by Anna Durand
"You can sing along," Ollie said, while performing an instrumental break in the song.
"Oh, I couldn't. My singing is awful."
"I doubt that. Maybe another time."
He started singing again, taking the song to its climax, then he strummed one last chord. "How about a little birdwatching now?"
"Will you sing for me more later?"
"Sure." He returned the guitar to its case, stood, and offered me his hand. "I know a great spot for birds."
I took his hand, letting him help me up.
He grabbed a pair of binoculars out of the picnic basket while still holding my hand, then led me down to the lake's shore. I heard a strange, fluttery call, and Ollie told me it was a loon. He handed me the binoculars so I could get a closer view of the birds that had just landed in the lake, further away from the shore.
"Look!" he said, pointing at the sky. "It's a bald eagle."
I swung the binoculars up, getting a fantastic view of the majestic bird as it soared over our heads. Jumping up and down, I pointed at the eagle. "It's so beautiful! I've never seen one before!"
Ollie grinned and laughed, watching me jump around and squeal like a goofball. He didn't look annoyed by my behavior. He seemed to think it was entertaining.
Something buzzed past me from behind, sounding like the Godzilla of bees. Before I could react, the thing buzzed right past my face, inches away from my nose. I shrieked and ducked, spinning around to find the monster that seemed bent on having me for lunch. My heart thudded. I didn't dare move, what with adrenaline burning through my veins.
A tiny bird hovered above my head, its wings beating so fast they became a blur.
It dived toward me.
"Help!" I shrieked, flinging myself at Ollie. "It's trying to kill me!"
Ollie caught me right as I tripped over my own stupid feet.
I wound up clinging to his body with my face in his crotch.
And I shrieked again. Honestly, I couldn't help it. A dive-bombing bird? Nobody warned me about that.
Ollie stared down at me, his mouth open, like he had no frigging idea what the crazy girl attached to his body was doing.
I shoved myself away from him, landing on my ass with elbows sunk into the sand and my legs over my head.
He kept staring at me for a couple more seconds, then he rushed forward to drag me up off the ground. While he brushed sand off my shoulders, he asked, "Are you okay? What happened?"
"Well---I---" I flapped my arms, rotating them like an insane windmill. "That bird tried to kill me."
The sweet man tried not to laugh, but he wound up sputtering and snorting. The spittle flying from his lips sprayed my face.
"Oh crap," he said, wiping my face with the hem of his shirt. "Mara, I'm so sorry. Didn't mean to laugh. I know you were scared by that bird, but it was just a hummer. He must've thought you're cute and came in for a closer look."
He smiled when he said that and tapped my chin.
"I'm the one who needs to apologize," I said. "Don't know why I keep freaking out. I mean, I've never seen a bird like that one before, but that's no excuse."
"You don't need to apologize. I get that all this nature stuff is new for you."
"What was that bird? I've never heard of a hummer. Is that some bizarre species of bomber birds only found in Oregon?"
"No, it's a hummingbird." He pushed my hair off my shoulders and combed his fingers through it, cleaning the sand out. "Hummers like to dive bomb people, but they're not dangerous. That one looked like a black-chinned hummingbird. You can tell by its black head and purple throat."
"I didn't get a good look at it." Because I'd been too busy screaming and hurling my body at him. When I remembered where my face had wound up... Oh God, it was humiliating. "I swear I'm not usually this much of a disaster."
"Everybody has a little accident now and then." He patted my arm. "Maybe you've had more than your fair share in one day, but don't be embarrassed."
"Hard not to be." I frisked my hands over myself to get rid of the rest of the sand. "At best, I'm a total klutz."
"You should've seen me last summer when a porcupine chased me. Now that was humiliating."
Ollie really was the sweetest man on earth.
"Ready for more birdwatching?" he asked. "Or would you rather go back to a nice, bird-free house?"
"Let's keep going. I'm okay, I promise."
I picked up the binoculars, which I'd managed to send flying so they landed a good fifteen feet away, and scanned the vicinity again.
"Look over there," Ollie said, pointing toward shore ahead of us. "See that bird with a rust-colored head and neck?"
I swerved the binoculars over there. The long-legged bird was wading in the shallow waters along the lake shore, lifting its skinny legs high with each step. The black and white wings made a striking contract to its rusty neck and head, and the bird had the longest, slenderest beak I'd ever seen. Not that I'd seen much more than pigeons until today.
"What is that?" I asked. "It's so pretty and so weird at the same time."
"It's an American avocet." He moved behind me, his body brushing against my backside, and placed his hands over mine on the binoculars, guiding me to shift it toward the trees. "If you look real close, you can see a golden-crowned kinglet."
Ollie lowered his hands but stayed close behind me, the heat and scent of him surrounding me.
I adjusted the focus on the binoculars and spotted a small, plump bird with a bright yellow head that was rimmed in black. Its wings had yellow and gray on them. "How did you see that without the binoculars? It's so little."
"Yeah, but I saw the kinglet flying toward that tree. The yellow crown is hard to miss."
He had bent his head to speak to me, his mouth so close to my ear that his breaths tickled my skin when he spoke.
I wanted to kiss him again.
Damn, what was wrong with me? He hadn't wanted to kiss me earlier, so I really shouldn't try it again now. But maybe he'd meant what he said before, when he told me he didn't want to take advantage of me when I was upset.
God, I loved having him so close, his body almost touching mine. I didn't know if he used aftershave or cologne, but he smelled incredible. I couldn't resist turning my head to look at him. With his cheek no more than an inch from my face, I got an up-close look at those beautiful eyes. The sun wasn't glaring on his glasses, so I had a clear view of them. I'd never seen irises that color before, a golden amber shade that seemed to glow in the sunshine.
"Ollie?" I said.
He turned his head toward me, and our lips brushed. It was the faintest touch, but that's all it took to make my lips tingle and my breaths shorten. We gazed into each other's eyes for several seconds while the most intimate parts of me awakened, growing warm and slick. I'd been attracted to men at first sight, but never in my life had I become so lustful that the thought of kissing a man got me this aroused.
Ollie cleared his throat and stepped back, checking his watch. "Oh shit. I have to get back to the guest house. We've got new people coming any minute." He met my gaze again, his tongue darting out to moisten his lips. "Sorry to cut this short."
"Don't worry. You can always show me more of the wildlife another time."
"We'll definitely do that."
He led me back to our picnic site. We gathered up the leftovers of our lunch, and this time I carried the picnic basket. Ollie let me do that because it weighed almost nothing now. He'd slung the strap of the binoculars over his shoulder and carried his guitar case in his hand. We got back to the resort just as a bunch of nudists swarmed the lawn.
I stopped at the end of the trail, at the edge of the woods. Could I handle being around these people yet? The ones I'd met seemed super nice, and I couldn't go on hiding inside the little house. I wanted to get used to their nakedness. I had to. Maybe I couldn't change all the dumb mistakes I'd made in the past, but I could get myself over the shock of
hanging around with nudists.
"Will you be okay alone?" Ollie asked. "You can go back into Eve and Val's house if you'll be more comfortable there."
"No, I want to introduce myself to everybody. I need to do it."
"Okay." He glanced around, then pointed at the gray-haired woman I'd met earlier. "You know Ruth Norris, so start with her. She'll take good care of you."
"Thank you, Ollie. I really enjoyed our picnic and seeing the birds."
"You're welcome."
He trotted off toward the guest house.
And I marched straight onto the lawn full of naked people.
Chapter Six
Ollie
For the rest of the day, I alternated between doing my job and keeping an eye on Mara, without seeming like I was spying on her. Even though I kinda was. But not in a creepy way. I hoped. Talking her into wearing tennies instead of sandals had spared me from seeing her pink toenails, but I'd neglected to take into account the fact that she was damn sexy all over, not just her toes. Every time she smiled, I felt my dick trying to firm up. When I sidled up behind her on the lake shore, to show her the kinglet, the proximity of her body had turned me on big time. Leaving her alone for the rest of the day seemed like the smartest choice.
Late in the afternoon, I headed outside and spotted Mara sitting on a lawn chaise, perched on its edge with her hands clasped on her lap. Her eyes were large, but she didn't seem freaked out like before. Some of the guests were playing miniten again, and she followed the players' movements with her eyes, flicking them left, right, left, right, up, down, right, left. Her lips curled up the tiniest bit at the corners, carving out the sweetest little dimples.
The goofy girls who'd been trying to catch butterflies this morning were at it again. One of them bumped into her friend, and the two tumbled to the ground, shrieking with laughter.
Mara smiled. Really smiled. Her teeth showed a little bit.
She was beautiful.
And just like that, my dick started to swell. Mara would freak out if she saw the lump in my pants getting bigger. I probably should've gone over there to remind those butterfly girls about the resort rules---like no body contact---but I couldn't do that when my dick thought this was a good time to get hard. Those dopey girls had wandered off toward the guest house, so I decided to give them the etiquette speech later. But I wanted to talk to Mara. Needed to. It was dumb but true.
I ducked back into the guest house to get a clipboard from the exercise room. It was the sign-up list for buying yoga mats. Didn't matter. I needed something to hold in front of my groin, and this would do. Armed with my clipboard, holding it in front of myself, I marched straight to Mara.
She noticed me and smiled, waving at me.
I clutched the clipboard to my crotch like it was glued to my body. No, that didn't look weird or pervy at all.
"Hey, Mara," I said, sitting down on the chaise next to hers. I kept the clipboard on my lap. "Seems like you're feeling a lot better about being out here with the naturists."
"I am, thank you." Her smile softened into a curling-up, dimple-carving expression that made my heart stutter. "Thank you again for our nature walk. It was amazing. And for the bazillionth time, I'm soooo sorry about the way I acted earlier. Honestly, I'm not terrified of naked people. But I was raised a certain way and taught to believe public nudity isn't proper."
"This isn't a public place. It's a private resort way out in the boonies." I tried to focus on her face, because her body looked so damn good in those pants and that top, but even her smile made me get stiffer in the one place I didn't want to get stiffer right now. "But I get that it was a shock. Glad you're feeling better."
Her brows knit together over her sweet little nose, and her gaze shifted to my lap. "Do you need me to sign something?"
I glanced down. Duh. I was holding a clipboard that had papers clipped onto it.
"No," I said, pushing my glasses up with one finger, "nothing like that. This is the sign-up sheet for guests who want to buy yoga mats from us. Do you do yoga?"
She nodded. "Not in public, though."
Of course not. Uptight city girls didn't do yoga poses in front of strangers, I guessed. But she hadn't seemed uptight when we had our picnic by the lake. The way she'd gotten so excited about seeing birds had made me want to kiss her. For a moment there, when we'd looked at each and our faces had been a breath apart, I'd been tempted to do it.
Until I remembered I was lying to her. Well, not outright lying. I let her believe I wasn't a nudist and gave her an evasive answer to her question about how I wound up working here. How could I kiss her, much less sleep with her, when I wasn't being honest with her?
Not that I intended to sleep with her. That would've been wrong. I was the assistant manager, and she was one of the guests. Even kissing her probably violated my professional ethics. I ought to avoid her as much as possible.
How could I do that when we were sleeping in the same small house?
Mara's smile had turned shy. She bowed her head, peeking up at me through her lush eyelashes.
And damn, even that made me harder.
I coughed into my fist and asked, "Did you want to buy a mat?"
"That's okay. I brought my own."
"Oh. Cool." I got up, careful to keep the clipboard in position. "I'll see later, then."
"Wait," she said. "Can I ask you a nosy question? Feel free to say no."
"Uh, sure." I sat down again. "Ask away."
She caught her lip between her teeth, letting it go little by little. "What do your friends and family think of you working at a nudist resort?"
"My parents are fine with it. They want me to be happy, that's all. My little sister doesn't care either." I tapped my finger on the clipboard, which I still held over my lap. "I don't have many close friends. But my best friend, Damian, thinks it's really funny that I work at a naturist resort."
"Funny? Why?"
"Because he dragged me to one of those adults-only naturist resorts for spring break during our first year of college. He said we needed to cut loose and get wild." I shook my head, though I couldn't help smiling a little when I remembered that vacation. "I hated that place. It was too slick and risque for my taste. I prefer---" I cut myself off before I announced I liked homey naturist resorts like this one. Maybe Mara would be okay with finding out the truth about me, but I wasn't sure. Better not to risk it. "I prefer more subdued vacation spots."
"It's nice you have a best friend. Don't think I've ever had one."
"Damian and I have known each other forever. He's lots of fun, but he really likes to play on the stereotype of gypsies."
Mara's brows crinkled. "Why would he do that?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you, did I? Damian's family is of Rom heritage. Most people call them gypsies." I rolled my eyes when I thought about my best friend's favorite pastime. "Damian thinks it's fun to play like he's a real gypsy, with supernatural powers and everything. He does palm readings, but I don't know how accurate his fortune telling is. Women seem to think his Rom stuff is hot."
"Doesn't sound all that hot to me." Mara smiled again, and my dick twitched. "I like normal guys who are reliable and don't pretend to have superpowers."
"Good to know." I stood up again. "Now, I really have to get back to work."
Like a coward, I sprinted for the guest house.
And though I took dinner to Mara later on, I ate mine in the guest house office and sneaked into the little house only after the lights went out in her bedroom. I'd have to rethink my avoiding-Mara plan, since I was in charge here until Val and Eve came home. But for tonight, I'd stay away.
Only a hallway separated my room from hers.
Sleeping right across from her room didn't ease my problem south of the equator. Of course, I didn't actually get much rest. My brain had other ideas. It tormented me with hot dreams about Mara and her pink toenails and all the dirty things I wanted to do with her.
/> Chapter Seven
Mara
The next morning, while I showered and got dressed, my thoughts rewound to yesterday and how Ollie kept running away from me---literally. Only during our nature walk had he stayed with me and not acted weird about it. After that, he'd raced back to the guest house within minutes after every time he came over to check on me, and I wondered why he'd seemed so tense when he was talking to me. Duh. I'd acted like a complete freaking lunatic since the second we'd met. Screaming and fainting because I saw naked people? No wonder he had to run away from me.
Once I'd gotten over the initial shock, I had decided to face up to my fears. Peeking out the window at the nudists had served as phase one in my desensitization plan. Once I felt okay about that, I'd ventured outside, staying right by the house at first. Eventually, after my walk with Ollie, I got brave enough to march over to the grassy area where the other guests were hanging out.
Everyone must have seen and heard me when I'd screamed. Still, they all treated me kindly. Ruth Norris, who described herself as "the busybody who helps spread all the gossip, but only in a loving way," seemed to have made it her mission to get me acclimated. She took me around the lawn, introducing me to everyone and putting her arm around my shoulders anytime I got anxious. She intuitively knew when I needed a little support. Despite their nakedness and my lack thereof, every single guest treated me like an old friend.
Ruth had suggested I sit on a chaise and observe the nudists to get acclimated.
"Maybe after that," she'd told me, "you won't want to leave anymore. We'd sure love to have you stay, Mara. And I know Ollie would like that too."
She'd winked at me when she said the part about Ollie.
Ugh. How could he possibly want me to stick around? I'd acted like such an idiot, and I'd kissed him---which he clearly hadn't appreciated.
So stupid, Mara.
