Chapter One

 

 

 

 

Andrea closed the gate behind her, and saw the latch snap shut. She bent and lifted the handles of her wheelbarrow, then trundled it forward along the walkway and over to the rear deck, then let it down. The wheelbarrow was filled with tools and bags of fertilizer she would be using in the heavily planted yard which surrounded the large pond and artificial waterfall.

She paused to admire the view before starting. Ms. Jones was not wealthy, though she made decent money. She could have put a simple swimming pool in her back yard, like most people would have. Instead she'd disguised it as a private pond. It was about the same size, but more rounded, with a sandy bottom. At one end, instead of a diving board, artificial rocks rose to about ten feet, and when turned on, water tumbled down two levels into the pond, forming a lovely little waterfall.

Andrea was proud of the natural look of the pond, and the gloriously green plants and trees which made the back yard look like something out of a storybook paradise. She was proud because she'd helped build it over the past five years, while working, mostly part time, for her family's landscaping business.

Andrea was something of a tomboy. Her mother had raised her to love sports, and the outdoors, and not take herself overly seriously. She did not wear high heels, and disdained dresses, or even skirts. She preferred not to carry a purse, and had little interest in what she termed "girl stuff", which was to say, fashion, makeup, hairstyles, and celebrity gossip.

Boys, of course, were a separate category entirely. Andrea never professed to have no interest in THEM!

Andrea had blonde, silky hair and a smooth, creamy complexion, which was fortuitous for she did not have the inclination to spend much time looking after either. Her soft hair fell to just below her shoulders, with untidy bangs drifting across her forehead. She washed it in the cheapest shampoo she could find, used conditioner because that tended to help keep it from drifting, and brushed it dry, and that was about it.

At the moment, her hair was pulled back carelessly into a loose pony tail as she prepared for weeding and feeding, as she called it. It was early summer, and while the "grownups" were all at work, she considered herself to be on holidays. For working in the outdoors was a pleasure to Andrea, and she far preferred it to sitting in a schoolroom listening to teachers and professors drone on about things she had little interest in.

The back yard was large, but so heavily planted there wasn't a lot of grass cutting to do. She fetched the lawnmower from the shed and started it up, then spent a pleasant half hour or so moving around the back yard, taking it in as close as she dared to the many plants and garden beds strewn about.

The sun beat down from above, for it was quite hot for this time of year. Andrea was used to the heat, but her lightly tanned skin still began to glisten with perspiration as she worked. She wore a white baseball cap and a neon green halter with short, denim shorts, and as she finished the lawn and picked up the long armed trimmer she began to look more and more longingly at the cool water of the pond.

She stopped then, and went over to the control panel, turning the lever which started the water flowing, then went back to work with the pleasant sound and sight of water rushing down over the "rocks" into the pond below. It wasn't a waste of water, after all, for the pumps recycled it all back up.

She finished with the trimmer, then started in on the harder work. There was simply no better way of weeding then by getting down on her knees and using fingers and trowels to dig them up, and she worked methodically along the beds, soft music playing in her ears from the mp3 player stuck into the pocket of her shorts.

Because she was an athletic girl heavily into sports, and because of her physically intensive job, Andrea was an extremely fit young woman. Her body was lithe and trim, and the play of muscles below her skin gave only a hint of how strong she was as she went about her work. She was proud of her body in that regard. Men might admire many things about a woman's body, but Andrea was most pleased when one squeezed her arm and remarked about how hard and strong it was.

Not that there weren't other things to admire about Andrea's body, of course. Though she rarely dressed to accentuate it, she had a body that drew eyes wherever she went; high firm breasts over trim waist, hard, flat belly and narrow hips with a pert, perfect bottom. She didn't have the big breasts to be an eye popper in a bikini, but what she had was plenty to turn heads in whatever she wore.

At that moment, as she worked, Andrea was seriously considering wearing nothing at all.

The back yard was extremely private, with tall hedges, overhanging trees, a high fence surrounding it all, and no neighbors with any kind of view. That was one of the things Ms. Jones had wanted when the back yard had been designed, for she didn't want peeping toms looking in on her when she tanned. Andrea understood that, though she was simply not the type to lay around under the sun herself.

But at the moment, as she wiped the sweat off her forehead, her eyes kept glancing more and more often to the pond, and the temptation to strip off and dive in was becoming overwhelming. It was late morning, and she was alone. Ms. Jones wouldn't be home from work until late afternoon. So - why not?

And then, after finishing up one section, she decided to go ahead and do it. She peeled off her clothes, tossed off her hat, and dove into the deepest part of the pond, near the waterfall.

The water felt glorious as she pushed through it, arched up and surfaced with a gasp. It was cold, but not freezing, and she put her hand up to push the soaking hair out of her eyes, then swam in next to the waterfall and let the water pour over her.

She was quite envious of Ms. Jones and this back yard, and had tried to persuade her father to do the same in theirs, but he seemed content with their very ordinary swimming pool and deck.

She pushed in under the waterfalls, then out the other side. There was a private little nook just behind the waterfalls, a place where one could sit and look out through the water at the back yard. Andrea had often wondered what use Ms. Jones put it to, for it seemed tailor made for lovers on secret assignations.

But why would Ms. Jones need to keep anything secret in her own back yard?

Andrea dove through the falls and out into the pond again, twisted, and did the backstroke into the shallow section, then pulled herself, dripping wet, up out of the water and again pushed the hair back from her forehead.

She felt a soft thrum of sexual arousal at being naked outdoors. She didn't go in for the preening and flaunting that most girls did, but she was well aware of what men thought of her body, well aware of her attractiveness, and what a man would think if he were to see her standing there nude, body glistening as water trickled down over her firm breasts and hard nipples.

She was less of an exhibitionist than most young women her age, but she wasn't immune to the secret delight of women who were looked at with admiration and desire by men. She knew she was hot, knew that most of the young men she hung around with, even if they already had girlfriends, looked at her - as her mother said - like a mouse looking at cheese.

Her body gave her a quiet pride, and a kind of cocky sense of confidence in herself. Not only was it strong and fit, but it was an erotic playground she had only, as yet, partially explored. She was no virgin, and hadn't been for some time, nor did she shy away from experimentation in things sexual. Tomboy she might well be, but she was a party girl at heart, as well, and loved dancing and drinking.

At the moment, of course, her body was dripping wet, and there was no towel at hand for her to remedy that. Andrea didn't consider that much of a problem, though. It was hot, and she would dry, and there was no one to see anyway. So, ever the practical girl, she set about continuing her work.

She went back to the shed and checked the pool filters, then got the long-handled net and began to work clearing some of the debris which always seemed to accumulate in backyard swimming pools - especially those with overhanging trees. It felt a little odd, but sexy to be working naked, to be moving about the back yard with her body exposed to the sun - and anyone who might come by.

Odd in a naughty, exciting way.

And it was impossible for a girl like Andrea not to have occasional sexual thoughts as she worked, to let her mind fantasize about being caught by strong, well-muscled, athletic men, delivery men, perhaps, or police investigating a complaint, or perhaps a burglar, to be spied on and then - and then who knows what.

What would such men do to a lovely, helpless, naked girl like Andrea, here in the privacy of this paradise of a back yard, there by the waterfall perhaps. What would they force her to do, those cruel, lusting men?