Page 2 of The Stargazers of Copper County
My kryptonite.
I closed my eyes on a groan as I imagined placing my thumbs in those divots as I held his hips in front of me.
Fucking Christ.
A crash sounded from right in front of me. I blinked open my eyes to see I’d knocked over a picture frame and a ceramic mug that had been full of half-chewed pencils and pens.
Fuck.
I scrambled to pick everything up and put them back the way Vega had them. If she knew I’d been in her room while she was gone, she’d accuse me of “infringing on my personal agency, Uncle Bennett. Have a care for my human rights, if you please.” And the resulting lecture on “benevolent sexism in parenting” was not worth the hassle.
Besides, this was humiliating even for me. My poor landscaping guy didn’t deserve to be objectified in this disgusting manner, much less spied on by a lecherous old man.
I sighed and left the room, making my way back downstairs to my office. The Petersen-Parke job needed a complete overhaul of its southeastern elevation now that the homeowners had decided to add an outdoor kitchen.
The coffee on my desk was cold by now, so I swung by the kitchen to fill a glass of water. Clean, fresh, unlikely-to-stain-clothing water. Maybe it would douse my libido and clear my head.
I returned to my drafting table with determination. Overnight, I’d had some ideas on how to integrate the outdoor kitchen with the existing gable design. I wanted to draw them by hand first before moving to CAD.
My concentration playlist was still going strong through my Bluetooth speakers, and within moments, the energetic rhythm of Wagner’s Prelude to Act 3 of Lohengrin had returned me to the right kind of focus to get my work done and ignore the sexy man who’d been playing fast and loose with my sexual fantasies for the past several weeks.
I worked…
Until I heard a familiarwhoopfollowed by a splash through the open office window.
My brain wasn’t in top form after all because before I knew it, I’d leapt up from my drafting table and bolted to the nearestwindow in time to see Theo emerge from the pool and shake his head.
His grin was wide and easy, as if the man didn’t have a care in the world. While I didn’t mind him using the pool, I was surprised to see him taking advantage of it without at least asking first, especially since I was obviously home now. My car had only been in the shop for a week.
It only took me a minute to remember I’d put my car away in the garage after it had come back from the shop. In a momentary burst of summer energy, I’d decided to use my bike for any transportation needs as long as the weather continued to hold.
Maybe Theo thought I was still away from home.
I wondered whether to offer him a blanket invitation to swim whenever he wanted, but in the end, I decided that conversation would inevitably be awkward and embarrass both of us. Better to simply return to work and pretend I hadn’t noticed.
As soon as I moved away from the window, I heard a sharp intake of breath. When I looked back, I saw Theo staring at me. I quickly made my way to the door and around to the pool.
“It’s okay,” I said, offering my friendliest smile. “I meant to tell you to help yourself to a swim if you needed to cool off.”
“I… I thought you were gone! Diane at the diner said she’d heard you’d gone back to the city for the summer. And your car…” He glanced back toward the driveway. “Your car isn’t here.”
I waved in that direction. “Garage. And it’s fine. Like I said, you’re welcome to use the pool. It’s just me here this summer. Vega is with her mom in Portugal.”
There was no doubt, given the size of the Copper County/O’Leary community, that Theo had met my niece or at least knew of her. Vega and my sister used to spend a few weeks here every summer, even before she and I had moved here full-time,and Vega was an outgoing, friendly person. The woman could make friends with a tree and often did.
“Oh. Okay. Still… I wouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have…” He blinked at me. His dark lashes were spiky from the water, and they set off the surreal blue of his eyes. He looked even younger than usual now that his expression was filled with apology and insecurity.
“No, no.” I tried reassuring him. “It’s fine. When I saw you last week?—”
His eyes widened. “You saw me last week?”
Heat flooded my cheeks. Why had I said that?
“No! I mean… yes. Well. Yes. But I liked it. No! Not that Ilikedit. I didn’t.”
“I’m sorry,” he stammered.
I held up my hands, palms out in defense of my stupidity. “No. No. I didn’t mean Ididn’tlike it, just that… Fuck.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Listen. You’re a nice kid, Theo?—”
