Despite the feeling of the sun burning her pale freckled shoulders she shivered slightly as a small bead of sweat trickled down her neck, catching that most sensitive spot before continuing down between her shoulder blades and disappearing under the white strappy vest she wore.
The cloying smell of hot tarmac and the glare from the suns reflection in the windows of the shops were giving her a slight headache.
This summer had seemed to stretch on and on, and while the warm evenings, sitting on the grass, drinking beer and laughing with friends had been the best times ever, the long scorching, headachy days, in the smoggy air of outer London were getting a little tiresome.
Today was no exception. Dragging bags of shopping through the town centre in the heat of the midday sun, she cursed as again, her flip-flop slipped from her foot threatening to land her on her rear in front of all the other flustered, overheated shoppers.
Regaining her balance she stormed towards the next shop, longing for the shade and the cool of the air con. Feeling pretty annoyed by this point, she barged through the double doors not paying much attention to where she was going.
The collision only fuelled her anger as she dropped most of her shopping and she was about to give the idiot a piece of mind about looking where they were going (she may have been in the wrong but she sure as hell was not going to admit it right now).
"Thanks a lot mate..." she trailed off as she looked up, and blushed slightly, stopped in her tracks by the darkest, most mischievous brown - hell, almost black - eyes she had ever seen.
Towering over her at around six foot two, he flashed her a cheeky, lopsided smile.
"I'm sorry Miss, let me get those for you," the man who she had barged into, before reading the riot act to answered in a honey-coated deep voice, with a luscious Midwestern American drawl which was certainly a touch more exotic than the usual cockney types you found around here.
She meekly accepted his offer of help and stood there, dumbstruck as he handed her the dropped shopping bags one by one; his fingers brushing hers momentarily with the last one. She couldn't't help staring as he did, the contrast between his deeply tanned, toned arms against her soft, delicately freckled ones and his slender, almost elegant fingers transfixing her for just a moment.
At the sound of him quietly clearing his throat she looked up, again meeting those eyes and realised she had been standing there like an idiot for some time.
"Oh, I'm, erm, sorry; that was my fault entirely, this heat is putting me in a foul mood and I lost my shoe and nearly fell on my arse and I was in a hurry to get inside and I should not have snapped at you like..." she blabbered on until he stopped her.
"That's quite alright Miss, my fault, should have been looking where I was going. How about I get you out of this sun and get you something to cool you down? That is, if you don't mind an old man buying you a drink." He gave her another grin and a wink with that last line. She did not mind one bit.
"Rick," the stranger offered his hand to shake.
"Hey Rick, Jenny," she said in reply, letting his take her hand. He held her hand a half second longer than necessary, and locked his eyes on hers.
As they walked back the way she had come through the town, towards the only half decent pub she could think of locally they made small talk.
He asked about her life, her job in a furniture store in a nearby town.
He told her he was in the area on business, staying near the airport and had ended up in this funny little town after taking a wrong turning.
She jokingly offered her condolences and he responded that it hadn't been all bad, with a raised eyebrow and glint in his eye.
All the while she was looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
She guessed him to be in his late fifties, though he wore it well, his messy, cropped hair a silver grey with flecks of it's once dark brown still showing in places.
He was slim, but looked strong and toned, with just a hint of a tummy starting to appear over he taut muscles, hinting at his real age.
Even so, it looked appealing, for a moment she imagined running her hands over that tummy as he pounded in and out of her.
Realising she was blushing slightly and hoping he had not noticed, she pushed the thought aside for a moment.
She continued to admire him though as she listened to him talking of his hometown in Minnesota, his hobbies etc, the usual small-talk.
He wore a white, short sleeved buttoned shirt, slightly fitted, with his sunglasses hooked over the neckline.
Below that he had beige camouflage combats on, which stopped mid-calf revealing slim, tanned legs and dark grey trekking sandals on his bare feet.
Even his feet looked good, although she usually despised feet.
The way he smiled unarmed her every time. He had thin lips, which would break into a wolfish smile revealing perfect white teeth.
Just 21 years old, she was around five foot six, with long golden, slightly red hair hanging to nearly to her waist.
Dressed in a tight white strappy vest, with no bra to cover her firm 34c breasts, and a plain denim skirt which ended midway down her creamy pale thighs.
On her feet she wore flat white flip flops with pale pink polish on her toes and a delicate silver chain around her ankle.
She was not overweight but was by no means a stick insect either. Her tummy was just softly rounded, and her thighs toned.
Her huge deep brown eyes stood out strikingly against her fair colouring and the blushed cheeks and sprinkling of freckles across her nose gave her a young, fresh faced look.
He walked with long confident strides, hands in pockets as they talked. Every so often his arm would gently brush against her, sending little shivers through her.
Slightly flushed she realised just how attracted she was to this man; she also realised in that moment that he was aware of it too, judging by the little smirk that played on his lips and the amused glint in his eye.
Upon reaching the pub, he held the open and stood aside to let her in, joking that he was "taking no chances this time."
Walking into the cool air of the pub, her skin tingled with goosebumps. He reached a hand out and rubbed her arm momentarily as though she were cold, although this could not have been further from the truth.
"Feels good to be out of that sun eh?" He stated more than asked.
He ordered their drinks, rum & coke for her and a bottled bud for him and they found a quiet corner to sit in, with a chocolate brown leather sofa and a coffee table to put their drinks and her shopping on.
The conversation flowed easily, as did the drinks and gradually the talk turned to their respective love lives, or lack thereof as it turned out.
The air inside was cool thanks to the air-con and his eyes were constantly drawn to her hardened nipples which showed clearly through the thin white material of her vest.
She saw this and the hunger she saw in his eyes turned her on, swelling the pink buds even more.
Sensing the tension, Rick did his best to relieve it a little; changing the subject of conversation by enquiring about her afternoons shopping.
