Take My Breath Away

by Wendy L. Wilson

  Sorry Dad, but I have been cheated on, lied to and deceived. I deserve to move past that and have a whole LOT of fun! Definitely TOO much is in order for this week and Judd is just the one to show it to me!

  COMING OUT OF THE CABIN I suck in a breath of fresh air letting the sweet woodsy fragrance fill my lungs. My mind feels lighter than it did two days ago and everything around me looks brighter. Nervously twirling a strand of hair around my finger, I make my way to the shower house. It sits at the edge of the lake with a long dock stretched to the side of it. At the end it juts out to each side with an awning, a gas pump in the center and a couple of hitches for boats. A small building called The Snack Shack sits to the opposite side of the shower house. As I race onto the dock, a large door with a white and blue multi-gender sign on it comes into view.

  For the most part, the cabins are equipped with bathrooms that provide a toilet and sink but as far as showers are concerned, you have to come here or stink during your stay.

  Several of us swung by for showers yesterday between our lake outing and the midnight fun but this place in no way, shape or form made me feel clean. Inside, it had a high pitched ceiling covered in spider webs and mud dauber nests. The beamed wood ceilings came down and surrounded you in a dark wood that made it look gloomy and dull. The shower floors were caked in crud, the shower heads looked corroded with calcium build up and the mirrors over the sinks were all cracked. It is in bad need of a good make-over to say the least. The smell of mildew and mold attacked my nostrils as soon as I walked in, plus the shower stalls had old tattered shower curtains that made it most definitely not ideal as a multi-gender shower house. Given the lack of privacy, we took turns standing guard at the door while the rest of us rinsed off.

  Leaning back with all my weight, I tug on the huge, solid wood door and step inside. I immediately suck in a quivery breath at the sight of Judd. He stands in front of a sink steadying a large mirror with both hands. Once again he is shirtless and his back muscles shift and flex with beads of sweat dripping down his spine. My mind gets so foggy that I swear I can hear the sound of the sweat gliding down his perfectly tanned and toned back. Running my tongue over my top lip, I close my eyes and imagine my hand running over the contours of his skin.

  His smooth, deep voice pulls me out of my daydream. “Give me a minute and I can leave if you need privacy.”

  He doesn’t turn around so he has no idea it is me. Continuing in his efforts of pulling the mirror to eye level, he focuses on cradling it into a newly affixed fern shaped brass bracket.

  I stand there in silence, not wanting to startle him with my voice and make him drop the mirror. My eyes wander over the room, silently taking inventory of all the work that has been done since yesterday. What in the heck time did he get up? A strong chemical odor stings my nostrils and has me looking from the newly painted white walls and scrubbed sinks. A ladder stands in front of the shower stalls with new white shower curtains draped over it and a tray of paint, a wet paint brush and roller sit at its base.

  A gasp has me snapping my head back to look at him. He still holds the mirror up with one side secure in the bracket and a screw driver in his other hand, ready to fasten it down. Although instead of focusing on the mirror, his attention is fully on my reflection staring back at him.

  His mouth slowly stretches up into an adorable smile; highlighting the dimple in his right cheek and all I can think is did I really kiss those lips?

  My eyes focus in on his eyes and I can finally make out that they look to be hazel or a light brown. With no windows in the shower house, it is still too hard to make out.

  “Hey . . .” he breathes out without even the slightest waver of his smile.

  My heart does summersaults as I reply, “Hey back.”

  The mirror shifts and he directs his attention back to resituating the weight of the glass. I jet over to his side and pull the screwdriver out of his hand without thinking. He balances the mirror in front of him and looks over at me with a skeptical look in his eyes. I smile and place the screwdriver into the screw holding the bottom bracket to the wall.

  “I’ll screw, you hold the mirror,” I shrug my shoulders and glance at him through the corner of my eyes.

  His eyebrows rise in surprise and he flashes me a heart-melting grin as he settles the corner of the mirror completely into the bracket.

  After we get the mirror fully affixed to the wall, Judd brushes his hands together to dust them off and then swipes his forearm across his forehead.

  “Thanks,” he says as he grabs the same jug he held onto yesterday.

  Of course, as he tips his head back to take a drink, his body is no less hypnotizing as it was the day before. He places it back down on the bench in the first shower stall and then looks at me.

  “I guess I should have had some help for some of this . . .” He motions around the room, eyeing the mirrors. “ . . . But I was too eager to get it done so I could come see you.”

  He looks directly into my eyes when he says this, completely fearless of how I may read into that simple comment. Here he admits to that while I am trying to play down the fact that I was going crazy, wanting to see him again after our kiss last night.

  “That’s why I came down here. I figured I would see if you needed help,” I playfully smile at him with slow even breaths, hoping to calm my pounding heart.

  Keeping his eyes on me, he slowly glances down the length of my body to take in my apparel. His eyes find their way back up to my face and his lips curl into a smile.

  “Nice work outfit.” His smile deepens and he runs his tongue across his bottom lip before adding. “I’m not sure I’ll get much done besides admiring my co-worker if you help, though.” His soft laugh causes a crazy fluttering sensation to dance in my stomach. “But I definitely would choose your company and this view . . .”he says while looking up and down my body, “ . . . over any of the guys, any day!”

  His smile lights up and he takes a step forward towards me.

  My heart hammers in my chest and I wobble back and forth on the sides of my feet. As much as I want to step forward and be closer to him, I refrain from moving.

  Instead I ask, “So what do we do next?”

  He shakes his head as if he was expecting me to say or do something differently. We both laugh and then get busy finishing up the shower house side by side.

  While Judd scales the ladder and attaches three huge dropdown fans, I stay on the ground and hand him tools. In between handing things up, I decide to scrub down the shower floors and shower heads.

  Judd was quite troubled with finding me a job to help him with so I took it upon myself to slip on some elbow length gloves and start cleaning the stalls.

  “You know, you really don’t have to do that,” his voice sounds strained as if it pains him to see me getting ready to dig my hands into shower grime.

  “I know that has to be disgusting. You don’t seem like the squeamish type but if that grosses you out then stop doing it. I’d rather you not leave, plus this doesn’t exactly seem fair to you considering I am getting paid to get my hands dirty,” he points out.

  Moving down onto my hands and knees, I look up at him, “I’m not going to leave,” I assure him, “and it really doesn’t bother me much.”

  Lowering one of the older fans down off the ladder, Judd stops and smiles that gorgeous smile, completely captivating me.

  After that, we get serious about our work, each of us vigorous in our own tasks.

  I love that I keep catching him staring down at me. A couple of times, I found him leaning his head to the side admiring my ass. He would quickly make out as if he was examining the fan, but then a few minutes later I would catch him staring again. One particular time, I thought he might fall off the ladder, but after mumbling a few curse words under his breath, he regained his balance. I could not help but giggle to myself at how distracted I was making him. After that I made a point of bowing my back and sticking my ass in the air even more. That de
finitely got his attention.

  Besides, I checked my butt out in the mirror earlier and it isn’t bad. It’s got a nice heart shape to it with a little more meat than some girls but my narrow waist and D cup chest seem to even it out. I might as well flaunt it if he wants to look. Who am I to deny him an enjoyable view while he works? After all he’s working hard! He deserves it! I laugh to myself, proud of the newfound boldness that he seems to bring out in me.

  Looking up, I see him screwing in the last large palm leaf shaped fan blade. I am on the last of the five shower stalls as well. Surely we are in the home stretch, although he had said something about additional painting that needed to be done.

  Stepping down from the ladder, he takes a couple more gulps of water and then hands the jug my way. Don’t mind if I do. I take the jug and put it to my mouth imagining the feel of his lips on mine again. The cool water glides down my throat, instantly granting my sweaty body some relief from the heat. After a couple of gulps I set it back down.

  “I still need to paint the floors.”

  I frown at his words puzzled at why someone would want to paint a floor. He chuckles at my expression, sending swirls of flutters through my belly.

  “I know, weird, huh? I think he wants to lighten it up. Not to mention, anything is better than this blood red color it is painted now,” he points down to the ground and like a magnet my eyes follow.

  The gravitational pull continues as my legs immediately move forward to stand beside him as if they have a mind of their own. My arm brushes up against him as I lean over to look at the bundle of papers he is holding.

  It seems that Mr. Jansen, Evan’s grandfather, owns a lot more than I originally thought. Listed in bold font are eighteen cabins, three shower houses, four docks, a pavilion, two boathouses and the Snack Shack, all located on his property. Under each item is a massive list of renovations and updates to be done to each.

  “Wow, this is going to take you all summer.”

  “Nah . . . we’re over halfway done already. I think we are making good time. We should only have a little over a week’s worth of work left,” he assures me with a bright smile.

  My head spins with the thought that I only have a week to get to know him and that he will be working the whole time. This sucks!

  Judd turns all three fans on high speed and I breathe a sigh of relief for the added breeze. My skin feels as though it is melting from the mugginess in the air. He also wedges the door half open so the fumes don’t get too over powering.

  Crouching down on the floor, he pours more paint in the tray and hands me a plastic edger. Once again getting down on my hands and knees, I start to lay a thin coat around each stall while Judd rolls a good layer of paint behind me.

  After over half of the floor is painted, Judd grabs the edger out of my hand and shoves it and his roller back into the paint tray. He strolls over to one of the sinks and I follow his lead as he squirts some soap in his hands from a new wall dispenser, lathers up then pulls a paper towel free to dry his hands.

  “Why don’t we let that side dry for fifteen minutes or so before we start the other side? Are you hungry?” he says while reaching to grab a small cooler that I saw earlier under the sink.

  I nod my head, finish washing up and slowly crouch down to the floor to sit. Sleeking down onto my hip, I stretch my arm out to hold myself up and fold my legs out beside me. I glance down, making sure my stomach looks flat in this position and that my bikini is still fully covering me.

  Judd settles down beside me, triggering an explosion of chills over my body as his arm sweeps against mine as he places the lunch box on the floor in front of us.

  “Ok, we have slim pickings here. I was sort of in a hurry this morning and wasn’t too worried about what I would eat later.” He looks at me from the corner of his eyes with a small smile.

  My toes curl and the fluttering in my stomach picks up at the thought that he was just as ecstatic to see me today as I was him.

  “So let’s see,” he says while pulling out the contents of the lunch box. “We have a turkey sandwich.” He raises his eyebrows and looks at me. “Mustard and cheese?”

  I giggle and nod my head, “Sounds good.”

  He carefully tears the sandwich in half and hands one side to me with a smile. Grabbing the soft bread, I put it to my mouth and take a bite. Immediately the tanginess of the mustard mixed with the smooth texture of the cheese brings my taste buds to life and I swear this is the best sandwich I’ve ever tasted. Actually, it’s probably only because it is from him, but it is still amazing, I think while sneaking a glance at Judd chomping down on his half without a care in the world. I bring the sandwich back to my mouth for another bite so I can keep from giggling.

  After finishing up our sandwiches, Judd unwraps a chocolate chip granola bar and my mouth begins to water.

  “Do I even need to ask?” He snickers at the expression on my face which I assume must look as though I haven’t eaten in decades. Chocolate; I do love chocolate.

  Pulling my half out of his hand, I make sure my fingers touch his and linger for a second before pulling away. I scarf the bar down, much like Judd did his sandwich and then we stand to get on with our work.

  After a good hour and a half of painting and after my hands are partially coated in paint, we stand in front of the showers and examine our work. We both are barefooted now, to avoid scuffing up the paint. With each step I expect for my feet to stick to the floor but surprisingly enough the first side already feels completely dry.

  “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to put the ladder outside the door with a wet paint sign so nobody comes in and messes up the wet side.” His biceps bulge as he hoists the ladder up into his arms and exits the shower house.

  As he moves past the paint tray, he bumps it, sliding it across the floor and splashing a trail of wet paint in its path in front of me.

  “Great,” Judd murmurs.

  I make a mental note of the mess, fully planning on cleaning it up but as he comes back into view, I am so focused on his sweaty physique that the wet paint takes a backseat in my mind.

  It all happens so fast that I barely register my feet slipping out from under me as I step forward, until we are both flat on the floor, face to face once again. I can definitely handle these falls. His fingertips press on the back of my scalp and I realize the thud that I heard was his knuckles hitting the concrete and not my head.

  I whimper and Judd looks at me wide eyed in alarm.

  “Ouch . . . my butt,” I squeeze my eyes shut and let out a giggle.

  Surprisingly enough, nothing on me hurts, but I’m sure my ass will be bruised tomorrow.

  Judd laughs. “Good gracious, we don’t want that damaged,” he manages out between chuckles and I know he is definitely not talking about the floor. Yeah, he enjoyed the view earlier.

  Our laughter dies down and we lie on the floor together, Judd’s body flush against mine. Our sweaty chests stick together as a very comfortable silence forms between us. My chest heaves in and out and my body trembles with a full-blown desire that I have never felt in my life. Staring into his eyes, I swear I see my feelings mirrored in his.

  He lifts his hand to my cheek and warmth floods my body as he smoothes his fingers along my jaw.

  My mouth waters and my body tingles as his lips move closer and closer to mine. He captures my bottom lip, softly sucking on it before coercing my mouth open. Clutching his shoulders, I pull his full weight onto me as our tongues slide together in perfect unison. Electricity pulses down both of my legs and back up, telling me I am more than turned on. He shifts and a sudden protrusion against my thigh tells me that his response to this is just as intense.

  He leans back a little and gently pulls his hand out from behind my head. Thick masses of blonde hair stick to his hand.

  His eyes open wide as he looks down at me in alarm. “Shit! Your hair!! There’s paint in it!”

  He raises himself off of my body with his other arm and
straddles my hips with both my legs between his knees. Gently, he removes the sticky hairs from his hand careful to not rip them out of my head. Small slivers of pain pierce the back of my head as a hair or two is pulled from my scalp, but I’m too focused on the extinguishing of the fire that had ignited between us rather than the mess. At this point I would gladly roll around in a mud pit, a bucket of paint or even a pool of chocolate pudding if it meant having his hard body back against me.

  He looks down at me with an easy smile that highlights his dimple and my heart speeds up. I haven’t moved. I’m still lying on the freshly painted floor and I haven’t said a word. I’ve assessed the situation and I know I am breathing. My breaths are a little harder and heavier than they should be, but I am breathing. And I really don’t give a damn about the paint.

  No one has ever made me feel this way and yet I barely know this amazingly perfect looking guy that is now moving down toward my lips. Yes! I close my eyes but he barely brushes his lips against mine for a slow, soft kiss before removing them way too soon. No!

  He remains on his knees, with his face leaned down and his forearms around the top of my head like he is protecting me from a falling object.

  His mouth moves to my ear and I hear him softly whisper, “You’re beautiful.” Pulling back, he looks into my eyes and examines my reaction.

  I suck in a breath and hold it while he moves back to my ear.

  His breath dances across my neck as he says, “We have paint all over us. Do you want me to help you clean up?” in a deep tone that makes my body tingle.

  I raise my eyebrows in surprise. I’m not sure what getting me cleaned up entails, but I like the sound of it.

  Standing up, my legs wobble and shake as I hold my arms out to the side and inspect the damage. I am a mess! Pale gray paint is smeared around my torso and I can already feel the tightness of it drying across my back and arms. I brush my hands into my hair and instantly my fingers find sticky globs of paint binding my golden locks together. Huffing out a laugh, I look at Judd and can tell he is holding in a fit of laughter from the way he pushes his lips together, emphasizing his dimple even more. I can’t hold back any longer. Laughing hysterically, I realize I have laughed more in the past two days than I think I have in an entire year.