Chapter 2
2
JULIAN
J ailbait.
That was the word that kept running through my mind as I led the beautiful brunette toward the back of the garden. It was an area nobody but me traveled to right now since it was my job to prepare the land for tent camping.
But the brunette in the ruffly pink gown wasn’t jailbait. She was a grown woman. A woman who still lived under the control of her parents, maybe, but a woman, nonetheless. She had to be at least twenty-two or twenty-three, and that wasn’t jailbait. It was just weird because I’d never dated a woman who was more than a few years younger than me.
But no thirty-five-year-old man I knew would turn down an opportunity with a hot-as-hell twenty-something woman.
“What is all this?” the woman asked as she followed me through the trellis.
It was a big empty plot of land, that’s what it was. It overlooked a manmade pond that would someday have a fountain in the middle of it.
“The future site of Rosewood Ridge campground,” I said. “Tent camping only. We may build some cabins eventually.”
I felt her watching me. We both stood side by side, looking out over the beautiful view.
“You work here?” she asked.
I nodded. “The guys who built this place are finishing things up. I’ve been hired to manage future projects. I’m a contractor, not a full-time employee, although I’m working more than full-time right now.”
Why I was giving her all these details, I wasn’t sure. A simple yes would have worked. Talking would only slow down what I really wanted to do to her, which was rip off that dress and kiss every inch of her body.
I gestured and started walking again. “Over here.”
Normally, I was a ladies-first kind of guy, but I knew my way around and there was only one place on this part of the property suitable for outdoor sex.
“That’s kind of steep,” she said as we approached the hill leading down to the water.
“I’ll carry you,” I said.
I didn’t even give her a chance to respond. I walked up the hill to where she stood, scooped her up in my arms, and carried her the few yards down to the grassy area on the bank. Here, we were shaded by a giant tree. I set her down on the ground and stepped back, hands on hips, looking out over the water.
“How’s this?” I asked.
She didn’t speak for a moment. I had to turn and make sure she was okay. Her eyes were wide, and she was staring at me like I’d just grown two heads. Something had been growing since I first saw her at that wedding, but she couldn’t see that something right now.
“You just lifted me and carried me here like it’s nothing,” she said. “Like you do this every day.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Never done anything like this.”
And that was the truth. I kept my head down, worked my ass off, and tried not to think about getting laid. I’d had girlfriends over the years, but I’d never once in my life spotted a woman from across the way, decided I needed to have her, and carried her to a good make-out spot.
But there was a first time for everything. And this was the first time for this.
“You were staring at me,” she said. “When I was standing up front during the wedding, I looked over and saw you. Did I imagine that?”
I shook my head. “Nope. You were just about the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.”
Her eyebrows arched, and I could tell she wasn’t used to being told that, which was a crime. This woman should be told she was beautiful every single second of every single day of her life.
“Past tense?” she asked.
I shook my head, not quite understanding. She seemed to get why I was confused right away.
“You said I was the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen,” she said. “Has it changed?”
I shook my head, looking back out over the water. “I haven’t seen anything more beautiful in my life.”
I returned my gaze to her then, mostly so she’d know I wasn’t talking about the lake. But she’d get that, I was pretty sure. Those big brown eyes seemed to see straight through the crusty grump everyone took me for to the softy I was inside.
Only the thing was, I’d never been a softy before. Suddenly, I had the urge to sing goofy love songs and buy cheesy greeting cards for her. That was what she was doing to me.
“So, how does this work?” She gestured to indicate the patch of grass she was standing on. “You on top? Me on top? Standing against the tree?” She winced. “That could be rough on my back, though.”
As I stared at her, I felt a mix of shock and arousal. With any other woman, the bluntness would take me out of the moment, but not her. It was all coming across as dirty talk to me, and I liked the idea of dirty talk from this sweet beauty.
“I figure we just take our clothes off and see what happens,” I said.
I reached for the fastening on my jeans and had them kicked off to the side, along with my tennis shoes, before she could object. That left me standing there in my underwear.
The problem was, she hadn’t moved. That pink silky nonsense she wore covered far too much of her gorgeous curves.
“It’s kind of bright out here,” she said. “I’ve never been naked in front of a man. I guess I thought it would be in a dark bedroom when it finally did happen.”
I was pretty good at masking my emotions—had been most of my life—but this news had me practically pulling my jaw up off the ground.
“You’re saying you’re…”
I didn’t finish that sentence. I couldn’t quite bring myself to say the word. What if I was wrong? What if she was simply saying she always did it fully clothed?
“A virgin,” she said. “I hope you don’t have a problem with that because I intend to change that today.”
I looked around. All I had to offer her was the large patch of grass she stood on. A woman like this deserved to be gently settled onto a bed of roses on top of an actual bed, not taken on the ground like an animal.
But beds were boring. This was exciting. She seemed to want an adventure.
No, there was no doubt in my mind that what she really wanted was to rebel. And having sex with a guy who was essentially a groundskeeper at her sister’s wedding was the perfect way to do that.
“I don’t have a condom,” I blurted out.
I also had no way to get one unless she wanted to wait for me to get in my car and drive to the nearest store, which was at the bottom of the mountain a good twenty minutes away. That was forty minutes total, plus time to round up the supply.
“I’m on the pill,” she said. “It’s fine.”
The pill wasn’t foolproof, but I wasn’t going to argue. If this woman got pregnant with my baby, I’d be the happiest man on earth—as long as she was happy about it.
My goal was to make sure she’d be happy about it.
“Can you help with the zipper?” she asked.
She turned around, showing pink from neck to mid-calf. The zipper went all the way down the middle, and it looked like a zipper she could reach. But maybe this was part of foreplay.
“No problem,” I said.
I stepped over to her, hoping I wouldn’t mess this up. That zipper looked cheap as hell, and my fingers were thick, my grip strong. I could very well jam the whole thing up and make it impossible to wear again.
But the zipper miraculously gave way under my gentle tug. It came down too easily, actually—part of it being cheap, I assumed. Things like this were made to be worn once and never again, so why put a bunch of effort into constructing it?
“Thank you,” she said.
I didn’t respond. I was too busy staring at the strip of bra strap visible between the now parted zipper. I could also make out the top of her panties, which were the same shade of pale pink.
As she stepped out of the dress, I tried not to gawk at her. But damn, she was beautiful. Those hips begged to be grabbed, trailing down to that rounded, perfect ass. She turned to face me, and I saw that her tits were straining her bra.
I longed to remove that underwear and take her now, but I had to be patient. This was her first time, and I was determined to give her an experience she’d never forget.