by B. B. Hamel
Two days of nothing pass. I spend time with Noah and I keep working with Alice, but after two days, I decide I want to see her.
And so around noon, I take my lunch break, get in my truck, and drive over to the preserve. I don’t bother calling first. If she’s too busy and can’t take time off, that’s no big deal. At least she knows I’m still interested, and if she feels the same, she’ll see me eventually.
Once I get there, I park my truck out front then climb out. I shoulder the basket I brought with me, a little picnic lunch, and head into the office.
“Hello?” I call out. The place looks empty. Actually, come to think of it, the place always looks empty. I can’t say that I’ve seen anyone working here other than Anna and Mia, but that can’t be true. Most people have to have jobs here than just two people.
“Back here!” I recognize the voice, but it’s not Mia. I head around the corner and find my stepmom’s friend Anna sitting at her desk, smiling at me.
“I thought that was you,” she says. “Here on official flower business?”
I shake my head. “No ma’am. Looking for Mia.”
“Ah. Is this a . . . social visit?” She gives me a sly little smile.
I grin at her. She’s just like Alice, damnit. “It is,” I confirm. “Know where I can find her?”
“She’s out changing the nectar in the hummingbird feeders. Follow the path around back for maybe five minutes, can’t miss her.” She pauses and looks at my basket. “Is that lunch?”
“It sure is. She due for a break?”
“Take as much time as you need.” She gives me another wink.
I can’t help but laugh. “Thanks a lot,” I say.
“Have fun!”
I wave then turn and leave. I find the path pretty easily and follow it down along a winding trail, over a few rocks and past a short valley stream. On the other side, I spot Mia using what looks like a watering can to fill small plastic feeders hanging from a bush.
“Mia,” I call out before I get too close. I don’t want to care her.
She looks over, surprised. “Lucas?”
I wave and grin at her. “How are the hummingbirds today?”
“Hungry,” she says and turns toward me. “What are you doing here?”
I hold up my basket. “Brought you some lunch.”
She pauses and I catch something drift across her face. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s quickly gone. “I don’t know if I have time,” she says.
“I already got permission from Anna.”
She scowls at me. “You talking about me behind my back.”
I grin and shrug. “Guilty as charged. Though more like she’s talking.”
“Sounds about right.” She bites her lip and checks her watch. “I guess I can space a half hour.”
“If you’re busy, we can do this another time.”
“No, no. It’s fine.”
“What a ringing endorsement. You sound excited.”
She relaxes a little bit and smiles at me. “Sorry. It’s just been a stressful few days.”
I take the blanket from the basket and spread it out on the ground. “Tell me about it?” I ask.
She sighs, sitting down. I get out some sandwiches from a nearby deli, some sparkling water, and some nice bread with butter. I cut her off a piece and hand her the butter before unwrapping a sandwich for myself.
“I don’t know,” she says. “I think I’d rather not get into it all.”
“Whatever you want,” I say, shrugging and biting into my food. “I’m just here to feed you.”
“Think I need to be fed?” she asks.
I grin at her. “I’m not falling into that trap.”
She laughs and takes a bite of her bread. She grabs a bottle of water and a sandwich, and we eat for a minute or two in silence.
I’m surprisingly comfortable. I thought I was going out on a limb here, and that things might be weird, but it’s shockingly normal between us. I’m pursuing her, which I actually really enjoy, and I think she likes it too. She probably didn’t call because she wants me to make the first move, and I don’t blame her. I’m a lot older than she is and I have a kid. There’s a lot of baggage here.
But sitting down on this blanket, eating with her, none of that seems to matter. Everything else disappears. The Carters are irrelevant in this moment. I don’t care about anything except the way the sun moves through her thick hard hair, the way she smiles at me, the way she laughs, and the way she leans toward me when she speaks.
My heart races when I’m around her. It’s fucking insane, to be totally honest. I’ve never felt like this before. It’s excitement, not just pure desire, but also a giddy joy at just being near her.
“I was wondering earlier,” I say, finishing my sandwich. “How many people work here?”
“Not many,” she says. “Me and Anna are full time. We have some part time rangers, really just volunteers, plus some maintenance staff. They mostly work nights and weekends, though.”
“And a lot of people come here?”
“Surprisingly,” she says. “It’s slow during he week, but come here on a weekend, especially a nice one.”
“I will,” I say, and mean it. “I like it out here. I didn’t really know about this place and I lived in this town for a long time.”
“I know, not many people do,” she says. “It’s a real shame.”
“How’d you come to work here?”
She shrugs. “Chance, really. Anna was hiring, I applied, and I guess she liked me.”
“Lucky you.”
“Lucky me,” she agrees.
“What’s your favorite spot in here?”
“That meadow, the one we went to, remember?”
I nod, smiling at her. “It’s a good spot.”
“But my second favorite thing is near here.” She brushes her hands off and stands. “Want to see?”
“Always.” I stand up and grin at her. “Lead the way, park ranger.”
She laughs a little and we head off further down the trail. It skirts along a valley, and it probably gets a lot of water in the rainy season. I can hear running water nearby, probably that stream widening into something a little bit bigger. We’re heading upstream, and the trail veers around a little grouping of bushes and trees.
Ahead, a bunch of enormous rocks and boulders jut out from the earth. Mia grins at me and walks faster. “Come on,” she says.
I keep pace with her. She walks right up to one of the huge rocks and jumps up. I follow her, smiling to myself. I love how confident she is and how free she seems, like it’s no big deal to be crawling around and climbing these enormous boulders.
We get to the top and she points. About ten feet down is the stream, now a bit wider and faster moving. “I love this,” she says.
“It’s pretty great,” I say. I look around and have to admit that the view is fantastic. There are trees all around but I can see how far the trail twists of into them, and the water runs right alongside the valley.
Mia moves slightly but slips. Without thinking, I grab her waist and pull her against me. It probably wasn’t necessary, but it was total instinct.
Our bodies get pressed together and I stumble back, holding onto her, until I run into a tree trunk. I steady the both of us and she looks up at me.
“Saved you again,” I say softly.
“I didn’t need it that time.” She puts her hands on my chest, body pressed against mine, chin tipped up toward me.
“Probably not. But it worked out.”
“Oh yeah?”
I nod once, hands on her hips. “Because now you want me to kiss you.”
She smiles a little bit. “What makes you think that?”
I move one hand slowly up her back and lace my fingers through her hair before pressing my lips against hers. I don’t need to answer her, because she knows as well as I do that she wants this. Our bodies, pressed together, her mouth against mine, it makes my fucking cock hard as hell as
excitement and desire roar through my blood.
I love her taste, the softness of her lips, the way she kisses. I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t expect this at all. I didn’t think a kiss would drive me this insane, but I tighten my grip on her hair and pull her tighter against me.
We kiss that way, full and deep, for what feels like a long time. It’s maybe a couple minutes at most before she slowly pulls away and I loosen my grip on her hair, but that moment stretched forever in my mind. She looks up at me, chin up, eyes shining and half closed, a big smile on her face.
“That was unexpected,” she says, a little breathless.
“No it wasn’t,” I say. “You knew I was going to kiss you today the second you saw me.”
“Maybe,” she says, shaking her head. “I wasn’t sure.”
I tip her chin toward me again. “Yes, you were. You know that I want you. And I know that right now, you’re dripping wet thinking about what I can do to your body.”
“Lucas . . . “ she says, her eyes going a little wide.
“Let’s not pretend, Mia. You want me to run my hands along your body.” I move my hand down her back again toward her ass. “You want me to taste that wet little pussy of yours.” I stop my hand and cup her ass, pushing her against me.
She lets out a little gasp, almost a moan, and it makes my blood fucking boil with need.
“I saved you twice. And now you want me to fuck you until you scream.”
She stares at me, mouth hanging open, for half a second. And I know I’m right. I can see it written all over her face. She’s not trying to move away. In fact, she’s staring at me with the most obvious “fuck me” eyes I’ve ever seen in my life.
But in an instant, that changes. She looks away and slowly disentangles herself from me. “I have a lot of work to do,” she says.
I laugh softly. “Don’t tell me you’re scared already.”
“Not scared,” she says, but she doesn’t meet my gaze. “Just busy, is all.”
“Sure.” I stand up straight. Before I go though, I take her and kiss her again. She doesn’t resist, in fact, she presses herself hard against me.
I break the kiss off this time. “Pretend all you want. Make all the excuses you can think of. Sooner or later, you’re going to be mine, Mia Hayes.”
She bites her lip again. I give her a look then turn and jump down off the boulder. I walk away, not looking back, my heart hammering in my chest.
I don’t know what her hesitation was back there. It was like she remembered something that totally took her out of the moment and made her rethink everything. It was strange watching her go from clearly wanting it badly to suddenly being too afraid to do anything.
I won’t push her though. She’ll be ready for me sooner or later. I’m a patient man and I get what I want, I just have to be willing to work for it.
And so far, Mia is fucking worth it. God damn that girl tastes good, feels good, and that little moan still lingers in my mind as I clean up our pic-nic stuff and head back to my truck.
I won’t be able to think about anything but Mia for a while. I can’t deny it. She’s going to be on my mind, and soon I’m going to know every inch of her.
8
Mia
I don’t know why I pulled back from Lucas. I keep thinking about that moment all that day and the next, but I don’t hear from him. I don’t know why I can’t et out my phone and just text him, maybe even explain why I pulled away when I did, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
I’m nervous about my feelings for him. That’s obvious, though I’m not completely sure why. Maybe it has to do with the Carters, but that’s not totally it. I wouldn’t let those assholes dictate what I do with my life no matter what, even if it really is a bad idea.
It’s part that I haven’t been able to feel like this about a person in a long time, if ever. I don’t know if I’m at a point in my life where I can really devote time to a relationship. My father takes up so much of my life, and now I’m worried about the reserve on top of the Carters. Maybe he can help with some of that, but I just don’t know if I can really give him the attention that he deserves.
Not to mention he’s a lot older than me and has a child. That’s a little intimidating. All of that crossed my mine in the moment that I hesitated, but I wish that I didn’t.
Because I know the truth. He’s absolutely right about me. I want to know him, I want to find out what he can give me and how he can make me feel. I pretend that I’m not interested, but I can’t help myself.
I’ve never had a guy treat me like Lucas does. He brought me a lunch out of nowhere, totally surprising me. Maybe with some other guy that would be weird, but with Lucas it was totally natural and incredible. There’s never a dull moment with him and any silence between us is totally comfortable.
It’s almost crazy to imagine how I’m feeling about him, and that’s probably part of what’s holding me back.
I obsess about him all day after he leaves and all the next day. I head home from work, wondering when I’ll hear from him, and take care of my father for the evening. It’s an old routine at this point and I’m used to it, but sometimes I wish I could be a normal person for once. I wish I could just leave the house whenever I want, but I can’t leave my father alone. Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night, totally confused and disoriented, and I’m afraid he’d hurt himself if I’m not there to help him.
The nurse service is a big help, and I can’t really complain. He did so much for me already, it’s just obvious that I’d do this for him. That doesn’t make it any easier unfortunately.
I get him to bed around nine, which gives me a few hours to myself every night. Some nights are easier than others in terms of getting him to sleep, but tonight is fortunately pretty easy all things considered. He’s down and I’m on the couch by nine-thirty, flicking through the channels, already thinking about what tomorrow will bring.
My phone suddenly lights up and starts buzzing. I pick it up and look at it, head cocked. I don’t recognize the number, and for whatever reason I decide to pick it up.
“Hello?”
“Mia.”
I recognize the voice immediately.
“Uh, hey Caleb,” I say. “What’s up?”
“I got your number from—hey, stop it” I can suddenly hear some noise in the background. “Yeah, sorry, Dylan is being a total douche. Jordan says hey.” I hear someone yell in the background.
“Are you driving right now?” I ask him.
“Dylan is. We’re going to Chucky’s. You coming?”
“I can’t,” I say, happy for my excuse for once in my life.
“Why not?” he asks. “You too busy?”
In the background, I hear Jordan yell something about my dad and telling him already.
“It’s my dad,” I confirm. “He’s sick. I can’t leave him alone here.”
“Damn. That sucks,” Caleb says and then there’s a pause.
“Uh, hello?” I ask. “Are you there?”
“Hold up,” he says. “What nursing service do you use?”
“Horizon,” I say. “How did you know I used one?”
“Just a hunch. Hold on a second.” The phone clicks and all the sound is gone. I’m still on the line though, so I guess he put me on hold or on mute. I wait a second, wondering what the heck they’re doing.
I want to just hang up the phone. But Jordan is with them, and I do want to get out of the house. I can’t just leave Dad unfortunately, so it doesn’t matter what they say in the end. I’m staying in and that’s just that.
But a minute later, the phone comes back to life. “Okay,” Caleb says. “Taken care of. We’re coming to get you in ten.’
“What?” I ask.
“I called the nursing service. Mary should be over in like five or something.”
I pause for a second. “Are you crazy?” I say. “I can’t afford overtime nurse pay.”
“Don’t worry about that,”
he says.
“Caleb, no, no way. I can’t let you do that.”
“Already done, kid. You’re coming out.”
“Come on bitch!” It’s Jordan in the background yelling again.
I bite my lip, looking at the clock. “Is this for real?” I ask.
“If the nurse isn’t there before we arrive, you can stay in.”
I sigh. “Okay,” I say. “I have to get ready.”
“Eight minutes,” he says.
I hang up the phone.
What the hell did I just agree to? I don’t know why I just accepted that. The Carter boys creep me out like crazy, and they definitely hate Lucas. But I want to get out of the house, and Jordan is my closest friend. Maybe they won’t be so bad tonight, and if they are, I’ll just bail.
I jump up and run into my room. I throw on some clothes and do the best I can to my face and hair in my very limited time. About six minutes later, there’s a knock at the door.
Sure enough, it’s a nurse from Horizon. I don’t recognize her, but she’s definitely for real. I thank her for coming and she explains that she’s the on-call nurse and that the Carters use her to take care of their grandmother sometimes. I show her where my father’s sleeping, let her get comfortable, and have about ten seconds to spare before there’s another knock at the door.
I hurry to open it and find Jordan standing there, looking cute as always.
“You ready?” she asks.
“Ready enough,” I say. “He really sent a nurse, you know that, right?”
“I know,” she says, grinning. “He’s kinda great.”
I frown a little bit. “I don’t know if he’s great. He came to my work the other day.”
“He told me you were a total freak about it.” We walk back toward the car where the two guys are waiting for us. It’s a large black truck, very new looking, and probably more expensive than my house.
“He was aggressive and threatening,” I say softly to her. “Really creepy. Seriously.”
