My Kind of Girl (5 page)

“
Uh huh. Well, I have a
patient waiting in the exam room. See you later.”

Afterwards, Sean jetted to his car,
the conversation with Raven still in his head. He definitely knew
he liked Traci, and had since the second he’d laid eyes on her. He
couldn’t stop thinking about her, which was totally out of his
norm. Women never interrupted his thoughts or sleep the way Traci
had. He couldn’t believe he was on his way to a freakin’ plant
nursery to pick out flowers, but he had to see her again. And those
damn, sexy dimples. Talk about mesmerizing. They lit up like a
rainbow after a rain shower in the sun. They were serene along with
her innocent eyes that had saddened for him. She didn’t even know
him and yet felt an emotion for him. Kind of how he was feeling for
her. She stirred something in the pit of his stomach that he
couldn’t explain. He was a psychiatrist but couldn’t figure out
what the hell was wrong with him when it came to Traci. He knew he
was attracted to her; that was a given. She was adorable, funny,
and intelligent. A great combination despite the fact she wasn’t
his type. However, there were exceptions to every rule, and she
could just be the woman to break his. He really wanted to know why
she seemed to work overtime, though. According to her bio, she had
a lot of responsibilities at the gardens, including teaching
classes, maintaining the rose gardens and the orchid conservatory,
as well as giving private tours. He figured she made enough to
support herself even though she was young—just turning thirty—so
perhaps her student loans were eating up her paycheck. Maybe that’s
why she had a side hustle of doing residential gardens.

Something caused her to work only, and
he needed to know why. A man didn’t seem to be a reason. So what
was it?

Following the directions of his car’s
navigation system, Sean made it to the Memphis Nursery on time. He
shook off his tie—tossing it in the passenger seat—and unfastened
the top two buttons of his dress shirt. He’d noticed the day before
that Traci drove a lime green Volkswagen Bug. Odd car in his
opinion, but then again it sort of went with her quirky
personality. He glanced in the rearview mirror and spotted a flash
of lime green pull into the lot and park next to his Porsche. She
waved and fiddled around with her cell phone while he hurried out
of the car and made his way to her driver’s door. After opening it,
she glanced up at him with a weak smile and back to her cell phone
screen which had a series of text messages he couldn’t make out.
She shut it off and grabbed her purse from the passenger’s
seat.

“
Hi,” she said softly,
placing her tennis shoe clad feet on the pavement.

Taking her hand, he helped her out and
closed the car door. She was dressed casually in jeans and a yellow
T-shirt that pulled against her cleavage. He was suddenly aroused,
but remembered she wasn’t happy about something.

“
Hey. Everything all
right?”

“
Yeah … just some family
stuff. Ready to go flower shopping?” she asked in a more upbeat
tone.

“
Lead the way.”

For the next thirty minutes, they
browsed a variety of flowers and plants for his tranquility
hummingbird garden she was creating in the right corner of the
yard. Traci informed him that a landscape company would arrive the
next day to pull up the grass. The day after, another company would
lay the pavers for the walking trails, along with a patio for the
pergola and fire pit area.

“
So if all goes well this
week, I’ll be able to begin planting the hummingbird garden on
Friday around two o’clock,” she said, glancing over the work order
for the flowers that were scheduled for pick up on
Friday.

“
All these plants can’t fit
in your little beetle.”

She stooped down to look at the leaves
of a ground cover plant he’d noticed was also in his mother’s
garden but couldn’t remember the name.

“
I have a truck with a
trailer. I do it all the time.” She stood and they continued
walking along the trail of plants.

“
Cool, and I’ll be home by
that time to help you unload and plant. I only do half days on
Fridays unless it’s an emergency.”

“
Thank you. It shouldn’t
take too long. I’m sure we’ll be done in time so you can hit the
streets on Friday night.”

“
I don’t have any plans for
this weekend.”

“
Mmm … I’m sure someone
will pop up.” Traci winked and sat on a bench in the middle of a
slew of potted crepe myrtles.

Sitting next to her, he
stretched out his long legs. “I hope not. What you saw yesterday
was actually out of the norm. My pet peeve is people showing up
unannounced. That’s one of the reasons I told her to leave.”
And the other is since I’ve met you, I’ve only
wanted you. Wait. What?
Did I say that out
loud?
Realizing he hadn’t, he exhaled in
his head.

Traci giggled. “Well, Ms. Thang was
heated strutting down your sidewalk quite fiercely to her Range
Rover.”

“
She’ll be fine. She’s in
New York and then off to Paris and Milan for the next four to six
months. She’s not thinking about me nor am I thinking of her. Not
that kind of relationship.”

“
Of course. I’m sure you
have other women to take her place while she’s gone.”

“
Contrary to what you may
think, I don’t have a bunch of women lined up waiting. I go through
dry spells like every other single person.”

“
You just prefer to stay
single.”

“
Yes. And you? How’s your
dating life?”

She pondered for a minute. “I guess
you could say a dry spell at the moment. It’s the beginning of
April, and I haven’t had an actual date since January.”

“
What happened?”

“
Nothing. No sparks. Nice
guy, but not my type.”

Her cell phone vibrated in her purse.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, she checked the caller ID and
smacked her lips as she tossed the phone back into her purse as it
continued to vibrate.

“
Family issues
again?”

She stood and motioned for him to join
her as she looked at the potted crepe myrtles.

“
Yep.”

“
Care to discuss? I’m a
really good listener … or so I’ve been told.”

“
I’m sure you are for a
couple of hundred bucks or more an hour, but there’s nothing to
discuss.” She turned toward him, sliding her hands into the back
pockets of her jeans. “I’ll deal with it like I always
do.”

“
How? By working all day at
the gardens even on your off days, and then moonlighting by
designing gardens for residential homes?”

“
If that’s what you want to
believe, go ahead. Now what color trees would you like? Crepes come
in purple, pink, white or red.”

“
I like the deep purple
ones, and if you want to avoid the question, I understand,” he said
sincerely, placing his hand on her cheek. “I just hated the
crumbled look on your face when you arrived and again when your
phone rang. I love seeing your dimples.”

Traci trembled when he placed his hand
on her face, and her chest rose and fell a few times as she
breathed out. He found himself in her personal space and the urge
to taste her pouty lips ran rampant through him. He’d never wanted
to mix business with pleasure, but she was so close and the
homemade rose oil she wore engulfed his senses. The puzzlement in
her eyes as she stared up at him needed to be answered, so he had
no choice but to lower his lips and pray she didn’t push him
away.

The first sweet taste of her ambrosia
mouth nearly knocked Sean over as he drew her to him. He kissed her
softly while her lips quivered under his, and her hands reached up
to encircle his neck as she returned the kiss. A low moan eased
from her throat when his tongue sunk further into her mouth and
intertwined with hers. Even though they were somewhat secluded
amongst the potted trees, he really didn’t care that they were in
public as he deepened the kiss. Her hands lightly caressing his
neck and the moans erupting from her throat sent an electric jolt
straight to his heart. He removed his lips momentarily to open his
eyes and gaze at her. She wore a partially hazy smile and her
glasses were fogged up. He ran a finger down her cheek, pausing for
a moment to pinch a dimple. He stooped down a tad when he realized
she’d been standing on the tips of her shoes. Even though her shoes
had a slight heel, he was still ten inches taller than her. He
wasn’t used to short, petite women, but he found himself not caring
at the moment. There was so much more to Traci than her
height.

“
I think people are
staring,” she whispered softly on his lips.

“
Who cares?” he asked as he
dived in again, and this time more intense than before. He didn’t
know what had gotten into him, but he knew he had to have this
woman. He couldn’t imagine his life without her.

Chapter Four

Traci had to be losing her mind, or at
least that’s what she kept repeating over and over as Sean’s lips
engulfed hers in a magical kiss. Now she understood precisely why
he had women showing up unannounced. He was good. Really damn good.
Normally, she wouldn’t let a man she barely knew kiss her in the
erotic way that he was, but his tongue was quite gratifying. The
more he deepened their kiss the more she pulled him into her. She
struggled to hold onto him for the fear she would tumble over on
one of the crepe myrtles, sending them all down one by one like
dominoes when he landed on top of her. Not that there was anything
wrong with that, either. He was built like a chocolate Adonis with
smooth, rippling muscles that had her encased ever so perfectly
against him.

Yes, she was losing her mind, but she
was enjoying every single moment of it. However, she knew this had
to stop. He’d hired her to do a job and just because she’d had a
crush on him for the past few years just from looking at his
pictures didn’t mean she had to satisfy her fantasy. No, she needed
to think sensibly and not like a crazed teenager feigning over her
crush no matter how fine and delectable he was. No matter how many
tingly shivers were pulsating between her thighs.

Sean pulled away and gazed at her with
dark, intense eyes that hammered into her soul.

“
I don’t mix business with
pleasure,” she stated, backing away from him. The second she was
out of his warmth, she had the urge to go right back to him. The
feel of his rock hard body was the most pleasurable surface she’d
ever had against her, and she craved to experience it without his
shirt blocking. She just wanted pure, naked chest in all its glory
against her skin. Trembling at the thought, she backed up another
foot before she jumped him.

“
That can’t happen again.”
She tried to keep her voice steady, but it was no use as he
continued staring at her with lust-filled eyes as if he was going
to ravish her again with more fervent kisses.

An arrogant grin inched up his left
side. “Then you’re fired.”

“
No, I promised to do your
backyard and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“
Too bad.” He closed the
gap between them and yanked her toward him. “I’d rather just do you
instead.”

His voice was low. Seductive. She
almost mumbled out a meek okay but stopped herself. Instead, she
patted his chest, which was a big mistake for the hardness of him
was just too much to handle, especially when the tremors racing
through her hadn’t calmed down yet. She was glad when he started to
speak again because whatever she’d thought she wanted to say would
probably come out like a bunch of gibberish.

“
How about we get to know
each other? I can compromise. For now.” He swept her hair behind
her ears gently before releasing her.

“
I think that’s a great
idea. Besides, you’re going to be a lifelong bachelor. We don’t
want the same things.”

“
Aren’t you the one that
said my kind of girl was out there somewhere?” he asked, running
his finger along her bare arm, and little prickles of warm
excitement raised over her skin.

She stepped away from him, turning her
attention to the crepe myrtles to hide her flushed face. Sean’s
kissing and caressing skills had sent her to a place of oblivion.
She couldn’t even imagine handling anything else he could bestow
upon her.

“
Yes, but I wasn’t
referring to me. I’ve seen your type. I’m not it.”

Her phone vibrated again from her
purse. She gritted her teeth and grabbed it off the bench hoping it
wasn’t her mother again. Luckily, it was Caitlyn sending her a
work-related text.

“
Everything all right?” he
asked in concerned manner.

“
Yes. It’s work. Let’s get
these trees added to your order. The nursery closes in a
few.”

“
I was just thinking. You
may be at my home before me on Friday, so I’m going to give you the
key and the passcodes for the garage and house.” He took his keys
out of his pocket and began to slide one of them off.

“
I just need to access to
the backyard. I can go through the gate.”

“
True, but during the next
few weeks I may not always be home and you may need to go into the
house for whatever reason.” He handed her the key and then winced.
“Wow, you’re the first woman outside of my mom and sisters who has
a key to my house.”