"Rider," I say, shaking his hand too firmly, judging by his wince. I was right, he's actually a weakling.
They brought a bunch of shovels and whatnot with them, and I'm the one wincing, as I check the tools I'll be forced to work with. They're all old and rusty, the wooden handles chipped away. When dry, the mud around here is as hard as concrete, and the sun is very quickly taking care of that. These ancient tools will not make for a fun day of work. But I'm used to hard work, and besides, I'll do anything to make Chloe like me. Jesus, I sound like a twelve year old thinking that. But it's kinda true too.
"So it's just the three of us?" I ask, looking around. "Will your boyfriend be joining us too?"
They both gasp at the same time, Ed harder than Chloe. He's glaring at her now, and her cheeks are growing redder and redder.
As I thought, there is no boyfriend. But I think this Ed dude really wants to be. Since I got my answer, there's no need to embarrass her further, so I just pick up a bunch of the tools they brought and head to the building we examined yesterday, then up the ravine. They follow a few paces behind.
The ground here is still muddy, which is good, since it'll help me better judge where the ditch needs to go. But my feet are sinking into it up to the ankles in places, which is less good.
Once I reach the top, I dump the shovels onto a dry patch of ground, take out the sandwich she brought me, and start eating as I walk around trying to find the origin of all that damn water. It comes down hard somewhere, but since everything is drying so fast, it's hard to tell where.
Chloe and Eduardo are talking in fast, clipped voices, but they're whispering, so I can't understand what they're saying. But I already know. He's not happy I'm here.
And he won't be happy to hear I'm staying for at least a week or two. Because I just found the origin of all the water. And it will take more than a week of digging to divert it. Hell, with no machinery and no real man power apart from myself, it could take a month. That's about my upper limit for staying in the same spot. But Chloe's gonna make it all worth it.
CHLOE
* * *
I HAVE to stop smiling at him every chance I get. But he's here helping me, because he likes me, and even though nothing will happen between us I keep defaulting back to the friendly, smiling girl I used to be. I don't even have to force it when I smile at him, I'll give him that.
He also seems to know what he's doing, so all that about working in construction and living in Alaska where he solved a similar problem maybe wasn't a lie.
He’s been inspecting the streams for almost half an hour now. He's neither smiling nor grinning anymore.
"The way I see it, most of the water comes down past that big house over there," he says, pointing at Dom Gustavo’s residence. "The best thing to do would be to ask them to divert the water using tubes and pipes. Do you have any contact with them?"
"No one lives there now," I say. "Dom Gustavo funded the orphanage while he was alive the best he could. But he died just over a month ago. That house and this land was all he had and he left it to the orphanage."
"So sell the house, and then you can fund this project," Rider says. "Or just move the kids into that huge house, and let those rickety bungalows get washed away."
I share a look with Ed. Gustavo did leave everything to the orphanage, but no one will buy his house or the land. The cartel operating in this area is trying to just take it from us. But I don't want to tell Rider all that, because I don't want to frighten him off. I have a plan to offer the cartel the house and most of the land, if they let us keep the part where the orphanage is, but I haven't yet managed to find out who to talk to about that.
"You said a ditch would work," I say instead. "Where should we put it?"
He gives me an amused, questioning look. "You need a ditch going all around that settlement of yours down there. And the point where it starts needs to be a deep, wide pool right there." He points to a spot to the left and about twenty yards from Gustavo's home. "I'd hate to attempt that without a bulldozer, but you say you have no heavy machinery. Can we rent one from someone in the village?"
"No." I was willing to dip into my savings, or, rather, go even deeper into debt to hire someone by offering lots of money to the local workers for their help, but they're all too scared of the cartel.
Rider shakes his head. "Alright, well, let's do some planning. And then me and Ed here will get started. I'm sure he's dying to get some work out of those muscles of his."
Ed has muscles, sure, but he's half Rider's size, so that was a clear jibe, which I'm sure Ed understood as such.
"I'm gonna help too," I say to forestall any argument between them.
"This is man's work," Rider says, and even though he's grinning, I think he might actually be serious.
"Nonsense. You'll need all the help you can get, and I don't mind getting my hands dirty."
Somehow he took that in a sexual way, because his eyes just softened and fixed on my breasts for a second.
"Why don't you go make us some nice lemonade and bring back whatever other guys are working here. Your boyfriend for starters." He knows I lied about that, there's no doubt in my mind. But he's not asking directly, so I'm not admitting to the lie.
"The only other adult working here is Olivia, and she'll come and help once the morning lessons are done," I say instead. "Now tell me where to start digging."
"There's just the three of you taking care of all those kids?" he asks. "There must be fifty of them going by the noise they made this morning."
"There’s twenty of them," Eduardo says. "Ranging in ages from seven to fourteen."
"That's a lot of kids for just three people to take care of," Rider says, and he sounds genuinely concerned.
"There were more of us, but they left after Dom Gustavo died. It was because—"
"More will come," I interrupt Eduardo's explanation before he mentions the situation with the cartel. He sounds very confrontational, and the last thing we need is him driving Rider away.
"Unlikely," Ed huffs, but doesn't continue talking after I give him a sharp look. We already discussed and agreed that it's best we keep Rider in the dark about our problem with the cartel for as long as possible, so he doesn't bolt on us. But I think Ed wants exactly that to happen.
"Alright, if that's the case we better get digging," Rider says, shooting me another grin. "Hopefully the reinforcements will arrive to relieve us soon."
I don't smile at him this time, since that was a bold faced lie on my part. No one's coming, and I think Olivia is about to leave too.
Rider marks off the site for the pool and the beginnings of the two ditches, which will come out of it. After that he starts digging, and me and Ed do the same.
Within less than an hour, sweat is running down my face, which must be as red as Ed’s, while Rider is not even winded. I keep swinging away with the shovel, trying to ignore the fact that all of the work we've done so far is about one millionth of what's left to do.
Soon my arms feel like lead and my back is burning, but I won't admit defeat. The only indication that Rider is feeling the effects of the work is the fact that he took off his shirt. So now I'm forced to ignore the bulky muscles in his arms and wide back flexing and extending, which is proving very hard. I wouldn't mind sitting in the shade, sipping some lemonade and watching him work all day. I'd bring him some too, once in a while, so he could quench the thirst he's building up.
I shake my head to get that picture out of my head. I'm not that kind of woman. I don't need to be taken care of by a man.
My shovel hits a giant rock, and the jarring impact makes me lose my balance. My legs and arms were already shaking from tiredness before and now they won't support me as I try to stay upright, causing me to land ass first in the mud.
Rider stops digging, trying really hard not to laugh, as he strides over and offers his hand to help me up. "You alright there, Chloe? Maybe you should take a break."
I wave his arm away and stan
d up on my own, brushing the mud off my ass and legs, very aware my face must be tomato red right now.
"I'm serious, take a break," he says. "It's hot, and you're not used to this kind of hard work."
"I'm fine," I say, picking up my shovel although I'm not sure I can actually lift it again.
But I do. And I feel his gaze on my back as I start digging again, hotter than the sun beating down. He doesn’t like me giving him the cold shoulder all the time, that much is clear from his face. But I'm so tired, I just don't care.
So I just keep digging, and I'll do it until I pass out. He may be the hottest guy I've seen in practically forever, and he wants me, but that doesn't mean I have to take him to bed.
I hear the chatter of the children approaching right before the first of them appear on top of the hill. The sun is blasting right down onto us now, so I guess it must be noon and the end of their lessons.
Rider sees them too, and sticks his shovel into the ground, looking at them with a smile on his face. "Looks like the reinforcements have arrived. And not a moment too soon, right, Chloe?"
Oh, the kids were the reinforcements he was talking about before. I'm probably purple in the face from the exertion, and I'm also pretty much covered in mud. As far as I'm concerned he's totally right. So I just smile at him and shrug.
The first of the children reach us, and Rider is looking from on to the other, smiling even wider than he smiles at me.
"You guys look strong," he says to Diego and Pedro, the two oldest boys who are staring at him like he's from another planet.
"You speak English, don't you?" Rider asks.
"Yes," Pedro says. "Who are you?"
"I'm Rider," he says. "And I'm here to help you dig a ditch. And what is your name?"
"I'm Pedro and this is Diego. What is a ditch?"
Rider smiles even wider and then explains all about what we're doing, talking slowly and with perfect diction to make sure they understand. I would never have guessed he can speak such flawless English. "You two want to give me a hand here? I think Chloe needs a break, don't you?"
The rest of the children reached us while Rider was explaining what we're doing, and they all look at me now.
"She does look very tired. Her face is red." Diego says, giggling. The others giggle too, nodding their heads. And I'm pretty sure my face just turned even redder.
"Alright, alright.” I try to stick my shovel in the ground like Rider did, but it barely breaks the surface, and just falls. "Maybe I do need a break."
"So how about it?" Rider asks them, while grinning over his shoulder at me.
Diego rushes forward to pick up my shovel. Eduardo gets his shovel taken away by Pedro, and I think he's just as happy as me to go find some shade to rest in. Rider, on the other hand, looks as rested as he was this morning as he gives the children instructions.
"And the rest of you can go find some wood and rocks, so we can reinforce this hole we're digging," Rider is telling them. "The ground is hard now, but the mud it turns into when it rains is just like play doh. Do you know what play doh is?"
None of them do, so he explains that to them too with a lot of gesturing and demonstrating.
Rider is the last person in the world I'd expect to take this naturally to children, but he looks like he's right where he belongs, and even the shy ones are asking him questions before long.
"Where did you find this man?" Olivia asks, fixing her glasses as she looks at Rider, and only barely concealing the giggle in her voice.
"She picked him up in Fernando's bar last night," Ed answers instead of me, and he doesn't sound pleased about it at all.
"Well, I don't blame you," Olivia says, winking at me. “I better go see if he has a job for me too. You go take your break."
Olivia is a black haired, skinny and geeky girl, but she's a hundred times more confident than anyone I know. I love her dearly, but as she goes up to Rider and starts chatting to him I feel the strongest pang of jealousy. Stronger than any I've felt before. But it passes just as quickly. They should hook up, then maybe he'll stop looking at me with that stark desire in his eyes. I'm not ready to be with a guy, even if he's a hunky, muscled god of a man, who's also great with the orphaned children that mean everything to me.
CHAPTER 4
CHLOE
I left the dig site with the younger children about four hours ago, expecting the rest to join us soon. Now the children I brought with me are washed, fed and asleep, and the stew I made for dinner is cold and congealed.
I'm just about to go in search of the others when I hear them coming down the ravine, Olivia and Ed in front, Pedro and Diego chattering excitedly with Rider a few steps behind them. They're all covered in dirt, and Olivia and Ed look positively dead tired. Rider, on the other hand, looks like he could still keep working if he had to.
I wave to them. "I made dinner."
Rider's the first one to look at me, and even at this distance I can tell he thinks I'm the only dinner he needs. I usher Pedro, Diego and the other older kids who stayed to help with the digging away to get them cleaned up before dinner. They're all big boys and girls, and they don't need me babying them like this, but I have to get away from the hunger in Rider's eyes. What he wants from me won't happen. It can't.
Once I get the kids cleaned up and into their pajamas, only Olivia is still at the cafeteria. The kids are still very excited about meeting Rider and doing actual, important work today, but I’m hoping they’ll settle down after they eat.
"How much did you get done?" I ask Olivia.
"I'd say not much at all, but your man Rider said we're making good progress," she says, smiling at me.
"He's not my man," I counter.
"Well, he only has eyes for you. And I think he was rather disappointed you didn't return to the dig site."
I don't know if hearing her say that makes me happy or scared. It’s bit of both.
"There's a couple of beers left," Olivia says. "Go take them to him. There's no sense in letting a guy like that go to waste."
She winks at me as she says it.
"You do it," I counter, mumbling the words. "I don't need any complications."
"I'd call him a lot of things, but complication isn't one of them. And I would go in a split second, but I’m sure he only wants you."
And that's a problem.
So I follow her advice, get the last two bottles of beer from the cooler and head to Rider's bungalow before I change my mind. It's time I made it clear where we stand.
And I was pretty clear on that, almost one hundred percent, until I reached the shower stalls. He's using the one with the ripped shower curtain.
Water is running down his back in snaking rivulets, pooling in the dimples on his lower back and catching the light of the setting sun. He's washing his hair and doesn’t see me, but in a minute he'll rinse off and turn. I want him to turn.
And that thought finally snaps me back to reality. I rush to his bungalow to wait for him on the steps. He comes a few minutes later, the tiniest towel wrapped around his hips. It just barely covers his cock, the flap gaping over his thigh. My whole face is burning, along with my neck and chest as I imagine it falling open.
He's grinning at me like he knows exactly what I'm thinking, which just makes it worse
"Here, I brought you a beer," I say, holding a bottle out to him.
He winks at me and takes it, then drinks the whole thing in one long gulp.
"That was great," he says and hands me the empty bottle. "Now go put on a dress. I'm taking you out to dinner."
I'm opening and closing my mouth, thoughts flashing through my mind so fast it's blank.
"But…but you already ate," I finally squeeze out.
"And your turnip stew was delicious," he says grinning at me. "But after all that digging, I need some meat."
This isn't how I pictured our conversation going, so I have no idea what to say.
"Come on, Chloe," he says, that insufferably inviting grin
of his more of a smirk now. "Stop fighting it so hard. You know you want to come, it's all over your face. I'll meet you by the garage in fifteen minutes."
He runs up the stairs, taking two at a time and sending the whole bungalow shaking.
"And if I don't?" I yell after him.
He stops and turns, giving me a questioning look. "What?"
"Will you come back, if I don't go to dinner with you?" I elaborate. It's not an easy thing to ask, so my voice is all strangled and stern.
"I'll come back and dig this ditch for you like I promised," he says, not smirking anymore. "I don't need anything in return. But I'd like to take you to dinner."
He climbs the rest of the way and enters the bungalow without waiting for me to say anything else.
I only stop at my own bungalow long enough to comb my hair and change my shoes. But even as I wait for him in front of the garage I still don't know if this dinner is a good idea. But it's not a bad one either, and I know that.
RIDER
* * *
NO, it's not OK that she won't just fall into my arms like I can see she wants to. And no, it's not OK that she's not wearing a dress like I suggested she should. But it's absolutely perfect that she's waiting for me at the garage, so those two not-OK things don't matter very much at all. Well, the dress doesn't matter, she looks great in anything she puts on.
I take one look at my mud-caked bike, realize I should've cleaned that shit off this morning, and that it would take me at least two hours to do it now, and smile at her.
"Good thing you decided to accept my invitation," I say. "Because you're gonna have to drive."
"OK," she says, and I hear her relief loud and clear.
I lean back in my seat once we're driving, taking in the scenery and allowing her to start the conversation.
"I really appreciate all your help," she finally says, once the first thatched roofs of the village come into view. I can smell meat roasting over an open flame, and it has already more or less chased away all my annoyance at her insinuation that I'm only sticking around because I want to fuck her. I'm a simple guy like that, and very adaptable. Would I like to see those round breasts of hers bouncing, while I fuck her so hard she forgets whatever’s making her so uptight? Hell, yes. But I can live without it. I’d rather not, but I can. And since I'm clearly the only person who can prevent those orphans having a swimming pool instead of bedrooms and classrooms this rainy season, I'm gonna have to endure it. Won't be easy, but few things in this life are.
Tropical Tryst: 25 All New and Exclusive Sexy Reads Page 20