Page 46 of Just My Luck
I stared at my hand as I spun the silver band around my finger. I’d gotten used to its weight, but every time it caught my eye, I got keyed up and didn’t know why.
When she was ready, I opened the truck door for her and tried not to stare at her ass as she climbed in.
I sat behind the wheel and stared out the windshield before starting the truck.
“Want me to drive?” she asked.
I glanced at her but shook my head. “No, I’m good.”
Really fucking good.
The trip home was spent in companionable silence. I watched the road while Sloane fiddled with the radio and rambled on and on about whatever song happened to be playing. By the time we hit my driveway, unused energy was rattling my bones.
My thumb drummed a beat against the steering wheel. “I was thinking... maybe I’ll make some chocolate chip cookies or something for the kids.”
I parked and slicked a hand down my thigh.
Her eyes narrowed in my direction. “What’s going on with you?”
“What do you mean?” I scoffed, avoiding the assessment of her striking hazel eyes. My knee bounced.
Her pointer finger made an accusatory swirl in my direction. “You’re stress baking—or planning to.”
My jaw flexed. “I’m not.”Of course I was.“I just wanted to do something nice for the kids.”
Her lips pursed as if she didn’t believe me. “Well, let’s try something new. What is something that makes you feel better? Something that’s just for you?”
I thought for a moment, unsure if anyone had ever asked me whatIneeded. “Baking.”
Her playful eyes rolled. “Besidesbaking.”
I peered out the windshield and felt the sting of a bright summer sun. “Gardening sometimes helps when I’m... I don’t know—worked up.”
Her eyes flashed with delight. “I love to garden!” She popped open the passenger-side door. “Let’s do it!” Before I could stop her, she was out of the car and hustling toward the house. “I’m going to change. I’ll meet you out there!”
I smiled, shaking my head and wondering how the hell someone with such a happy disposition had hitched themselves to me.
I stared down at the ring on my left hand. It was strange to feel as though something that had never been there before somehow felt perfectly right.
Instead of stewing over it, I rounded the house and pulled out a bucket of hand tools from the garden shed, along with a baseball cap. The gloves would be far too big on Sloane, but at least her hands would be protected. I dropped the bucket beside one of the raised garden beds and looked over the thriving herbs and vegetables.
Moments later, the back doors opened and Sloane bounded down the steps. From the shadow of my ball cap, I watched as her tits bounced and her long, smooth legs gleamed in the summer sun.
My tongue went thick and my mouth went dry as I followed the line from her ankle all the way to where her cutoff denim shorts stopped at her hip.
“Okay, boss. Where do I start?” I had to look away from the sunny smile she shot my way.
I handed her my gloves. “Put those on.”
As I suspected, they were comically large, but she did as she was told. I shifted, trying to decide where to even begin. “I need to weed these beds and then check on the hops.” I gesturedtoward the arch of the cattle panel that had long vines of hops vining up and over the top.
The breeze was gentle and the sun warmed my skin. Sloane wasted no time kneeling in the grass and gently examining the plants. “Anything in between the plants can go, right?”
I nodded. “You got it.”
Seeing Sloane on her knees in front of me was a fresh hell I wasn’t expecting. Instead of staring at her, slack jawed and drooling, I rounded the bed and kneeled across the corner from her. My fingertips brushed across the pepper plants, checking the leaves and making note of the fresh flower buds that were emerging.
“So I recognize the pepper plants. What else is here?” Sloane plucked weeds from beds, but the too-long fingers of my gloves were getting in her way. After only a minute, she ditched them and plopped the discarded gloves beside her.