Her body barely made a splash as she dove into the cool pond that stood just on the other side of her property line and belonged to her neighbor, Keith Buckley. The water felt wonderful, sleek and satiny against her over heated body, hot from a long day of working to try to get the old farmhouse she'd bought, her very first house, in shape.

It was a huge job, gutting the hundred year old house while living in it. Sara had just torn out the ancient shower stall, finding a wall full of mold from a leak that had been poorly patched. So without a shower, the pond was her only hope of getting clean. Unless she wanted a cold sponge bath while standing in her partially gutted kitchen that is.

Sneaking over here at 2 a.m. when she'd finally finished cleaning out the rest of the debris from the now empty shell of a bathroom, she'd stripped off her filthy clothes with relish, enjoying the way the warm night air felt upon her skin, flexing muscles that she'd forgotten she had as they sent up their protests at the massive amount of work she'd forced upon them these past two weeks.

In the moonlight, the pond seemed somewhat surreal. Tiny fireflies sparkled like twinkling Christmas lights over the still water, the grass was full of chirping and buzzing insects that sang their night songs to the full moon that hung from the black satiny sky. The light from that beautiful summer moon seemed to almost spotlight her cool beauty as she raised her arms, letting her long black tresses free from the braid that had held them captive all day long.

Her hair, thick and full, crimped from the braid, reached her middle back, heavy against her shoulders. She lifted it with her hands, running them through the thick locks to pull out the last of the braid. In contrast, her silky pale skin seemed to glow against her hair's inky backdrop. Sara was not the typical beauty, her face angular instead of gently rounded. But she caused men to look twice, and then again as they wondered what about her made her so special. When she smiled, which happened very rarely now-a-days, her true beauty was revealed, her rich brown eyes sparkling and warm, her full lips curved showing white even teeth.

She was tall, with a lithe form that was curved in all the places that pleased. Long legs that looked delicate rounded into full hips, a slender waist and full, firm breasts that sat high upon her chest drew men's eyes. Now, in the midst of the small clearing that surrounded the pond, she looked like a wood nymph come to preen before the Moon Goddess and ask for her blessings.

Sara waded into the cool water of the pond, feeling the chilly difference between her skin temperature and that of the water. She shivered and felt her nipples harden into stiff pink points before taking a deep breath and diving into the water where the bottom dropped off to be deep enough that it was well over her head.

It was cool and sleek, a watery world of delight. Sara could almost feel her body open up and suck in the coolness as it washed away the dirt and grit from her body. Swimming underwater, she made it to the other side of the pond before coming up for a breath.

"Nice dive."

Sara shrieked and swallowed water, coughing furiously as she turned to face the man who had intruded upon her middle of the night bath. Keith stood next to her clothing, leaning against a tree that grew close to the edge of the pond. She wiped the water out of her eyes and finally drew a deep breath as she stared at him.

He was a handsome man, tall and dark with a tan that spoke of all the work he did outside. He raised horses and grew corn on the huge property that surrounded the farmhouse she had bought. He'd wanted the property that her house had sat upon, but Sara had gotten to the owner first and made him a deal, since the old man didn't want his home to be demolished and plowed over to be made into more acreage to grow corn on. She'd promised to refurbish the place and had bought it right out from under Keith's nose.

It was a fact which didn't make for really great neighborly relations now that she thought about it. She hadn't seen him to speak to since she'd moved in, not since the day he'd stormed into her office and slapped a check on her desk. It was for ten percent more than the price she'd paid for the house. And it had given her great pleasure, after a lengthy and arrogant rant from Keith on how she would fail at what she planned to do, to tear the check into pieces and hand it back to him, having her secretary show him out.

She had seen him out on his tractor and had even glimpsed him riding his horses up and down the long back road a few times, but he'd never responded to her wave. Now, suddenly, he was here.

"What do you want?" Sara said, treading water effortlessly.

"I heard some noises and the horses were riled a little. I thought maybe there was some varmint getting into my corn. Instead the varmint got into my pond." He smiled, his white teeth flashing in the moonlight.

"Funny, Keith, now do you want to get out of here so I can finish my bath and then get dressed and go to bed. I have to work tomorrow." She moved a little closer to the side of the pond that had her clothes.

His foot nudged her dirty clothes out of the way, before he bent over and picked up the small pile of clean clothes she'd brought with her. He lifted the small white tee shirt and the bright red boy shorts along with the lightweight pajama pants she'd brought out to the pond to change into after cleaning off the dirt. "So what are you doing up and out so late then?"

Sara stared at his hands that looked so huge holding her clothing. She found the bottom of the pond with her feet, tipping her head back to get her hair back out of her face. "I've been working on gutting the bathroom and I was filthy. And since I gutted the bathroom, I don't have a shower," she said slowly as if explaining to a two year old. "Now, since I've answered your question would you drop my clothes and leave me alone?"

Keith took a couple steps forward which brought him to the edge of the pond. He hadn't been able to sleep, he kept thinking about the annoying woman who'd out bid him for the property next door. It was infuriating. He'd wanted the property for years, had been talking to the owner, Bob Harris, since the man had reached his seventieth birthday. But he'd refused to sell the home he'd lived in since he was a boy, not to someone who planned to tear down the house and plow up the land.

And then Sara Hampton had walked in on the picture, charming the old man out of his home, paying less than half of what he'd offered Bob for the place. And now she was in his swimming hole, a place he had come to tonight to cool off.

It had been a shock when he stepped into the clearing and saw her wading into the pond, the water caressing her firm calves. The rest of her, all that glorious flesh, had been naked and painted with the white glow of the moon, shining off her hair, resting upon her skin and making it look like silk. It had stolen his breath, seeing her slender body that way and he hadn't been able to keep his eyes from sweeping over her, from the blue black of her hair, to the sleekly curved thighs and then back up. His eyes had paused of their own accord upon the fine black pelt that covered her sex, the taut peaks of her breasts and then to her face, her eyes downcast as she watched her steps.

Her dive had broken his spell, leaving him breathless and staring at the place she'd just been, his cock throbbing and pressing hard against the metal zipper of his jeans. He'd known she was beautiful, but he hadn't realized just how beautiful until seeing her bathed in the moonlight.

"But you're trespassing, Sara. Don't you think there should be some penalty, or maybe a cost for you using my property without my say?" He held the clothes up and over the water, acting as if he would drop them in and hearing her screech.

"Stop that," she hissed. With a sigh, she knew she had two choices. She could play his games and she knew because she'd pissed him off, they'd be spiteful games. Or she could walk out of the water and take her clothes from his hands, exposing herself more than she already had. Neither choice was much to her liking.

But being the stubborn woman that she was, she just couldn't see playing his game. With a sigh, she started from the water. "I don't feel up to playing your games tonight, Keith. So I'm going to get my clothing from you and then, if you want, you can call the cops and have me arrested for trespassing."

Keith smiled, his lips twisting in a crooked grin that made him all the more handsome. His green eyes riveted upon her body as it emerged from the water. The moon made the drops on her skin seem almost luminous. Every step exposed more of her glorious body until she stood before him, naked as the day she was born, her hand held out for her clothing, her nipples hard from the night air.

"Can I have my clothes?" she asked, feeling a strange heat in her stomach from the way his eyes seemed to devour her body. Her voice was husky and strange sounding to her ears. She could only hope he didn't notice.

"What, these? I found these on the bank. I think that some trespasser left them there." He held them out of her reach.

"Dammit, Keith," she hissed. "Why are you being such a prick? Because I gave old man Bob what he wanted, and am rescuing his house? Or don't you like being out finagled by a woman?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said nonchalantly though he felt that first niggle of anger at her words. He hated the fact that she got the property, hated the fact that she seemed to know what she was doing and that the upgrades she'd done already were wonderful additions to the old farmhouse. And he absolutely loathed the fact that he desired her more than any woman he could remember wanting in his life.

"Tell you what," he said suddenly. "You give me one kiss and I'll give you your clothes and I won't call the cops and sic them on your for being on my property." He waited a second, seeing her eyes turn cold and furious. "And," he said, upping the ante, "you can use the pond for as long as you need to and I won't bother you at all."

"Are you nuts? Why the hell would I want to kiss you?" She took a step forward and tried to reach behind his back to grab her clothes. She felt her body brush up against his, felt the hard muscled strength of him against her softness and felt that desire once more.

"Sara, I'm taller and stronger than you," he said, laughing, though there was a strange note to his voice. "Do you really think you can wrestle these away from me?"

Sara thought about just giving him a good swift kick in the balls and then taking her clothes and leaving him with that to remember her by, but it just didn't seem like the best idea. She could just imagine neighbor relations then. Exhaustion suddenly seemed to weigh her down and she gave up. One kiss, how bad could it be? She'd probably like it since she hadn't been in a relationship in over a year. Okay, who was she kidding, it was closer to two years.

"Fine, one kiss and you give me my clothes back. I get the use of the pond every night until my new shower is put in. And no more spying from you, is that a deal?" She stuck out her hand, seeing his eyes go from her hand and then back over her body before meeting her eyes.

"Why don't we kiss on it instead?" he asked, laughing again.

"Is it a deal or not, dammit?!"

"It's a deal. Damn, Sara, there's no need to get snippy."

"Fine, now give me my clothes."

"Kiss first, clothes second."

"I'm not kissing you without my clothes on," she said, alarmed by the very thought.

"Then I guess you're going to jail without them on. Hmmm, I know the police frown on public nudity, and trespassing, that's two charges. I wonder if they could find any more to tack on there to make it worth their while to drive out this way." He smiled innocently down at her, seeing the fire raging in her brown eyes, a fire he felt raging somewhere too but it certainly wasn't his eyes.

The curse that came from her lips had him looking at her in shock. She didn't seem like the type of girl that would even know that word much less use it. "Temper, temper," he said.

"You know what you can do with your temper," she hissed.

"Do you like standing in front of me naked? Not that I'm complaining mind you, but you could just give me my kiss and I'll give you your clothes and we can get on our way instead of you standing there jiggling in all the most interesting of places."

"I do not jiggle," she said, stomping her foot in temper.

He cleared his throat as her breasts moved with her, jiggling and bouncing most temptingly. "Okay, so you don't jiggle, but whatever you do, it's pretty damn fun to watch."