Page 13

I had initially felt relieved to finish what was a confusing day, but once I entered my new home, I realised I had no internet and no TV.

No books or magazines, either. I looked around the almost empty living room.

It had a couple of slightly worn but comfortable couches, and a dining table and chairs, but not much else.

I checked my watch and saw Shaun wasn’t due for hours, so I got changed into some old training gear and went for a run.

Buddy was no longer nipping at my heels.

Instead, the two of us ran full pelt along the back road that went past all the singles accommodations until I reached the last of them, then we flew down the rise.

There was a lot more housing down this way, further away from the shed, the bungalows fanning out.

My breath was coming in hard as I pulled up just near the bottom boundary fence, Buddy and I walking in small circles slowly to catch it.

Beyond the fence was a small creek and a bunch of trees, growing thick along the bank.

As I moved, I could see where the trees began to thin and a field of grass was revealed, turned golden by the low hanging sun.

I walked parallel to the boundary, the field popping in and out of view, until I saw a group of guys working on the fence on the side furthest from me.

I stopped, dropping back behind a tree trunk.

The men were stripped down to their singlets or without shirts at all, digging holes, manoeuvring posts and then cementing them in, their bodies exactly what had been hinted at in the mess hall last night: well-muscled, the cleanly defined shapes apparent even this far away, moving together like a well-oiled machine.

You could have something like that under you tonight , my body prompted sneakily.

Yeah, I could, and right now I could see no reason not to.

They were over there, a safe distance away, completely oblivious to the golden sunlight that caressed their bodies and my gaze.

It must have just gone break time as the guys moved from their tasks, taking seats on stumps of wood or prone logs, drinking down water or lighting cigarettes.

One guy, his hair was long and brown, partially tied back, and a full beard, laughed at something one of his mates said before looking up.

I don’t know how, but his eyes immediately met mine.

He didn’t say a word, but the change in the group was almost instant, with every head swivelling around to look my way.

I gasped, there was no way they could see me, as far away as I was and partially hidden, yet somehow, I knew they did.

I laughed, a short abrupt bark, jerking back from the tree.

Not knowing why, I turned and ran off up the hill, past the other bungalows and blokes heading home for the day, only to leap onto my porch, hand on the door.

There was no reason for it, they were metres away and unlikely to catch me if they decided to give chase, and why would they?

My chest felt tight as I panted. I was fit, I was strong and I was in my domain.

There was nothing anyone here could do to challenge that, yet I remained torn between worrying that one of them might and wishing they would.

No one had followed, of course they didn’t, I stood on my porch gasping and alone, but for Buddy.

Yet when I looked down over the fence, creek and trees from my vantage point on the hill, I saw at least three guys standing in the middle of the far field, looking back.

Going for a run had done the trick. I’d taken a hot shower, the fractious anxiety of the day wrenched from my body by a good workout.

By the time Shaun rolled up, I was feeling much more relaxed, lying on the couch.

“Well, hey,” he said from inside the door frame, looking down at me like he’d like to eat me up with a spoon.

I got to my feet in a fluid slide and bestowed a long, slow kiss on his mouth. “You seem more chilled than before.”

“Right now, I am in the ‘this place is crazy but I may as well make it work for me’ stage. Though fair warning, this could change at any moment,” I said, winding my arms around him.

“Sorry I didn't get a chance to clean-up, I got held up with this last job. I was trying to fix the wiring in one of the sheds...”

“If you knew how horny guys in work gear made me...” I said, drawing in closer. His scent was driving me nuts, a weird combination of fresh male sweat, sweet sandalwood and something else... My nose ran down the side of his neck, clouding my senses.

“Darlin’, you gotta watch yourself,” he said in a low voice. “You say stuff like that in the mess shed, and you’ll have a riot on your hands.”

“Mmm...” I murmured as I moved closer, winding my arms around him. “You smell so good I want to...”

He grabbed my hand and shoved it against his rigid length.

“And you make me hard just by breathing. Right now, it’s taking everything I’ve got not to bend you over that couch, rip down your jeans and shove myself inside you over and over.

” I whimpered as a sharp twinge in my groin told me how good that would be.

“I like accepting Julie a great deal, but I think the rest of you is still catching up, and I don't want her regretting anything. How about we pack up you and the dog, and go for that picnic?”

“Why am I like this?” I asked, pulling back slightly, feeling like my brain was made of mush. Sexy, sexy mush.

“It’s just lust, darlin’. Now, come on.”

I frowned at that, that couldn’t be it. I had plenty of experience with lust before, and it was nothing like this.

“Wow, this place is beautiful!” I said as we pulled off a dirt track and drove down a wildflower covered slope. Down the bottom, I could see there was a large rock outcropping, a waterfall and a pool of crystal-clear water.

“Milady,” Shaun said, opening the SUV door with a flourish and offering me an arm.

He held an honest to goodness picnic basket in the other.

Buddy bounded out unassisted, immediately taking off to sniff around, and we followed at a more leisurely pace.

We stopped just before the bank of the waterfall, Shaun flicking out a checkered blanket for us to sit on.

“You’ve got great attention to detail,” I said.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” he said, pulling out a bottle of white wine. I admit I was more transfixed by his strong hands popping the cork than anything, but I took the brimming glass he poured me, grateful to have something for my hands to do.

Seriously, this place was turning me into a basket case.

I felt like I’d run the whole emotional gamut today, from happy to horny, to freaked out to paranoid.

And right now? I watched Shaun recline on the blanket, the buttons of his wash worn shirt straining across his chest, his jeans shifting to show just how well he filled them.

“So, what’s your pleasure?” Shaun asked.

“Sorry?” My eyes jerked up to his face, only to realise he was talking about food.

He seemed to note my distracted state, smiling to himself, but pulling out the various delicacies he’d been able to scrounge up and spreading them out on the blanket.

“Buddy!” I said when he came over at a run, stopping at the edge, sitting and drooling.

“I come prepared,” Shaun said, and pulled out a big meaty bone covered in cling film. He peeled it off, Buddy watching him with rapt attention, and then tossed it away in the grass.

“You really have thought of everything,” I said. Those cool blue eyes flicked up to meet mine, holding my gaze steady until they dropped down to my mouth and lower.

“Here’s hoping.”

I clenched my teeth, not wanting to dash my drink to the ground and give in to the siren’s call of his husky voice, and I didn’t know why.

If he’d walked into the diner, even if he was a jerk, I’d have slept with him if it was on the table.

Maybe that was part of the problem, guys who looked like him usually ignored me, and I couldn’t help but feel weird that that wasn’t the case here.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked, probably wondering why I was being such a bloody freak.

I sat up straight and placed the glass on the ground and took a deep breath.

“I’m thinking you’re too pretty for me, and that the only reason you’d look at me twice is because you live in a place with no women.

” His eyes went wide, seeming to study mine, as if looking for confirmation I was serious.

Then when this was confirmed non-verbally, he burst out laughing.

I guess I have been punked , I thought. I got to my feet in a rush, wanting to put some distance between us before my face went from red to neon scarlet.

I got one step away before he caught me around the knees, yanking me down to fall heavily beside him.

I growled in response, clambering to get free, but he covered my body with his much heavier one, pinning me down.

“Get off me!” I snapped.

“So you can take off, thinking that this is some kind of pity fuck in the making? No fucking way. Jules! Jules! I’m fucking serious, calm down!”

I ended up on my back, his hips pressing mine down to the ground, my wrists held fast in his iron grip.

I forced my eyes to stay on his chest as I panted, trying to catch my breath.

Fuck he was strong! I didn’t want to look at him.

If I didn’t meet his gaze, he’d eventually get tired of this, and then I could go home to bed, alone.

I just had to wait him out. “Jules,” he said, seeming to cotton on to my evil plan.

“Jules?” My name came out now as a low, almost plaintive plea.

Not whiny, I don’t know if he could sound it with that raspy voice of his, just heartfelt somehow.