Jump Start

32. Thirty-two

Thirty-two

Harper

I t was officially the off-season and for the past two months, I had been living with Thomas and working at Echidna Racing in my new role as communications manager.

I was enjoying both things immensely; I was currently working at home as the office had shut down over the holidays.

Chris, Holly, and I were still having regular meetings to keep on top of everything. Thomas, on the other hand, did not know what rest meant.

Itching to drive, he was participating in random racing events wherever he could find them; rallying, dirt biking, or playing with the local footy team. I liked to be active, but he took it to an entirely new level. I knew he was an athlete, but sometimes I wished he would just sit still.

By mid afternoon, a couple of days before Christmas, we were signing off from our last meeting of the year when Thomas appeared randomly behind my video call with Holly and Chris.

I caught his eye and turned to look at him, while Chris and Holly were laughing in the background.

“Where the hell has he been?” Chris asked.

Thomas was covered in dust and dirt from head to toe, his hair was covered in red dirt, and his clothes were filthy.

“What the! Don’t bring all that in here! Go outside!” I yelled at him jokingly, trying to keep a straight face.

“Guys, I have to go. There’s a man covered in dirt in my office.”

“Tell him to take it easy on the hobbies. No injuries for the start of the season,” Chris chided through the speaker. Thomas rolled his eyes as he left the room, trudging red dirt into the clean cream carpet.

“Bye guys! Have a great New Years!” I shouted from the threshold of the door, unable to hang up the meeting from afar. I ushered Thomas out of the house, having just tidied up over the course of the day during phone calls.

“You’re not going to hose me down like a dog, are you?” he asked as I positioned him on the outdoor patio.

“Maybe, if you get on your knees I will,” I laughed, pointing the hose at him.

“I’ll always get on my knees for you, Harper.” The whites of his eyes stood out against the dirt on his face. He looked up at me and did just that.

“Jump on then,” he said waving his hands at me.

I felt my face blush, and for a moment, considered letting him take me in broad daylight on the backyard patio.

“Strip,” I commanded, taking pleasure in the feeling of telling him what to do. He placed his clothes in a dusty brown pile before he stretched out on one of the lawn chairs next to the pool.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I stood over him, casting shadows over his body.

“Relaxing? What are you doing?” his reply was accompanied by a slight smile on his face.

“You’re just going to sit there in your underwear and bake in the sun, then?” I asked, using my hand to block the sun from his eyes.

“Yeah, why don’t you strip down and join me?” His voice turned suggestive as he pulled me closer to him. Hard to deny that logic.

Deciding I would get back at him for bringing red dirt into the house, I stretched my arm out to him. He grabbed it, and I pulled him with all my force onto his feet, causing him to trip briefly before regaining his feet. “Shit, Harps!”

I laughed as he struggled to get upright again, slowly pulling him towards the pool. As we got to the edge, he realised what I was trying to do and began to fall towards the blue sparkling water, dragging me with him.

I let out a scream, which quickly turned to laughter, and fell into the pool, fully clothed while holding on to Thomas.

Our fall had sent us quite far to the bottom and I opened my eyes to see Thomas under the water with me, his tanned skin was almost sparkling against the blue bottom of the pool and the sunlight filtered through in beams of light.

I swam closer to him and pulled myself up out of the water first, with Thomas slowly coming up for air a few seconds later.

“I knew exactly what your plan was!” He laughed as he brushed his hair out of his eyes.

“Well, you ruined your own carpet, I have no idea how to fix that. I’m not exactly a domestic yet,” I replied, laughing as I pictured myself in a maid’s outfit in the kitchen.

“You’re perfect.” As he spoke, beads of water kept falling from his wet hair, trailing down his face. I followed their path as he pulled me closer, then wrapped my legs around him, feeling secure and happy.

** *

Our afternoon of sun and a swim took me a little by surprise, but I decided that all workdays should finish that way. I was dressed in my comfiest loungewear and set on a mission to find Thomas to ask him what he wanted for dinner. I peeked through his office, but he wasn’t on his racing sim. He wasn’t in the kitchen, either. I headed towards the garage.

The faint smell of smoke diverted my attention to the outdoor patio area. Beyond the pool and deck, I found him standing in front of a small fire pit surrounded by solar lights and his double swag. He was smiling at me, holding two glasses of red wine in his hands.

I couldn’t help but smile back at him, his face was lit up even in the early evening moonlight. I approached him with a quick kiss on the lips.

“What’s all this then?” I asked as he handed me a wine glass. He took a moment before answering me and pulled me down to the picnic blanket that was sprawled over the thick, green grass of the backyard.

“I just wanted to celebrate you a bit. I am so proud of you, and I love getting to see you every day at work, honey.” His voice was softer than usual and the look in his eyes almost made me tear up.

I grabbed his hand and moved closer to kiss him more firmly this time.

“This is so lovely, thank you. I love you and I love seeing you at work every day too.” I snuggled into his side as we watched the fire pit glow in front of us, red wine warming our insides.

“You can’t tell anyone at work about this,” Thomas murmured with a giggle.

“Why the hell not?” I asked, sitting up straight to look him in the eyes.

“I have a reputation to uphold,” he spoke a little louder now and his eyes had turned mischievous.

“What, that you’re a macho asshole?”

Without a word, he placed my wine glass on the ground and pushed me flat on my back, hovering above me.

“Say that again.” His breath lingered on my neck as he spoke.

“You’re an asshole, to everyone but me. Well, sometimes me.” My words were silenced by his kiss, both of us smiling against each other’s mouths.

“Get in the swag,” he commanded with a wink.

“We’re not sleeping out here, are we?” I asked. I wasn’t a princess when it came to camping, but if we were going to camp, I wanted to go somewhere further out.

“Just be quiet, please,” he whispered, all bossy.

I crawled into the swag, surprised by how spacious it was inside.

Thomas rolled in and positioned himself above me while zipping up the netting screen.

He lifted my arms above my head and kissed me.

The small confines of the swag and the scent of red wine on his breath sent me into overdrive.

Kissing further down my body, he softly removed my leggings and panties together and spoke against my inner thigh. “Am I still an asshole if I do this?” he asked as he placed his lips lightly on the apex of my thighs, causing a breathy response from me .

“Yes,” was all I could get out.

As he focused more on the task at hand, he placed his capable hands on my backside, pulling me closer to his mouth.

“Mmm, Harper,” I thought I heard him mutter.

As he picked up his pace, I found my legs spreading, welcoming him further. I opened my eyes and stared up at the night sky through the swag, while my boyfriend was torturing me in the most delicious way.

“Ahhh, fuck me, Thomas. Now. I’m close,” I choked out, my voice struggling against my rapid breathing.

I pushed him away and helped him take his pants off. As he kissed me, he slid his fingers against my folds, marvelling at how wet and ready I was for him. He slammed into me, repeatedly, letting out his satisfaction with unintelligible words. The combination of his mouth on me and then being filled by him had me coming with a shout.

“Ha-rrr-per,” he dragged out my name before he pulled out and finished on my chest as I shivered, coming down from my orgasm.

We lay together for a moment, satisfied and trying to catch our breaths as we looked up at the stars.

“You’re a smooth operator, aren’t you?” I teased, kissing his cheek.

“You’re just too good to be true, aren’t you?” he whispered as he pulled me close, his breathing beginning to return to normal.

***

While our rather dirty first camping experience together had been successful, I hadn’t slept well in the swag and was feeling exhausted.

Checking the time on my phone, I realised it was the early hours of the morning. I silently crawled over Thomas to open the screen and rolled out of the swag.

The sound of cracking bones greeted me as I straightened up, indicating that I was not made for that type of mattress. I couldn’t help but smile, though. It was fun.

My eyes caught the reflection of the sun rising over the pool, another beautiful morning.

Crisp, green, and lovely. Trudging off to our bedroom to have a hot shower and go back to bed—a real bed—I felt a sense of gratefulness. For myself, for Thomas. Grateful that I was assigned the story on him, that we fell in love, and certainly grateful that I ended up working at Echidna Racing. My life was changed forever in the best way possible.

The hot water fell on my sore shoulders and calmed my muscles, the sound of the water hitting the tiles at my feet was music to my ears. I couldn’t wait to fall back into bed and sleep away the rest of the day, hopefully, at some point, with Thomas by my side. What else were holidays for?

***

One non-eventful night a few days later, as I was walking through our closet, trying to decide if I wanted to get into my pyjamas or not, Thomas appeared, leaning on the door frame.

“Let’s go for a drive tonight,” he said, looking me up and down as I started to put a hoodie over the top of my bra .

“Umm…I guess? Where did you have in mind?” I stopped getting changed into my comfies in case I needed to put some actual clothes on.

“Let’s do the city.” His eyes were wide with excitement.

“That’s like an hour’s drive?”

“Did you have something more pressing on?”

“No, it’s a Friday night?”

“Why are you answering everything with a question?”

“I don’t know?”

“Fantastic, now get changed and let me take both my girls out.” He turned around and walked out of our closet.

I heard him collect his keys and walk out to the garage, no doubt to start his ‘baby.’ I had to admit, it had been a while since we last went out in his Monaro, and I really enjoyed it now. It was loud and fun, two things I was apparently into. Usually, Thomas would warm the car up for a while, so I took my time slowly turning lights in the house off, leaving the outside and hallway on for when we got home later.

I locked the front door and made my way to the garage, where the car was already out. Thomas was sitting in the driver’s seat, one leg hanging out of the car, writing in his logbook.

I paused for a moment to watch him. His brows furrowed together, the slight curl on the top of his head from finally growing his hair out a little, and my favourite part of his face, his freckles that were spotted across his cheeks and nose.

He looked up, caught my eyes, and smiled.

“Come on then!” he said, waving me towards the car.

I was looking forward to doing something so seemingly normal with him, even if a car was still involved. It was just for us and no one else .

I walked to the passenger side and hopped in. He leaned over and kissed me briefly on the lips.

“Love you,” he said as he shut his door and fastened his seat belt.

“Love you too.”