If Nikki could see my right now, she’d realize just how unexciting my life as a retiree was. I worked out for a couple of hours in the morning. Fixed some things around the apartment complex. Went for a run and then worked out again. Then ended the day playing with my son.

This was my life now.

It was a far cry from being in the army. From being an officer. From living in foreign lands on U.S. bases. From knowing my purpose in life.

They say the first year of retirement can be an adjustment period. That seemed to be true whether the retiree was in their sixties or thirty-eight, like me.

I knew I should think of this as an opportunity. Most people would kill to have the free time I had. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that the best parts of my life were behind me. My career was over. My marriage to Lydia was over. Thank God for Cole. He was the only thing I had left.

I’d had to trade half my weekends with him to get him after school each day, but I loved seeing him more often. Plus, he’d hated the after school program Lydia had put him in. My boy had retreated into a shell—and I knew quite well that’s not a very fun place to be.

So things were good with Cole. And, I supposed, with the apartment complex. As Barb and pretty much everyone else had pointed out, it was something for me to do. Though I had to admit that I didn’t like this view of me as an aimless fool who needed to be kept occupied.

Not that it was necessarily wrong—but because it was pretty damn insulting.

Still, I liked working around this place. I’d always been pretty good at mechanics, and the army trained me to be better. I’d had many assignments over the years, but I’d always managed to keep my skills up. I could, and did, employee maintenance workers, but I didn’t mind helping out.

Especially not now that I kept running into that sweet young woman.

Nikki.

I’d only seen her a handful of times, but it was enough to make an impression. She was enough to catch any man’s attention though it was clear that she didn’t realize it. Not sure what kind of asshole men she’d encountered in her life, but surely she wouldn’t be single for long. Contrary to what those fucking women’s magazines said, not every man was interested in a size zero stick figure. Lots of men liked women with curves. I sure as hell did.

And she had them. Real curves in all the right places. Just seeing her hips sway as she walked was enough to get me hard. And that sweet ass was impossible to look away from. Barb had caught me staring the other day and rolled her eyes at me. But I couldn’t help it. Nikki was gorgeous.

Her hair looked light brown inside behind the front desk, but out in the sun by the lake, it was the color of pure honey. Her face was smooth and tan—at least I think it was. She usually blushed so hard around me that it was hard to tell.

Like the other day when I caught her after her impromptu gymnastic lessons. I was still irritated with my son for that. Nikki could’ve been seriously hurt. But I hadn’t complained about being able to scoop her up in my arms. I’d enjoyed holding her, hugging her to my chest.

The flush on her cheeks when she’d realized I could see her bra was adorable. All that embarrassment just from a quick flash of her lacy pink bra and the creamy mounds underneath it. If she only knew how brazen some women could be. Just yesterday, I’d entered a supposedly empty apartment to fix a dripping sink when the woman of the house appeared wearing only a loosely-tied robe. A robe that “accidentally” fell to the floor when I was done with my repair.

Yet the quick view of Nikki’s luscious breasts, even covered by her bra, had been more of a turn-on that everything that woman had had to offer. And she’d made it clear she was offering me everything.

I finished fixing a buzzer at Building 8 and locked my tools up in the shed. Cole’s voice was coming from the lawn in front of the main office, and I broke into a jog, eager to see my boy.

When I neared, I saw that he wasn’t alone. My heart sped up as I saw Nikki with him. God, she was lovely. That thought stopped me cold in my tracks. Had I ever called anyone, even in my head, lovely? I was pretty sure I hadn’t. Not even on my wedding day a dozen years ago. And certainly not at any point since.

Nikki laughed at something Cole said as I paused to watch them. She was supposed to be inside at the front desk, but Barb kept giving her breaks to play with Cole. That thought irritated me a little even though I loved seeing the way the setting sun caught Nikki’s hair.

Cole clearly enjoyed spending time with her, too—which was no doubt why Barb had sent her out here. Barb was a smart business woman, but she had a bad habit of butting into my business. Lately, she’d latched onto the notion that Cole was lonely and needed more friends.

Which was ludicrous. He spent all day with other kids, and after school he had me and pretty much every residents of the whole place. They all loved him.

Still, maybe he did spend too much of his evenings with me. And now with Nikki. Though he clearly was crazy about her, a twenty-three-year-old woman wasn’t the most natural friend for him to have. Yes, I’d looked in her personnel file after meeting her to find out her age.

She was fourteen years older than him—not exactly prime friendship material. Yet she was a kind young woman and my son clearly enjoyed spending time with her.

With a jolt, I realized that that made Nikki fifteen years younger than me. Good God, she was actually closer to Cole’s age than mine. That alone right there should be good enough reason to stay away from her. The last thing I needed was for Barb and the other staff to start adding “dirty old man” to their description of me as a bored retiree.

Plus, Nikki had her whole life ahead of her, whereas I felt like most of mine was behind me. But as I walked toward her, I wondered if I was going to be able to stay away.

“Dad!” Cole broke off and ran up to give me a hug. “Can you help me work on backflips?”

“Sure thing. And then I want to hear how school was.”

Nikki smiled at me shyly. “I should probably get back inside.”

“Stay a while,” I told her, and it wasn’t a suggestion.

Her eyes widened briefly, and then she nodded. And then, predictably, she blushed. I was getting pretty used to her cheeks being flushed. Nikki’s eyes kept darting away, as if she was afraid to look at me directly. But I saw her gaze sweep down my body once or twice. She always blushed harder when I caught her checking me out.

In a blatant attempt to recover, she turned to Cole. “I thought you already knew how to do a backflip.”

“I do,” he said, doing some stretches as he answered. “But I always put my hands down halfway through. I want to be able to do one without my hands touching the ground.” He demonstrated by pushing off the ground and flipping backwards, both palms briefly landing on the ground before he sprang upright again.

“Wow.”

Nikki’s response was simple, yet genuine, and Cole beamed. It occurred to me that maybe I wasn’t the only male with a bit of an infatuation with the young woman beside us.

I knelt down and spotted for Cole for a while, talking him through the process, and helping to flip his legs over so that he could whip around fast enough to land back on his feet.

By the time Cole had done a half dozen true backflips, with only a little help from me, I decided it was someone else’s turn to learn a new skill—someone who thus far had sat on the sidelines and cheered. I whispered in my son’s ear and he nodded.

He ran over to the bench and reached for Nikki’s hand. She blinked at him in surprise but then took his hand and allowed herself to be led over to me.

“Your turn.” I smiled at her when she neared.

“Oh no,” she said, her eyes widening.

I grinned at her. “Not a backflip, a handstand. This time with a coach who’s actually taller than you.”

Still, she was backing away. “I can’t. I’m not coordinated.”

“You can learn to be,” I insisted, advancing on her. “Come on, try it out. I won’t let you fall.”

She shook her head, but not before I saw that blush on her cheeks again. Amazing how it darkened when I got closer. “Unlike you two, I don’t want my feet to go over my head.”

At her words, a vision entered my head, one of her on her back, her painted pink toes resting on my shoulders as I pounded into her. Thank god I didn’t have the kind of skin that blushed or that image would’ve done it.

“Everyone should go head over heels every so often.” I held my hand out, indicating she should walk toward me. Amazingly, after a few more seconds of hesitation, she did. Hmm. Interesting. It made me wonder what else I could get her to do.

When she was right in front of me, she gave me a sheepish grin and tucked her shirt into the waistband of her peach-colored pants. Her t-shirt was white, and I watched, mesmerized, as her hand dipped into her pants over and over, tucking the shirt in quite thoroughly. What I wouldn’t give to have my hands where hers were.

When she was ready, I went through the procedure with her again, talking her through the steps. “Just kick one leg up and I’ll do the rest. I promise.”

She nodded, and it pleased me that she was trusting me enough to try this again. I know she had a scare the other day, but she was willing to get back on the horse—so to speak. That spoke well of her.

Nikki took a deep breath, causing her chest to push out for a moment in a way my body approved of. Then she leaned forward, putting her hands down on the ground at the same time she kicked a leg up.

I waited until the last second to catch her leg, wanting to see how far she was able to get it up on her own. She did well—I only had to grab her calf at the last second and steady her. She was a little slow in getting her other leg up, but for the most part, she’d done this, not me.

Cole applauded, and I felt Nikki’s legs sway back and forth. I held her steady, and after a moment, she found her balance. “Good girl.”

“I can’t do this for long,” she said, but she sounded pleased. “What’s the exit strategy?”

“Hold it for another thirty seconds. I’m going to let go, but my hands will be right here if you overbalance. Okay?”

“Okay.” Her voice was a little fainter.

I let go, and Cole cheered again. “You’re doing it, Nikki. He’s not holding on at all.”

Nikki made it almost the full thirty seconds before she spoke. “I can’t hold this any longer. What do I do?” The strain in her voice, not to mention the breathy quality to it, caused blood to flow south.

“I’ve got you,” I said, and a second later, I crouched down and wrapped my arm around her waist, pressing her against me and lifting her into the air.

Nikki shrieked while Cole laughed. Her arms and hair dangled toward the ground as I pressed her against me. Her knees bent and her calves folded over my shoulder.

“Put me down,” she said, wiggling against me. Crap. I hadn’t thought this through very well—all her squirming against the front of my pants was getting to me in a big way. With an emphasis on big. Hopefully, she was moving around too much to notice.

“I will put you down,” I said. “I just have to find a soft place for you to land. How about the lake?”

“No,” she shrieked as I took a few strides toward the pond in front of us. Cole giggled as Nikki reached her hands up and tried to hold onto me. She didn’t get much purchase, but her hands clawing at my hips didn’t help the situation developing in my pants.

“Okay, no lake.”

Nikki breathed a theatrical sigh of relief and stopped struggling.

“The pool will work just as well.”

“Ian!” she shrieked as I strode toward the pool area, Cole giggling as he followed along. And from the way Nikki’s body shook against me, I was pretty sure she was laughing, too, even as she protested.

Had I ever heard her say my name before? I didn’t think I had, but I really liked the way if sounded coming from her.

“Ian, I’m wearing a white t-shirt.”

Now it was my turn to laugh. Didn’t she realize that that was an incentive to throw her into the pool, not a deterrent? Not that I was going to do it, but still, the image of a wet, translucent t-shirt clinging to her full breasts was a delicious one.

“Don’t throw me in!”

Somehow, Nikki had managed to wrap her hands around my hips, her fingers clutching at my backside. I’d wanted to get my hands on her ass, not the other way around, but I had to admit it felt good.

I halted a few feet before the concrete pool area, and held her still. It was tempting to make her beg, but she didn’t know me that well yet. Plus Cole was right there, and I was quite sure that Nikki’s yelps had brought a few of the residents to their windows.

“Give me your hand,” I ordered, and Nikki complied immediately. With my free hand, I took hers and pulled her head and upper body up. Grasping her under her arms, I lifted her away from me so that she could slide her legs down my body. As she did so, she wrapped her arms around my neck, perhaps because she was fearful of falling—and perhaps for other reasons. I wished I knew for sure.

By the time her feet were back on the ground, we were in an embrace, her wrists locked around my neck and my arms around her. She leaned her head back, but I sensed it wasn’t an attempt to pull away from me. Instead, it looked like she was trying to see my face better.

That pleased me, and I grinned down at her. After a moment, she smiled back.

She’d been a good sport before, trying the handstand again even though her first one had scared her. I liked that she’d been willing to try again.

It made me wonder what else she’d be willing to try.