Jacked

by Lucy Wild

  I look about me, frowning as Alison skips over.

  "Did we get it?" I ask as my colleagues start slapping me on the back.

  "We got it!" she replies, pouring me a glass of champagne.

  "Haven't you got any beers?"

  "You've no class at all," she says, rolling her eyes before talking me through things.

  "We have a full contract for the cabins, permission is done. No changes needed. All you have to do now is choose the layouts from the options and we can get started."

  "We still need someone to manage the build," I remind her.

  "Details," she says with a shrug. "Deal with that later. For now, celebrate. Look, we even got you a cake."

  It's in the shape of a chainsaw with a beard where the blade should be. "Very funny," I say as she cuts the first piece.

  I don't get away for an hour. The first chance I have when I'm alone outside, I check my phone. Nothing.

  I try not to feel too disappointed. I have worked so hard to get this plan off the ground, I should be happy that it's finally going ahead. But I can't smile. I'm thinking about Carrie as I drive away. We're building the cabins for family holidays. What good is that if you don't have a family?

  And what about the farm? What good is securing the financial future of everything if there's no future generations to benefit?

  I thought it could work, I really could. I had such a good feeling about her from the moment I first saw her. Even with the weight of the world on her shoulders, she lit up my day like a ray of sunshine, piercing the fog of the mountain. That smile of hers, it made my heart sing to see it. And that body, I could worship that body for the rest of my life.

  But only if she rings.

  She wants me. I know it. I could tell by the way she looked at me. But she was too scared to make the first move. I don't know why but I do know what I need to do.

  I need a project manager for the cabins. I need Carrie. She needs money. A solution is there in my mind in an instant. She can work for me. If I can find her again. Where was she going? She was going to the village. Would she still be there? There was only going to be one way to find out.

  I'm not going to give up on her until I see her at least once more, make her tell me point blank she doesn't want to speak to me, doesn't feel what I feel.

  I wonder as I drive, what is it that I feel? Is it love? I've not known it before so it's hard to tell. If love is feeling the pain of loss from being away for the briefest time from someone, being unable to stop thinking about them, wanting to do anything you can to help them, then maybe yes, maybe this is love.

  My heart starts to thud as I drive. A question gnaws at me. What if she's not there? I shake my head. I can't think about that. It hurts too much. I hope she's there. I hope she feels how I feel. I hope.

  Chapter Seven - Carrie

  I want to ring him from the moment I drive away. Did he know I didn't have a mobile phone? That it was one of the first things to go when I started running out of money? I couldn't tell him, it was too shameful.

  Did he see the paperwork on the passenger seat? It was hard to know. I grabbed it as soon as I got in the car. He didn't need to know about my problems. They were for me to deal with.

  A tiny part of me would have liked to have told him everything, to have unburdened myself of all my worries. I didn't do it though, it was too shameful.

  I want to ring him so much. If I'd had a phone, I'd have done it within minutes of leaving. I'd have asked him if he was just being polite, if he really did like me and why the hell that was.

  I was used to fighting the world on my own. I was naturally suspicious of anyone else. But with him it was different. I felt something for him I'd never felt before. It was hard to pinpoint but it was like a connection deep inside my soul, one that I didn't know was there until I drove away, leaving him behind. I missed him already. I wanted him next to me. Not just because the sex was incredible, though it was, but because I was able to pretend everything was all right when I was by his side, I just felt so safe and protected.

  He had saved my life. He could have left me up the mountain to die of hypothermia but instead he'd found me, he'd rescued me, he'd warmed me back up in the most wonderful way imaginable. But then we had to part, the dream had to end, I had to wake up and return to the real world.

  I wanted to speak to him more than anything.

  I could have used a phone box but fate was against me. It stopped me even getting the chance.

  I head to the village and feel so tired all of a sudden, I can barely keep my eyes open. I wind down the window and the blast of cold air wakes me right up. A gust of breeze blows the papers off my lap, sending them shooting around the car. Something darts out into the open and I realise a second too late that it's his card. Why didn't I put it in the glove box?

  I stop and run over to the side of the road but it's gone. Any chance of speaking to him again has gone.

  I can't begin to handle how sad I feel. Tears roll down my cheeks as I climb back into the car. Then the engine won't start.

  By the time I get it moving my hands hurt from hitting the steering wheel, my throat hurts from swearing. I'm all cried out and my head hurts more than anything else. I've missed the house viewing. I doubt they'll wait this long. Knowing my luck, I'll get there to find it gone to someone who just turned up. If only my time in the car had lasted a bit longer. Reality had come back with a vengeance. I got a horrible feeling someone else would get the house.

  That's exactly what happens.

  I roll into the village and park up next to the place I'm meant to be viewing. A woman in a business suit is walking out with a clipboard, talking on the phone to someone. She glances at me and then continues talking. I hear a snippet of the conversation and my heart sinks. I was right.

  "Happy to help. I'll make sure he rings you within an hour to confirm the details. My pleasure, Mr Gayle." She hangs up and smiles at me.

  Gayle? I knew that surname. Think.

  The business card. Jack Gayle. The son of a bitch had taken the place out from under me.

  I can't move. I freeze in place as the woman walks over. "Can I help?"

  "Carrie Ridge," I say, still unable to move. "I was meant to view it but I guess it's gone."

  "Not just gone," she says with a grin. "Sold. My boss is going to be so happy."

  She asks me if I want to look at anything else. I shake my head. There was nothing else even close to this price. Not just unavailable to rent. Sold from under me. I'm going to be homeless.

  I sink onto the step of the house and try to cry but nothing comes. There are no tears left.

  A shadow falls over me some time later and I look up, thinking she's back to tell me to leave. It's not her. It's Jack.

  I leap to my feet. "You've got some nerve," I say, my hand already moving through the air to smack that smile off his face.

  He catches my wrist and holds it effortlessly in the air. "What, for buying you this house?" he asks.

  "Wh...what?" I stagger back as he lets go of my wrist.

  "What job do you do," he asks. "When you're not slapping men around the face, I mean."

  "I was a project manager," I reply and his face lights up.

  "You're kidding?"

  "Do I look like it?" I say, feeling my cheeks burn. "Why? What's going on, Jack?"

  He talks quietly, more to himself than to me at first. "We really are meant to be together." He looks at me and smiles broadly. "It's fate, Carrie, it has to be."

  "What's fate?"

  "This. You, coming into my life now."

  Chapter Eight - Jack

  She still looks bewildered as I try to explain again. "I need a project manager."

  "You said that but I don't get it. You can't need one. No one needs one. No one needs me. I have a unique set of skills and they are of precisely zero use to anyone."

  I silence her with my finger to her lips. She blinks adorably back at me. "I have just signed a deal to build a set of
holiday cabins on the lower slopes of the mountain and I need someone to help run the project. I was going to advertise but now I don't need to. You'll be perfect."

  "You need a project manager?"

  I nod.

  "You're not making this up?"

  I shake my head.

  "But that's so unlikely, I can't believe..."

  I butt in. "It's fate, I told you. You were meant to walk up the mountain today. That tree was struck by lightning to bring us together, I just know it."

  "But why did you buy the house? Did you know that was the one I was going to view?"

  "No but I needed one for the project manager to live in. I rang the agent and they said it was the best option."

  "But you bought it? Just like that?"

  "I bought it for whoever got the job. That's you. It's for you, Carrie. I can't have my project manager living out of her car now, can I?"

  She throws her arms around me, still looking bewildered squeezing me tight. I hold her, feeling her warmth as she lets out a quiet sob.

  "I was so pissed off with you," she says into my chest.

  "Is that why you didn't ring?" I ask.

  She looks up at me. "What? No. I lost your card, it blew out of the car. "How did you find me anyway?"

  "It's a small village. Your car stands out." I shrug. I know the real answer. It's fate. We're meant to be together.

  "You know I'm poor, right?" she says. "I'm not the type who can just buy a house out of the blue."

  "I don't care about that. I care about you."

  She goes to look away but I take her cheeks in my hands and kiss her softly, lingering on her lips, so glad I found her.

  I had the house on my radar the entire time the planning applications were in but I didn't want to buy without knowing for sure that things were going ahead. Trust the seller to try renting it out while waiting, milking it for all it was worth. It didn't matter anymore though. She was going to live in it and if I had my way once the project was finished, she'd be living in the farmhouse with me.

  "Want to look inside?" I ask, twirling a key in my hand.

  "It's already yours?"

  "Paperwork to do but no one's lived there for a while. It was a holiday let for ages before the tourists dried up." I grab a blanket from my car, knowing what I'm going to do as soon as I get her in there.

  I unlock the door and she follows me inside. Once we're upstairs I nod towards the bed. "Dusty but serviceable," I say. "Want to try it?" I toss the blanket onto the bed, laying it out flat.

  "I am quite tired," she says and I realise quickly she's winding me up. She reaches up and kisses me. "I can't believe this is happening," she says.

  "Believe it," I say, my hands sliding over her shoulders, tugging at her top, pulling it up and over her head.

  I lower my mouth to her nipples and lick circles around them, watching them harden as her breathing changes. "That is, if you want the job of course."

  "I want it," she says quietly. "I want it more than anything."

  "Then it's time for me to give it to you."

  I push her down onto the bed so she's perching on the edge. Reaching down, I undo my trousers, pulling out my already hard cock.

  "I'll never get used to seeing the size of that," she says, licking her lips.

  I bring her head down to it and she takes it greedily into her mouth. It feels wet and warm in there and she expertly plays with me, her tongue doing things no one ever has. I feel myself getting close to coming just from sliding back and forth and I make her stop. "I don't want to come yet," I say as I shove her onto her back.

  I slide my hands up her legs, grabbing her panties and yanking them down to her ankles. I toss them over my shoulder before kneeling down, burying my face between her legs.

  I taste that sweetness of hers and I'm in heaven. I had worried I might never taste it again but here I am, bringing her gradually to orgasm as she squirms in place underneath me.

  I flick my tongue over her clit, looking up in time to see her come. When she climaxes she lets out a moan that's more than I can take.

  "Bend over the bed," I order, glad to see her obey at once.

  With her skirt around her waist, I look at her ass for a second before sliding myself into her.

  She groans into the blanket. "Fuck, that feels good," she says and I agree.

  "Yes it does."

  I start to thrust, not stopping until I feel I'm on the verge of coming. I force myself to pull out, my cock aching to climax as I slide my hand to her clit, pushing her down onto her front on the bed, my cock between her buttocks, my body crushing hers.

  I use her copious wetness to tease her ass, dipping a finger into her tighter hole before moving my cock to it. I wait to see if she tells me not to but all she does is rock back against me, allowing the head of my tool to push past the resisting tightness. Then I'm in her ass and it's divine.

  I rock gently back and forth, slowly going deeper as she writhes in place under me. The tight grip is too much to take for long but I manage to last another minute, just long enough for her to come once more.

  When I bury myself in her, she climaxes and the motion of her muscles rhythmically contracting around my cock tips me over the edge.

  I pull back and slam home as I come, spurting deep into her as she cries out my name.

  Her voice fades as she pants for breath while I slowly slide out of her, rolling onto my side, facing her.

  "Welcome to your new home," I say, kissing her softly.

  "I think I'm going to like it here," she says. "There's one thing I want though."

  "What's that?"

  "For my Landlord to come and check on me like that every single day."

  "I can do that," I reply. "After all, I see myself as a hands on kind of guy."

  Chapter Nine - Carrie

  Six months later

  I'm late because it's been a long day. The last cabin is up and now the interiors can begin. I was supervising the tidy up at the same time and didn't get away until six.

  Jack is waiting for me at the farmhouse. I've been spending more time there recently than my place.

  He doesn't mind me being late, he's busy unloading the land rover. "Been chopping another tree," he explains. "Came down over the trail."

  "As long as you didn't meet any lost women on the way who you fall in love with," I reply.

  "There's only one woman I love," he says, drawing me into his arms. "And I think you know who that is."

  "You love me?" I ask. He hasn't said it out loud before.

  He nods. "Now help me choose which furniture should go in the cabins."

  "Mr Romantic," I say, shoving him in the shoulder as we head inside. Sprite meows a hello, bumping herself against my leg.

  On the long table in the dining room is a pile of brochures. "Look in that one first," he says. "There's something I want you to see."

  "Don't you want to know how it went today?" I ask.

  "I trust my project manager. I doubt she'd let me down. Plus I hear a rumour she's fucking sexy."

  I grin at him. "Her boss isn't so bad either."

  I reach across to the first brochure and flip it open. Under the cover is a small red box. I look at it, then at him. "What's that?"

  "Open it and find out."

  "It's not...is it?"

  "You'll never know unless you look."

  I grab the box and open it, feeling crestfallen as inside is a small gold key. "What's this?" I ask, turning to look at him.

  I stagger back, bumping into the table as I see him holding a ring in his hand.

  "That is a key to this place. Oh, and this? This is an engagement ring."

  He gets down on one knee, looking up at me. "Carrie."

  "Don't," I say, trying to pull him to his feet. I can't handle it. I don't deserve it. He won't budge, even as I start to cry.

  "From the moment I met you, I knew you were the one for me. I never believed in love at first sight until that day and every day
since has just confirmed that you are the one."

  "It's only been six months," I say.

  "I can't wait any longer. I want you to know just how much you mean to me. You've done the job of three people with those cabins, you've turned that old house into a home, filled with life and light and you've brought warmth back to this place and to me. I've never known anyone as kind, as intelligent, or as beautiful as you and it blows my mind that you're willing to be with me."

  "Are your knees not hurting yet, speech boy?" I ask with a grin.

  A bit," he replies. "Now you can help me get up off this floor and'll let me be yours forever. I love you and to end with a short rhyme I spent hours preparing, marry, Carrie?"

  I pull him to his feet and this time he lets me. I can't believe this is happening. I can't stop smiling.

  "Well?" he asks.

  "Of course I'll marry you," I reply as he slides the ring onto my finger. "Where else am I going to find a cock as big as yours?"

  "In your mouth if you don't stop being so cheeky," he replies with a mock frown.

  "Promises, promises," I say, pulling him towards me as I sink to my knees.

  Epilogue - Jack

  Three years later

  It feels strange staying in a cabin I helped design. I can hear Carrie in the kitchen, humming to herself. The place has settled well but this is the first time I've been here as a guest.

  George is asleep in the bedroom. He looks like an angel when I glance in. I feel blessed.

  I'm on the sofa she chose. It was the right decision. Comfortable, well built, the right colour to match the walls. I had my doubts when she chose it but she was right, about a lot of things.

  She comes through carrying two coffees, passing one to me and smiling, wincing slightly as she sits down and pats her bump.

  "Last holiday for a while," she says. "How much free time will we get with two?"

  "As much as we want," I say. "I'm taking on a replacement at the office."