TUESDAY TALES - WORD PROMPT "NAKED" - ANOTHER EPISODE OF RENOVATING THE BILLIONAIRE

Welcome! This week the word prompt is "naked" - tee hee. I've got another installment in the as-yet-unwritten story, "Renovating the Billionaire." 

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   After dark on a hot night, there was nothing Jess liked better than to get naked and jump into Cedar Lake. If she was still awake after midnight, she’s ride her bike down to the dock. After checking to see if any lights were on in the houses hugging the lake, she’d slip off her clothes, and lower herself down the ladder.

   One time she’d cannonballed in, not expecting to make such a big splash. The noise woke one of the neighbors. He burst forth from his house, brandishing a gun and hollering. She’d hidden underneath the dock until he left.

   He must have been poking around for twenty minutes. She shivered, but kept still, praying he wouldn’t discover her. He didn’t. When he left, she climbed out quietly, threw her clothes on and hightailed it out of there as fast as she could.

   It was two years later before she tried it again. This time, she eased into the water with nary a splash. Jess did the breast stroke, cutting silently through the water. She stopped at a boat moored near the west side. 
   Hanging on to the anchor rope, she stared at that huge monstrosity, shadowed in the moonlight. At night the old, broken-down house looked eerie, scary almost. The dark windows with their trim painted white resembled huge eyes.

   The house had history and a faded charm that still spoke to Jess. Never mind the hole in the roof, or the bats making their homes in the eaves. Forget the peeling paint, the broken front steps. This house had potential. It haunted Jess’s dreams regularly.

   She pictured it returned to its former glory, pure white paint, immaculate front porch sporting three antique wooden rocking chairs. One for her, one for her brother, Will, and one for the love of her life, a man like no other.

   In her imagination, the third chair sat empty for an eternity. Prince Charming went out of fashion decades ago. Why should a poor, no-account like her expect to find one?

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