hot chocolate clouded his mind. He couldn’t
believe his thought process, but ever since she’d mentioned the
pit, he imagined her wearing one of his sweaters that of course
would be too big for her and giggling as she made the tasty treats.
She seemed the type to like s’mores and other fun
things.
Tapping his finger on his desk, he
reached out to grab his phone to dial her number. The Botanical
Gardens were closed on Mondays, but she’d mentioned in her email
that she would be there for a private tour for a celebrity until
three in the afternoon. It was a few minutes after the hour, and
he’d wanted to call her since yesterday after she’d abruptly left.
Teresa showing up unannounced had messed up his plans to get to
know Traci better. He’d been intrigued with her since he’d heard
her infectious laugh. However, thanks to Teresa, Traci had
hightailed it out of his home so fast as if it was on fire. He’d
noticed her eyes had glanced toward the handcuffs and the whip on
the island. He hoped she didn’t think he was some sort of Dom or
into S&M because he wasn’t. However, sex wasn’t vanilla to him,
either. Sean didn’t mind mixing in a little kink every now and then
to spice the moment up, or give into any fantasies or role playing
a woman may want … within reason.
He scrolled through his cell phone
until he found her name and pushed the call button. Grabbing the
plans he wanted to discuss, he leaned back in his black leather
swivel chair and was elated to hear her thick, sweet voice in his
ear.
“ Hello?” she asked in an
upbeat tempo.
“ Hey, this is Sean
Arrington.”
“ Hi. Did you have a moment
to look over my ideas?”
“ I did. I really love the
one with the fire pit and the outdoor daybed under the pergola. Not
sure how I feel with all floral vines, though. May be a bit too
girlie for me.”
“ That can be changed.
There’s other vines that don’t have flowers or very minimal ones.
Anything else?”
He closed the folder and slid it into
his briefcase. “Nope. I’m excited to see the finished
project.”
“ Cool. I was on my way to
the nursery that I usually use for projects outside of work even
though I’m buying all of your roses from the Botanical Gardens.
We’re having a sale this weekend, and I receive an employee’s
discount.”
“ That’s good. I’m all about
saving money.” He paused, glancing at his computer screen, which
showed a picture of her on the Botanical Gardens website next to
her bio. He’d learned a lot about her and her responsibilities at
the gardens. Plus, he’d enjoyed staring at her picture.
“ I can tag along if you
don’t mind.” He couldn’t believe he’d just said that. He wasn’t
that interested in shopping for flowers, but he wanted to see her
again.
“ Um … okay … sure. What
time do you get off?”
“ I’m off now. I can meet
you there in an hour.”
“ Okay. I’ll text you the
address.”
After they said their good-byes, he
jumped up and grabbed his suit jacket that was draped across the
back of his chair. He slid his notes from his last session into a
folder and proceeded to lock it in the file cabinet. Heading out of
the office door, he was met with a radiant smile from Raven, his
oldest sister. Her natural, thick curls were swept up into a bushy
ponytail on top of her head while a few tendrils rested on her
forehead, causing her to look younger than forty-one years
old.
“ Hey, you’re out of here?”
she asked, readjusting the stethoscope that rested on her white
coat.
“ Yep, I have an appointment
with Traci Reed. She’s landscaping my backyard.”
“ Right, Mother told me.
It’s about time. All that green grass is just plain boring. I was
delighted when Traci and Mother gave my front yard some curb
appeal.”
“ Are you on call
tonight?”
“ Nope. I switched with
another Ob-Gyn. Armand and I are taking the twins to a pottery
class for children and then pizza.”
Raven’s face beamed with