Claudia

"Dad, can I talk to you for a few minutes?"

My dad looked up from his computer as I hovered in the door to his office. "I thought you were working on the Laughlin's crew this afternoon."

"Darryl didn't need me." I gripped the pages in my hand so tightly, it was a miracle I didn't rip the paper. I preferred to design on the computer, but I'd printed out my ideas. Dad and Larry were old school.

Dad glanced at his phone, then back to me. "I have about five minutes. Then I have to get down to the greenhouse. Wendy and I have to go over the inventory before the weekend."

Summer weekends were busy for our retail side of the business, so every Friday afternoon Dad and the retail manager went through and made sure we were well stocked. I asked him once why he didn't do that earlier in the week so there was time to order anything we were short on but he'd given a vague non-answer.

I perched on the edge of the chair facing Dad's desk, papers on my lap. They only shook a little.

He minimized the programs on his computer, then turned his attention to me. "What's up?"

I pulled in a deep breath. If I only had five minutes, there was no time to get nervous. I had to spit it all out. "So I've been working with Larry, like you said. I've also done some research on the MacArthur group, what they like at other sites, that sort of thing."

I managed to keep my hands steady as I spread the papers in front of Dad. "I've taken the basics of Larry's design, and incorporated some green elements that I think MacArthur will really like. They have a big sustainability initiative, and at—"

"Have you shown this to Larry?" Dad interrupted. His eyes held mine, never so much as glancing down at my work.

A small lump formed in my stomach. I wanted to kick the desk and scream. At the same time, I wanted to sink back in the chair and cry. On top of that, I wanted to throw the papers in the air and stomp out.

I did none of those.

I pressed a fist beneath my ribs, trying to smoosh that stupid lump. "Not exactly like this. I've suggested some of these things to him." I pointed to a shaded box on the page. "Like having a community garden so residents can grow flowers or vegetables. And the—"

Dad scrubbed his face with his hands, still not sparing even a look at my design. "Claudia. I asked you to work with Larry on this. It's not my place."

I swallowed hard. The lump had migrated to my throat. I was not going to cry in the boss's office, even if he was my father. "He rejects every idea I have. Won't even consider it. I thought if I used his main design, and showed you how to incorporate the elements I'm suggesting…"

My shoulders deflated. My dad was frowning, the deep crease between his eyebrows and the wrinkles around his mouth a sure sign I was losing my argument.

"Claudia, I need you to listen to me for a minute." Dad got up and circled behind me to shut the door.

Oh, shit.

I gripped the edge of the chair, this time not bothering to stop my leg from shaking. It bounced like it was on a trampoline.

Dad leaned back in his chair, relaxed and casual. But I knew when he steepled his fingers together in front of him, I was in for a scolding. Or a lecture.

I got both.

"This is a team, Claudia. You want to be part of that team. But for a team to work, all the members have to work together. One person can't take the other's hard work, change it, and try to make it theirs."

"I didn't—"

He held up a hand to silence me. "Let me finish."

I bit down on the inside of my lips to keep silent. I wasn't trying to say Larry's work was mine. His work was boring. The first drafts of my plan had been much more innovative. But he'd shot me down so much, I thought this might be a good compromise.

Dad pointed to the community garden. "This isn't what we do. This isn't what our clients come to us for."

My teeth dug even deeper into my flesh as my jaw tightened.

"This—" Dad stabbed his finger into the generic fountain in the center of the courtyard "—is what we do."

I didn't bother pointing out the solar-powered irrigation system I'd incorporated to feed the fountain, plus keep most of the grass and plants watered. It raised the initial cost of our bid, but I'd calculated approximate water bills using standard hydration systems versus the one I was proposing. They'd make back the cost in no time.

But innovative irrigation wasn't what we did either.

"If you want a place on this team, Claudia, you need to work as part of that team. You don't come to me behind Larry's back."

I'd only done it because Larry refused to even hear my suggestions at that point. I'd broached the community garden idea after lunch with Mara on Wednesday, and he'd shot it down faster than the rooftop gardens. For a landscape designer, he seemed awfully anti-garden.

"When you're here, in this office, at this company, I am your boss. Not your father." His narrow-eyed stare was stern. "You work these issues out with Larry. And if you can't, then we go with his design."

I nodded, knowing if I released my lips from my teeth, I would either whine or yell. Or worse, sob.

Dad nodded once, sharply. "Good. Our pitch meeting is at 11:00 on Monday. So dress appropriately." He stood and came around the desk to his door.

My cue to leave. Since there was no point working on further design ideas, maybe I'd head to the greenhouse. Plant some seeds, lose myself in dirt for a few hours.

As I walked through the outer office and into the store, I pulled out my phone to text AJ.

I could lose myself in dirt for the afternoon. And him for the evening.

* * *

I'd never seen anything more graceful than AJ's long arms pulling him through the water. He was elegance personified as he swam from one end of my parents' pool to the other.

He reached the wall and stood, wiping water out of his eyes. The three-foot depth left his bare chest and shoulders untouched, and allowed my gaze to roll over his skin like the water streaming off him. He grinned at me.

"Damn, it feels good to be in water."

"You should try showering more often."

"You're hilarious."

I flashed a sarcastic smile.

He dove under the water like a dolphin, only surfacing when he reached me at the deep end. From below, he ran his hands up the outside of my thighs, then settled them on my waist. His body brushed mine as he broke the surface.

The pool area and patio were well-lit, but the darkness of the night beyond wrapped around us, creating a cozy cocoon just for us. It felt like the outside world couldn't find its way in, and I needed that more than I wanted to admit.

"You've been crabby all day. What's up?" AJ hooked one arm on the side of the pool to keep from sinking. The other spread over the small of my back and held me loosely against him.

The water pulsed around us, the faint push-pull motion as familiar to me as it undoubtedly was to him.

"Work. The design." I shook my head. "I need to get it out of my head. It's too late to change Dad or Larry's mind. Maybe for the next project."

Except I'd really wanted this project. It had the potential for all the elements I'd most enjoyed in school.

AJ's brown eyes were warm as he studied my face. "I'm sorry." He brushed his mouth over mine. "How about we make a deal."

Resting my forehead against his, I let his smile creep into me. I let his lightness warm my chest, my head, all the way out to my fingers and toes. He was like an infestation of calm. "What's the deal?"

"You don't worry about your dad or Larry or work. And I'll do my very best to keep you distracted so you can't."

"And how do you plan to do that." I let a note of teasing creep into my voice.

He slipped closer to me, the movements exaggerated by the water. I liked how everything seemed intensified. He pressed himself between my legs. "I think you can take a guess."

He wasn't hard, but I knew it wouldn't take much to get him there. An image flashed through my head of pushing aside only the necessary clothes to take him inside me right there. I envisioned sliding against him, the water aiding our bodies. The idea had me so hot, it was a wonder the water around me didn't start to boil.

I pulled his full lower lip between my teeth and murmured in approval.

Abruptly, he shoved off the wall, his strong legs propelling him nearly to the middle of the pool. With a playful expression, he wagged a finger at me. "You Durdee girl." He swam to the edge and pushed himself out of the water. Leaving a dark trail on the cement surrounding the pool, he circled to the diving board.

My parents had a ridiculously large house for only two people and a golden lab. And having a pool as big as theirs, with a diving board, had never made sense to me considering we lived in Wisconsin. But my mom was a very successful event planner and she loved planning her own parties. They had at least six people over every weekend in summer. Except this week when they were away at an event of Mom's, and Dad decided to join her. But they'd had four couples over for a luau the night before.

And of course, the four acres around the house were perfectly landscaped. I'd never met two people who enjoyed taking their work home with them as much as my parents. One of my first design projects in college had been to redesign their property to include more sustainability. I got an A- on the project, but of course when I showed it to Dad, he'd congratulated me on my grade and ignored the suggestion that they actually use the ideas.

"I will distract you with my amazing skills," AJ said, drawing my attention back to him. He stood at the top of the short diving board ladder. Grinning, he ran the length of the blue plastic, took a bounce that bent it nearly to the water under his weight, and shot into the air. He pulled his knees up and held them with his hands, and hit the surface like a tsunami.

The ripples jerked me, knocking me against the pool wall, but I was laughing too hard to care. Of course he'd distract me by being a goofball. It was who he was. I was still chuckling when he surfaced, only inches from me. It seemed like he'd been under water for several minutes, but one of his many skills in the pool was holding his breath for an unnaturally long time.

He took four more turns on the diving board, three cannon balls, with one perfectly executed swan dive thrown in. Another idea formed in my head as I watched him. So the next time he stepped onto the diving board, I pushed out of the water and followed him. He grinned over his shoulder, propped a hand on his hip, and stuck his butt in my direction. "Come to admire me?"

"More or less." I walked the plank, so to speak, and wrapped my arms around him from behind. His smooth, damp skin was cool against my cheek as my hands slid over his chest, then down his abs.

"Ummm, I can get behind this."

I worked my hands inside his swimming trunks and down his thighs. They tensed under my touch. "Actually, I'm behind."

His laugh was tense too. And though I couldn't see it, I could tell his cock was growing hard. The fabric of his shorts shifted on the back of my hands.

"You want to go skinny dipping?" he asked.

I made a sound of dissent, then angled my wrists so that when I stroked down his legs, all the way to the outside of his knees, his trunks went down too. He took the hint and kicked them free. I heard them hit the deck with a soggy thwump but didn't look to see where they were.

I pressed an open kiss to the base of his spine, then trailed my tongue along the ridge as I stood. He moaned and shuddered.

"Fuck, Claudia." His words came out barely a whisper.

I sucked gently at the cord of muscle where his neck sloped into his shoulder, then scraped it with my teeth. In front, my hands found his now-solid erection. One over the other, I tugged him from root to tip.

"Faaaaahck," he groaned. I smiled against his shoulder.

Going on tiptoe, I flicked his earlobe with my tongue. "Lay down." My voice was barely a breath, but I knew he heard me. His big body shuddered and he reached for the railing.

Carefully, he extracted himself from me and lowered himself. He stretched out, head near the end of the blue board, each leg stretched on either side of me. I went to my knees, the rough surface almost painful, but I didn't care. My wet skin felt too tight, my tongue moving restlessly in my mouth, ready to taste him.

I placed my hands on his thighs, just above his knees. His muscles were tense as I slowly worked my way upward. Because of the slight curve of the diving board, he was bent away from me. He struggled up onto his elbows.

Deliberately, I held his gaze and ran my tongue over my upper lip.

He dropped his head back and moaned. "That might be the sexiest thing I've ever seen."

My hands reached the top of his thighs and I traced my thumbs along the crease where they met his hips. He moaned again, longer and louder. So I did it again and again, until he was uttering one long moan. Then he gave up and his arms slipped from under him. They dangled over the sides of the board.

I longed to pull him into my mouth, but forced myself to keep teasing him with nothing but my hands. I stroked his hips, his upper thighs, his lower belly, that delicious line of muscle separating hip from belly. I slid my hand under his erection, barely brushing it as his coarse hairs tickled my palm.

Finally I put my palms on either side of his cock and ran them up his length.

His hips jerked, adding to the sensation. One arm lifted toward me, but I was out of his reach, so he dropped it to his chest.

I couldn't wait any longer. I bent and put my tongue at the base of his cock. A tremor ran through his whole body. Slowly, letting myself absorb his flavor, feel the heat and pulse of excitement running through him, I dragged my tongue up his length.

His hand slipped off his chest and gripped the edge of the diving board.

I circled his tip with my tongue, gave a quick suck, then more circles with my tongue. I kept that up until his thighs began to tremble on either side of me.

Something about that tripped something inside me. Suddenly, I grew urgent. No more lazy teasing. I gripped his base and took as much of him into my mouth as I could.

And pulled.

"Fuuuuuuck," he moaned. He pressed up toward me as I lowered to him. Quickly we set up a rhythm that sent the tremble through his entire body. I sucked and tugged and he moaned and shook.

I knew the moment he reached the point of inevitability. His head arched back as he groaned my name, and his cock pulsed in my mouth. His thrusts grew choppy.

He went rigid and jerked against my tongue. I stroked my hands over his hips, pulling at him as his orgasm rolled through him, swallowing the spurts that filled my throat.

When it was over, his body went slack, arms and legs again hanging off the sides of the board. I drew back, and I wanted to crawl up his chest and press my lips to his. But the diving board prohibited that. So I continued to stroke his hips as he relaxed and came back to himself. I was so turned on, what I really wanted was to take him inside me and ride him until I came. But he'd need recovery time before that was possible.

When my feet started tingling like they were about to fall asleep, I used the rails to drag myself to standing. Without stopping to think about why, or what my end goal was, I made sure AJ was watching me, then I reached behind my neck and unhooked my bikini top. My nipples were hard and my breasts felt too heavy to remain contained.

Watching his face, I unhooked the second clasp on my top and it fell to the ground. He made a low sound of approval. My hands slid down my sides, hooking in the waist of my bikini bottom and sliding it down my legs. I stepped out of it and used my toe to fling it away.

Gaze locked on mine, AJ gripped the rails and pulled himself to sitting. His face was inches from my pussy and I got wetter, imagining him closing that space and putting his mouth on me. But I would lose my balance, and there was concrete and it would be bad.

Instead, I stepped around him, making sure to rub against his shoulder, letting him feel how much I needed him. He squeezed my butt, but before he could do more, I moved to the end of the board and dove into the pool.