They soon pulled up to the house as it was only a few minutes away from the apartment building. Summer stared in awe at the beauty of it. Sure, it needed paint to its once white columns and trim. It needed nails in the loose and fallen shutters. The front porch and railing needed mending, but when it was done it would be fit for a king.
Scaffolding was already attached to the front of the house for the workers to use to reach the high sections of the home as well as the roof.
Summer climbed out of Dana's small car and the sound of loud hammers and saws overwhelmed her.
Summer managed to whisper, "Wow."
She stared at the tangles of bushes that must have once been beautiful. They lined the entire front of the house. A few pink flowers were trying to emerge from some of them. Once someone got their hands in the front garden it had the potential of being gorgeous again.
Dana walked around a neatly stacked pile of building materials. "It's great isn't it?"
Summer followed Dana and gingerly walked up the broken stairs "It's incredible."
"Careful, ladies," an extremely good looking guy with dirty blond hair warned them as they came onto the porch.
He lifted up his sweaty, white, shirt from his stomach, showing the girls a nice set of six pack abs. He wiped his dirty, sweaty, face with it.
He looked from Dana to Summer and then back to Dana again. "There are lots of loose and rotten boards."
"Just like you. Can you be anymore disgusting?" Dana asked, gesturing to his sweaty stomach.
He pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it towards Dana. It landed on her head, covering her face.
Dana shrieked,"You are so immature," as she wrestled the offending shirt off her head. Shirt finally in hand, she threw it fiercely back at him.
"I know you are, but what am I?" he taunted in a childlike singsong voice.
He looked apologetically over at Summer. "Excuse us. We've got to get in our daily bickering. It's like a caffeine kick, wouldn't you say, Dane?" He winked at Dana.
"I prefer caffeine," Dana grumbled.
Summer couldn't help but stare at the many scars running across the guy's chest.
His face sobered as he took notice of Summer's reaction."You should've seen the other guy." He pasted on a nonchalant smile, but Summer noticed a flash of pain in his eyes before he neutralized his expression.
Summer dropped her gaze to the porch floorboards, embarrassed to be caught looking at his injuries. Obviously, the scars had been a source of pain both physically and emotionally for him. Out of the corner of her eye, Summer saw him pull his shirt back on.
"Sorry, I'm Summer." She put out a hand to him, trying to cut the tension in the air from her faux pas and the fact that he and Dana still shot daggers at each other with their eyes.
He quickly wiped his hands on his jean clad legs and shook her outstretched hand while giving Summer a sexy grin. "Colt James. Nice to meet you."
Dana rolled her eyes and tucked her arms across her chest.
Colt knelt down and searched for something in his toolbox.
Dana cleared her throat. "Summer's going to be staying with Jesse while I'm away for the summer."
He looked up at her in surprise. "Wait. What? Where are you going?"
Dana shrugged."Business trip to Italy."
He frowned. Colt pulled out an odd looking tool from the box and stood up. He looked at Summer. "Did you tell the U.N to warn Italy she's coming?"
Summer laughed. "It must have slipped my mind."
"For how long?" he asked Dana, ignoring the daggers.
"For. The. Summer," Dana reiterated.
"Three months," he repeated, almost in shock. After a minute, he shook his head. "God help Italy, and God bless the U.S.A," he said with a mischievous grin.
"Are you done? Got your kick?"
Colt looked up to the sky in thought, "I think that'll hold me for a while," he said with a sigh. "Three months? I'm not sure about though. I might have to call you. Get in my morning kick. It'd be worth the long distance bill."
Dana shook her head at a loss at what else to retort. He grinned that she had no response.
She glared back at him. Colt was so irritating."Where's Jesse?"
"Last I saw he was out back," He muttered, picking up the toolbox from the wooden floor. "It was nice meeting you, Summer," he said, turning to her.
Summer gave him a friendly smile. She didn't know what was going on between Colt and Dana, but he seemed like a nice guy. "You too, Colt."
He looked over to Dana as if he was going to say something. Dana raised an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes and walked away.
Dana opened the screen door and led Summer inside. "What the heck was that all about?" Summer asked, closing the door behind her.
"Don't worry about it. He only fights with me. People tell me he's actually a rather pleasant fellow. But, I've yet to see it," Dana told her as she led Summer straight through the grand foyer. It had dusty hardwood floors which Summer was sure must have once gleamed like a mirror, and she hoped one day would again.
They stepped over tools in the middle of the hallway. Large white columns led the way to a large dining room. Summer gingerly walked up the broken stairs. "He seems like a nice guy. Pretty hot too." Summer looked to her friend for a reaction.
"If you like barbarians," Dana muttered, and led them outside through a space where a French door should have been. The back wall of the house had large, gaping, open spaces where French doors were to be replaced. Summer knew this as several doors had already been put in.
Summer hesitated before asking quietly, "Do you mind my asking what happened to his chest?"
Dana shrugged. "He doesn't talk about it. He's had the scars as long as I can remember. He just says 'ha,ha, you should've seen the other guy'. He likes to make people think he was in some kind of fight. It makes him feel more like a man. I think he was really in a car wreck or something when he was little. His parents are both dead. He moved here when Jesse's grandparents took him in, when we were kids."
Summer didn't know what else to say. Poor Colt.
Dana led her across the loose boards of the deck, down the loose boards of stairs to the solid ground below. Summer laid her eyes on the most fantastic specimen of a man she'd ever seen. Colt had been a great looking guy, but this guy took her breath away.
The man had no shirt on and was soaked in, what she believed, could only be sweat. His sun-tanned, perfectly sculpted, chest and ab muscles gleamed from it. He leaned over a door which was mounted across two wooden tool horses. He was pushing some sort of power tool across the wood, emphasizing his well toned biceps.
His blonde hair was cut short in almost a buzz cut, the top center of his hair was long, giving him long bangs, which fell dangerously close to his eyes as he leaned over. He had light stubble around his jaw, which gave him a sexy rugged look.
He wore cut-off jean shorts that were covered in paint and dirt. His calves bulged in strength as he leaned into the power tool. His feet, which were encased in tan hiking boots, and covered in dirt and paint, gripped the green grass beneath him. And there, her eyes tried to remain.
She had seen a picture of Jesse before. Dana had showed her in college. She remembered he was extremely cute. But he had matured. Now, he was drop dead, knock your socks off- and everything else- sexy.
"Aren't you supposed to be using goggles or something?" Dana called to him as she led Summer down the small hill towards him. He continued what he was doing for another minute and then set the tool down. Jesse looked up, his light green eyes flickered quickly over to Summer, and then back to her friend.
He flashed them a smile."Only when you're around."
"Phone?" Dana asked him.
Jesse frowned. "Huh?" Then realizing what she meant, he patted the pockets of his shorts absently. "Damn. Sorry."
"Hopeless."
He looked in interest behind her. "Introductions?"
Dana gestured between both of them. "Jesse. Summer. Summer. Jesse,"
He wiped his hands on a nearby towel and came towards them. He shook Summer's weak hand. "Nice to finally meet you," Jesse told her, looking Summer in the eye, making her legs sink into quicksand. "and to finally put a face to the voice over the phone."
Summer stared at those gorgeous sea green eyes and tried, desperately, not to blush. "You too."
Dana wiped her forefinger down his back. "Ew, gross, is that sweat?"
"That's what happens when you work," he retorted, pulling his eyes away from Summer. Jesse handed Dana a hammer."Wanna try it?"
Dana pushed it away and wiped her hands on his towel. "That's quite alright."
Jesse looked down at himself. "Um, I'm disgusting." He let out a light laugh and sent an apologetic smile to Summer. He took the towel from Dana and wiped his chest, drawing Summer's eyes back to his perfection. Jesse moved to wipe his arms. "Can I meet you guys somewhere? I'll just run home and take a quick shower."
Jesse looked again at the beautiful woman that was watching him. Her pretty honey blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail and was curling around the edges of her face in the heat. Her cheeks, and the pale skin on her arms were turning pink from the sun. Her sky blue eyes intrigued him as she studied him. Jesse wasn't sure what she was thinking, but he was sure it probably wasn't good considering that he was covered in sweat and dirt, and probably stank to high heaven. Not the best way to meet your new roommate.
"Please do," Dana insisted, waving a hand under her nose. "I was thinking of taking her to Joe's. That okay?" Dana looked curiously at the two of her friends studying each other. She hoped it worked out. Dana loved them both and would hate for them to not get along. She loved the idea of now being able to hang out with her two best friends at the same time, in the same time zone.
Jesse began unplugging power tools. "Yeah. Great. I'll tell the guys I'm leaving, I'll meet you there."
"Great. Can I show Summer the house?"
"Um..." he hesitated, "not today, okay? They're doing the floors upstairs. I don't want you falling right through. You can show her the gardens," he gestured towards the left of the house. He bent to put some tools away in a toolbox. "If you can find them."
"You mean the jungle?"
"Ha-ha, very funny." He lifted up the large toolbox and started walking towards the house. "I'll meet you there in half an hour," he called without looking back.
Dana showed Summer what Jesse called the gardens. Summer was in heaven. Gardening was her passion and this place had so much potential. She could see that, at one time, the place must have held so much beauty and had such delicious fragrances to it. She could envision all of the garden parties that would have been held there with women in their fancy dresses and the men in their top hats and tails. An arbor was threatening to fall over with the weight of weeds upon its shoulders, but she imagined its glory days, where it held fountains of flowers beneath which she was sure there were many weddings.
Dana and Summer walked back around the house and headed for the car. Summer got in and Dana followed. Dana was about to close her door when an arm reached out and stopped it from closing.
Colt peeked in. "Hey, Dane."
"What do you want?"
Colt blinked his soft blue-green eyes and backed up a bit. His tanned arm stretched to the door giving himself more distance. "I just wanted to say..." He paused. "seriously, Dana, ...have a nice trip," Colt said softly and closed her door. He walked away from the car.
Dana turned to Summer."Am I going crazy or was Colt James just saying something nice to me?"
Summer smiled. "He said something nice to you."
Dana looked at her puzzled and then cursed. She rolled down her window. "Colt!" Dana yelled. He turned around to face them. "Thanks." He nodded, turned back around to continue walking back to the house.
Author note:
What do you think of Colt? Where do you suppose he got his scars? And what is going on between him and Dana?
What do you think of Jesse so far?