“You here all alone?” he asked, less curious than confused. Concerned maybe. His brow furrowed as he looked around, seein’ no signs of anyone else as he stood bare chested in my kitchen.
I admit, for a second I was a bit scared, just enough to get my heart racing. If he were an axe murderer, well, I was servin’ myself up on a platter for him. No one around for miles and him thinking I was by myself in the big ol’ farmhouse.
Though the confusion kinda softened me to it.
“Ma’s around,” I said.
“Thanks,” he said as I handed him the water, a few pieces of ice in it from the icebox, though he guzzled the whole glass so fast that never made a difference. Then he plunked the glass on down with a satisfied ‘ah’ and I plucked it up again, having not even sipped my own.
“You worked up a fierce thirst, that’s fer sure,” I remarked, pourin’ up another glass from the pitcher.
“Been on the road all mornin’, haven’t stopped for a break since I set out,” he explained in his deep tone, leanin’ up against the countertop all casual like, lettin’ his bare chest ripple.
“Where you come from?” I asked as I handed his glass to him, taking a smaller sip of my own. I knew better than to chug cold water after working up a sweat.
“Out east,” was all he offered up, wiping his brow with the bare skin of his bulging forearm, the sweat drawing attention to the way his veins bulged his sunkissed skin out. He was a real man, hardened by the elements and life, I reckoned. “You grow up on this farm all your life?” he asked in return, lookin’ at me like all his attentions were focussed.
“Yea, was my grandpappy’s before now, been in the family for over forty years,” I said, being a lot more forthcoming than him. I couldn’t help it. I wanted him to keep talking and thought maybe if I shared, he would too.
“You’re lucky,” he said after a long mulling over, nodding his head as he took his time with that second helping of ice cold water. “Not many folks I’ve known got the luxury of growin’ up in one spot. Most end up movin’ all over the place, travellin’ wherever there’s work or money,” he said, leaning back with one hand upon the counter top.
I’d never thought of it like that. Always felt chained down to the one place, especially after pa died and ma started going dim.
“Yea, I guess so.” I took another sip, thoughtful for a moment. “So that’s why you’re on the go? Just looking for a job with nothing more than the clothes on your back?”
With a casual shrug of his shoulders he rested the glass down on the countertop and looked to me with a half-smile.
“Well, sheddin’ those fast too at this rate,” he said oh so casually, lookin’ me up and down without a lick of shame, not like the shy farmboys I knew all my life, who were only brave or brazen when in a pack of their friends. “Room and board, and a daily pay is all I ask, and I’ll do whatever needs doing around the farm. You got work needs to be done, I’ll get it done. No fuss. That’s my guarantee, Shelby,” he said with such firm assurance, leaving me without a shred of doubt in his abilities.
I looked at him and gave a soft nod. I wasn’t kidding anyone if I thought for a second I wouldn’t hire him on. And the idea of cooking for a man, and having dinner with him, that didn’t turn me away from it at all.
“Agreed,” I said as I drank the rest of my water. “There’s lots that needs done and you seem pretty quick about it.”
“There’s only a couple things I’m slow about, hun,” he remarked so casually, pushing himself up from the countertop and leaving his glass behind. “Now you got a shed I can store my bike in while I’m not using it? Rather it stay clean and dry, if it can be helped.
There he was, looming over me, tall as a mountain it seemed, and just as large. All tattooed, tanned flesh over hard, corded muscle. Whatever he did before, if it weren’t farm work, it was somethin’ tough.
And with his first comment, it took me a while to get enough awareness about anything else to really hear what he said next, something about his bike.
What’d he mean going slow about things anyways?
My heart was thudding like my body was hopeful it was something dirty, and I was struggling not to blush.
“What? Oh, yea, yea, the shed, sure. We keep the tractor and stuff, you can use that if you want.”
He looked me over again and gave a firm nod.
“Thanks,” he said simply before heading towards the door. “I’m gonna park it on in there, and then you can tell me more about what needs doing. Won’t take me long to finish up that fence for you anyhow,” he said simply before strutting on out, that tight rear of his on display as he headed on up the path.
I had no idea what I was gettin’ myself into. Never so much as seen a man like him around, let alone spent much time with him. But there he was, topless as he got up on his hog and pulled it on into the tractor shed with the other equipment.
I leaned against the kitchen counter as I stared, and I swear, if I’d been a few years younger I’d probably have had little birds and hearts floating around my golden hair.
As it was, I instead had this warmth between my thighs and a longing I’d never felt before, not like that, not ever.
* * *
I spent most of the rest of that day puttin’ together supper. It’d been a while since I had an excuse to go all out like that. Most of my days had been spent doin’ all the work that Asher was up to, on my own, after all. A day of that left a gal in the mood for one thing: fast and easy food, that’s it.