Page 14 of Hard Wood Daddy

I meet his eyes. “And getting ‘actually nude’ pays?”

“You get, like, ten dollars an hour,” Phil says with an odd grin. “And, sometimes, tips. With about a hundred of us here, even if you got twenty people in a session, I’m sure you’d get twenty extra bucks.”

Ten dollars an hour. Plus…tips.

It wouldn’t take long to double my life savings.

If I get totally naked, I can feed my kitten. And maybe figure out what to do when this little summer camp adventure closes up for the winter.

“I’ll think about it,” I half-mumble, pressing my knuckles against my lips.

Phil agrees to wait for me while I go back to my cabin to get changed. I cross the distance between class and cabin at a slow jog with my eyes wide open, hoping to spot Rutger.

No such luck.

I stuff the soiled drape and my robe into the laundry bag. Then I put on the old Tess’s body hiding uniform: ratty jeans, huge t-shirt. Finally, I try to tame my hair with a purple scrunchie.

There are no mirrors here, which seems odd but a little comforting at the same time. I take a long breath, staring at Frida sleeping next to my pillow, then looking down at today’st-shirt which has two dragons on the front with their necks intertwined to form a heart.

There’s a single sunbeam streaming through the window onto Frida. I rub my finger on top of her head. “How you feeling, sweetie?”

She yawns, stretches, and rolls over so I can rub her soft little belly. Then she goes back to sleep with a half-hearted purr.

“I’ll be back with food soon.” I click my teeth together determinedly and finish, “Real kitten food.”

I would do anything for her.

Unlike some people, I don’t abandon the little things that need help.

I start a load of laundry in the shared washing machine before meeting Phil at his Prius, parked at the top of the road. He has a Mystery Spot bumper sticker, beaded seat covers, and an air freshener shaped like a lightsaber. His car smells sort of sticky-sweet.

“How do you like it up here at the retreat?” he asks as we drive down the mountain, with him easing his car at about three miles an hour around every little bump and piece of gravel on the road.

“It’s nice.” I lean toward my open window, my eyes scanning the tree line, hopeful. “I’m not really outdoorsy. But it’s nice.”

“It’s like an awesome summer camp for grownups.” Phil sits up straighter, straining to see out the windshield like something is going to pop out of the dirt and dent his bumper. “I really hope we can do this again next summer. I’d spend the rest of my life on this mountain, but from what I’m hearing, this is probably the last summer we’ll be here.”

Now he’s got my attention. “Is the retreat going away?”

“Lindsay told me that she can’t get the landowner to sign the lease. Without a lease, the university is pulling the plug on the retreat until they can find something else. I guess it was a tenyear lease, good terms too. Affordable. The university is cheap. Finding someplace else like this would normally cost a fortune.”

Rutger. Lease. Land.

My heart speeds up at even the suggestion of him. I immediately remember the hard press of his cock between my thighs and a little moan catches in my throat, drawing Phil’s glance.

“I wonder why Rutger won’t sign,” I blurt out, trying to cover my involuntary sex sounds.

Phil opens his mouth like he’s going to give me all the tea, but when he turns his eyes back forward, all that comes out is a strangled shout. “Whoa!Holy shit!”

My gaze snaps forward.

A tree like a skyscraper is arcing downward in a streak of green and brown against the blue sky.

Phil shouts and stomps the brake. “Crap!”

The seatbelt snaps tight across my chest. My hands slap over my ears as stupid disobedient hair comes straight out of its bun to fly in my face.

The little silent-running car comes to an abrupt halt with a loud crash, and the earth shakes under the wheels.

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