Fuck.
I hadn’t seen it when she was standing behind the table, but she was wearing cut-off denim shorts that hugged the lush curves of her ass, the frayed edges teasing at her skin, inviting me to feel just how soft and smooth and warm it was. Without any conscious effort, my legs carried me after her. The plants were so big, now, that therewasn’t much room between the tables. She slipped easily through the gaps, but my shoulders brushed through the leaves on either side as I passed. Everything was so soft and green and delicate and I was so big—I was scared I was going to break something.
She brushed her hands through the leaves of a plant. To me, it looked just like all the others, but she said, “This one? This is going to be the best of all of them.”
She bent slightly at the waist to look closer, and I caught my breath as her ass thrust out towards me and a narrow slice of skin opened up between the bottom of her top and the top of her shorts. I’d never thought someone’s back could be sexy. But Louise’s lower back, smooth and arching and glistening just a little with the heat...that was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. My hands twitched with the need to run them straight up under her top, my thumbs pressing either side of her spine, my fingers wrapped around to stroke her sides. All the way up…and then my thoughts grew darker, imagining her on all fours in front of me, my cock disappearing between her thighs as I drew her back onto me.
“I got the mixjustright,” said Louise, jolting me back to reality. “This is our yardstick, now. Look how big the leaves are. Feel them.”
I blinked and swallowed, my eyes flicking from that entrancing crescent of skin to the plant.
“Feel them,” she insisted. And she suddenly grabbed my hand.
I caught my breath at the feel of her smooth, cool skin against my calloused fingers. She was so delicate, next to me: it took two of her slender fingers to equal one of mine. I had to step closer, as she drew my hand towards the plant, until the hard bulge of my cock in my pants was almost brushing her thrust-out ass. And she was completely unaware, of course. God, how did she do this to me? How could a blonde in some bar work her body all over me, giving me a full-on clothed lap dance, and I’d mentally shrug, but Louise could have me hard as a rock just from being close? Even over the heady smell of the plants, I could still detect the soft, clean scent of her, natural and magical. I wanted to bury my face in her and breathe nothing else.
“See?” said Louise, drawing my unresisting hand through the leaves. “It’s not just the color, or the shape. Theyfeelhealthy.” She turned to me and bit her lip guiltily and I damn near lost it. “I know it sounds dumb. It’s hard to describe, but...can you feel it?”
“Umm-hmm,” I grated.
She must have heard something in my voice because her eyes locked with mine and she let go of my hand. She slowly straightened up, turning to face me as she did so. Everything else in the world ceased to exist: all I knew about were those big green eyes as they came closer and closer and her sigh as she exhaled. All that red hair was spilling down over her shoulders like gleaming, liquid copper and I’ve never wanted to run my fingers through something so bad.
My hands hurt. I realized I was digging my nails into my palms to keep from grabbing her.
“I don’t know about this stuff,” I told her. I could hear the hoarseness in my voice, like I’d just sprinted a mile. “But...they look good.” I took in those moss-green eyes, the soft lips that drove me crazy. “They look really good.”
She nodded.
“Now I’ve got to go to the store,” I told her, each word a Herculean effort.
She nodded again. And...was there a hint of sadness in her eyes? Disappointment?
I turned away and forced myself to walk towards the door. I was almost there, almost safe, when she called out to me. “Wait! I almost forgot—I got you something.”
I spun to face her, mad as hell. Didn’t she realize what she was doing to me?
“It’s...outside,” she said in a small voice, jerking her thumb at the back door.
Outside. Outside where there was air, and there were people. Outside, nothing could happen. I nodded quickly, crossed the room and flung open the door.
Air.Good, clean, fresh, wholesome air. In the shadow cast by the house, it was blessedly cool. After the stifling house, it was likejumping into a mountain lake. I knew I couldn’t just stand there with the door open, not with the reek of grass flooding out, so I stepped forward to let Louise out behind me. I heard her shut the door and then I slowly turned around to face her. With every breath, my mind was clearing. I figured that, out here, everything would be okay.
But when I faced her again, I had a new problem. It was easier to hold back the lust but hiding beneath that had been something even stronger. God, she was beautiful. And then she made it worse. She bent down and picked up a plant from beside the door, holding it out towards me. “It’s for you,” she told me. “It’s a rose.” She looked at it shyly. “I figured you’d want something...y’know.Manlyand covered in thorns. And it’s Irish.Irish Blood,they call it. Made me think of you.”
I stared at it. This was the last thing I’d expected. It was bad enough that she was a constant fucking temptation, but...was shebeing nice to me?!
“I’ve got no idea what to do with this,” I mumbled.
“That’s because no one’s taken the time to teach you.”
This was different. This wasn’t like the simple battle between my need to fuck her and my need to protect her. We’d suddenly moved into a whole new and unfamiliar arena. “Umm…” I said. But I couldn’t think of a bloody thing to say to get out of there without hurting her feelings. Normally, I’d just get angry. But every time I reached for my anger, those big green eyes made it slip away.
“C’mon,” she said, and knelt down on the grass, next to a patch of dirt.
I knelt slowly down facing her, my body dwarfing hers. The ground was pleasantly cool against my knees. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d sat on grass. And the ground wasn’t dusty and dry, here, it was soft and even a little damp. She’d found a good growing spot, even in the middle of this hellhole of a neighborhood.
“Dig a hole,” she told me. She reached behind her. “I brought a trowel, or—”
I shoved my hands into the bare dirt between us, forcing my way through the soft earth until they were wrist-deep, then pushing themoutward. An image swum into my mind: my hands pushing her pale thighs apart in just the same way.
