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Zach
Ifeel unprepared waiting outside Home Depot for Aly to finish her shift.
Does this count as a date? Does this change things between us?
I asked her because I thought it was something she might enjoy, and Marianne and Derek can use all the help they can get.
Still, the uncertainty lingers uneasily. I said we shouldn’t do this. We shouldn’t spend more time together than absolutely necessary or even entertain the idea that we can be together. But I race off in the middle of the night to rescue her like some gallant knight from a romantic epic, and now I’ve invited her to spend another day with me.
We won’t be alone, at least.
We may not even get the chance to work together. Derek has me putting in drywall or patching up something caused by wood rot and mold on the inside. Aly will be outside with Miles, planting and putting together the raised beds for the vegetable garden.
I convince myself this is also a good opportunity for Aly to learn what it’s like to run a charity like the one in her proposal. Marianne is an indispensable source of information. And while her ideas may seem bigger than any of us can match in money or hours, she has a way of putting people at ease and securing large donations without batting an eyelash. Things Aly will need to learn if she wants her ideas to be a success.
Ten minutes to noon, I unbuckle my seatbelt and head inside. I promised Marianne I’d pick up the flowers and seeds as close to my arrival time as possible. As I enter the garden center, the soft fragrance of unknown plants glides across the threshold of the automatic doors. It reminds me of fresh summer rain, the scent of moist green plants and subtle wood notes of cedar trees.
When she crosses my line of vision, Aly is standing in front of an older couple. Her smiling face lights up, sharing recommendations about her favorite plants as she gestures from one specimen to the next. Or so I can imagine based on her body language. I want to make her smile like that, to be the recipient of the sheer joy on her face when she talks about something like flowers or changing the future. Instead, I only seem to anger her or launch her into complete confusion.
She finally notices me watching them. The brightness in her smile fades, but she quickly recovers. Her attention fastens back on the couple in front of her. I resist the urge to wave and appear even more stupid than I feel in this moment. Instead, I amuse myself with a group of red and green plants until I remember exactly what it was Marianne sent me to buy.
I’ve never gone after a woman like this. I’ve never had to before. All my meetings with dates were either pre-arranged by our families or developed over the course of a business gala as a satisfying way to pass the time.
This. This is entirely different.
I can’t have Aly. I’m not even sure if she wants me. Though if I am any judge of kisses, what we shared the other day would suggest otherwise.
All I know for certain is that I can’t go about this the same way I’ve always done. She’s special, different from the money-grabbing women in my social circle who see me as a means to secure their future. I don’t even think she wants my money. She hardly even acknowledges it when she’s around me.
“You’re early.”
I resist the instinct to smile at the sound of her voice. She’s close beside me, forcing me to suppress another instinct more painful than the first. “I needed to pick up some plants for the project. Any suggestions?”
I turn to look at her, and my chest tightens. I’m not sure what she’s done, but she looks different. She’s wearing eye makeup, something simple but sexy. It accents the lovely shades of blue in her eyes, like two sapphire crystals floating in a pool of turquoise waters. Even her cheeks possess a soft glow to them other than the usual red blush I tend to elicit from her.
“You’re staring,” she says suddenly, her lips lifting at one end. Like a magnet being switched on, they pull me forward.
“Am I?”
“Yes.” She glances around. “Now stop before you scare off the customers.”
She walks over to the customer counter and reaches across it to retrieve a notepad. My eyes are immediately drawn to her perfect, heart-shaped ass. I clench my hands to fists at the side and try to compel the blood flowing into my hardening erection to stop. She’s doing this on purpose. There’s no way she doesn’t realize what she’s doing.
“I have your order.” She straightens and faces me before handing me a slip of paper. “Marianne called this morning. Said something about you probably forgetting what she told you to grab.”
A smooth grumble escapes my throat, half from the tag team I already see forming in the two women I’ve just introduced to one another, and in part due to my lingering thoughts of Aly’s backside. “Yes, well, it was a large order.”
“Nothing we can’t handle. I have it all together in the back. We can load up your car, whenever you’re ready.”
It takes us a few minutes to secure the plants in Derek’s truck and for Aly to punch out. She walks back out to the truck, orange apron draped across one arm and her hips in full view. Her emerald green shirt clings to her body like liquid, accentuating the full curves of her breasts and slim waist before diving beneath the waistband of her dark jeans. I follow the sway of her hips. She’s teasing me, I know it.
This woman has to know how she affects me.
My heart shuts off the flow of blood to my chest, to any part of my body that doesn’t play a role in pleasuring a woman. I try to focus on something else. Buckets of ice water. The frozen tundra. Iceland. Anything to drown out the thoughts suggesting I haul her against the side of this truck and take her right here. I want to know what she tastes like, what she sounds like. Jesus, I bet she sounds like heaven when she cries out during her orgasm.
I clear my throat. I’m not doing very well at keeping my thoughts in check.
When she reaches the truck, I notice she’s added a soft shade of pink lipstick. This woman is torture. How on earth are we going to share a car ride together? I groan as we claim our seats and head out toward the program.
