As I’m unloading my equipment from the truck, my mind starts to wander back to this morning at Cadie’s apartment. When she appeared in the kitchen, the makeup cleaned off her face, and her hair pulled back, it was like looking at a different person, a piece of art that should be hanging in the Louvre. Everything about her was beautiful, from her silky dark hair to the roiling storm of her gray eyes. Even in workout clothes she was a vision. There’s something inherently sexy about the way she holds herself, so graceful and commanding. A far cry from the drunken mess she’d been the night before. It makes me even more curious about why she’d gotten so wasted. Not to say that I’ve never gotten hammered for no apparent reason myself, but it was usually with friends, not alone. She doesn’t strike me as an alcoholic, and by the extent of her embarrassment this morning, I’m guessing this kind of thing doesn’t happen often. The thing about drunks is they get used to humiliation after a while. That’s not the case with Cadie.

I want to know her story. I want to know everything about her.

“How’d it go last night?” Tim asks, shaking me from my thoughts.

“What?”

“With the girl. You met up with a girl, right?”

“Oh, yeah, I did.”

Normally I share some details about my flings with Tim, but for some reason, when it comes to this girl, I want to keep her all to myself.

He stares at me, waiting. “Well, what happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Not a damn thing.”

He glares at me, clearly not content with my answer. “Bullshit.”

“I hung out with a Great Dane and watched TV.”

“A Great Dane? Is that slang for an ugly chick?”

I laugh. “No, an actual Great Dane.”

“So you hung out with a dog?”

“Yep.”

Tim sighs and goes back to work. “That’s disappointing,” he says.

I smile at him and pat him on the back as I head to the truck to get the hedge clippers. When I look up, I immediately stop. The woman walking on the sidewalk heading for the entrance of the building stops too, her big gray eyes widening with recognition. Part of me wonders if by thinking about Cadie so much this morning, I’ve somehow conjured her.

“What are you doing here?” she says, surprised, and maybe a little angry as if I’ve done something wrong. The accusation in her tone and in the furrow of her brow confuses me at first until I realize she doesn’t know this is my job site. We don’t wear logos on our shirts. I’m sure it looks like I’m just hanging out in front of … what is this building anyway? I look around for a sign, but don’t see anything. I go where Tim leads us. No questions. He pays well and on time, that’s all I care about.

“I’m working. What are you doing here?” I say with the same accusation. I’m covered in dirt. Wiping the potting soil on hands onto my shorts doesn’t help.

She looks over at Tim who has stopped what he’s doing to watch the exchange. He lifts an eyebrow and gives a not-so-subtle thumbs-up. I roll my eyes and turn my attention back to the goddess standing before me.

“Oh,” she says, the frown still there, but I can tell she’s feels more awkward than angry. “I thought you were a surf instructor.”

“I am, part time. I do landscaping too.”

Her eyes scan my body, my dirty clothes, the sweat covering my shirt. Inside, I’m wishing I was showered and clean for this second encounter with her, but the look on her face isn’t reading like someone who’s disgusted by my appearance. Just the opposite, actually. Her eyes keep roaming over me, until finally landing on my crotch. She stares at it a moment too long, then shakes her head and looks away.

I bite my lip to keep from laughing. This girl is thirsty for some cock, that’s obvious, and I’m more than willing to give it to her. Just thinking about it makes me a little hard, which doesn’t go unnoticed when she looks at me again.

“You don’t have to stalk me, you know,” I say. Her eyes shoot up and she looks at me, surprised. “I’ll give you what you want.” I take a step closer to her.

She doesn’t move away. “You’re insane. I don’t want anything from you.”

“Are you sure? It didn’t seem like that last night.”

I take another step closer. She still doesn’t move. Her breathing comes faster, her lovely breasts rising and falling. Her eyes find mine and I’m struck by a feeling that is … confusing, and not entirely sexual. I’m not sure how to explain it. It makes me falter a bit, and I step back.

I swallow and say, “You might not remember this, but your hands were all over me.”

She lets out a shaky breath. “I have to go.”

“Are you sure?” I ask.

She starts to turn around. I panic, because part of me worries that if she leaves, I’ll never hear from her again. I don’t know why I even care. There are a hundred women on my roster waiting for their turn with the Bed Shaker. Cadie is no different.

“How were the pancakes, by the way?” I ask stupidly. It’s all I can think of on short notice.

She stops, looking back at me over her shoulder. “Delicious, actually.” She then looks at my truck in the parking lot. “You bring your board with you to work?” she says, obviously trying to change the subject. She said she has to go, but it feels like she just found an excuse to stay.

“I go straight from work to the beach.”

She hesitates. I can tell by the look of concentration on her face that she’s trying to think of something else to say. She looks at the ground, flushed. “I should go,” she says.

“Me too.”

I could stand here all day talking to her, or not talking to her, as long as I’m with her—

STOP, I chide myself. What the hell is wrong with me? Connections aren’t my thing. I have sex with women, no strings attached. I like it that way. No one gets hurt, nothing gets messy. The last girlfriend I had was all the way back in high school. Since then, it’s all been flings, and never once have I even met someone I considered settling down with. It’s not in my nature.

Cadie walks into the building. I watch her every step. It’s a lovely view, the fullness of her ass, the way her hips sway just so, the thick ponytail touching the middle of her back. Everything about her does it for me.

When she’s gone, I go back to my work. Tim comes up to me, a smile stretched from ear-to-ear. “A friend of yours?” he asks.

I look at the spot where Cadie had been standing. “Not yet, but I’m working on it.”