Page 1 of August

Prologue

August watched the man trimming around the hedges. It was part of his being here today to go and see the finished project of his design. He didn’t want to be here. It was like by coming back, every flaw that he’d made during the construction of the building and landscaping had been right there, front and center to him.

“Mr. Erickson, is there something that I can help you with? Did you find that we’ve done something wrong with the landscaping?” That was another thing that he hated. Being called Mr. anything, especially Erickson, as that had been what people had called his dad when he’d been alive. And his father no more deserved the respect that came with the title than he felt that he did. He told the man that he was just chilling out. “Well, that’s not a good person to chill out to. She’s been working here since before the building was put in the ground, I think. Her father and brothers all own the same landscaping company. It was one of the ones that your family recommended to do the work. I think that today, they’re just sprucing things up before the big meet and greet tonight. Let me think a moment. It’s an odd name. Anyway, Jack, there is the boss to the grounds here, but she’ll pick up a tool and work just as hard as her men as well. Mostly men, too. Women, I’d like to say that they’re not cut out for this kind of labor and outdoor work but she’s right there as a shining example that I’m wrong on that. Or perhaps, what I really think is that she can’t fit in with real women and is compensating for it by being a heavy worker like the men. That’s what a lot of men think about her, too.”

“From here, I thought it was a man.” The man might have said something to his statement, but he caught the eye of someone storming toward Jack—is that what he called her? And they didn’t look all that happy to be around either. “That looks like trouble. Who is that other person? Do you know?”

“That’s her mother. The woman striding toward her, I mean.” He nodded, watching as the woman was waving her arms around to no doubt catch the attention of Jack. “They get going at times but I’d hate to be anyone that tried to come between them. Mrs. Blackman—that’s it. Blackman Soils. Anyway, they’re a close-knit family, but they bicker all the time, too. The old man is set to retire soon. I’ve heard that he’s thinking of leaving it all to his oldest. Now, there is a man that I can get behind. Good guy with a club on the fairways, too.”

He didn’t comment as the woman, the missus, got closer to the younger Jack. She turned off the weed eater that she was using—he could no longer hear the hum of it from where he was— and stood waiting for the other woman to get to her. It didn’t look to him like either of them were giving an inch. While he wouldn’t say that they were arguing, it looked to him that the mother was giving her daughter an earful.

August had no idea why he thought that. He couldn’t hear their conversation. He wasn’t even close enough to tell if they looked alike, either. Didn’t know if there were raised voices. Nothing at all about the two of them sent him vibes that he could relate to the two of them. They were just two people that caught his attention on a lawn that he had designed. When the older woman, which he was assuming that as well, turned on her heel and left, Jack stood there watching her. When she turned to look at him, not even a glance but a full minute of looking in his direction, he felt the need to cover his balls. Again, he didn’t know why he felt that way. It was just as much there as his love for all things chocolate.

“You’ll be staying for the grand opening tonight, won’t you? I mean, people will be here from all over the state just to have a good look at what you’ve done for us here. And it’s a damned good job too. Everything about this place, from the building to the lawns, is top shelf.” He told the man that he and two of his brothers were coming. “Good. Hey, if you wanted to know anything about Jack, she’s single. Pretty too. If you go for that kind of pretty. But she’s hard on a man. I’ve never tried, but I’massuming from others that she doesn’t date many men. Perhaps that’s the trouble with her. She doesn’t particularly care for men. I can’t think of another reason why she’d be turned off by the boss like I am.”

“What do you mean?” When he didn’t get an answer, he had to drag his focus from Jack to the man beside him to get an answer. “Why would you say that? I think that all women are beautiful.”

“Jack is one of those natural women. You know what I mean, I’m sure. A wealthy man like you gets around, I’m betting.” Again, he had to ask him what he meant. “You know. No makeup. Hair hanging down past her ass. She’s in good shape, I’ll give her that but I’m not into that sort of female. I’d like for mine to put up a fuss about what she’s wearing and has make up on. You know? Stylish women that I can sink my teeth into when I need a blowjob or something. Not that kind of woman that would take over sex like it’s their thing.”

“No, actually, I haven’t any idea what you’re talking about. And I don’t think that it’s very smart of you to be talking about someone who is in your employment. Especially with that tone.” He put up his hands and backed away, telling him that he was only making an observation. “Perhaps this Jack person would like to know what you think about her ass and lack of makeup. I have a feeling that she’d either slap you or tell you to fuck off.”

“I was only making conversation, Mr. Erickson. I’m sorry if I offended you. I guess you go for that kind of woman, then. One that tells you what they like and how you’re to move. Bossy bitches.” He told him that he hadn’t offended him but women in general. “Christ, who shit in your cereal? I was just making conversation and to find out if you’re coming to this thing tonight. If you ask me, I’d rather you stay at home than be a stick in the mud about a woman who is too dense to get herself a real job and to dress up once in a while before she becomes as old as my grandmama and still not plucked.” He turned and punched the man in the face before he could say another word.

August had no idea why he’d hit the man. Well, he had an idea, but it was still messing with his mind that he’d care enough about a woman that he didn’t even know to come to her aide. If his sisters-in-law were here, they’d take him to task after they’d hit the man, too. He needed to get out of here before he decided to defend the janitorial service. There had been a few women in that department as well. There was something wrong with him, he decided. Something so wrong with him that he was beating up men that were not worth the effort of getting his hands dirty for.

Getting in his car to head back to his hotel room, he drove slowly by Jack as she was talking to a group of men. He waved at them when they turned to look in his direction. He told himself several times that he wasn’t just waving at the woman but at the group of them as they stood there. He wondered what his family would say to him if they found out that he had a passing interest in a stranger. They’d have his head on a pike if he said one word about her.

After tearing his tie off, August decided that he needed to do something physical. He was going to change into something loose fitting—he was going to be dressed up enough tonight as the affair was black tie tonight. He decided that he’d hit up the gym and have some downtime.

Demitrius and Zander were going to be joining him tonight, and he hoped the fuck that they kept their mouths shut about— Thinking about where his mind had been going, August stopped on the treadmill, nearly killing himself when it kept moving.

He’d been thinking about defending her against his brothers. Not so much defending her but keeping them away from her so that…so that he could what, he asked himself. He couldn’t even pick her out of a crowd, much less talk to her when they were at the dinner tonight. Then he had to wonder if she’d be there.

By the time his brothers showed up, he had decided not to go for about the hundredth time. He had too much on his mind to get himself into a situation not of his doing. August just knew that he was going to be in trouble for hitting the man from earlier and didn’t want to have to deal with the consequences of that or the man. Of course, that didn’t sit well with either of his brothers. They’d been looking forward to this thing all month, so they were able to bully him into going anyway.

“I want to say right now that I’m not going to be looking at any women.” Zander laughed at him and asked him since when was he going to be doing that. “I’m just putting it out there that I’m in nomood to find myself a woman tonight, and I want to get an early start back home in the morning, so I want you two to behave as well.”

Looking at himself in the mirrored wall in the elevator, he thought that he pulled off his disinterested face quite well. The three of them together, all of them in black ties and tails, took on an air of going to the prom, he thought. Not that he’d ever been to a prom, none of them had but he did feel like he was embarking on something that was going to have him in trouble. How? He didn’t know, but again, he was baffled by where his train of thought was going and decided that he wasn’t going to drink either. That’s all he needed was to add alcohol to his already fucked up head.

He saw the man that he’d hit earlier as he stood at the bar and flirted. He was going on about how he’d gotten the black eye and busted lip in the gym. He said that he was playing pickle with some buddies. All he did was walk up to the bar and had the man, he couldn’t remember his name, walk away. The bartender thanked him.

“He’s been pestering me since I was setting up here. I thought that there was some kind of rule about staff and employers, but apparently, he didn’t get the memo.” He told her that he’d hang out with her so that he got the message. “Thanks, but I have my pepper spray. He’ll either get it or not. I hope he doesn’t, in a way.”

Asking for a glass of water, determined that he was going to stay sober, he nearly swallowed his tongue when a woman walked into the room. He couldn’t think of a single thing to compare her to other than the sun setting or even the most beautiful rose. She was dressed for sex, and that was all he could think about.

The woman was dressed head to toe in red. It even sparkled when she moved, and she was so lovely in it. There was nothing left for him to imagine, either. As he’d thought before, she was sex in a tight-fitting red dress, and he wanted to make sure that she wasn’t wearing anything beneath the dress as he could imagine him touching her.

He looked at the bartender when she said his name. Looking at her, his mind fuzzy again. She had to repeat herself twice before he understood what she was telling him. Christ, he thought, he was a dead man.

“Her name is Jacklynn Blackham. She goes by Jack. To see her working, you’d never know that she was one of the workers on this project just today.” He asked her how she knew her. “She’s my Aunt, my mom’s much younger sister. She told me about this job so I could make some money for college. She didn’t tell me that every man here would be hitting on me, but I guess that’s par for the course.”

Jack moved to the bar where he was and started talking to the younger woman behind the setup. If they were speaking English, he didn’t understand a word they were saying. All he could think about was the small part of a tattoo that he saw coming out of the back of her dress as it made its way lazily down her arm to just under her breast.

“Do I have something in my teeth?” He moved his eyes along her body to her mouth and moaned. She grabbed his chin and pulled it up so that he was looking into her furious eyes. “What is the matter with you? Are you stupid?”

“No. I’m not…” He looked at the woman behind the bar again, then at Jack. “I’m not sure what is wrong with me. To be honest with you, all I can think about is where that tattoo leads and if there is any way that I can convince you to allow me to see it.”

She stared at him for several minutes. He didn’t dare glance around, fearful that if he did, she’d knock him on his ass. When she asked him if he was August Erickson, he couldn’t speak but he did nod.