After she left me standing in the bar, I missed her immediately. Completely unable to believe that she never gave me her name, but we shared something so intimate, was killing me. I had decided that I’d find her again somehow, no matter what it took. I’d run into her three times in a matter of days; I’d be able to find her again. As luck would have it, sooner than I’d imagined.

The next morning, I got my coffee started and, while thinking about my mystery girl, got ready for my appointment. It was finally the day I’d get to see the inside of the old Brennan house. I knocked on the huge wooden door, when someone shouted back from the other side, asking who it was.

“Flynn Healy. The contractor you hired. I have an appointment with Jacinda? Jacinda Brennan?” I replied, thinking it odd they weren’t expecting me. I glanced down at my watch; I was a few minutes early, but not by much. For me, on time meant late. And late meant rude. It was how I was raised, and how I operated.

I heard some muffled noises, and scurrying behind the door, right before a small voice uttered, “Son of a bitch!” in what I think was to be a hushed tone, but definitely wasn’t. A chuckle escaped me and I took a small step back from the door, to see if I could see through the window panel at the side of the door.

“Uh, I have an appointment, is this a bad time?” I called out to the door.

“Um, no. Just a minute. Hang on. I’ll be right there,” she replied, with another string of muffled curse words. Just then, the door flung open, and there she was. My dream girl. Wearing a towel.

My mouth fell open, and words failed me.

“Yeah. It’s me. I need to get dressed, I had an accident in the bathroom,” she said, trying to play off the fact that she was dripping wet and wearing nothing but a towel, standing before me. “Oh fuck, not that kind of accident. I fell. It’s whatever. Anyway, just stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Left without a chance to reply, I remained where I stood and watched her limp up the stairs, holding onto the handrail carefully as she moved.

“Do you need help?” I managed to blurt out.

“Uh, no thank you,” she replied from the top of the stairs, as if it was a crazy question. I mean, maybe it was. I was completely unsure of the protocol for such an occasion as meeting the nameless woman of your dreams in a towel, soaking wet, after you had amazing sex the night before, where she has subsequently somehow injured herself. I’m pretty sure that’s not in any handbook.

I leaned toward the room to my left while staying in place, just to get a glimpse of the interior as I waited for Jacinda to come back. Jacinda. What a beautiful name. It was befitting of her. My mind brought me back to the night before - reminding my cock, of course - and as I stood there with a half hard-on, soon to be a full one forming, she hobbled back down the stairs.

“Are you alright?” I asked earnestly.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” She seemed out of breath.

“So… umm… Jacinda, is it?” I grinned. I couldn’t help it. I caught her and beat her at her own game.

Pursing her lips into a sneer, she nodded. “Yes, Jacinda Brennan.”

“You left in quite a hurry last night,” I stated, expecting a reply other than her agreeance.

“Yes, yes I did.”

Unsure of how to play my cards, I decided that I’d just make it about work, and try to win over her trust that way, before making my moves on the rest of her again.

“Ok, well. You hired me; what can I do for you?”

She looked surprised, as though she expected me to continue asking questions about the evening prior. “Ah, yes. I did.” She looked around. “I inherited this house. It is painfully clear that it needs some work, and there are several things that I simply cannot fix on my own. I’d like your help bringing it up to code, so that I can put it on the market by the end of the summer. Is that something you are able to do?”

“Well, that seems feasible, but I’d need to take a look around and see what we’re getting ourselves into here. No one has lived in this house for quite a while. I’m sure you already know that, though.” I relaxed my stance, and began wandering in the direction of the living room area, which had magnificent pieces of hand carved furniture.

“Sure, of course. Please.” She waved her hand in the direction I was already walking and watched as I took in the home, mentally noting obvious things that needed work, but also enjoying the moment. Being in her presence was both calming, and exciting, and I was going to take my time.

“Do you want to take me upstairs?”

“What? Why?” she asked defensively.

“So that I can see what needs to be done?” I replied, chuckling slightly. Her mind was exactly where mine was, and I loved it. She could pretend all she wanted, but it was obvious; she wanted me back. My heart began pounding rapidly against my chest at the thought.

“Oh! Yes, of course. Sorry.” She shrugged, and began to pull herself back up the stairs, although she looked like she was in quite a bit of pain.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” I began to reach out to her, then pulled my hand back sharply. I didn’t want to move too quickly and scare her off, but I was growing concerned about her.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m ok. I slipped and fell in the bathroom, just a few minutes before you got here, so I’m still reeling from that a bit.” She gingerly rubbed her lower back, just above her ass. What I wouldn’t do to reach out and touch her again; it was all I could think about. She paused for a moment before I followed her to the top of the stairs. As she leaned against the wall in the hallway, she waved her hand to what was likely the bedroom and the master bath. “I’m just gonna wait right here; you go ahead and look around.”

I was getting a little concerned for her; she seemed to be in quite a bit of pain. Probably the shock of falling had worn off, and her injury was setting in. It must have been a nasty fall. As I looked around, I noted that the drywall needed to be patched or replaced in several places. In fact, every room in the entire house needed to be patched, sanded, and painted, if she was hoping to get market value for the house. Additionally, the handrail needed to be fixed. When I saw her leaning on it, I had grown concerned that she’d break it right off, as tightly as she was holding onto it.

Once I glanced into the bathroom and saw the remnants of what happened, I looked back at her from the doorway. “Did that shower head snap right off?” I asked, noticing it on the floor across the bathroom.

“It sure did,” she replied, rolling her eyes.

“Jesus Christ. You’re lucky it didn’t hit you.” If the pressure was enough to blow it clean off the pipe, it could have knocked her out. Hell, it could have killed her, really.

“Well, it turns out that karma had other plans for me. Once I dodged that, the water shooting out; almost knocked me over. And, if that weren’t enough, what really almost killed me was that I was too lazy to walk across the room to get a towel. I thought that stretching to grab it while standing in a puddle on an old tile floor was wise, and I lost my balance.” She winced as she recalled what happened, while I stood in front of her, mouth wide open in shock.

“Fuck, Jacinda. Let me see where you fell.” I approached her in two steps, and she pressed herself closer to the wall.

“No, no, it’s fine. Really.” She lightly pushed me.

“Let me see,” I demanded.

As her shoulders dropped, she gave in, turning around for me to assess the injury. I tugged lightly at the top of her yoga pants to get a look, where a giant purple bruise was already forming. She hissed when I pushed lightly on her hip and lower back; clearly, she was in much more pain than she was letting on.

“Ouch, that hurts, stop messing with me!” She finally smacked my hand away, which in all fairness, was getting close to that beautiful ass.

“I’m taking you to see Doc.” I righted myself, and crossed my arms over my chest authoritatively.

“You’re not taking me anywhere,” she replied petulantly.

“Listen, you need an x-ray. You might have actually broken something. It’s already five shades of purple, and it just happened. It’s not a request.”

“I don’t need to go to some doc,” she said dramatically.

“Oh, but you do. Come on, I’ll carry you. You need to stop walking on it until you get it checked out.” I moved forward to pick her up.

“Slow down there, cowboy. You’re not carrying me anywhere, like some kind of caveman. I can walk. I’ll go, but only because I’m actually in a ton of pain, and it’s getting worse. Not because you said so.” She wanted that made very clear with her finger pointed in my chest.

“Listen, honey. I’m gonna carry you down these stairs. If you want to walk to my truck, fine. But I’m taking you to Doc’s right now, and then I’ll bring you back so you can rest. We can talk about what needs to be done to this house and make a plan. Deal?” I was going to let her think she was calling the shots, but there was no way she was walking anywhere until Doc had a look at her. That bruise was nasty, and even for a young person, you can break a hip falling on a tile floor like that.

She pursed her lips into the sideways smile I was starting to grow fond of, and nodded before huffing, “Fine.”

I picked her up in one smooth movement, which was easy, considering how small she was, and she immediately leaned into my chest. Her hair was still damp from the shower incident, which is what we’ll be referring to this as from now on. I could smell her shampoo, and that honeysuckle I’d enjoyed so much before. Something about this girl was reeling me in, and it had nothing to do with how delicious she’d tasted; even though putting my lips on her had crossed my mind about a thousand times in the last half hour.

Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, she didn’t fight me to get down to walk, so I carried her right out the front door to my truck. Carefully, I opened the door and placed her in the passenger seat, trying not to jostle her too much. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m ok,” she said quietly, her eyes focused on her hands.

I lifted her chin so her crystal blue eyes would meet mine. “It’s gonna be ok. I promise.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, looking defeated as tears brimmed, ready to fall.