And now there was so much catching up to do. And it sounds crazy in my mind to think like that since you can’t really catch up if you’ve never even started can you? But I just feel like I know him deeply. You don’t always need to talk to someone to know them. You can learn a lot just by observing and feeling.
And oh how I wanted those callused hands of his to feel their way across my goose bump laden skin.
And more importantly I want him to know how I feel about him. About us.
All he’d have to do is let his eyes wander for one second from mine. Once he saw my fire engine red face, my nipples poking out through my bra and my blouse, and my pulse on the side of my neck and he’d know right away. But he didn’t break eye contact. He was locked on.
And I was locked in. I just wanted to jump in his arms and tell him how we were meant to be together. Tell him to carry me off to my bed or better yet just fan me out over the desk or bend me over my chair and take me right here and now. I was dripping wet and the look in his eyes said he was rough and ready.
“Do you need to get that?” he asks.
“Get what?” I say, wondering what’s giving away. The only thing that needed “getting” right now was a cold drink from the refrigerator for the both of us. His shirt was soaked through at this point leaving nothing to the imagination except the thoughts of what I’d like to do with what was on display. Or more appropriately what I’d like him to do to me. Thinking of those muscles flexing as he thrust inside me was too much to handle right now. I couldn’t pass out in an air-conditioned room and blame it on the heat.
“Your phone. It’s been ringing for awhile now.”
“Oh right,” I say, blushing, but there’s no way it’s noticeable. My face can’t get redder than it already is.
I turn and step towards my desk putting a little extra wiggle in my hips because I know he’s watching.
“Hello,” I say. I look at him making an “oh my gosh” face and motion him in with my hand. I was so lost in the moment I forgot to invite him in.
Twenty seconds later I hang up the phone.
“My dad just warned me you’d be turning up at my door.”
“Warned? I hope he doesn’t think of me as that kind of a guy.”
“Are you kidding? He sees you as his brother. One of the family. I guess it’s more of a saying. The one your mother, or in this case father, warned you about.”
“I thought that meant something different?”
I’m at a loss for words. I’m nervous and I’m giving myself away because I can’t control my mouth.
“Right. Well,” I begin. “There’s a client on the back of the property and my dad says since he can’t make it over there in time he’d like the two of us to go meet with him briefly.”
“A client?”
“Yeah. Geothermal guy. I took some readings and it looks like we’ve got a lot of steam at this site. Could be quite a bit of power there.”
“Lots of steam,” I repeat. “A whole lot.”
“Before we head out can I take a super quick shower and change into my other clothes before we meet with him.”
“A shower?”
“Yeah, I’m in no shape to have a face-to-face with a client and there’s no shower in my trailer.”
“I don’t really know if there’s a shower here onsite.”
“There is.”
“Sure then. I’ll just be here as soon as you’re ready.”
I sit down at my desk and pretend to do some work when in actuality I’m just shuffling papers. He doesn’t seem to be moving anywhere.
I look up at him and oh my god he’s smirking at me. Just when I thought he couldn’t get any sexier.
“What?” I say.
“The shower’s behind you.”
“Oh,” I say turning around noticing the makeshift door for the first time.
“One of the guys just put it together real quick. It just needs to last a few weeks for the duration of the project. We didn’t really build it with ladies in mind.”
“Or privacy,” I say. I’m at the door and notice there’s no lock and it doesn’t seem to block out much at all.
“Or that,” he says.
“Right then.”
“I won’t ask you to go outside or anything,” he says as he starts unbuttoning his shirt. “It’s way to hot for that. Plus it’s your office.”
“Um hmm,” I say, trying to keep my eyes down as the last button clears the hole and he pulls the shirt back and off behind him standing in front of me now bare chested in blue jeans causing my hand to start shaking I’m so on edge right now.
“No problem,” I say. “I’ve got a lot here on my desk to focus on so you won’t have to worry about me. It will be like I’m not even here,” as the toe of my heels tap uncontrollably in a staccato rhythm against the floor.
He walks past my desk and I catch his scent immediately. It’s thick and cloaks me, but I don’t recognize it. It’s not cologne, that’s for sure. It’s like his own signature scent. Is that how he smells when he sweats? Like a thick forest in autumn. Is there anything, anything at all, that isn’t absolutely breathtaking about his guy?
My nose starts to guide my head to the side as he passes, but I whip it back around and down keeping my attention turned towards the desk which is now about six inches in front of me. I’ve almost literally buried my face in my desk willing myself not to sneak a peek.
I hear his shoestrings slide through his boots before they hit the floor. Then I hear his belt unbuckle and the sound of a belt hitting the floor. I hear the pop of an elastic waistband and know his underwear is now off.
My lower lip slides in-between my teeth and I rotate my head up slightly looking for anything in front of me which might be giving off a reflection.
He hasn’t even laid a finger on me yet and I’m already right there, ready to explode right here at my desk. The sight of him with cold water running down each and every muscle on his body will be more than enough to send me spiraling into the depths of a giant orgasm requiring me to take a shower of my own.
Or better yet to join him.
CHAPTER 4
Sergio
I don’t know why I choose to torture myself. As if the last four years weren’t enough.
I soap up my cock and turn my head to the side, looking at her. She’s no more than eight feet from me and here I am buck-naked with my dick in my hand and the object of all my fantasies so close, yet so far away.
I’d give anything to step out of this little makeshift shower right now and grab her by the shoulders and pull her in here with me. Anything except her father’s friendship and the thought that moving so quickly might ruin my chances forever.
Can she feel my gaze on the back of her head? Does she know my eyes are wandering down that silken hair of hers and then across her delicate shoulders? And what would she do if she did?
The entire point of me coming up to her trailer today was to tell her how I feel. And then I hesitated and her dad called and interrupted my plan. He called me just before I entered and then he called her. He called me first. Does he know? And is he more concerned about what I might do or what she might do if she found out about my feelings?
But I’m not one to rush into things. I prefer to think things through and then act. And I’ve been thinking about her a long long time, and now I just need the right moment. I can’t push her too far and ruin what we could have before we even get a chance.
I shake my head and exhale hard. I close my eyes and let the water rinse off the last of the soap.
I reach overhead for a towel from the rack and dry off as quickly as I can before I lose control more than I already have.
CHAPTER 5
Stella
Sergio eases the truck to a stop. I know how guys like to drive these trucks when their onsite. Beating them like crazy for the thrill of “off-roading.” It’s not exactly off-road, but the guys get a big kick out of bouncing up and down over the uneven terrain.
Not Sergio. Or at least not with me in the car. I appreciate his thoughtfulness. A scared passenger is not a happy passenger.
We step out but there’s no sign of the client.
“I’ll leave it running so the air conditioner will stay on. Give me a couple minutes to find this guy,” he says.
Sergio walks away and not a minute later I hear a truck pull up from behind. It’s one of the company trucks so I know it’s not the client.
A man steps out and walks over to my side of the truck. I roll my window down.
“Stella! To what do we owe the pleasure of you gracing our presence today?”
There’s no sarcasm, but it comes off a bit unusual. Some of the guys who work onsite all the time are a bit idiosyncratic. I think they get that way when they go weeks on end without speaking to a single woman and eating three meals a day out of tin cans, usually standing up and only under a tree and out of the sun if they’re lucky.
“Hi Yorick. Good to see you. I’m working with GassGeo now. It’s my first day and my dad has me acting as his personal assistant.”
“So you’ll be around a lot more these days?”
“Off and on depending on which project he has me assigned to.” I pause. “You didn’t see a client wandering around out this way did you?”
“Nope. I’ve been back here all morning. I came over here when I saw your truck pull in. If anybody would have come out this way I would have seen them for sure.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Hey Stella. I’ve got a question for you too if you don’t mind.”
Ut oh. “I don’t mind. Shoot,” I say hoping this isn’t going where I think it’s going.
“I work straight through the next couple weeks, but then I have four days off all together. Any chance during one of those days you might want to catch a movie or grab a bite to eat back in town? Even a cup of coffee would be nice.”
This is the part of my job I wasn’t expecting and certainly wasn’t hoping for as the only woman on the team. At least I wasn’t hoping for it from anyone other than one guy in particular. Now I need to think just how I’m going to answer this in a way that doesn’t make me sound “bitchy” and make sure our working relationship gets off on a good foot. They fill you full of theories and equations to memorize in college, but they don’t really teach you these kinds of soft skills. And boy do I wish I had some experience or guidance to fall back on right now.
I go to open my mouth, but I don’t even get the words out.
“Hey! What in the hell are you doing?”
Yorick’s head whips to the side and mine turns forward just as quick. Sergio is stomping over towards the truck and does he ever look pissed.
“Sorry, boss. I was just asking her—-“
“I heard your questions. Don’t ever ask her again.”
“Sorry,” he says. He raises his shoulders and turns his palms upward as he steps away from the window of the truck. He’s backpedaling. He’s scared of Sergio.
“I wasn’t harassing her or anything. I was just asking her—“
“I heard your question,” he says. “No more.”
“Sorry boss. My mistake. I just ask that you please don’t write me up.”
Sergio’s six foot three and built like an oak tree but Yorick has a good four inches on him. I think he’s Dutch and true to form he’s tall, handsome and also built well. But in no way appeals to me the way only Sergio can. It’s just that I can’t believe that a guy who must be six foot seven is cowering from Sergio. I mean Sergio is not to be messed with but still. I wouldn’t have expected it. And I never expected I’d see Sergio so angry. I’ve never seen him lose it. Until now.
“Write you up? Why would I do that?”
“You know for.” Yorick’s words trail off and I see from his facial expression that he’s having a light bulb moment. “Oh. Right. Sorry. I didn’t know she was yours,” he says.
His?
Sergio’s steel gaze leaves Yorick and locks in on me.
His?
Sergio says nothing. Just looks at me as I watch all that anger in his eyes turn to passion as his pupils stay dilated, but no longer from fight or flight but from hunt and reproduce. That’s the look he’s giving me.
And he’s doing nothing to tell Yorick his words weren’t accurate.
His?
Silence may be consent, but it doesn’t actually count in my book. If a man wants me I want to hear him say so from his own mouth. To claim me for his own, not some third party silent verification thing. That’s the way a boy would go about it and Sergio is and always will be all man.
Sergio steps in closer and sticks his face just inside the rolled down window. “He may have been wrong about a lot of things,” he says clearly but not loud enough that his words can be heard by anyone else. “He was wrong to come over here and try and talk to you and he was wrong about some other things too, but he was right about the one thing that does matter. You. Are. Mine.”
He keeps his eyes locked on mine and I feel my heart skip a beat finally hearing the words I’ve waited on and figured I just might be waiting on for the rest of my life to hear, if ever.
I slide down in my seat and try to catch my breath but it’s not working.
I turn back to Sergio, but he’s gone. I catch a glance in the rearview mirror. He’s walking away from the truck with his arm around Yorick’s shoulder. I can barely make out the words, but I can hear them without question.
He’s using those exact soft skills I wish I had had just a few minutes ago. He’s being firm but fair with Yorick, letting him know that everything is okay. He’s making sure they’re working relationship going forward is just as solid as it’s ever been. I know everyone on the team trusts Sergio and he’s not going to throw that trust away.
But more importantly he’s also letting Yorick know that I am indeed his. And he better not catch anyone, the team, a client, or any other man on the face of this earth trying to prove otherwise or their will be hell to pay.
He just claimed me and he claimed me hard. He didn’t need to raise his voice to do so but his words came through loud and clear.
CHAPTER 6
Sergio
I bet Stella’s head was spinning right about now. The way things went down with Yorick’s comments and how I stepped up and claimed her right then and there. She must be wondering what’s gotten into me or what I’m really up to. Well, there’s no point in being wishy-washy. It’s not my style to start with. It’s time to tell her exactly how much she means to me. I’ve already wasted four long years while she was away. I’m not about to waste another minute.
I jump in the pickup and head offsite. All the men sleep in one general area while we’re onsite working on a project together. The rooms are separate, yes, but they’re all in the same makeshift building and privacy is limited if non-existent. You get one guy snoring loud enough and the entire group can hear him. And the things I need to say to her tonight and the sounds the sounds that will come from our mouths and bodies afterwards…there’s no choice that this can’t go down there.
I take off for the nearest town by our worksite. I know her dad’s got her in the one small hotel they have over there. She’ll stay there until the project is either completed or we get something built on site for her. It’s a solid twenty-minute drive, but I’m right at the speed limit and my mind is racing so I’m there before I know it. And sure enough I spot a car with a sticker on the back window sporting her university alma mater. The one nobody from this area would ever go to. It’s miles away and most kids from around here don’t even go to college so it’s got to be hers.
And she’s got to be mine. That’s what I’m here to tell her.
I’m still mad as hell the way things went down with Yorick. If I hadn’t gotten that call outside her trailer this morning I would have already claimed her, but instead it left the door open for another man to try and make a move. Try and fail. There was no way I was going to let him come betwee
n us then and there’s no way I’m going to leave any doors open for another man to try in the future.
Steamy Page 2
