I even
dreamed
about them that night—but not a dirty dream crazily enough. No, them simply touching me after they snuck into my room and lifted the covers. Weird, right? Who has a dream that their neighbors throw back the bedding and each touch her leg in different spots? Oh, and then they came back later or it was another dream—I wasn’t clear on that—and they touched the other leg.
What the hell had I
eaten
that day to be dreaming
that
?
Whatever it had been, I wanted to make sure to do it again, because ignoring the weird dreams, I’d slept like a baby. I woke before my alarm, feeling refreshed, stress-free, and ready for the day in a way I hadn’t in a
long
time.
Which oddly enough led me to believe it was going to be a bad day… At least I knew I hadn’t had a lobotomy in my sleep! I still had my normal snarky attitude.
I rolled out of bed the next morning, did my normal thing before making coffee, putting in my contacts, brushing my teeth, and then decided to hold off with a shower until after playing with the mower. Why go through cleaning up to get all dirty again? And while I was wearing the same clothes as yesterday I did reapply deodorant and add a little mascara.
Yeah, yeah, I wasn’t going to be a priss for yard work, but I still was a
girl
and they were three hot guys. I was a five-nine and a half, obese, thirty-year-old who didn’t have much going for her but long blonde hair and a nice rack. I had the blonde lashes to match the hair, and it was kinda freaky if I didn’t wear mascara, plus if I didn’t wear the right stuff and regularly, they fell out when I was stressed out.
Which was a lot.
And that freaked me out.
Which
surprisingly
stressed me out even more because my eyelashes kept falling out. Yeah, yeah, vicious circle and all that.
But they were really pretty, long thick ones if I took care of them, so I did. They didn’t make up for me being fat, but I did have nice bright blue eyes that they accented well and, yeah, had to use what I had working for me.
I had
just
gotten the mower out of the garage, lit a smoke, and taken a sip of my coffee when I saw Aspen, Cypress, and Teak heading over—shirtless and looking yummy. I smiled and found myself not being able to meet Aspen’s eyes.
Weird
, right? No, I didn’t know how I was going to handle that situation either. Personally, I was a fan of not bringing it up. Ever.
“Morning,” I greeted as I set down my coffee and squatted next to the mower. “You guys are early risers.”
“We had to get the truck back before they opened and didn’t want to hold you up to start your day,” Cypress explained as he moved next to me, bumping my shoulder. I felt a jolt from it, not static electricity, but almost as if I’d stepped under a cool shower, feeling refreshed from it, simply by our skin touching.
Bizarre.
“Can’t hold up your genius or mess with your flow,” Teak added, moving to the other side of me. His arm brushed my other one, and I felt the same thing. It was hard to explain but I felt lighter again… Like I had when I’d met them and we’d shaken hands.
“You really just want to get on my good side,” I chuckled, rolling my eyes at him.
He gave me a lopsided grin. “I don’t think you have a bad side, Cara.”
“Okay, then. Back to the mower,” I drawled. I quickly checked that there was no oil or gas before standing and walking to the back of the garage. I reached up for the extra bottle of oil I’d been smart enough to stock, but it was on the top shelf, and I couldn’t grasp it. I turned to look for something to step on, gasping when I plowed into Aspen.
“Sorry, I didn’t meant to startle you,” he murmured as he moved his hand onto my hip to steady me, brushing against me and grabbing the oil—
intimately
close. “What were you drinking last night? It looked good.”
“What?” I whispered as I stared into his hunter green eyes.
“Your red drink you had on the deck last night. What was it?”
My cheeks heated so fast I actually felt light-headed as he called me out on what I’d seen. “Strawberry pineapple daiquiri.”
“Mmm, was it tasty?”
“Yes,” I breathed, watching him lower his arm, oil in hand, but not move away from me.
“I wish you had brought it over. Teak and I would have loved to have shared it with you. Would have added to our fun,” he purred as his hand squeezed my hip.
“Aspen,” Cypress said firmly, and his tone made it clear the man should back off.
Aspen nodded that he’d received the message and stepped away. “Maybe we could make a pitcher of them another night? We love trying new drinks.”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat and shrugged, looking anywhere else. I grabbed my gas can and hurried back to the mower. “It’s really no big deal. It’s just strawberry margarita mix but I don’t like tequila so I use Captain Morgan rum instead, throw in some frozen pineapple chunks and ice. Sometimes mangos. It’s tasty without the hangover.”
“That does sound good,” Teak agreed as he took the gas from me. He put it in as Aspen added the oil. Then I gave them the quick tutorial. I’d also thought ahead just in case and had charged the battery to my weed whacker. It had been a good call because they didn’t have one of those either. Aspen took charge of the mower while Teak was like a kid with a new toy once I showed him how to operate the weed whacker.
They thanked me and headed out while Cypress lingered.
“I should go in,” I mumbled as I turned towards the door to the house. “I need to shower and make breakfast.”
“Aspen doesn’t know the meaning of subtle,” he explained. “He’s intense and direct so if he sees something, wants something, or
likes
something, he does not beat around the bush. I’m sorry if he made you feel uncomfortable but he liked you catching them last night. That was his way of saying you didn’t have to go back inside, he and Teak would have welcomed you as an audience. But Aspen respects
no,
so if you’re not comfortable with something, just tell him and he will back off. Please don’t be mad.”
“I’m not,” I sighed, giving him a weak smile. “Thank you for explaining, Cypress. You have to understand it’s a little much. I mean, I just
met
you guys, and it’s kinda like
whoa, what the hell’s going on here?
”
“I do,” he chuckled, shaking his head. Then he gestured over to Aspen and Teak. “
They
don’t. They don’t do boundaries all that well. Teak’s a little like a kitten who gets overly excited and wants everyone he cares for happy and involved in the fun. While Aspen’s more the jungle cat who—well, yeah, you saw. They both have their hearts in the right place but no boundaries.”
“Good to know.” I really wasn’t sure what else to say.
Umm, great. Where do I fit in to all of this? You guys are gay so what do you want from me, I’m just your damn neighbor you just met?
It was the most awkward conversation I’d had in a long time.
But at least I knew it wasn’t just some fucked up game to Aspen to make me feel like a grade A fool.
Cypress let me go after that and I closed up the garage. They were still mowing when I was out of the shower and making my protein shake, our yards huge like that. Even by then, maybe twenty minutes having passed since I’d shown them how to use the mower—which in itself had been a clue—I could tell they’d never mowed a lawn before.
Not that I would ever ask because I wasn’t a person to pry and it was far from my place, but it did make me curious as to the narrative behind how three grown men had never mowed a lawn before. I was an author after all. I did love a good backstory.
Then I burst out laughing when Teak drove the damn thing in the shape of an
eight
through the long grass and waved Aspen and Cypress over to see. For one, it was just too adorable and amusing.
And I’d done it once too and similar goofy things when I’d had my first lawn just because I
could
. Good to know I wasn’t the only dork out there that had fun at strange times.
I got to work then and it was another productive, relaxing day. The guys interrupted me a few times asking for things, but I found the distractions didn’t bother me like normal. They never took up too much time, it was always easy questions, and they were very,
very
appreciative for the help.
And they also brought everything right fucking back that they borrowed. Unlike my last neighbors who moved and had never returned some of my books, True Blood DVDs, and several other items even though I’d asked for them more than once.
That was how things went the next few days, and I noticed some things over that time. First, it was Teak or Cypress who asked, but Aspen was always the one who returned anything. And everything was always in better shape than when they took it. Like the mower. They washed it off, even the wheels so it was spotless, bought another bottle of oil, and had refilled my gas tank.
Made a gal want to loan them anything and everything they wanted since it had been
filthy
when I’d given it to them.
“Thank you so much for letting us use this too, Cara,” Aspen sighed as he set down my fireplace vacuum in my kitchen closet where I kept some of the cleaning supplies hidden behind coats. I’d told him I could just take it from him, but he’d insisted on carrying it in for me. “I’m so sorry we keep asking you for everything. Cypress ordered one of these from Amazon so we won’t klepto yours again. You were right, totally worth the money, easy to use, and amazing.”
“It’s fine, Aspen,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “You guys take good care of my stuff and clean it all out. I really don’t mind. Someone helped me at my first place and that was just a little studio apartment. You three took on a big house.”
“That obvious it’s our first time on our own?” he hedged, nodding when I held out a bottle of water to him. His fingers brushed my hand as he took it, and I’d gotten used to the touching. All three of them liked the physical contact. Maybe they were just touchy-feely kind of people? I wasn’t sure but it wasn’t over-the-top or uncomfortable for me, so I didn’t make it a thing. Plus it gave me that weird little tingle each time, but that had to just be in my mind.
Not having a hot man touch me in so many years could play tricks on the mind like that. At least that was what I told myself.
I shrugged and took a sip of my own water. “I’m really not trying to pry. It’s not my business and I’m not noisy. I know that’s what people say before they start grilling you, but I actually mean it. But yeah, you guys have that
fish out of water
look a lot. It’s cool. I do too still sometimes since I just moved in last year and this is my first time living somewhere rural even if it’s a subdivision. I mean, our properties are a half acre each, on the border of woods which technically is ours. It’s different.”
“Very, very, very,
very
different,” he murmured, staring out the window before taking a long drink. He blinked at me when he was done, realizing what he’d just said. “Fish out of water is a pretty accurate way to put it.”
“You make it sound like you guys were born into a cult or something you broke away from.” Okay, I knew I said I wasn’t prying, but after a hint like that, I dying to know at least that.
Aspen bobbed his head back and forth, considering that one. “Nothing like the religious undertones of a cult, but the same amount of crazy and rules. More high society, old money expectations, ways of thinking and conformity. Anyways, we wouldn’t be acclimating as smoothly as we are without you, Cara. I hope you seriously understand how appreciative of that we are.”
“You guys have helped me too,” I reminded him with a wink. “I can’t believe Teak washed, vacuumed out,
and
hand waxed my car.” That one had shocked the crap out of me. He’d come asking if I had stuff to wash their cars and a Shop-Vac, and the next thing I knew, he was asking for my keys as well. “I swear it’s never looked so pretty.”
“Whatever we can do to help. It’s amazing how much you handle all on your own. We really don’t know how you do it.” His eyes filled fascination, and I didn’t have the heart to remind him it wasn’t like I’d built the last NASA shuttle with my bare hands and hammer.
“It’s a lot of juggling,” I admitted, shrugging again. “But I drop a ball here and there. You just pick it back up when you can and move on.” I glanced at the clock and realized it was time to start thinking about dinner. “Well anything you guys need, I’m here and you have my number now, so you don’t have to run over here and knock on the door. I really don’t mind.”
“We like seeing you though,” he murmured, stepping closer. “And be careful at that offer, Cara.”
“What do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow. He really was such a flirt.
“
Anything
we need?”
I let out a snicker, pushing at his chest. “Don’t start, you goof. Teasing me won’t get me to do your laundry. I don’t do windows, toilets, or floors either. You guys are on your own for that stuff.”