Ryan

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Hi, guys. I finally decided to dip my toe into the pond and post my first story. I like to build characters, hope you like them as much as I do. Feel free to leave a comment, the good and the bad. I'd appreciate it if you'd rate my submission and tell your friends if you like it. Thanks.

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Danielle Marie Carter was big on the oldies and right now she was playing an old Sam Cooke song, Another Saturday Night, in her head. She'd been a fan of the oldies since she was a kid, mostly due to the influence of her parents. She didn't know how the refrain got stuck in her head today, but it had gone viral.

It was Saturday afternoon, but instead of getting ready for a date like most young women her age, Dani was hanging out at a building supply store happy as a lark and playing a song in her head that was older than she was. Her sister Crystal would be dismayed.

Crystal thought Dani was some type of anomaly. She had on a number of occasions suggested that her baby sister had a severely stunted sexual gene. Dani never took offense, she just didn't understand why every female in her circle thought she needed a man, especially her mother.

If men were the best thing since sliced bread, surely someone had forgotten to give her the memo. So far, they'd been a lot of work for little return. Of course Crystal disagreed about almost everything Dani said on the subject of men. Without a doubt, her big sister had a lot more experience, but Dani wasn't convinced that Crystal had all the answers.

True, Dani wasn't as sexed up as most of the women she knew, but she'd felt sparks from time to time. Contrary to what her sister seemed to believe, she had more than her fair share of dates. However, she wasn't convinced that sexual attraction was all it was claimed to be and she wasn't looking for a hook up.

Still a virgin, Dani didn't think those few stirrings of passion was enough to justify taking the plunge and letting some guy inside her panties. She felt there ought to be more. It wasn't that she thought herself too good for them, she just didn't want to settle. If there was a guy out there who could set her on fire, she wanted to wait for him. She owed that to herself and to him.

At twenty four, Dani acknowledged that she'd never had what you could call a real boyfriend, someone she wanted to date exclusively. Nor had she dated the same guy beyond a few weeks. She found out quickly that guys her age were pretty impatient. They always wanted to put the horse before the cart and when she drew the line, they hadn't taken it all that well. As a matter of fact, she'd been called a tease on more than one occasion.

Although Dani was young, she wasn't stupid. She knew that calling a woman a tease was a ploy guys used to get what they wanted. But, once a guy threw that word at her, she showed him the door and didn't look back, not even when they offered an apology. She didn't play games and she didn't like being played.

It wasn't like she hadn't dated nice guys, it's just that there weren't any sparks. She, at one point, thought that there might be something wrong with her. She'd kept that assessment to herself, putting up a front, especially with Crystal. But, after a few days of analyzing her feelings, she decided there wasn't anything to fix, she just hadn't found the right guy.

So, here she was in Lowes, happy and at peace with herself. She loved not only Lowes, but all the big box stores. It wasn't that she was some kind of home improvement diva, but there was definitely something about the place that just enthralled her, something else she'd never tell her sister.

The big box stores provide a lot of inspiration for decorating her home and she'd learned how to refurnish and repurpose items to make her place something that made her proud. It didn't hurt that she loved decorating, but that's not what brought her to Lowes this day, it was her love of art.

After looking around a bit and not finding what she was looking for, Dani asked a store employee for help. She was directed to the building supply department where she located an acrylic panel to suit her needs. It was very large, but since this store had a cutting machine, that wouldn't be a problem. She was already an avid painter in the mediums of acrylic and oil, but she wanted to branch out into watercolor and needed a non-porous lightweight surface on which to mount the paper.

Looking around, she realized that there was no one in the department to help her, but, she noticed a red call button on the frame of the cutting stall. Just as she was about to buzz for assistance, she had the odd feeling that she was being watched.

Dani turned her head to the right and caught sight of him. Her first thought was, "He can't be looking at me." Quickly looking to her left, she saw an elderly couple about five feet away with their backs to her, but no one else.

Looking back, trying not to be obvious, Dani saw the guy walking in her direction. He was carrying two cans of paint, his stride was confident and purposeful. Something about him reminded her of a big jungle cat. For one crazy second she thought of beating a hasty retreat and coming back for the panel another day. Then she realized how ridiculous she was being. It was just a man, what could he do in a crowded store; throw her down on the floor and have his way with her? She almost uttered an embarrassing giggle with that thought.

The last thing she wanted was to be caught staring at him like a deer caught in the headlights, everyone knew what happened to them. Although, if this sexy hunk of man was going to slam into her body, Dani didn't think she'd try that hard to dodge him.

Trying to gain control of her runaway imagination, Dani turned back to her acrylic panel. However, removing it from it's stall was proving to be harder than she'd considered. It wasn't that heavy, she was just too short to get it out of the stall. She was yanking on it and cursing in her head when she heard, "Let me help you with that." She didn't need to turn around to know who it was, she just couldn't stop herself.

When she looked his way, her heart practically jumped into her throat. He'd put the paint cans down and was heaving the panel out of it's storage sleeve and onto the floor before she could blink. Then, he did the most amazing thing, he leaned against the cutting stall and smile at her.

"Oh, shit," Dani thought.

Close up he was massive; tall, ruggedly handsome, with smoldering green eyes. He wore camo pants, a tight olive drab tee shirt that accentuated his rippling muscles, a pair of tan construction boots, with a pair of aviator glasses tucked into the neck of the tee. His blond hair was cut in a close military style. He had a dimple in his right cheek that winked when he smiled and the most gorgeous green eyes. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if women still swooned in this day and age. Caught by the absurdity of that thought, she almost groaned out loud.

--

Ryan came to Lowes to do his sister a favor. Haley was pregnant with her first child and was anxious to get the baby's room completed. Her husband, Matt, was out of town on business and she wanted to surprise him with the completed room. She knew Matt would be pissed if she took on the job herself, so she'd called him.

Ryan was happy to do the job for her and after getting the paint sample, headed out to Lowes. He had just gotten the paint mixed and was about to head to check out when he saw her.

His first thought was, "Damn!" Followed closely by, "I hope like hell she isn't married."

Ryan was too far away to tell if she had on a ring, but he'd know soon enough, he thought, as he started walking toward her. When he'd gotten closer, she turned his way and looked like she was about to bolt, but she must have plucked up her courage, because here she was standing before him.

Dani knew that she was staring, but could do little about it. Her mind was racing, but the rest of her was at a total standstill not willing to obey any signals coming from her brain. She wondered for a second if this was what people called being shell shocked. She saw him and before she knew it, he was filling up the space around her.

"Hi, I'm Ryan Sinclair," he said, nudging Dani out of her almost comatose state.

It was a voice that was warm and slightly husky.

He offered Dani his hand, noting her hesitation. After looking at it like it was a live grenade, Dani regained some composure and hastily shook his hand. It was a large hand, slightly calloused with long thick fingers.

"Oh, hi. My name is Danielle Carter. Thanks for the help," she replied nervously.

Ryan saw right away that she wasn't wearing a wedding ring and he was relieved, but that didn't mean that she didn't have a boyfriend. He still felt good about the situation. Boyfriends could be serious or not, but when it came to married or engaged women, they were totally off limits.

He knew that she wasn't sure what to make of him. She didn't know him from Adam, but he took it as a good sign that she hadn't immediately sped down the the aisle, not that a woman has ever had that reaction to him before. Ryan wasn't vain, but he knew that women were attracted to him.

"Look, I know this might seem a little strange," he allowed, trying to put her at ease, "but, I didn't want to risk the chance that I might not see you again. I've been coming to Lowes for years and I've never seen you before, so that's a real possibility. Would you go out with me, to dinner or a movie?" he asked, adding, "Time and place of your choosing."

Dani considered herself a fairly good judge of people, except for a slip up a couple of years ago. Hearing no 'Stranger danger' bells going off, she decided to take the chance. It's was only a date and there would be plenty of people around.

She gave him a little smile, deciding to go with her instincts. "I'd like that. A movie would be great."

She could see that he was pleased.

"How about tonight?" he suggested.

When he saw her shocked expression, he held up his hand, palm towards her to stave off her protest and said, "I know, I know. I said you could choose the time and place. I'm just hoping the time is tonight. I'm still open to you choosing the place," he grinned.

Smiling back at him, Dani thought, "I am so in trouble."

"Tonight is fine," she capitulated . "There's an AMC theater over on the next block. That's where I usually go."

The AMC movie complex was part of a five-year development for the county which included, restaurants and stores. The place was huge and even included an I-Max 3-D theater. Ryan had been there many times himself.

He quickly agreed and asked if there was anything in particular she wanted to see. She said, without hesitating, "Fast and Furious. It starts at six thirty. I was planning to see it in the next couple of days anyway. I've already seen the other films in the series, might as well complete the set. Besides, Vin Diesel is hot," she said, then cringed at her boldness. Truth to tell, he was much hotter than Vin Diesel could ever hope to be.

"Damn, I've got competition already," Ryan groused.

Dani's breath wanted to leave her body on a moan at that comment, but she choked it off .

She made plans to meet Ryan at the complex. After all, she didn't know him yet and there was nothing wrong with a little caution, no matter the good feeling she had. She wanted more time with him before she invited him to her home.

They talked a little longer and exchanged phone numbers. Ryan then pick up the paint cans, said goodbye to Dani and headed to the check out. After he left, Dani pinched herself to see if she was dreaming. Sexually stunted? Not a chance. She was definitely getting good vibrations from him.

--

Ryan found himself whistling on the way to his truck. He wasn't sure he believed in luck, but he wasn't about to questioned it now. He smiled when he thought of Danielle. She looked cute with her dark brown hair pulled up in a ponytail. Her deep chocolate eyes were framed with long lashes that fanned her upper cheeks when she looked down. She was about 5 ft. 6 in. tall, maybe 120-125 pounds. She wore black jeans that hugged her firm round ass, but weren't too tight. She made his mouth water.

Yeah, he was an ass man.

The Harley Davidson tee-shirt she wore accentuated her high, firm breasts, 36c's definitely. He wondered what they'd taste like, what they'd feel like cupped in his big hands. Ryan sprouted an erection at that thought and had to adjust himself before he got into his truck where she still consumed his thoughts.

Her skin was the warm color of coffee with a generous helping of cream. It was smooth and immensely lickable. He'd dated black women before and hadn't hesitated to approach her. He liked women, all colors, shapes and nationalities. He was looking forward to their date, what he hoped would be the first of many.