Rider

The next morning I'm woken by the sun shining directly onto my face and the racket of at least a hundred children all chattering and laughing at the same time. At first I couldn't get to sleep, kept tossing and turning, but I slept like a baby once I realized Chloe probably lied about having a boyfriend. No sane man would let her run around in a wet t-shirt looking for manual laborers. And if whoever she's with did, he doesn't deserve her.

The chatter of children finally fades, and I can hear a faint knock on the door.

"Rider? Are you up?" Chloe's voice comes through.

"Yeah, give me a sec," I say and bolt out of bed to find my jeans and shirt. I slept in my boxers and I'm not about to open the door wearing just those, however much I might like her to see just how hard I am for her. The problem last night was that I came on too strong. Chloe's the type of girl that needs low key coaxing. I'm pretty good at that too.

"Good morning," I say, opening the door wide.

She's wearing a different shirt and shorts today, her long, wild hair tied back with a pink bandana. She looks even better in full daylight than she did under the hazy lights in the bar, or by moonlight. That's not always the case with women I meet in bars.

"'Morning. Ready to get started?" she asks, giving me one of her glowing smiles.

"Aren't you quite the slave driver?" I say. "How about some breakfast and coffee first."

She smiles even wider, handing me a paper bag. "All taken care of. I made you a sandwich and there's some fruit in there too. As for coffee, we're out, unfortunately, but I'm going shopping later."

I take the bag from her and peer inside. "This is almost as good as breakfast in bed."

She knows exactly what I'm talking about, and I can see her struggle not to roll her eyes. But she's still smiling.

"Me and Ed found some shovels and such," she says, pointing at a dark-haired guy standing at the foot of the stairs. I only just noticed him, and there's no mistaking the pure, dark jealousy behind his thick rimmed glasses as he looks up at me. If this is her boyfriend then I have no competition at all. This guy doesn't deserve her, period.

"Were those the orphans I heard going past before?" I ask while we're descending the stairs.

"Yes. They have their morning classes now, but they'll come help us dig later," she says, then points to the guy. "And this is Eduardo."

"Rider," I say, shaking his hand too firmly, judging by his wince. I was right, he's actually a weakling.

They brought a bunch of shovels and whatnot with them, and I'm the one wincing, as I check the tools I'll be forced to work with. They're all old and rusty, the wooden handles chipped away. When dry, the mud around here is as hard as concrete, and the sun is very quickly taking care of that. These ancient tools will not make for a fun day of work. But I'm used to hard work, and besides, I'll do anything to make Chloe like me. Jesus, I sound like a twelve year old thinking that. But it's kinda true too.

"So it's just the three of us?" I ask, looking around. "Will your boyfriend be joining us too?"

They both gasp at the same time, Ed harder than Chloe. He's glaring at her now, and her cheeks are growing redder and redder.

As I thought, there is no boyfriend. But I think this Ed dude really wants to be. Since I got my answer, there's no need to embarrass her further, so I just pick up a bunch of the tools they brought and head to the building we examined yesterday, then up the ravine. They follow a few paces behind.

The ground here is still muddy, which is good, since it'll help me better judge where the ditch needs to go. But my feet are sinking into it up to the ankles in places, which is less good.

Once I reach the top, I dump the shovels onto a dry patch of ground, take out the sandwich she brought me, and start eating as I walk around trying to find the origin of all that damn water. It comes down hard somewhere, but since everything is drying so fast, it's hard to tell where.

Chloe and Eduardo are talking in fast, clipped voices, but they're whispering, so I can't understand what they're saying. But I already know. He's not happy I'm here.

And he won't be happy to hear I'm staying for at least a week or two. Because I just found the origin of all the water. And it will take more than a week of digging to divert it. Hell, with no machinery and no real man power apart from myself, it could take a month. That's about my upper limit for staying in the same spot. But Chloe's gonna make it all worth it.

* * *

Chloe

I have to stop smiling at him every chance I get. But he's here helping me, because he likes me, and even though nothing will happen between us I keep defaulting back to the friendly, smiling girl I used to be. I don't even have to force it when I smile at him, I'll give him that.

He also seems to know what he's doing, so all that about working in construction and living in Alaska where he solved a similar problem maybe wasn't a lie.

He’s been inspecting the streams for almost half an hour now. He's neither smiling nor grinning anymore.

"The way I see it, most of the water comes down past that big house over there," he says, pointing at Dom Gustavo’s residence. "The best thing to do would be to ask them to divert the water using tubes and pipes. Do you have any contact with them?"

"No one lives there now," I say. "Dom Gustavo funded the orphanage while he was alive the best he could. But he died just over a month ago. That house and this land was all he had and he left it to the orphanage."

"So sell the house, and then you can fund this project," Rider says. "Or just move the kids into that huge house, and let those rickety bungalows get washed away."

I share a look with Ed. Gustavo did leave everything to the orphanage, but no one will buy his house or the land. The cartel operating in this area is trying to just take it from us. But I don't want to tell Rider all that, because I don't want to frighten him off. I have a plan to offer the cartel the house and most of the land, if they let us keep the part where the orphanage is, but I haven't yet managed to find out who to talk to about that.

"You said a ditch would work," I say instead. "Where should we put it?"

He gives me an amused, questioning look. "You need a ditch going all around that settlement of yours down there. And the point where it starts needs to be a deep, wide pool right there." He points to a spot to the left and about twenty yards from Gustavo's home. "I'd hate to attempt that without a bulldozer, but you say you have no heavy machinery. Can we rent one from someone in the village?"

"No." I was willing to dip into my savings, or, rather, go even deeper into debt to hire someone by offering lots of money to the local workers for their help, but they're all too scared of the cartel.

Rider shakes his head. "Alright, well, let's do some planning. And then me and Ed here will get started. I'm sure he's dying to get some work out of those muscles of his."

Ed has muscles, sure, but he's half Rider's size, so that was a clear jibe, which I'm sure Ed understood as such.

"I'm gonna help too," I say to forestall any argument between them.

"This is man's work," Rider says, and even though he's grinning, I think he might actually be serious.

"Nonsense. You'll need all the help you can get, and I don't mind getting my hands dirty."

Somehow he took that in a sexual way, because his eyes just softened and fixed on my breasts for a second.

"Why don't you go make us some nice lemonade and bring back whatever other guys are working here. Your boyfriend for starters." He knows I lied about that, there's no doubt in my mind. But he's not asking directly, so I'm not admitting to the lie.

"The only other adult working here is Olivia, and she'll come and help once the morning lessons are done," I say instead. "Now tell me where to start digging."

"There's just the three of you taking care of all those kids?" he asks. "There must be fifty of them going by the noise they made this morning."

"There’s twenty of them," Eduardo says. "Ranging in ages from seven to fourteen."

"That's a lot of kids for just three people to take care of," Rider says, and he sounds genuinely concerned.

"There were more of us, but they left after Dom Gustavo died. It was because—"

"More will come," I interrupt Eduardo's explanation before he mentions the situation with the cartel. He sounds very confrontational, and the last thing we need is him driving Rider away.

"Unlikely," Ed huffs, but doesn't continue talking after I give him a sharp look. We already discussed and agreed that it's best we keep Rider in the dark about our problem with the cartel for as long as possible, so he doesn't bolt on us. But I think Ed wants exactly that to happen.

"Alright, if that's the case we better get digging," Rider says, shooting me another grin. "Hopefully the reinforcements will arrive to relieve us soon."

I don't smile at him this time, since that was a bold faced lie on my part. No one's coming, and I think Olivia is about to leave too.

Rider marks off the site for the pool and the beginnings of the two ditches, which will come out of it. After that he starts digging, and me and Ed do the same.

Within less than an hour, sweat is running down my face, which must be as red as Ed’s, while Rider is not even winded. I keep swinging away with the shovel, trying to ignore the fact that all of the work we've done so far is about one millionth of what's left to do.

Soon my arms feel like lead and my back is burning, but I won't admit defeat. The only indication that Rider is feeling the effects of the work is the fact that he took off his shirt. So now I'm forced to ignore the bulky muscles in his arms and wide back flexing and extending, which is proving very hard. I wouldn't mind sitting in the shade, sipping some lemonade and watching him work all day. I'd bring him some too, once in a while, so he could quench the thirst he's building up.

I shake my head to get that picture out of my head. I'm not that kind of woman. I don't need to be taken care of by a man.

My shovel hits a giant rock, and the jarring impact makes me lose my balance. My legs and arms were already shaking from tiredness before and now they won't support me as I try to stay upright, causing me to land ass first in the mud.

Rider stops digging, trying really hard not to laugh, as he strides over and offers his hand to help me up. "You alright there, Chloe? Maybe you should take a break."

I wave his arm away and stand up on my own, brushing the mud off my ass and legs, very aware my face must be tomato red right now.

"I'm serious, take a break," he says. "It's hot, and you're not used to this kind of hard work."

"I'm fine," I say, picking up my shovel although I'm not sure I can actually lift it again.

But I do. And I feel his gaze on my back as I start digging again, hotter than the sun beating down. He doesn’t like me giving him the cold shoulder all the time, that much is clear from his face. But I'm so tired, I just don't care.

So I just keep digging, and I'll do it until I pass out. He may be the hottest guy I've seen in practically forever, and he wants me, but that doesn't mean I have to take him to bed.

I hear the chatter of the children approaching right before the first of them appear on top of the hill. The sun is blasting right down onto us now, so I guess it must be noon and the end of their lessons.

Rider sees them too, and sticks his shovel into the ground, looking at them with a smile on his face. "Looks like the reinforcements have arrived. And not a moment too soon, right, Chloe?"

Oh, the kids were the reinforcements he was talking about before. I'm probably purple in the face from the exertion, and I'm also pretty much covered in mud. As far as I'm concerned he's totally right. So I just smile at him and shrug.

The first of the children reach us, and Rider is looking from on to the other, smiling even wider than he smiles at me.

"You guys look strong," he says to Diego and Pedro, the two oldest boys who are staring at him like he's from another planet.

"You speak English, don't you?" Rider asks.

"Yes," Pedro says. "Who are you?"

"I'm Rider," he says. "And I'm here to help you dig a ditch. And what is your name?"

"I'm Pedro and this is Diego. What is a ditch?"

Rider smiles even wider and then explains all about what we're doing, talking slowly and with perfect diction to make sure they understand. I would never have guessed he can speak such flawless English. "You two want to give me a hand here? I think Chloe needs a break, don't you?"

The rest of the children reached us while Rider was explaining what we're doing, and they all look at me now.

"She does look very tired. Her face is red." Diego says, giggling. The others giggle too, nodding their heads. And I'm pretty sure my face just turned even redder.

"Alright, alright.” I try to stick my shovel in the ground like Rider did, but it barely breaks the surface, and just falls. "Maybe I do need a break."

"So how about it?" Rider asks them, while grinning over his shoulder at me.

Diego rushes forward to pick up my shovel. Eduardo gets his shovel taken away by Pedro, and I think he's just as happy as me to go find some shade to rest in. Rider, on the other hand, looks as rested as he was this morning as he gives the children instructions.

"And the rest of you can go find some wood and rocks, so we can reinforce this hole we're digging," Rider is telling them. "The ground is hard now, but the mud it turns into when it rains is just like play doh. Do you know what play doh is?"

None of them do, so he explains that to them too with a lot of gesturing and demonstrating.

Rider is the last person in the world I'd expect to take this naturally to children, but he looks like he's right where he belongs, and even the shy ones are asking him questions before long.

"Where did you find this man?" Olivia asks, fixing her glasses as she looks at Rider, and only barely concealing the giggle in her voice.

"She picked him up in Fernando's bar last night," Ed answers instead of me, and he doesn't sound pleased about it at all.

"Well, I don't blame you," Olivia says, winking at me. “I better go see if he has a job for me too. You go take your break."

Olivia is a black haired, skinny and geeky girl, but she's a hundred times more confident than anyone I know. I love her dearly, but as she goes up to Rider and starts chatting to him I feel the strongest pang of jealousy. Stronger than any I've felt before. But it passes just as quickly. They should hook up, then maybe he'll stop looking at me with that stark desire in his eyes. I'm not ready to be with a guy, even if he's a hunky, muscled god of a man, who's also great with the orphaned children that mean everything to me.