Page 5 of Only His

“Whatever works,” he murmured with a half-hearted nod, clearly distracted. “I prefer weightlifting.”

“I can tell,” I stared at his arms and bit my bottom lip to keep from licking them. “You look great.”

David let out a short huff of laughter that gave away his disbelief. I wasn’t exactly a bold woman, but I figured I could at least justify the red tint of my cheeks as being from exertion instead of embarrassment. Any other time and it would’ve been totally obvious. Satisfied that I caught him off-guard, I smiled.

At least until that dreaded word came out of his mouth again.

“Thanks, kid. So do you.”

Kid. That word would be the death of me. I anxiously awaited the day when he would finally see me as a woman and not as his friend’s daughter. As I jogged away, I started brainstorming ways to speed up the process.

* * *

When the weekend rolled around, I plopped down in my favorite living room chair with a book, pretending to read it while I sneakily snuck glances out the window at David as he mowed his lawn.

He was wearing loose shorts, a white tank top, and his usual aviator sunglasses. His dark hair was mostly slicked back with sweat, but there were pieces sticking up in different directions like he’d been running his fingers through it. I had to fight myself to keep from outright staring. I still hadn’t hung up curtains, so it wouldn’t be difficult for him to look over and catch me in the act. With that thought in mind, I returned my attention to the book on my lap and forced myself to focus.

Thankfully, it wasn’t hard to do. Soon, I became so engrossed in the book that I didn’t even hear the mower turn off. Nor did I notice the figure moving in my peripheral vision until there was a sharp knock on the window directly beside me.

I jumped so much I launched the book straight into the air. David’s laugh was so loud, I could hear the rich tone of it clearly through the glass.

“Very funny!”

David just continued to laugh before finally pointing in the general direction of my front door. I nodded and held up a finger, practically sprinting to the hallway to check my appearance before I met him on the porch.

My timing was beautiful. David was waiting down the steps using the bottom half of his shirt as a towel to wipe the sweat from his face, giving me adeliciousview of his sculpted abdomen. My sharp intake of breath grabbed his attention and he lowered his shirt, his face red.

It’s from the sun. It has to be. There’s no way he’s blushing.

“How’s it going?”

“Good. How about you? You look like you’re about to melt.” I took a step back and waved my hand as I asked, “You want to come in?”

“Thanks for offering, but I’m good. I’m just dropping by to ask if you have a mower.”

“No. Is something wrong with yours?”

David grinned and shook his head, small droplets of sweat flying out on the grass.

“No, mine’s fine. You want me to take care of your yard or do you have other plans for it?”

“Plans? Like letting the grass and weeds grow so high that it resembles a jungle?”

“I meant more along the lines of hiring someone to take care of it for you or getting a mower yourself.”

Truth be told, I hadn’t even thought about it. I knew the owner of the house was out of state, so he surely wouldn’t be doing it for me, but taking care of the yard myself never even crossed my mind. I was too fixated on the man on the other side of it.

“I… didn’t really think about it, to be honest. So, yes—I would really appreciate if you did it. How much should I pay—”

He held up a hand while shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. This one’s on the house.”

He started to walk away and I scrambled to keep him there, if only for another minute.

“Wait! Can I at least make you dinner to thank you?”

David nodded and cracked a smile. “Yeah, that sounds good. It’ll be nice to eat something that wasn’t frozen or takeout for a change.”

While he got started on cutting the grass, I buzzed around the house to prepare for what I hoped would end up being more like a date than our last meal together had been.

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