Sowing Seeds E2 | The gardener works on his tan in front of me

Everyone is over the age of 18

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What's another day of staying here? The island will still be there. Henry sent me a picture of our friends partying on a boat but honestly? I'm down to hang out with the new gardener for another day. He's so… real compared to the people I'm used to talking to. 

I woke up late, to nobody’s surprise, and scrambled to rub some sunscreen on myself. I wanted to be out there before Todd got there so it would seem like he's walking in on me and not the other way around. 

I barely got myself in the recliner when he showed up with his gardening tools. 

“Hey Todd,” I say while scrambling to put my sunglasses on. 

“Sup? Warren, right?” 

I nod, hopefully not too eagerly. He puts his tools on the ground next to the hedges. 

“You know that reverse tan we were talking about yesterday?” Todd slides the shoulder of his tank top over. “I think it's working.” The skin usually covered by the thin strip of fabric is still lighter than the surrounding bronze shoulder, but it's certainly better. 

“Go ahead and keep working on it then,” I say, pretending to check my phone, but I watch him through my sunglasses. “I'll be here working on mine.” 

Todd takes off his sleeveless shirt in front of me, and I watch his abs stretch, keeping its lines before they settle back into a plump set of meat. His round pecs are hard to not to stare at, and I wonder what they would feel like in my hand. 

“You mind if I borrow your sunscreen?” he asks. “I burn easily.” 

“Sure.” I toss him the tube, and he squeezes a big glob onto his hands. 

“Shit. This is the nice stuff, isn’t it? Sorry, bro.”

“It rubs in well,” I reassure him. He slathers the thick white liquid over his chest and massages it in. 

“What are you tanning for anyway? Some kind of boat party?” Todd says while rubbing the cream up and down his abs. 

“No… well… yes,” I admit. “It's not my boat.” 

“Uh huh,” Todd chuckles and stretches to get his back. His arm muscles look great like this, especially now shiny with the sunscreen’s greasy sheen. “I've never been on a boat. Nor a plane.” I watch his left pec reform its circular shape when he releases the stretch.

“You must have been on a plane before!” I sit up.

“Nope. I've driven across the country before in my old pick-up.” 

“How long did that take? 2 days?” 

Todd laughs loudly at my guess and then shakes his head. “Nevermind. So, you're going to a boat party? Where at? Borax? Do you take a private helicopter there or something?” 

“That's not… I don't…” He grins show me he's playing with me and I smile back. “I'm going there for a gala.” 

“I don't even know what that word means, rich boy.” Todd finishes with the sunscreen and picks up a shovel. His physique looks amazing all oiled up. He's not a bodybuilder, but it seems like working outside gives him the bulk in all the right places. He's what a man should look like. “Is that one of those events where you wear a tie and people serve you things on a big platter?” Todd balances the shovel in his hand like one. 

“Yeah, pretty much. It's boring. The tie is probably the best part.” 

“Kinky. I didn't know rich people got it on like that.” He lets out another laugh as he crouches down to the garden bed. 

“No! I mean picking out the tie and the outfit.” The sun is making my face burn up. 

“I can't even buy myself new underwear, and you're here telling me about picking a tie for a platter party.” Speaking of underwear, I can see his boxers from the angle he's bending over. They look like your classic straight man plaid type. 

“They look fine to me.” 

He looks over his shoulder to catch me watching him and I rely again on my sunglasses to hide my true intentions. 

“Nah man, they're ripped to shreds.” Todd takes off his gloves and pulls his pants down a little further to show me a big hole in the side of his boxers. The skin peering through is more pale than the rest of him. “Didn't mean to blind you with my ghost skin there.” He pulls his pants back up.

“If you want,” I blurt out. I compose myself and try again. “You can reverse tan that part too. I always tan my legs too so I don't look like a zebra.” 

“I think it's just called a regular tan at this point,” he says. “I'm telling you, my underwear is nowhere as nice as yours.” He points the shovel at my briefs. 

“Up to you.” I say, hiding my disappointment. Oh well, at least I tried. 

He went back to work and I laid on the recliner, lazily scrolling through social media while taking peeks at him getting sweaty. Once he gets into it, he's actually really meticulous with his work.

“Alright, fuck it. I don't wanna be a motherfucking zebra either,” Todd says suddenly. He stands up, dusts his knees off, and takes his pants off.

His legs are hairier than the rest of him. His boxers waved along with today’s breeze and when he turned around, I saw just how ratty they were.

“I told you. Any slight movement and you're gonna get sausage with eggs.”

I giggled at the imagery. There is a hole awfully close to his crotch, but it’s not big enough to see anything.

What the old boxers couldn't hide though, is the big bump in front. Whatever he's packing, it's not small from the looks of it. 

“I'm going to have to reverse tan the boxer line, aren't I?” Todd lifts the left leg and looks. Everything's the same pale colour right now. 

“Yeah, maybe.” I imagine him completely naked, bent over the flower bed with his ass more pale than the rest of him. 

“You tan naked?” 

“There's too many people here.” I wave my hand around the estate. “But one time I did do a sun therapy thing where we tanned our assholes.” 

“No fucking way.” Todd drops his tool and turns around. 

“I swear! It was so weird to do that with so many people.”

“Rich people shit,” he says while shaking his head. “Was it at least good?” 

“I mean…” I think back to my experience. “It's a part of you that doesn’t get a lot of sun.” Todd sits on the ground and seems to be in deep thought about it. 

“You get in doggy style or something for it?” 

“Pretty much.” I flip around on my chair. “Downwards dog I guess.” I position myself as I remember what we did. 

“It's a good look for you. I would've loved to see the others like that too. Rich assholes up in the air.” Todd chuckles. I suddenly realize I'm basically showing him my ass and I lay down to pretend I needed to tan my back. “So when's this platter party?”

“Next week,” I say. “Are you here everyday?”