CHAPTER 1.
I lost my Mexican handyman who kept my sprawling property so neat and tidy. Out of the blue, Javier simply announced he was going on to other things. Shit! Now I have to look for someone new.
Cruising back home through our small gated community, I don't know why, but I stopped in front of a neighbor's property to ask for a business card. Maybe I was intrigued by the massive Ram 2500 Heavy Duty truck with its large utility wagon companion in tow. This behemoth piece of silver metal was parked quietly on the far edge of the property like a dutiful servant awaiting a call to action.
I didn't know who the boss was, so I rolled down my window and shouted to the nearest landscape guy dressed mainly in tattoos blanketing muscular arms stretched out from his well-worn work clothes.
"Who's in charge?" was my shout out.
"Just a minute, I'll get him" was Tattoo Man's reply, heard slightly above the engine whine of leaf blowers crisscrossing the property.
The owner of this small landscape company stepped from the backside of the house with a lit cigarette in hand, strode towards me, and then leaned against the passenger side of my vehicle.
I powered down my right-side window.
"Yes? You want something?" were the initial words from his husky, deep baritone voice.
"Do you have a business card?" was my question, followed by an inquiry as to if he had time to stop by and give me some estimates, as a potential new client."
"Exactly where do you live? Oh? Just down there." Phone numbers were then exchanged. "Let me text you. OK, in about a half hour."
I awaited his text: "Pulling up on property now." From my front window, I watched that behemoth Ram 2500 carefully maneuver into my circular driveway, with his half-asleep workers resting in the back of his cab.
He rang the front door bell and I promptly answered. I was most anxious to try out a new landscaping service.
There stood Josh at about 5' 2" -- shorter than I am, but as stocky and square a body frame as I had ever seen. Square? Heavy set, short legs, but a voice that any woman could easily get ensnared in. He tipped his baseball cap to reveal what must have been recently buzz cut hair, with slight greying around his goatee. I noticed a fairly evident scar on his right cheek.
From his first words at my door, it was his larger-than-life personality that unexpectedly caught my attention. "What can I do for you, Madame?" was his opening question.
"Let's walk the back property and you give me some quotes for clean-up" was my reply.
"Please...after you" and his calloused hands made a sweeping, gentlemanly gesture for me to lead the way and him to follow. He was smiling.
So began our conversations.
Have you ever had someone that you immediately just clicked with? It's as if two souls have been in dialogue forever. Looking back, maybe I was fortunate to experience the sensation of seamlessly being with another person just one time -- almost from a straight away introduction. That was with my late husband.
Other women have confided that they never ever had that sensation with a man -- even the man that they eventually married. It's the kind of feelings where sparks of unseen, but certainly felt energy are flinging recklessly all over the place instantaneously between two people. You also notice that your heart beat has picked up its pace.
As we walked my property, very unexpectedly that sensation has struck me again. In his late fifties, I suspect Josh felt it, too as he was close to my elbows, very chatty and most certainly extremely attentive. For a large, kind of awkward man to now move with such grace, it was as if we were in a heated, sensuous tango -- but only with our words.
Preposterous that my innermost lustful desires were awakening! From the moment of these very first conversations, Josh and I shared the splendid gift of repartee, punctuated with double entendres. On the surface, our words were about landscaping; but on the underside, it was all about carnal implications. No explanations were necessary. We clearly understood one another.
Josh and I were now feeling each other's boundaries regarding sexual appetites. But business remained at hand. I was given a fair work estimate; and, subsequent to our meeting, Josh did the clean-up landscaping work.
I couldn't wait to text him for another job. What? Am I blushing? You betcha! And even then, the very thought of him was making my woman parts secrete wet spots against my panties. Most certainly, this was capricious behavior -- I must say at my age!
CHAPTER 2.
Josh did return for another work estimate. On our property walk about, he stretched his massive arm out for me to wrap myself around. Unthinkingly, I did! God, this guy's biceps are solid muscle. So we walked and talked and laughed and teased.
I had done my research on Josh and, as we crossed my backyard bridge spanning a dry rock river bed, I brought the subject up.
"Why didn't you tell me your background?" was my opening volley.
"Why, is that so important to you" was his somewhat agitated retort.
It seems that Josh had spent well over a decade incarcerated on numerous charges -- mainly drug running and a couple of DUI's.
