Page 66 of Jump Start

I caught his eye and turned to look at him, while Chris and Holly were laughing in the background.

“Where the hell has he been?” Chris asked.

Thomas was covered in dust and dirt from head to toe, his hair was covered in red dirt, and his clothes were filthy.

“What the! Don’t bring all that in here! Go outside!” I yelledat him jokingly, trying to keep a straight face.

“Guys, I have to go. There’s a man covered in dirt in my office.”

“Tell him to take it easy on the hobbies. No injuries for the start of the season,” Chris chided through the speaker. Thomas rolled his eyes as he left the room, trudging red dirt into the clean cream carpet.

“Bye guys! Have a great New Years!” I shouted from the threshold of the door, unable to hang up the meeting from afar. I ushered Thomas out of the house, having just tidied up over the course of the day during phone calls.

“You’re not going to hose me down like a dog, are you?” he asked as I positioned him on the outdoor patio.

“Maybe, if you get on your knees I will,” I laughed, pointing the hose at him.

“I’ll always get on my knees for you, Harper.” The whites of his eyes stood out against the dirt on his face. He looked up at me and did just that.

“Jump on then,” he said waving his hands at me.

I felt my face blush, and for a moment, considered letting him take me in broad daylight on the backyard patio.

“Strip,” I commanded, taking pleasure in the feeling of telling him what to do. He placed his clothes in a dusty brown pile before he stretched out on one of the lawn chairs next to the pool.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I stood over him, casting shadows over his body.

“Relaxing? What are you doing?” his reply was accompanied by a slight smile on his face.

“You’re just going to sit there in your underwear and bake inthe sun, then?” I asked, using my hand to block the sun from his eyes.

“Yeah, why don’t you strip down and join me?” His voice turned suggestive as he pulled me closer to him. Hard to deny that logic.

Deciding I would get back at him for bringing red dirt into the house, I stretched my arm out to him. He grabbed it, and I pulled him with all my force onto his feet, causing him to trip briefly before regaining his feet. “Shit, Harps!”

I laughed as he struggled to get upright again, slowly pulling him towards the pool. As we got to the edge, he realised what I was trying to do and began to fall towards the blue sparkling water, dragging me with him.

I let out a scream, which quickly turned to laughter, and fell into the pool, fully clothed while holding on to Thomas.

Our fall had sent us quite far to the bottom and I opened my eyes to see Thomas under the water with me, his tanned skin was almost sparkling against the blue bottom of the pool and the sunlight filtered through in beams of light.

I swam closer to him and pulled myself up out of the water first, with Thomas slowly coming up for air a few seconds later.

“I knew exactly what your plan was!” He laughed as he brushed his hair out of his eyes.

“Well, you ruined your own carpet, I have no idea how to fix that. I’m not exactly a domestic yet,” I replied, laughing as I pictured myself in a maid’s outfit in the kitchen.

“You’re perfect.” As he spoke, beads of water kept falling from his wet hair, trailing down his face. I followed their path as he pulled me closer, then wrapped my legs around him, feeling secure and happy.

***

Our afternoon of sun and a swim took me a little by surprise, but I decided that all workdays should finish that way. I was dressed in my comfiest loungewear and set on a mission to find Thomas to ask him what he wanted for dinner. I peeked through his office, but he wasn’t on his racing sim. He wasn’t in the kitchen, either. I headed towards the garage.

The faint smell of smoke diverted my attention to the outdoor patio area. Beyond the pool and deck, I found him standing in front of a small fire pit surrounded by solar lights and his double swag. He was smiling at me, holding two glasses of red wine in his hands.

I couldn’t help but smile back at him, his face was lit up even in the early evening moonlight. I approached him with a quick kiss on the lips.

“What’s all this then?” I asked as he handed me a wine glass. He took a moment before answering me and pulled me down to the picnic blanket that was sprawled over the thick, green grass of the backyard.

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