As a bullied teen, Ísa had comforted herself with the thought of Suzanne becoming a sad, lonely woman with no friends—and no hair. Teenage Ísa had thought the latter the worst possible punishment for a girl who had the habit of flinging her waist-length blond locks around like she was in a shampoo commercial.
Fuming for her poor teenage self, she made sure to set the alarm system and lock up. Principal Cafferty had made it clear Ísa would be the last person in this building after the principal herself left just after five. Everyone else was already well into their summer vacation—even the other night-class teachers would only come in for their hours of teaching; the sole reason Ísa was here was because she hadn’t been able to work on her lesson plans at home.
Her upstairs neighbor was having repairs done to her bathroom that required banging and hammering.
Not all of it involved nails and wood.
Hopefully the repairs would be finished by now. There was only so much ecstatic orgasmic screaming that a single woman in online-dating purgatory could stand without being driven to violence.
She spotted the tan-colored gardening truck the instant she came down the front steps of the school’s imposing redbrick main building and turned left to head toward her car. The hot gardener had parked it right next to her zippy blue compact. The front of the truck had four doors with tinted windows while the large bed was piled with shovels and other manly tools as well as a huge sack of clippings.
His light brown T-shirt was hanging over the top of the tailgate.
Which meant he was still walking around topless somewhere around here.
“Get in your car, Ísa,” she muttered to herself, well aware what would happen if she came face-to-face with that delicious hunk of manhood. Because while she might’ve conquered her shyness, she knew her limits.
Confronted by a bare-chested man who made her ovaries explode, she’d turn bright pink, lose her ability to form speech, and end of story. “Oh—”
She would’ve bounced off that sculpted chest if he hadn’t grabbed her by the hips.
“Hey, sorry,” he said with a startled smile that lit up the dazzling blue of his eyes. “I didn’t see you.”
“No, um, my fault.” It looked as if he’d crouched down to check one of his tires or something else but had risen to his feet right when she swung around to get into her car. And God, his skin was hot and smooth and he was so tall and his shoulders were so broad and her mouth was drying up. The stuttering would begin at any moment.
The same stuttering Suzanne had mocked relentlessly when they were fourteen. Until Ísa had gone silent around everyone except the few friends she trusted. And now that horrible, ugly-hearted girl was getting married, having a baby, getting a happily-ever-after. Added to which, Ísa’s mother was jerking her on a string like she was a marionette, and her last “date” had asked her to call him Woofy and reward him with doggy biscuits.
The blue of the gardener’s eyes flickered with a hot flame.
And she thought… I know him. But before she could follow that faint thread, all the fury and hurt and frustration and sheer aggravation in Ísa ignited into an incandescent inferno.
She went mad.
Grabbing the hot gardener’s beautiful face in her hands, she said, “I want to kiss you.”
A wicked grin. “Go on ahead.”
And Ísa pressed her lips to his.
3
Always Keep a Clean Back Seat
WHOA
The seriously cute redhead with skin like moonlight and curves that wouldn’t quit who reminded Sailor of… someone hadn’t been joking with that breathless statement. She was kissing him. She wasn’t very good at it. But who the fuck cared when she tasted so damn good? And felt so good? And smelled so good?
And also didn’t seem to care that he had to smell of grass and dirt and sweat.
Moving his hand from the lush curve of her hip and up her spine to grip the back of her head, he angled her just right, and then he feasted. She moaned in her throat, a husky purr of a thing that had his cock coming to hard attention. Sailor immediately decided he wanted to hear that sound again, would learn what made her utter it.
Shifting on his heel, he pressed her up against the door of his truck. Her body was sweet and lush, her breasts soft mounds he wanted to bite and caress and see naked. First things first however: he licked his tongue over hers.
She turned her head.
Sailor groaned inside but pulled back, his chest heaving. “You want to go?” He didn’t normally pounce on women two seconds after meeting them, but in his defense, she was the one who’d done the initial pouncing.
Sailor liked to think of himself as a good guy—but he was still a guy. And she was the most erotically gorgeous woman he’d ever held in his arms. It wasn’t as if he were going to turn her down when she made the offer.
Big gray-green eyes held his, the pupils dilated. “Do you have a girlfriend, wife—”
“No.” Sailor wanted to put his hands all over her, wanted to trail his lips across her skin until it flushed a delicious pink. “I’m married to my business. She’s also my very demanding mistress. Doesn’t tolerate other women for long periods.”
The redhead looked toward the redbrick of the school building. “It’s light. Someone will see.”
Breath catching in his throat, Sailor said, “Back seat of my truck?” He hadn’t made out in a car since he was seventeen. However, for this sexy redhead who kissed like an innocent but had a body made for sin, he was game.
“What?” Her eyes went huge. “No.”
He kissed her again, her kiss-swollen lips too tempting to resist and her taste making him want to lick his tongue into other, more secret places. Only when he had her gasping for breath, her nails digging into his chest, did he say, “Windows are tinted, windscreen looks out toward the empty grounds. No one will see.”
Her chest heaved up and down even as the confusion and shock in her eyes tugged at his memories.
Then she said, “Okay.”
Hot damn!
Sailor pushed off her. “Let me just move some stuff from the back seat to the bed of the truck.” He didn’t want to give the redhead time to change her mind, but he hadn’t exactly been expecting a back seat make-out session. He had parts for a sprinkler system stacked back there.
He was halfway through his task and moving as quickly as possible when he heard the slam of a car door. Two seconds after that, the blue compact next to his truck backed out with a screech. The car raced down the drive the next second, taking his former partner-in-kissing with it.
Sailor just stood there, not sure just what had happened. His head was ringing, his cock was painfully hard, and he had the feeling he’d just been used and discarded by the cute redhead with the equally cute accent and curves made for his hands to plunder.
His brain went click.
Firelight hair. Moonlight skin. Gray-green eyes.
He’d thought she was cute seven years ago too, when Cody had brought her along to that party in the warehouse. Sailor had only had a short while to admire her before Cody turned into the asshole of the year and dumped her in front of the entire party. Sailor couldn’t remember the other male’s exact words, but he vividly remembered the pain and shock in the redhead’s eyes.
That night she’d disappeared without a trace into the night.
As she’d now disappeared down the drive.
Fuming for her poor teenage self, she made sure to set the alarm system and lock up. Principal Cafferty had made it clear Ísa would be the last person in this building after the principal herself left just after five. Everyone else was already well into their summer vacation—even the other night-class teachers would only come in for their hours of teaching; the sole reason Ísa was here was because she hadn’t been able to work on her lesson plans at home.
Her upstairs neighbor was having repairs done to her bathroom that required banging and hammering.
Not all of it involved nails and wood.
Hopefully the repairs would be finished by now. There was only so much ecstatic orgasmic screaming that a single woman in online-dating purgatory could stand without being driven to violence.
She spotted the tan-colored gardening truck the instant she came down the front steps of the school’s imposing redbrick main building and turned left to head toward her car. The hot gardener had parked it right next to her zippy blue compact. The front of the truck had four doors with tinted windows while the large bed was piled with shovels and other manly tools as well as a huge sack of clippings.
His light brown T-shirt was hanging over the top of the tailgate.
Which meant he was still walking around topless somewhere around here.
“Get in your car, Ísa,” she muttered to herself, well aware what would happen if she came face-to-face with that delicious hunk of manhood. Because while she might’ve conquered her shyness, she knew her limits.
Confronted by a bare-chested man who made her ovaries explode, she’d turn bright pink, lose her ability to form speech, and end of story. “Oh—”
She would’ve bounced off that sculpted chest if he hadn’t grabbed her by the hips.
“Hey, sorry,” he said with a startled smile that lit up the dazzling blue of his eyes. “I didn’t see you.”
“No, um, my fault.” It looked as if he’d crouched down to check one of his tires or something else but had risen to his feet right when she swung around to get into her car. And God, his skin was hot and smooth and he was so tall and his shoulders were so broad and her mouth was drying up. The stuttering would begin at any moment.
The same stuttering Suzanne had mocked relentlessly when they were fourteen. Until Ísa had gone silent around everyone except the few friends she trusted. And now that horrible, ugly-hearted girl was getting married, having a baby, getting a happily-ever-after. Added to which, Ísa’s mother was jerking her on a string like she was a marionette, and her last “date” had asked her to call him Woofy and reward him with doggy biscuits.
The blue of the gardener’s eyes flickered with a hot flame.
And she thought… I know him. But before she could follow that faint thread, all the fury and hurt and frustration and sheer aggravation in Ísa ignited into an incandescent inferno.
She went mad.
Grabbing the hot gardener’s beautiful face in her hands, she said, “I want to kiss you.”
A wicked grin. “Go on ahead.”
And Ísa pressed her lips to his.
3
Always Keep a Clean Back Seat
WHOA
The seriously cute redhead with skin like moonlight and curves that wouldn’t quit who reminded Sailor of… someone hadn’t been joking with that breathless statement. She was kissing him. She wasn’t very good at it. But who the fuck cared when she tasted so damn good? And felt so good? And smelled so good?
And also didn’t seem to care that he had to smell of grass and dirt and sweat.
Moving his hand from the lush curve of her hip and up her spine to grip the back of her head, he angled her just right, and then he feasted. She moaned in her throat, a husky purr of a thing that had his cock coming to hard attention. Sailor immediately decided he wanted to hear that sound again, would learn what made her utter it.
Shifting on his heel, he pressed her up against the door of his truck. Her body was sweet and lush, her breasts soft mounds he wanted to bite and caress and see naked. First things first however: he licked his tongue over hers.
She turned her head.
Sailor groaned inside but pulled back, his chest heaving. “You want to go?” He didn’t normally pounce on women two seconds after meeting them, but in his defense, she was the one who’d done the initial pouncing.
Sailor liked to think of himself as a good guy—but he was still a guy. And she was the most erotically gorgeous woman he’d ever held in his arms. It wasn’t as if he were going to turn her down when she made the offer.
Big gray-green eyes held his, the pupils dilated. “Do you have a girlfriend, wife—”
“No.” Sailor wanted to put his hands all over her, wanted to trail his lips across her skin until it flushed a delicious pink. “I’m married to my business. She’s also my very demanding mistress. Doesn’t tolerate other women for long periods.”
The redhead looked toward the redbrick of the school building. “It’s light. Someone will see.”
Breath catching in his throat, Sailor said, “Back seat of my truck?” He hadn’t made out in a car since he was seventeen. However, for this sexy redhead who kissed like an innocent but had a body made for sin, he was game.
“What?” Her eyes went huge. “No.”
He kissed her again, her kiss-swollen lips too tempting to resist and her taste making him want to lick his tongue into other, more secret places. Only when he had her gasping for breath, her nails digging into his chest, did he say, “Windows are tinted, windscreen looks out toward the empty grounds. No one will see.”
Her chest heaved up and down even as the confusion and shock in her eyes tugged at his memories.
Then she said, “Okay.”
Hot damn!
Sailor pushed off her. “Let me just move some stuff from the back seat to the bed of the truck.” He didn’t want to give the redhead time to change her mind, but he hadn’t exactly been expecting a back seat make-out session. He had parts for a sprinkler system stacked back there.
He was halfway through his task and moving as quickly as possible when he heard the slam of a car door. Two seconds after that, the blue compact next to his truck backed out with a screech. The car raced down the drive the next second, taking his former partner-in-kissing with it.
Sailor just stood there, not sure just what had happened. His head was ringing, his cock was painfully hard, and he had the feeling he’d just been used and discarded by the cute redhead with the equally cute accent and curves made for his hands to plunder.
His brain went click.
Firelight hair. Moonlight skin. Gray-green eyes.
He’d thought she was cute seven years ago too, when Cody had brought her along to that party in the warehouse. Sailor had only had a short while to admire her before Cody turned into the asshole of the year and dumped her in front of the entire party. Sailor couldn’t remember the other male’s exact words, but he vividly remembered the pain and shock in the redhead’s eyes.
That night she’d disappeared without a trace into the night.
As she’d now disappeared down the drive.
