Lost in my own little world I didn’t hear his bike or the heavy fall of his boots as he walked up behind me. I also must have tuned out him calling my name because when his hand landed on my shoulder it freaked me out. I jumped. I screamed. I flailed around like a lunatic and when I whipped around to confront my unseen assailant I sprayed him right in the face with the hose that was still dangling out of my hand.
Stunned that it was friend and not foe, I stood there with the hose trained on him as he swore at me, yelled my name, and tried to evade the water. It didn’t work. He was drenched. Head to toe, sopping wet as I gave him an unwanted shower. He snatched my wet weapon out of my hand and bent the green rubber until there was a kink in it big enough to stop the flow of water. He shook his sandy head, water droplets flinging every direction as those better than hazel eyes narrowed threateningly at me.
“Seriously?” He ran a hand over his face as I struggled to contain a laugh. The humor died when he shrugged out of his soggy leather jacket with a grimace, leaving him in nothing more than a soaking wet T-shirt that clung to every defined muscle he had. The boy looked good without even trying, get him wet and make him a little angry and everything that made me a girl sat up and took notice. Jeans that clung to all the parts of him that I didn’t want to share made my mouth water and my cheeks pink. I wanted to snap a picture of him so I had it when real Church was gone and battery operated Church was all I had left. Hell, I might not even need the vibrator. The picture would be enough to get off on.
He shook his head again and swiped a hand down the back of his neck, where water was rolling down the collar of his shirt. “Didn’t you hear me calling your name?”
I threw up my hands in exasperation. “Obviously not. You scared me.”
He looked down at his dripping front side and then back up at me with a smirk. “Are you sure you didn’t just want to get me wet?”
I laughed and let my eyes roll over him in an obvious way. “I mean, I’m sorry-not-sorry that I got you all wet.”
One of his eyebrows quirked upwards and I felt like an idiot for not knowing exactly what was coming next. Before I could let out a sound or put my hands up in a defense he let go of the hose and I was hit in the face with an onslaught of water. It was cold, so I squealed and he was too fast for me to evade when I darted to the side to escape the spray. The chilly wetness stuck my shirt to my chest and had my curls falling heavily into my face.
“Stop!” I held my hands up in surrender and barked out the order over a laugh. I had to shake my hair out of my eyes to look up at him and when I did my knees almost buckled. It wasn’t a full smile; the light didn’t reach his eyes or shine out of him and it didn’t make his perpetual scowl lighten up, but man oh man, did it transform his face from something beautiful to something that was better than beautiful. The barest hint of his teeth, the tiniest indent in his cheek that hinted at the fact he was probably hiding a dimple or two, the lift of his brow from frowning to not … it all made my heart turn inside out and solidified that I might want him for myself but I wanted that smile for the rest of the world. No one should be kept from something so stunningly special.
While I was enraptured and unable to move he made his way over to the spigot to turn the water off. When he came back his shirt was in his hand and the late afternoon sun was kissing his bronze shoulders, making him look like an ancient bronze statue come to life. “What were you daydreaming about so hard that you didn’t hear the Harley or your name?” It was an innocent enough question but one I wasn’t going to answer truthfully because he didn’t need to know that I had him standing at a flower-covered arch in Elma’s yard waiting for me to walk down the aisle towards him. I was afraid that would kill that glorious smile when it was so newly resurrected.
“Uh … I had a little run-in at the hospital.” I pulled the front of my sticking T-shirt away from my stomach and wrung it out in my hands. It would serve him right if I pulled the thing off in front of God and everyone but I didn’t want to give Elma Mae a reason to go back to being nasty to me. I was sure a half-naked redhead running around her yard would have the neighbors talking, that was if they could get past all the golden glory that was Church.
“What kind of run-in?” His rumbling voice dropped lower and all the humor fell away from his handsome face. Leaving the grumpy, glowering one I was so familiar with back in place. “Elma Mae still giving you the business?”
I shook my head, which sent water flying in all directions. He had to step back to avoid getting wet. “No. We came to a truce. She was testing me and I finally stood my ground and passed. We’re pretty much best friends now.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him but his stern expression didn’t waver.
“What happened at the hospital, Dixie?” There was no room for argument or further beating around the bush.
“I was in the parking lot moving the truck and I had my head in the clouds as usual.” I was daydreaming about him then as well. It was like an addiction; one I was going to have to quit cold turkey pretty soon. “This black SUV came roaring out of a parking spot a few yards away. They almost hit me. It was close enough I could see my reflection in the door. There were no other cars around because I parked that big-ass truck like shit, so it was obviously deliberate.” I held up a hand before he could speak. “And no, I didn’t get a look at the driver or a license plate because I was too busy thanking my lucky stars I didn’t get run over.”