Chapter 1

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?” That’s how the children’s nursery rhyme starts. But in my Mary’s case, it isn’t “silver bells and cockleshells” that makes her garden grow!

Mary Louis Martinez has always had a “green thumb”. People around these parts say that Mary could grow flowers on the moon if she took a liking to. So proficient was she that she had opened her own flower shop awhile back and it had done very well for her. For several years her flower shop flourished and people came from all around to admire and buy her flowers, as well as ask “how to” questions for their own gardens.

But then a bad drought came along and for a couple of years there was precious little water to be had. People forgot about their gardens and even their lawns and focused on using the little water available for human usage. Mary’s business quite literally dried up and she was forced to put her passion on hold until the drought was over.

She found an indoor job, which she wasn’t real fond of, but it put groceries on the table and kept the bill-collectors at bay. She couldn’t wait for the drought to pass so she could get back out into the fresh air and sunshine and pick up her gardening again.

That day came eventually in the form of a city parks department job. She had been asked by the park superintendent himself to come to work and help get the park back into the shape it was in prior to the drought, which had been hard on the park too.

It didn’t take much convincing to talk her into taking the job – she would be outdoors doing what she loved and with the added benefit of having a more stable and secure financial base. Owning her own business had been fun and she did very well at it, but the drought had shown her just how tenuous a business dependent solely on something as fickle as the weather can be.

At least if she worked in the Park Department she was on the city payroll and could transfer to another department should another drought come along. Plus with the city’s financial backing, she could do more to help keep the park going – she wouldn’t be relying on her own funds to maintain her job. She had sunk a lot of her profits and income into keeping the shop open only to lose the battle after all.

It was while she was out tending to “her” plants and the other park greenery that I first met Mary. She considered the whole park and all of its green space as hers and cared for it better than a lot of mothers care for their children.

My name is Benjamin Parker and I work as a security guard at the park. Actually, I am a Captain in the security department meaning that I have several guards which I supervise. I was on my way to check on them when I met Mary.

The park was closed for maintenance that day and they were putting in a new exhibit on the far side of the park I was walking through the park checking my rounds when I saw Mary tending to her plants.

“Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met. My name is Benjamin Parker. I’m one of the security guards here. Actually, today I am head of security.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Benjamin. My name is Mary and I take care of the plants and greenery here in the park,” Mary said, holding out her hand.

“Oh, you can all me Ben. Bejamin is such a mouthful! Yes, I believe I saw your name on one of our daily briefings. I’ve been meaning to come by and introduce myself, but with this new exhibit going in there’s a lot of contractors to keep tabs on.”

“I’m sure you have a lot to do. Keeping this park safe is a big responsibility!”

“Yeah, this is a pretty big place. Fortunately, I have help to cover everything.”

“Well, I appreciate the work you do. I’m from a small town and this big city life is scary at times. The only time I feel safe is when I’m in my home or here in the park.”

“I’m glad you feel safe here. That’s my job ... to make sure everyone here feels safe. I want you to be able to enjoy your time here not spend it looking over your shoulder or jumping at every sound.”

“And my job is to give you something beautiful to look at!” Mary smiled.

Oh, you are doing a fine job at that! I thought to myself. Mary was a stunning twenty-eight-year-old woman, about five-two or five-three tall, with waist-length blonde hair and emerald green eyes, and a body that wouldn’t quit! The girl was built for fun, that’s for damn sure!

Because the park was closed, Mary waived her normal brown park employee uniform. Instead, she wore a pair of jean shorts cut very high with an equally revealing short white cami stretch top. And when I say stretch, I mean that thing was really straining to hold in a pair of amazing tits!

Strangely enough, for footwear, she wasn’t wearing “appropriate” shoes – at least not park-approved safety shoes. Instead, she was wearing a pair of strappy black and gold six-inch stiletto heels! Maybe they weren’t park approved, but I certainly approved of them! I don’t know how they were for walking in but if she had trouble, I would be the first to carry her anywhere she wanted to go!

I’m sure that Mary knew that her looks were distracting, I could see her smile as I ogled her. She twirled her hair and twisted in a coy, flirtatious way as she stood there. Yeah, she knew exactly what she was doing to me!

“Well, I ... I should be, um, going. I got ... to check on things,” I said, tripping over my tongue as I tried to keep my cool.

“Will I see you again? I mean, are you going to be around?” she asked.

“Oh yeah, I will be making my rounds and I’m sure I’ll be back this way again,” I said, although my thoughts ran more along the lines of Damn straight I’m coming back here to see you!

I tore myself away from this beautiful creature and tried to put my mind back on my work. As I walked away I looked back and she was watching me leave. She blew me a teasing kiss and waved at me just before I turned the corner of the pathway and disappeared behind a hedge.

I spent the rest of that day trying to figure out the subtle meanings of that first meeting. Her words and actions were puzzling ... what did she mean by “giving me something beautiful to look at”?

And what was with that outfit? I understand her wanting to be comfortable – park uniforms aren’t really designed for comfort. But that getup? Holy shit! She might be comfortable in it, but she sure wasn’t making me very comfortable! Then there was that whole “will I see you again?” and blowing me a kiss as I left. What was that?

It was all very confusing. I mean this was the first time I had met her and she acted like we’d known each other for years. She was flirting with me – I was almost positive of that. But why? She didn’t even know me!

My thoughts on the matter gradually faded away with the duties of my job and I was finally able to think the way I was supposed to think – like a security guard and not some lovestruck schoolboy!

After that first meeting, I saw her several times during the next couple of weeks. I made my rounds, making sure to go past where she normally worked at least two or three times a day. Whenever there were visitors or other people around, she was careful to make our interactions very businesslike and professional, just two park workers talking about work and things.

But when there was no one around, she was just as she was the first time we met – flirtatious and bewitching, doing everything she could to lure me into something ... and I wasn’t sure what that something was!

It was driving me crazy, these alluring interludes. I had to know what was going on. So after about three weeks of this, I finally asked her if she wanted to go out.

“Hi again, Mary. Listen, this is my last round today, I’m getting ready to go home. But before I did, I wanted to ask you ... would you like to go to dinner sometime?” I asked.

“You mean like a date?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess. I mean if you wa...”

“I’d love to, Ben! When?” she replied, cutting me off mid-sentence.

She sounded pretty excited, so I said, “Well how about this weekend, unless you have plans.”

“That would be great! How about Saturday so we aren’t too tired from work or have to work the next day,” she suggested.

“Great, I’ll pick you up about 7:00 pm. Is that okay?”

“7:00 pm Saturday is just fine. I’ll be ready. Here’s my address,” she said, writing down her address on a slip of paper and handing it to me. She held my hand for an extra moment or two. “I’m really looking forward to our date, Ben.”

Damn! Another puzzle piece! I could hardly wait till Saturday to find out what all this was about!

It was two long confusing days before that Saturday came but at long last, it did come. I went and got my car washed and shined up. I got out my best suit (something told me that she was going to be a total knockout and I knew I wouldn’t be able to compete, but I wanted to at least put on a good show!), and I made reservations at a top Mexican restaurant. With a name like Martinez, it wasn’t a long reach to think she liked Mexican food!

When it got close to the time for our date, I left and headed to the address she gave me. I had already mapped it out so I knew how to get to her place and it took me about fifteen minutes to make the drive.

All the while I went over in my mind what I wanted to say to her. I wanted to clear up this confusion and find out what all the subtle flirting was about. I knew once I laid eyes on her, my mind would turn to mush, so I wanted to rehearse as much as I could to get everything out.

I pulled into the parking area of her condo building and sat there for a moment to calm myself down. Come on Ben, it’s just a date man! It’s not like it’s life or death here! I thought to myself. Yeah, but a date with a stone-cold fox! I added.