Neighbors (Twin Estates #1) (12 page)

“Liam, I don't want to learn strip-aerobics. I'll probably slip and break my nose on the stupid pole,” she said.

“All I'm hearing is blah blah blah. Fuck, it's kinda cold up here, isn't it? Let's head down to your place and cuddle.”

“I am not cuddling with -”

“And maybe your sexy roommate can join us, too.”

“Stop calling her that!”

“Alright, your sexy girlfriend can join us.”

Katya rolled her eyes and complained some more. He ignored her and made jokes all the way down to her place. And while he and Tori did get along, they did not have sex on the kitchen table, much to Katya's delight. And when she went to sleep, Liam didn't hog too much of the bed.

Though his hard on digging into her hip made it very difficult to sleep.

When Katya went to work the next morning, she left Liam in her kitchen. He was wearing only his boxers and drinking orange juice straight from the carton. Maintenance workers were already over at his place and working on the radiator, he assured her. Then he reminded her of their five o'clock date.

“
It's not a date.
”

At least, Katya was pretty sure a strip-aerobics class shouldn't count as a date. Either way, she told Liam to meet her at her work – she didn't get off till five, so if he wanted her to go, he'd have to come get her. She packed her gym bag along with her and at the end of the day, sure enough, he was waiting outside for her.

They went to an interesting sort of place. An old building, there were fliers for lots of different classes, mostly ones hosted by “community members”, asking only for donations as opposed to charging a fee. The class they were at was a freebie and was hosted by a ridiculously sexy young woman, probably not any older than Katya.

“I'm trying to build a client list, start private training, that sort of thing,” Candi – “
with an i
” – explained when Liam introduced them.

“Oh. That sounds nice,” was all Katya could think to say.

“Have you done this before?”

“I didn't even know it was a real thing till earlier this week.”

“You'll love it. You gonna join us, stud?” Candi said, poking Liam in the chest. He chuckled and rubbed at the spot.

“Eh, not this time. Maybe if the show is good, I'll sign up for the next class,” he said, winking at her. She giggled and poked him again.

“You are so bad, Eden.”

Then Candi-with-an-i bounced off to greet some new students. Katya turned to look at Liam, one of her eyebrows raised.

“Stud?” she asked.

“Hey, some ladies just like to call it like they see it,” he joked.

“Have you slept with her?”

“I don't kiss and tell.”

“Oh, please.”

“You're right. I have, but not in a long time. When she moved to town, she stumbled into the club. Was a regular for a while, then discovered stripping was her passion,” he explained, his eyes lingering on the stripper-turned-aerobics-instructor.

“Pity for you.”

“I know. She's was …
wild.
”

“You're not actually gonna sit here the whole time, are you?” Katya asked, glancing over the rest of the class.

There were lots of women, ranging in ages from what looked like eighteen all the way up to easily seventy years old. There were even several men in the group, one of which was wearing a pair of heels higher than anything Katya had in her closet. But mostly, it was females in their late twenties to early forties, and none of them looked anything like a stripper.

“Probably not. If I wander off, I'll be back to pick you up at six-thirty,” he assured her.

“I've lived in San Francisco for years, Liam. I can find my way home,” she said.

“And run the risk of some other guy picking you up? No, I'll be here, don't worry,” he teased.

Candi started clapping her hands, so Katya fell in rank with the other attendees. The basics of strip-aerobics were explained, and then they were led into some light stretching. While she reached down and placed her hands on the floor, Katya figured it would be an easy hour. She ran regularly, did yoga, occasionally pilates – how hard could strip-aerobics be? Especially a class that had a seventy year old in attendance? She would use the time to meditate on the ridiculous situation she'd gotten herself into, and the minutes would fly by.

But an hour later, she realized she hadn't needed to distract herself. Strip-aerobics and Candi-with-an-i
kicked her ass
. Katya had new respect for strippers. At first, it had seemed simple, with Candi showing them some basic moves. On all fours, flipping their hair, doing body rolls. Easy stuff. Katya had felt a little silly and awkward, uncomfortable doing those things with a group of strangers.

Then the moves got more difficult. She actually started to work hard, and she forgot about feeling awkward or uncomfortable. She peeled off her sweater at one point and chucked it against a wall, then went back to learning the routine Candi was teaching them. Katya didn't think she'd be getting a gig at a high end strip club any time soon, but she had a lot of fun, and it really was a serious workout. She felt great afterwards, and she had to admit it, she felt kinda sexy. Empowered.

Liam had disappeared during the stretching, and then she'd gotten so engrossed in the class, Katya hadn't paid attention to whether or not he came back. When she went to collect her gear, he wasn't anywhere around.

“Is there a changing room?” she asked, still panting. She'd planned on wearing her workout clothing home, having assumed the class would be easy and tame. Turned out, her sports bra was completely soaked in sweat. She wasn't in as good a shape as she'd thought. She couldn't wait to take a shower and put on some clean clothes.

“Oh, yeah! Two floors down, women on the right. Did you have fun?” Candi asked. She wasn't out of breath at all, and her Playboy-perfect make-up was completely in tact.

“Yeah, it was great. I'm really surprised at how hard it all is!” Katya exclaimed.

“Uh-huh, everyone always is, their first time. I hope you get to come back, I love getting new students,” Candi said.

“I'd love to come back, that would be awesome.”

“Yay! There's some fliers by the door, grab one. Tell Eden I said bye!”

Katya waved goodbye and made her way to the locker rooms. She wasn't the biggest fan of showering in public places, but she really was gross and sticky with sweat. She decided it was worth it and she shoved all her clothing into a locker before wrapping her gym towel around her body. Thankfully, that locker room had shower stalls, each with individual curtains. Only one other stall was in use, but otherwise, the whole room was empty. She hurried into a stall, then after she shut the curtain behind her, she hung her towel over it and turned on the water.

She stood under the spray forever, letting the hot water soak into muscles that she just knew were going to hurt in the morning. Then when she remembered Liam was probably waiting for her outside, she finally turned the water off. The locker room was eerily quiet, the other user must have left. She wrung out her hair as best she could, then wrapped her towel back around her body. Once she had it secured, she yanked back the curtain and stepped out of the shower.

“Took you long enough.”

Katya shrieked, leaping back into the stall. She almost went down, slipping on the wet tiles, and she gripped onto the curtain with one hand while holding up her towel with the other. Liam was directly across from her stall, leaning back against a sink.

“What do you think you're doing!?” she demanded, finally pulling herself upright.

“Waiting for you, like I said I would,” he said.

“Yeah, but you can't wait in here! This is the
women's locker room,
” she hissed.

“Oh my god, it is!? I can't believe it!”

“Get out. Get out right now, before we get in trouble.”

“Angel cake,” he chuckled, pushing away from the sink. “We're all alone in here. Who's going to tattletale on me? You?”

“Someone could come in!” Katya insisted.

“Hmmm, good point. Maybe we should hide.”

He was crowding in close, forcing her even farther back into the stall. The faucet knobs hit her in the spine and she gasped when he pulled the curtain shut behind them.

“Stop it, I'm not hiding in a shower with you. Just get out, then I can change, and then we can go,” she said, pressing a hand against his chest when he took another step forward.

“You were amazing,” he said, covering her hand with his own. She blinked up at him.

“Huh?”

“Up there. I came back, and you were so into it. I never imagined you'd be so good at it,” he explained, his eyes raking over her semi-naked form.

“Oh. Um. Thank you?” she offered.

“I mean, I've seen you do some pretty hot moves,” he said, and she could feel herself blushing yet again. “But now I'm curious as to how hot you can
really
get.”

“It was just exercising, Liam. You thought I wouldn't do it, I did, it's done with. Over.”

“Oh no. No, I don't think so.”

Katya honestly had no intention of ever sleeping with Liam again. It had been a one time adventure. Like strip-aerobics – something new and fun and different, but probably best not to repeat, or something bad might happen. Someone might get injured.

Liam had no such fears, however, and he continued crowding her till her back was pressed up against the tiles. She held still when he bent his head down to kiss her, bit back a moan when his tongue was swirling through her mouth. She felt bad – but only because what they were doing
didn't feel bad at all
. Shouldn't it? She'd been taught all her life that good girls didn't behave like that – but Katya was an exceptionally good girl, and she didn't feel bad at all.

Yet part of her still clung to those societal standards and those gender roles that had been driven into her head. Liam's fingers were at the top of her towel, and as he always did, he hesitated. Waited for some signal of permission. For the first time, she was reluctant to give it to him.

“I feel like … like this is wrong,” she whispered.

“Oh, no,” he moaned. “Baby, what about right now could possibly feel wrong?”

He had an excellent point.

“You don't think I'm acting like a slut?”

“Katya, of the two of us,
I'm
the slut. Do you have a problem with me being that way?”

“No.”

“Then why the fuck do you have a problem with
you
being that way? You're giving me more respect than you're giving yourself, it's insane.
No,
you're not a slut. You wouldn't know how to be one if you tried. You're just a woman enjoying her body with a man who would also like to enjoy it – and there is
nothing
wrong with that, whatsoever.”

Impossible logic to argue with – in fact, she'd been won over by the end of the first sentence. He'd barely finished speaking when she pushed away from the wall, forcing herself into his space. She yanked his head down so they could kiss again and he took that as all the permission he needed.

The towel was jerked away so fast, it left a friction burn in its wake. She hissed into his mouth and began pulling apart his belt. Liam didn't waste a second, he was pulling off his shirt and stepping out of his shoes at the same time. She figured he must've been feeling what she felt – if they didn't hurry, old-Katya would keep opening her mouth, trying to stop them. So when she had his pants pulled away and was working on getting them past his hips, he stopped playing around and picked her up.

“God, we should not be doing this here,” she groaned, letting her head fall back as he shoved her into the wall. All his weight came down on her, pinning her into place.

“Please – it's tile, there's running water, we can shower afterwards. Name a better place,” he challenged. She started laughing, but then two very long fingers were thrusting in and out of her body, robbing her of words and breath.

“Yes, please, thank you,” she murmured into his hair. He had his head bowed forward, his teeth nibbling at the edge of her collar bone.

“So polite. So sweet and innocent and wholesome and so very, very wet, Katya,” he whispered. “Slick and smooth and tight. I have been dreaming about this moment, so thank
you.
”

Shyness was gone. She was panting and moaning loudly, begging him to fuck her. A gentleman at his core, of course he complied, but when he moved his hand to push his pants further down, he lost his balance. He now had a human weight at his front, and Katya shrieked as they slid to the right. They crashed into the pipes and he grabbed a faucet to keep them from falling. It spun under his hand and water shot out from above them. She couldn't help it, she started laughing.

“What was that you said about being very wet?”

“Just stop - it's only cute when I'm punny.”

“Ha ha.”

“Time to be quiet now. I'm trying to fuck you and your giggle fits are ruining the mood.”

She laughed harder.

He eventually moved them out of the spray, back to their original spot, and was able to plant his feet while she worked her hand between their bodies. They both grabbed his dick at the same and both groaned out loud, their hands slippery and moving over each other while stroking him. She loved the feeling of power that came with holding his length in her hand, but they didn't have that kind of time. He moved in even closer, his chest flush to hers, and she bit into his shoulder as she slid onto his length.

“You're so ...” she gasped, holding onto him tightly while he adjusted his stance.

“Amazing? Handsome? Huge? Good at this?”

“All of the above.”

She'd always figured sex while standing up would be awkward. Having to find the right angle, the guy having to hold all the weight, yet also thrust, gravity working against them, so many things. She'd never even wanted to try it, it had seemed like a waste of time.