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Uhhh, who am I kidding? She’d look amazing in anything. Tight, baggy, short, long, vintage, designer, even things long out of fashion. And just an FYI, I totally didn’t mind what the slight freak out in the car. Everyone needs to blow off steam once in a while. Life can be frustrating. People can be mean. Circumstances aren’t always optimal. The important thing? She’s here. She agreed to this date and she didn’t stand me up. She’s probably worried she opened up too much, but it’s nice to be able to talk to someone. Leandra is sharp. She has a fast, ready wit, and I can appreciate that. She doesn’t seem like Wesley, who always takes things too far or uses it to skewer people. Hers is the kind of wit that sends toilets to someone’s house after they’ve affronted her. Yeah. I still think that was pretty awesome.
Leandra watches while I unlock the gate by putting in the passcode. It slides to the side and I get back in the car and drive into the yard. It’s a big area. These greenhouses supply stores primarily in the city, but also surrounding areas as well. Generally, customers aren’t allowed here unless it’s for a bulk order so things look more industrial. The yard has a few white delivery trucks parked along the far side, a high chain link fence that surrounds it, and three massive white sprawling greenhouses in the middle. There are stacks of rolling carts, empty pots, planting tools- the usual for a greenhouse operation neatly piled onto shelving beside the first greenhouse. There’s a big steel shed in the back for supplies and a smaller sided shed with air conditioning that the staff use for breaks and lunches.
I shut the gate behind us after I drive in, then I open Leandra’s door for her. She sticks one heel out first, then the other follows, crunching on gravel. I want to take her hand since I’m worried about her on the sharp little rocks, but she steps out with confidence. Okay, maybe I just want to take her hand.
When I reach out and brush her fingers with mine, she doesn’t flinch or shy away. She slides her smooth palm into mine and twists her fingers through mine in one liquid, fluid movement. She does it without hesitation and that makes my heart start knocking at a wild rhythm. Blood is also surging to rather defined areas, and jeans might be good for keeping hidden things hidden when they should stay that way, but I don’t want to risk it, so instead I think about my grandmother, her crazy flower mishap, and other plants in general.
I don’t get turned on by plants, no matter what my brother things. My passion for them falls into a different category entirely.
The greenhouses all have steel doors built into sturdy frames. I unlock the first one, and because it’s still light out- I wouldn’t have brought Leandra here if I knew we couldn’t see anything- we’re immediately transported into an oasis of cacti. It’s basically a cacti paradise in there. The top is all white canvas, and inside there are three rows, two along the outside edges and one big one in the middle. The first one is filled up with baby cacti in small pots. These guys are just getting started with life. The other outer row has plants ranging in size up to a few feet tall, and the middle is reserved for the massive behemoths. The cacti that are three and four and five and six and seven feet tall.
“Oh my god!” Leandra drops my hand in her excitement and runs to the big cacti, her heels crunching on the white crushed rock that covers the floor. There are a ton of tera cotta pots stacked up along the aisles, and they could make for a trip hazard, but Leandra moves deftly, her body fluid and graceful as any dancer. “This is so cool! I didn’t even know you could get a cactus that looks like a tree!”
“They do kind of look like trees.”
“Where would people put these?” She reaches out and touches the spines of one big cacti very, very carefully. She’s more afraid of damaging the plant than she is of damaging herself and I have to say, it’s insanely charming. “Not inside?”
I’d like to say she can fondle, I mean handle, my plants anytime she wishes, but that just sounds wrong.
“You’d be surprised,” I choke, mentally shoving away the images of Leandra bending over in her sleek dress, or crooking a come hither finger at me from across the way, her eyes darkened with desire.
Okay, so that wasn’t my intent on bringing her here. I really did just want to get to know her. Sex amongst the cacti would be decidedly too kinky. I think. Probably way too dangerous. Definitely unprofessional, although I know that no one is going to stop here after hours and we’re in the warehouse district so there’s virtually zero foot traffic, and hardly any other traffic this late in the evening.
