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She rolls her eyes at me, glancing down at the four boxes. “Anyway, I believe the correct term is apiary.”
This time I burst out laughing, my head falling back as the sound echoes across the fields. “Okay, beekeeping police,” I tease. “I can see this is important to you.”
She crosses her arms across her chest which only accentuates and draws my eyes to her tits. Swallowing hard, I have to force myself to look up.
“Whatever,” she says dismissively. “In any case, they look…nice,” she adds, almost as an afterthought.
“Nice?” I repeat with a smile. “You can just admit they look great, you know?”
“And you can just admit you were rude and then say thank you for the book,” she bites back, although I can see she’s trying to fight a smile.
I step toward her, my gaze locking with hers as I say, “I’m sorry I was rude to you yesterday, Penny and thank you for the book. It was nice of you.”
She lets out a satisfied huff as her eyes once again drift down. I watch as they widen, her pupils dilating a little as her mouth forms a tiny O shape.
That’s when I realize I’m standing here shirtless, which is not something I’d normally do in front of my colleagues. Reaching down, I grab my t-shirt from the ground and awkwardly pull it on.
“So, you wanna help me with this?” I ask, needing to take the focus off the fact she was just looking at me like that.
Her gaze snaps up. “Seriously?”
I shrug, trying for nonchalance. “Sure, why not.”
Penny holds a hand up to shield her eyes from the low sun as she watches me. She doesn’t answer my question at first and the longer we stand here in this awkward silence, the more I think she’s going to say no. That’s probably for the best anyway. I mean what the fuck am I thinking asking her if she wants to help me keep bees?
“Okay,” she eventually says.
We spend the next hour or so moving the boxes over to the end of the orchard where the bees tend to cluster. We get them set up properly, just like I’d read about in the book she gave me last night, in between chatting with my online mystery match.
We don’t talk much, but it’s not awkward, even when Penny takes a few photos of me and the beehives.
“Okay bees, move in,” Penny shouts with a flourish as we both step back to admire our work.
I laugh. “It doesn’t work like that, Pen,” I say, walking over to the old tree stump near the fence line.
“How does it work then, smarty pants?”
I glance over my shoulder and see her standing, arms once again crossed over her chest as she watches me. “We have to attract them to the hive,” I tell her.
“And how do we do that?”
“By putting some old wax or a comb from their existing hive in there,” I say, remembering the research I’d done last night.
“Wait, what?” Penny half shouts as she steps toward me. “You’re gonna pull off some of their current home and stick it in there?”
“Yep,” I say with a grin.
“Oh my god, you’re so gonna get stung again,” she says, watching me with a smirk on her face.
I chuckle, reaching for a piece of the comb that’s on the old tree stump. “Maybe,” I tease. “Or maybe I’m just a super skilled beekeeper and I’ll nail it first try.”
Penny rolls her eyes at me as she mutters, “Right.”
I grin, before snapping the piece of comb off and walking back to the hives I’ve built. Penny takes a couple of steps backward as a small swarm of bees follow me, their angry sounding buzzing making me a little nervous.
Not wanting to show it though, I hold the comb out in front of me, mentally praying that these little fuckers don’t suddenly decide to sting me. I reach the closest hive, opening the lid and practically throwing the comb inside before slamming it shut.
Stepping back with a triumphant smile on my face, I turn to Penny with my arms out in victory as I say, “See, easy,” just as one of the little fuckers lands on the side of my neck and stings me. “Fuck!” I shout, slapping my hand against my skin. The pain radiates out from the bite, even as the now dead bee falls to the ground.
