Chapter 13

“Yes, I did and I got some of the mahi-mahi as well. They also hydroponically grow some of the best tomatoes.” She answered looking up into his handsome golden tanned face. She felt the fluttering in her belly as his eyes focused on her and she prayed that she didn't start drooling all over him. 

K.C. was absorbing her fresh faced appearance; Rielle was even more beautiful in the daytime than she had been under the soft ambient lighting of the restaurant. She only had on a little lip gloss, her black hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail and she was so natural a refreshing change from most of the women of his acquaintance. He felt his body begin to respond and he was happy to discover that last night's reaction was not a fluke. 

He couldn’t believe he was standing there talking about fish and tomatoes when he was in the presence of this tanned goddess. His ego must have taken a bigger hit than he realized if this was the sorry state of his game. Then again he didn't feel like he had to play a game with Gabrielle after the brief conversation he'd had with her last night.

He smiled down at her not even having to school his features to exude warmth and not lust; it just came out of him as he looked down into her open face.

“I love your garden. This is a lot of yard for a house on the island.” K.C. said looking around at all of the local greenery.

Jarrod had taken them around pretty much all of St. Sebastian yesterday afternoon and a lot of the houses in the lower elevations were on smaller plots. 

Gabrielle’s yard which he estimated to be a little over half an acre, was a rectangular plot with a good view of the sea on a slight slope. She had a nicely kept lawn as well as red bougainvillea that hedged the chain link fence, white jasmine, crotons and several hibiscus plants of various colors as well as some tall palm trees.

“My grandparents deeded the property to me when I turned eighteen. My brother Christopher has the house across the street. He decided to put in an apartment downstairs but I didn’t want to be bothered with a tenant.”  Rielle told him and he turned to look at the cream colored two story house also on a large portion of land.

“So instead of Mt. Elizabeth this could be known as Hall Hill?” he asked smiling and she looked up at him unsure if he was making fun of her.

“Yes, it could be. Land ownership on the island is very important. Not everyone can buy property and when I started building my home a lot of naysayers told me that as a young woman I should wait until I got married and let my husband  decide what to do with the land. Thankfully my family supported my decision and the money I made from the opportunities I had after the Olympics enabled me to build my home without going to the bank.” She said with quiet pride.

“You should be proud of what you’ve accomplished Ms. Hall. I have a sister who is as independent as you and that was a trait that has been encouraged by my family as well as myself. You have a beautiful place.” He finally said with sincerity staring at her serious face after realizing that he might have stepped on her toes.

He felt something tug at his heart when he saw Gabrielle smile at him with her eyes before she turned to go around the side of the house to the car port.

“I’ve always said I would rather drive a heap than have a fancy car and not live in my dream home fortunately my car is not a heap and I do live in my dream home. ” She said with quiet pride. "I’ll get you a ladder.” Gabrielle said over her shoulder.

His eyes had dropped and she'd almost caught him staring at her round, swinging ass and curvy hips. If he didn’t pull his shit together she would catch him so he drew on his considerable will power, but that task was easier said than done. The woman was temptation on two shapely legs and K.C. wondered if she really knew how people perceived her.

He remembered his sister admiring the team and especially Rielle and Camille when they had started showing up on magazine covers. The team had done a swimsuit calendar that had made a phenomenal amount of money. He recalled coming across some of the guys from his department ogling the women when the calendar had come out and he had a copy of it himself. It had actually set a record for calendars, and he was pretty sure she had been a big reason for that. 

While K.C. sincerely admired her spunk he was also man enough to admit that he also appreciated the way she was built and he discreetly adjusted his cock while she pulled some keys and unlocked a small concrete building beyond the carport.

He saw another expanse of land with several large fruit trees including avocado and mango along with a clothes line where her fresh smelling laundry blew in the breeze. He tried not to stare too hard at the colorful scraps of Rielle’s underwear and pulled his attention away in time to find her holding one end of an aluminum ladder and he took it from her.

She had parked her blue Xterra much closer and to the front of the house so that they had room to set up the ladder. The concrete pad of the carport was trimmed by asparagus fern plants and passionfruit vines ran on the fence. The roof was at least fifteen feet off the ground he saw as he unfolded the ladder.

“I’ll check the bulb first, which from here sort of looks like it’s blown. Do you have another?” He asked her after studying the light while she watched him.

She went back into the storage room and returned with an energy saving light bulb. Rielle watched him go up the ladder easily and knew it would have taken her some time to work up the courage to do the same since she did not like heights.

K.C. had a confident air about him that she found very attractive, he seemed comfortable in his own skin and that was always sexy. It also didn't hurt that he appeared to be in very good shape, she had always appreciated an athletic man and the heat in her belly spread to her lower regions.

He had the calves of a runner and she wondered what he did for exercise as she stared at the thick muscles flexing beneath his golden skin sprinkled with hair. He had looked debonair in his suit but now looked really good in casual clothes. His broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist, and she liked the way his biceps were hugged by the t-shirt.

He unscrewed the bulb and exchanged it for the one Rielle had and then took a tester from his pants pocket. The wires checked out just fine visually and had electricity flowing through them. K.C. also inspected the fuse after asking her to turn off the breaker so he wouldn’t get electrocuted.

“I think the bulb was just blown. Go ahead and turn the breaker back on.” He told her satisfied that it was that simple.

He came down and she did as he requested while he carried the ladder into the storage room.

It was then he saw the generator inside and realized that there were solar panels on the red metal roof of her house. He looked back at her and the smile on his face was really engaging.

“Was it your idea to install solar panels? I've seen quite a few houses on the island that have them and I think Jarrod said several of the government offices as well as the hospital have them as well. It's really good to see people being so environmentally aware.” K.C. said with enthusiasm.

“Yes, I’ve always liked the idea of being self sufficient and this is another way of doing that. The power goes off at least once a month here for one reason or the other and we’ve had a couple of bad hurricanes in the last twenty years so I thought it would be a good idea to be prepared for the inevitable.” Rielle told him and watched him nod in agreement.

"I like the idea that there's a program to recycle the plastic bottles and bags as well. The island seems very eco-conscious. That's something I found out when I was doing some research on the building I'm helping to renovate." K.C. revealed and she liked his passion for the subject.

"We have no real manufacturing on the island and the agricultural sector is just getting to the point where the small farms can meet the demands of not just regular customers but the hotels as well. We were lucky that the government recognized those facts and years ago laid the foundation for the success that we're seeing now." Gabrielle told him.

K.C. was very impressed with the way she spoke about her home. She was engaging and knowledgeable. Brains and beauty were an irresistable combo for him, he could see why Jarrod had been talking so favorably about the women if Gabrielle's friends were all like this.