My workshop was my favorite place to be in the world, which probably didn’t say much about me as a dad, but I was a good craftsman. I’d started after my dreams of music stardom blew up in my face in Nashville, with end tables and stools. Small shit that fools with money to burn didn’t mind overpaying for, but then I started getting more and more commissions thanks to my friend and now manager, Billie. Now I did whole dining sets that went for five figure price tags, and even an all wood chandelier for a country music starlet.

Normally, I came in here and cranked up the Lynyrd Skynyrd and got down to work on whatever project was most pressing. But today, all I could see was Vivi in that frilly looking dress that was made sinful by her curves. How in the hell was a man supposed to use sharp power tools when his mind was undressing a beautiful woman?

“Fuck!” It was stupid to keep fantasizing about her, knowing we would only ever be friends, but my mind couldn’t turn it off.

And I’d just jerked off to her this morning in the shower, so I should be able to get some work done. Luckily my phone rang, giving me another excuse to avoid the inevitable. “Yeah?”

“Nash, it’s Earl, I got your wood in today and we can get it to you first thing tomorrow, but you said-”

“That I wanted to see them load it so I didn’t lose more money on broken planks. Right, I remember. I can be there in two hours. Two and a half,” I amended because I needed to find someone to watch Norah.

“See you soon,” Earl said and hung up.

A quick look at my watch said I had an hour before Norah came home from day camp, which meant I didn’t have long to make arrangements. And that meant there was only one person I could ask. One person who I knew would be at home and available enough to watch a precocious little girl. I wiped the sawdust off my hands and flipped off all the surge protectors before I left my workshop and locked it up.

Then, with great reluctance, I made the short walk to Vivi’s yellow house and jogged up the steps, knocking with more force than I needed to, seeing as I didn’t have a search warrant. Or a badge.

The wait felt like an eternity, but when she pulled open the door I sent a wish out on the wind that I had more time to prepare myself. She had on short hot pink shorts that showed off long curvy legs and a plump pussy that I had to quickly turn away from. Unfortunately, things were much better as my eyes climbed her body, trying damned hard to ignore the way her nipples beaded against the hot pink sports bra with a zipper in the front. A zipper that begged me to tug the silver hoop down until pale dusky pink nipples came into view.

Geez, I really needed to get laid. “What’s up, Nash?” She smirked at my open gawking.

“I need you. Shit, I need your help, I mean. Your help.” Fuck, her curves were playing with my mind. I needed to go find a woman and fast. That thought dug deeper into my brain when she stepped away from the door and turned away from me, giving me a clear picture of her heart shaped ass, swaying from left to right as she walked away. “Am I interrupting?”

“Saving is more like it. I was failing one final time at using yoga to relax. I’m just not that chill, I guess. Back to masturbation.” The image of Vivi stroking herself and moaning instantly popped into my head. The woman was trying to kill me.

“I need a favor.” Hell, I needed to be anywhere else but here with Vivi wrapped in lycra while her chest heaved and red tendrils clung to her skin.

“I’m listening,” she said, rolling her wrist to encourage me to speak.

I sucked in a deep breath and gave her a quick rundown of the wood situation and prepared myself to do the one thing I still hated to do. Ask for help.

“So can you watch Norah for a few hours while I take care of this?”

She smirked and her eyes were lit with amusement, but underneath all that I could still see the heat banked in her eyes. “Sure, I’ll watch your kid while you go pick up some wood. I guess that’s what the kids are calling it these days.” Vivi put up a valiant effort not to laugh, she really did. But in the end my stern, unamused expression tipped her over the edge. “How soon do you need to leave?”

“Fifteen minutes, twenty tops.”

“Alright, I’m going to shower and then I’ll be right over for a long list of fatherly instructions.”

“Thanks, Vivi. I owe you.”

She grinned and bent to roll up her yoga mat. “Yep and don’t worry, I won’t be shy about cashing that favor in when I need it.”

“Good. Great. No problem,” I told her, stepping back with my gaze on her like she might bite, or maybe strip, and I didn’t want to miss a second of it. But when her back arched to stretch, I turned and hightailed it back to my place. And straight into a cold shower to soothe the chaos she caused within me. I really needed to go to Zeke’s place and get laid, maybe then I could stop lusting after the first woman to light my fire in years.

And I would definitely never fucking stop if she kept showing up in my house and around town in those sexy fucking summer dresses that showed off just enough skin to drive me crazy. Never enough to be obscene, just to make me imagine the obscene.

“Here and reporting for duty, Captain.” She saluted and pushed in past me. I did my best to ignore the way her tits brushed against my arm.

“I really appreciate this, Vivi. You have no idea how much. Last time I left the guys to their own devices, I ended up with ten grand in broken, splintered wood.”

She whistled low as she kicked off her sandals. “Then go on and do your thing, I’ll keep Norah breathing in your absence. Just tell me if she’s allergic or whatever.”

I smiled, grateful for her attempt to soothe my anxiety, because I didn’t like leaving Norah with other people. Ever. “Nothing like that, just keep the horror movies to a minimum.”

“Gotcha. It’ll be fine, Nash. Fine.” She placed a hand on my chest and pushed, but not before taking a moment to squeeze my pec. “Sorry, but damn, how’d you get all these muscles?”

“Hard work,” I told her, my voice harsher than I meant it to be, but Vivi seemed unaffected as she stared at her hand covering my chest and squeezing gently.

“Indeed,” she said as though lost in a daze. She quickly recovered though and stepped back. “Sorry about that. I’ll keep Norah safe and alive, I promise. And if there’s time we might even have some fun. Go.”

I did go, and I tried like hell not to worry, not even when the clock struck three and I knew Norah would be bouncing off the bus in exactly thirteen minutes, running up the stairs in search of a snack while she told me all about her day at camp. Viviana would be there and she would listen, she might even be interested in what Norah had to say. It would be fine.

I kept telling myself that as I made the drive down to Earl’s lumber yard to watch four good ol’ boys load up the truck headed to my neck of the woods. Vivi was capable, and she seemed to enjoy her time with my daughter, which was more than I could say about most women other than my own mother who would move back to Belle Musique and right into my house if I’d let her.

That’s not going to happen, so I relaxed on the way back to town, gave myself a pep talk to keep my body’s reaction to Vivi under control. We were friends and I would prove it to both of us, by being a good friend.

If only she wasn’t so tempting.

When I walked into the house, the first thing I noticed was the classical music which clearly hadn’t come from my own music collection. In the living room, Vivi was sprawled on the sofa with Norah curled up against her, legs and arms wrapped tight around Vivi. It was an image that I should have been indifferent to, but I wasn’t.

I totally wasn’t. So I scooped up Norah in my arms and got her into her pyjamas and into bed with just one mild disturbance. “Daddy? We had so much fun,” she said around a yawn as I tucked her into bed. “Vivi helped me with my play. She said it was good, Dad. A real writer said my play was good.” Having used up all of her remaining energy to share her good news with me, Norah passed out with a satisfied smile on her face.

And that right there was why I was determined to keep Vivi squarely in the friend zone. I couldn’t be the reason my daughter lost a woman like that, who was interested in the same things Norah was, who showed her how to be a strong woman without even realizing it. One day soon, I’d make my way up to Zeke’s Joint and find a woman to satisfy my needs. Then Vivi would be nothing but a reminder of my temporary insanity.

After tucking Norah in though, I took a quick shower, relieving myself one final time, because thinking about Vivi in the shower wouldn’t hurt anyone. I went back down to find her still asleep on the sofa, shapely legs on display nearly all the way up to her hips.

“Vivi, wake up.” I shook her gently but she wouldn’t budge. “Vivi, time to wake up.” One finger caressed her jaw line and she turned into it, then she turned her whole body and I caught a brief glimpse of the pale pink silk covering her sex. It was see through, giving me a glimpse of red curls sitting just atop a sweet pussy that made my mouth water.

“Dammit!” I stood and covered Vivi with a blanket before grabbing a beer and heading up to my room. Alone.

Where I had no plans to think about the curvy redhead on my sofa. Five minutes later, I was taking a second, much colder shower.