My Kind of Girl (7 page)

Sean enjoyed working in the garden and
with her. He couldn’t think of the last time he worked on a project
of some sort with a woman. He’d helped build bookshelves or some
other piece of furniture. However, the women usually sat back and
watched, perhaps reading the directions or cooking for him but that
was about it.

He learned a lot about gardening as
Traci was quite knowledgeable and easy to learn from. She made it
fun and interesting. He could see himself in the future doing some
light work to upkeep the gardens. He remembered his mother telling
him it was relaxing plus a stress reliever and now he was
experiencing it. It was quite peaceful with the birds in his
neighbor’s trees chirping. It was a warm, spring day with an
occasional light breeze, and he was in the presence of a very
beautiful woman.

Traci sighed as the last bee balm was
planted. She wiped the sweat from her brow which left soil from her
glove on her forehead.

“
Finished. For now.” Her
eyes glanced to the other back corner of the yard where the Zen
garden was going to be located.

“
Yep. I think we work
really well together. Don’t you?” He took the last swig from his
water bottle and tossed it in the garbage bag with the empty
plastic pots.

She nodded her head as her eyes gazed
around the yard. “Yeah. We did it in half of the time. Let’s take a
break, and then we can tackle the Zen garden. At this rate, your
backyard will be complete next week as opposed to three weeks like
I originally estimated.” She grabbed the garbage bag to tie it up.
“I’ll just carry this to the street.”

“
Nonsense.” He snatched the
bag from her, tied it, and holstered it over his left shoulder.
Reaching his free hand out, he rubbed the dirt off of her forehead,
and she wrinkled it while sucking in her breath as soon as he
touched her. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kiss you, as tempting
as that is.” He winked and walked away before he broke his promise.
He couldn’t trust himself for his hands and lips were urging him to
forget getting to know her better. Her luscious lips were enticing
him to kiss her deep and hard right there in the garden on the
bench. They were already dirty and sweaty. Plus, now Traci figured
she only had a week left. He knew the pergola company was coming on
Monday to build it along with the fire pit in one of the corners of
it. She was planting the roses on Wednesday. What was really left?
A few more plants here and there along the walking paths to the
different areas. She’d mentioned some outdoor furniture under the
pergola as well since it was so huge and the fire pit area wasn’t
that big.

When he returned to the backyard, he
found her on the veranda munching apple slices and sitting
crisscrossed on the rug in front of the unlit fireplace.

“
You can sit on the couch,”
he said, crashing on to it and patting his hand on the cushion next
to him.

“
Nah, I’m sweaty. Besides,
I’ve always been a floor person. I’m good.”

“
I see you like apples.”
He’d remembered she’d grabbed one earlier from the basket when
she’d first arrived.

“
Yep. I like to dip them in
peanut butter.” She finished the slice and laid back on the floor,
propped up on her elbows.

Okay, this is going too
far
, he thought.
How am I supposed to be a gentleman with her lying there like
that? Sure it was innocent, but I what want to do isn’t.

“
I have some in the pantry.
You could’ve gotten it.”

“
Didn’t want to go through
your things.”

“
I told you to make
yourself at home, dimples.”

As soon as he said it, she graced him
with a beautiful smile that highlighted those sexy dimples. The
strain against his shorts was pure torture and if he didn’t leave
soon, he’d join her on the floor to make her even sweatier. He
abruptly stood as her questioning eyes landed on him. He noted a
slight gulp. Perhaps she was feeling the same way.

“
I’m going to go back and
start digging the hole for the Japanese maple. Relax, and the
peanut butter is in the pantry for the rest of your
slices.”

*****

Traci splashed cold water on her face
and raised her head to glance at herself in the mirror. She’d
bolted to the powder room off of the great room after Sean had
announced he was going back outside to continue working. The
expression he displayed when she smiled was one of hunger and
desire. A desire she knew was for her. He’d worn that same face
after he’d kissed her at the nursery, and for a second she thought
he was about to join her on the floor to ravish her senseless. In
the horny state she was in at the moment, she would’ve gladly
accepted, but that wasn’t their agreement. He’d said he wanted for
them to get to know each other during the course of landscaping his
yard. That surprised her considering his reputation, but she had to
keep her wits about her and not read too much into it. He was a
psychiatrist and a player who was probably messing with her head
even though her heart yearned to believe him.

Traci didn’t realize just how horribly
dirty she appeared in front of Sean. There was still a smudge of
dirt on her forehead that he’d tried to rub off as well as in her
hair and on her clothes. How he could possibly be attracted to her
while she looked a horrid mess was unbelievable. He was used to
dolled-up, high maintenance model types not a short, quirky klutz
of a horticulturist who loved playing in the earth.

Being around that fine specimen was
pure torture. When she’d first agreed to the job, she thought she
could handle it. She’d figured he wouldn’t be assisting her because
gardening wasn’t his cup of tea. Not only was he helping, but that
damn kiss had wreaked havoc on her, making it hard to concentrate.
Luckily, neither of them had mentioned it even though she’d caught
him staring at her lips a few times with a seriously passionate
glare as if he was going to yank her to him and make love to her in
the middle of the mulch pile.

Traci splashed the cold water on her
face one more time to calm her down, scrubbed the dirt off of her
forehead, and headed back to the backyard.

When she emerged from the enclosed
veranda, she was quite elated at the scene before her. Sean had
taken off his shirt, exposing the most delicious muscular back
she’d ever laid eyes. She gulped slightly and was going to head
over to where he was, but her feet were rooted to the ground as she
continued to stare with her eyes nearly bulging out of the sockets.
His chocolate muscles glistened with sweat and tightened every time
he slung the shovel over his shoulder. She was finally able to see
the tattoo on his upper arm that went all the way around to his
shoulder and chest. It was some type of bird. An eagle or falcon,
with its wings flared and the tail part is what she’d caught a
glimpse of the other day. Whatever it was had piqued her interest
of him even more, and her breathing stifled as she fantasized
running her fingers and tongue along his chiseled
physique.

Traci needed another round of face
splashing with ice cold water now, but she still couldn’t move. She
bit the knuckle of her right index finger while she continued to
enjoy the view in front of her. Her mind raced with an idea, so she
pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, and hurriedly typed in her
passcode. She groaned as her nervousness made her mistype it three
times. Once she was in, she pushed the camera icon, made sure the
phone was on silent, and quickly snapped three pictures. Pushing
the off button, she slid the phone back into her pocket as her
heart pulsated with anxiety.

Sean glanced over his shoulder and
released a mischievous smile in her direction.

“
See something you like? Or
something you want? Perhaps need?” he asked, turning full frontal
to reveal his hard chest and rippling abdomen muscles.

She couldn’t help but exhale loud
enough for him to hear, and a knowing grin formed across his
dangerously handsome face.

Dang it. I put my cell
phone away too soon.

“
I’ll take that as a yes.”
His tone was dark and seductive. She almost gave him the answer he
wanted to hear as a heat wave rushed over her. She needed more than
to splash cold water on her face. Now she needed a dump truck full
of ice poured over her and even that still wouldn’t be enough to
put out the blaze that ran crazy through her.

“
No, I was going to ask you
if you wanted some water.” She stepped back as if she was headed
inside. She was glad her feet could move even though they were as
heavy as two cinderblocks.

“
Uh huh. Sure, some cold
water will be fine … for now, dimples.” He winked and turned around
to finish digging the hole.

For the rest of the afternoon, they
continued to work on the Zen garden. Besides the Japanese maple and
a few hostas, there weren’t any plants. Instead, they spent the
time arranging different size stones and building a bamboo fence
around the area. A company that specialized in Zen gardens had
installed a koi pond the other day and would return on Saturday to
finish.

Unfortunately, Sean had put his
T-shirt back on, but in a way she was relieved so she wouldn’t
drool in front of him … or worse, reach out and rub the bird which
she realized up close was an eagle. When they finished, she was a
little disappointed but yet relieved because the urges she had for
him were growing stronger by every passing second.

“
So I guess you’re going to
sleep like a baby tonight,” he said as they headed inside the
veranda. He plopped on the couch and she settled for her same spot
on the floor.

“
Eventually. I’m going out
tonight.” She glanced at the time on her cell phone and noticed she
had a few missed text messages from Caitlyn and her mom. She was
terrified to read what Mildred had to say.

“
Oh, hot date?” His voice
went up in an octave.

She noted his tone with a slight
smirk. “Nope. Me and my friend, Caitlyn.

“
Where are ya’ll
headed?”

She shrugged. “Not sure,” she
answered, scrolling through her text messages to check if Caitlyn
had suggested anyplace, but instead she’d asked Traci where she
wanted to go. “Probably somewhere on Beale Street to eat and listen
to jazz.”

“
You ladies should check
out Lillian’s Dinner and Blues Club. My brother-in-law, Justin
Richardson, owns the place.”

She nodded, trying to keep her eyes
away from his. “I’ve been. Your mother told me about it. I took my
brother there when he came home to visit the last time.”

“
Didn’t know you had a
brother.”

“
Yep, it’s just me and him.
I’m the oldest by three years. He’s in the Army and stationed in
Hawaii.”

Sean’s face brightened. “That’s the
perfect place to be stationed. A lot of fine hon— restaurants and
beaches.” He cleared his throat. “Are your parents still
alive?”

“
My mother is. My dad died
about eight years ago. She took it very hard. They’d been married
for thirty years but together for thirty-five. They were high
school sweethearts.”

“
Aww … man. Sorry to hear
that. I’m sure she did take it very hard. Is she dating or
anything?”

Just a gambling
addiction
, she thought. “Not really. She’s
had a few blind dates and has gone to some senior citizen functions
but no.”

“
Mmm ...” He nodded but
didn’t say anything else.

Traci wondered what was going on in
his psychiatrist train of thought brain. She wanted to tell him
about her mother’s addiction to gambling, but she didn’t know him
that well. Besides, she never discussed family business. It was
something her parents taught her from an early age, and she always
had a hard time confiding in people as she grew older. Instead, she
kept her thoughts bottled up inside and dealt with situations
herself, such as her mom.

She stretched and raised
herself off of the floor. He stood as well. “I’m going to go, but
I’ll be back tomorrow at two to oversee the guys finish the koi
pond. Will you be home?”
Please say no.
wait say yes. Ugh!

“
I should be back by then.
Going to the veteran’s center in the morning, but you have a key,
dimples. Use it
anytime
.” His last sentence was so tempting, and she actually
believed he meant
anytime.

Turning on her heel, she headed toward
the kitchen. She grabbed her tote bag that sat next to the fruit
basket and trekked to the great room.

“
So if you’re interested in
going to Lillian’s, I can call Justin and get you a VIP table. It’s
quite busy on Friday nights.”

“
Thank you. We were
thinking of going out around eight.”

“
All right. I’ll call him
in a moment.” He hesitated as they reached the foyer. “I think we
got a lot accomplished today,” he said, following her to the front
door. “We work well together.”

“
Yes, I’m glad you were
available. If not, this could’ve taken much longer.”

“
Mmm then I’ll have to find
more projects for you to do. My front yard could use some more
color instead of just the shrubs. What do you horticulturists call
it? Curb appeal?”