ever going to make it through to the end of this deal.
“I gotcha, man. I’ll avoid her.”
“Yes, make sure you do. By the way, how is the legal paperwork coming for the buyout?” Kevin asked as he expertly changed the subject.
“It’s good. The lawyer made a few changes to the wording, but otherwise, it is ready to go.”
“Great, we will have a meeting at the first of next week, and if all goes well, we could have things wrapped up in no time. Then you can sow your wild oats with that hot piece of ass.”
I had to laugh at Kevin and his effort to be hip. At forty years of age, he certainly wasn’t old at all; he was only two years older than I was, but Kevin typically acted like he was closer to eighty. His life revolved around his wife and kids, and he never had time for anything but work and being with his family. It was annoying, yet I sometimes missed the sanctuary of having a family and marriage to come home to.
“Sounds like a deal. I’ll send over the numbers, and I’ve got calls to make with a few companies that are interested in supporting the venture. We can talk later.”
“Dude, seriously. Stay away from that girl, okay?”
“Yeah, I’m a grown man. I can resist a little temptation,” I said with much more confidence in my abilities to resist than I actually had.
Our business was thriving, but our cash was all tied up in other projects we had invested in. This particular project was more about using our contacts to build up the Cook, Sparser, and Conner Buildings. We stood to gain a huge commission, and then we could step away from the deal when the time was right.
So, Kevin was right, I had to stay away from Anna. I couldn’t have my way with her and expect things with Edward Cook would go over smoothly. She was his youngest daughter, and I was his business partner—those two worlds had to stay separate for now.
Chapter 2
Anna
Jason was absolutely going to be mine. I had no doubt about it at all. The way he looked at me made me horny, and I knew he could barely resist me. I wasn’t even sure why he kept trying to resist at all. I was more than happy to have a fun fling with him and leave it at that, nothing major, nothing like a commitment or anything. I just wanted Jason to be my first. After fantasizing about him since he and his wife had moved in next door, I couldn’t help but keep thinking about him as I grew into adulthood and his wife left him.
It was perfect. We would be perfect together. I’d saved my virginity for the right man, and deep down I knew that man was Jason. I couldn’t describe it; I just knew he was the guy for me. I had to call Patrick and tell him all about my afternoon.
“It’s the middle of the night, why are you calling me?” Patrick said in his usual grumpy voice.
“What are you talking about? It’s the middle of the afternoon. Did you go out all night without me?”
“I had a date with that new guy. You know the really tough guy that surprised me by asking me out? I swear he’s the perfect gay man. He’s a fitness model… can you even imagine me dating a fitness model? We would seriously be the talk of the town.”
“Was he nice?”
“Oh, yeah. I mean he’s perfect. Nice, smart, amazingly handsome. I’ve hit the jackpot, Anna. The total jackpot.”
“That’s so amazing. I can’t wait to meet him.”
“Well, I was thinking I might wait a little bit to have him meet everyone. I don’t want to rush things like I normally do.”
“Oh, um. Okay...”
“It’s not that I don’t think you’re amazing, Anna. You know you are the most amazing friend in the world. I am just trying to do things a little differently this time. What’s that saying about when you do things over and over and expect a different result?”
“It’s the definition of insanity,” I said as I climbed up the stairs in my house and then into my own bed as Patrick and I talked.
“Yeah, that was it. I don’t want to keep messing up. I’m getting old, you know. It’s hard for a guy like me to find a good match here in Chicago. It’s not like we live in San Francisco or someplace amazing like that.”
The idea of Patrick running off with a boyfriend and not including me made me sad. It was silly that I was thinking about it and even sillier that I didn’t want him to be totally happy. But Patrick was my go-to guy when everyone else was working or out with their boyfriends. Patrick was perpetually single, like me, and therefore always available.
My best friend Lilli had run off with her new boyfriend and was traveling the world. I had plenty of other girlfriends, but they were perpetually dating guys and hanging out with them. The only other friend I could count on being available was Summer Edwards, but she drove me crazy with her whining and always trying to get a rich boyfriend so she didn’t have to work.
“Speaking of doing something new…” I giggled as I thought of how I’d jumped into Jason’s lap. “I may have done something a little crazy this morning.”
“May have? That implies you don’t know if you did or didn’t do this crazy thing. We both know you did it. Now tell me what happened. Was it that hottie dad that lives next door to you? Did you bone him? Please tell me the two of you finally knocked boots.”
“No!” I protested as if he had just suggested something vulgar. “But I did tease him and force him onto my trampoline.”
“You got a trampoline?”
“Yeah, I told my dad that it was to help prevent backaches.”
“Your dad believed that? How can such a smart man be so absolutely stupid when it comes to anything you want from him?”
“My dad just really likes it when I’m happy,” I said proudly.
“He’s the best dad in the world.”
“He is a pretty damn good father to you. I wish my father were half the man yours was. But seriously, a trampoline? How does he not know you are trying to seduce that hot neighbor of yours?”
“I don’t know, but he doesn’t seem to have a clue. I even ran into Jason and was talking to him in the front driveway when my father got home from work. Not a clue at all.” I laughed at the memory.
My father really was oblivious to what I did with my time. He and my mother traveled often with his work and left me home to fend for myself. My four older brothers were all out of the house and living their own lives, and I swore my parents couldn’t wait for me to finally decide to move out. At nineteen years of age, I had put off going to college because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with myself yet, but sooner or later I’d have to make some life decisions.
“I feel bad for your hot neighbor. He’s got to have blue balls by this point.”
“What?”
“Never mind. I just can’t believe he hasn’t given in to you yet. I mean he seems like a pretty stand-up guy for refusing your flirting. Does he know you’re nineteen or does he think you’re jailbait?”
“Oh, he knows. Since the day I turned eighteen, I made sure he knew it was my birthday, and I was an official adult. I’m almost twenty now, Patrick. For nearly two years, he’s been avoiding my flirting.”
“Some girls would have taken that as a hint that he wasn’t interested,” Patrick snickered.
“Shut up. He’s interested. His shorts were about to burst open as he was so hard for me today.”
“Really? How do you know?”
“I straddled him and ground up against him on my trampoline.” I couldn’t help laughing at what I had done. It was a bit strong even for me.
“Anna, really?” Patrick said with a huge hint of disappointment in his voice.
“What Patrick? What’s that tone about? He liked it. He could barely keep his hands off of me, and he almost kissed me.”
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