MAIDEN OF SUITOR’S & SLIPPERS
MAIDEN OF SUITOR’S & SLIPPERS
The infamous gardener seemed to have heard me approach––his head turned and his eyes crinkled at the sight of me.
“Well, hello.”
He rose and grabbed a nearby cloth to clean his palms. The stain of dirt remained as he offered me a hand to shake.
I wrinkled my nose. “No thank you, garden boy.”
“It’s garden man,” he said. “I thought we’d established I’m older than you.”
“Hmm,” I said, my eyes trailing down at his mud-encrusted pants and bare feet. My gaze wandered back up, pausing at his defined midriff.
My cheeks warmed.
“Oh!” Tanner walked over to grab a grass-stained linen shirt, throwing it over his torso and buttoning it up. “My apologies. Unless you liked the view.”
My mouth fell open. Tanner’s smile widened.
He ran a hand through his cropped blond hair. “Did you need something?”
“I…”
He was sweaty. A sweaty man, in any form, was usually something I’d avoid at all costs. But here, now, I found it…
Well, I wasn’t sure. It was disconcerting. But in a not-so-wrong way. But also not a just-right way, either.
I cleared my throat. “It’s hot out here.”
“Too hot?” he asked. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “I’d have to agree. But I don’t believe I can help you with that.” A teasing glint shone from his eyes.
“I didn’t mean–” I stuttered. “I, um, yes.”
His grin widened. Finally, something in me twitched, and the odd trance that had been cast over me broke.
I had to stay focused. For the sake of my family and future.
And to my greatest misfortune, that meant relying on the help of a dirty, if exceedingly handsome, gardener.
I avoided his gaze, my face probably flushed bright red in the sun.
“I don’t want to scowl anymore,” I told him, sealing my fate.