My Neighbor's Will (2 page)

“What?”

“This. Means.
War,” he smirked.

A memory of a
water balloon fight and those same words flashed in my mind. I felt
my mouth form a small O.

But I
apologized! I didn’t mean to. Where is he going?

Eric strolled
to my garage, and before I realized what he was doing, he turned
the hose back on, pointing it right at me. I tried to run, but
water streamed down my body. In seconds, no dry thread remained. I
might as well have jumped in a lake with my clothes on, and I
couldn’t go down without a fight.

I grabbed the
hose beneath his hands and pointed it upward. The fountain of water
sprayed up, raining on us both as we struggled to gain control of
the tube. My foot caught in a loop of the hose, and I lost my
balance. I fell to the side, dragging Eric down with me. He slid on
the slippery driveway and landed on top of me, bracing his full
weight on his elbows.

“Ahh!” he
yelped in pain.

“Are you all
right?” I shot up, examining his arm. It appeared Eric had landed
on my elbow with his ribcage.

“I think so,
just an awkward fall.” Water flowed down the driveway like an
abandoned stream.

“Let me see.” I
took his arm into my hands.

“My ribs,” he
whispered. The sweet smell of his chocolate breath made my stomach
rumble.

I moved my hand
over the reddened spot at the side of his abs, feeling his muscles
tighten at my touch.

Our gazes met
and his fingers wrapped above my wrist, gently pulling me in. The
warmth of his exhales curved around my face. My wet t-shirt pressed
against his six-pack. The moisture made it feel as if there was no
fabric between us. His lips came closer each second, slightly
parted and inviting. I closed my eyes. The touch of his mouth to
mine felt apprehensive at first but quickly gained courage. He
lowered his back on the asphalt. My body covered his, trying to
mold around the exposed flesh. Eric wrapped his arms around me,
grazing his fingers along my spine. I wove my fingers into his
hair.

The momentum of
our lips intensified into a harder and hungrier exchange. Each
curve of his chest, abs, and hips pressed into me. His shorts began
to fill, and I felt my hips circling in response to his growth.

“Get a room,”
Mrs. Finnick mumbled under her breath from the sidewalk.

I jumped off
Eric, straightening my clothes and trying to remember where I was.
“Sorry, ma’am,” I replied. Her puppy began chewing on the soggy
leftover muffins.

As she walked
away with her poodle, Eric tried to stand up. Pain covered his face
in a series of frowns and squirms.

“Come on,” I
reached out. “Let me help you up.”

He took my
hand. The touch revived the rush I’d felt in my veins a minute
earlier, speeding my pulse. When he found his balance, I didn’t
expect his hands to glide directly to my waistline. Eric pulled me
in for another kiss. The longing of his mouth made me respond to
the need I’d neglected for a long time. I struggled to breathe and
he pulled away, his heavy breath blending with mine as we tried to
compose ourselves.

“I hope you
don’t welcome all your neighbors this way,” he grinned.

“Only the
peeping Tom ones,” I teased. “I’m sorry about the muffins.”

“I’m not. But
you could have told me you don’t like my baking skills instead of
soaking me.”

“From the sweet
taste of your mouth, I’m sure the muffins were good. And Fluffy
liked them.” I wrapped my arms innocently around his neck.

Eric laughed.
He didn’t let go of my waist, and oddly, I’d felt as if I’d know
him for years. The comfort of his hold surprised me. I tried to
think of something smart to say, but nothing came to mind. The way
his body connected to mine in every spot sent jolts of pleasure to
my groin. I wanted to be stuck in Eric’s embrace forever. As if I
were in a dream state, I couldn’t stop staring at the lines of his
rugged jaw nor the dimple on his chin. And my stare didn’t feel
awkward at all. Eric let me examine him to my heart’s content.

“Why the closed
blinds?” I finally asked.

“It’s a work
hazard.”

I narrowed my
eyes.

“Come, I’ll
show you.” He stepped toward his house, pulling on my hand. With
his body away from mine, deprivation set in.

“I should
change first,” I said, staying in my spot.

“I have a spare
shirt if you don’t mind wearing it,” he proposed.

Of course I
didn’t mind! In the back of my mind, I was already wondering what
would happen next.

“I won’t bite,
I promise,” he added.

“What if I want
to be bitten?” My free hand flew to cover my mouth.
Did I just
say that?

“I can be kinky
if you’d like, but I’m usually not that forward, April. Coming?” he
invited again.

“Yes. I’m
sorry,” I tried to cover for myself.

“No
worries.”

Eric led me
inside the darkened hallway. I tightened my grip on his hand,
avoiding tripping over dozens of boxes waiting to be unpacked. Over
the front window, on top of the blinds, black drapes flowed toward
the floor. With a click, the light turned on.

“I apologize
for the mess, April. I was going to finish unpacking today, but
decided to bake your muffin... I mean bake muffins for you.”

My insides
vibrated with laughter.

We stepped into
the room Sarah had used as her living room. Another click on the
side wall sounded and dim light filtered through an old Tiffany
lamp on a side table. Portraits and photographs of varying sizes
stood propped against furniture. The window here as well was
covered with impermeable black fabric. The noon sun didn’t get a
chance to filter through.

“You’re a
photographer?”

“Yes. I like to
develop some of my photos the old-fashioned way.” He pointed to the
kitchen counter where containers of fluid lined its top. Above, on
strings drawn across the ceiling, hung fresh work, drying on tiny
clips. They floated in the air like sails in a light breeze.

“They won’t get
ruined in this light?” I asked.

“No, these are
done.”

“Why here?”

“My darkroom
isn’t ready, and I couldn’t wait to work again. After the basement
is done, I’ll move everything downstairs.” Eric’s gaze admired my
body from the top down and back up again. His eyes shone with
hunger. As gentle as he wanted to seem, he held the primitive look
of a man who wanted to have his way with a woman, over and over
again. It seemed as if no time had passed since high school.

“Do you know
how irresistible you look? How your nipples are begging to be
stroked through that shirt?” he asked.

His
unexpectedly forward comment made my wet shirt feel like it had
only been splashed compared to what was happening between my
legs.

Touch them.
Please touch them.

I held my
breath in my lungs and stepped forward into my own puddle. My
drenched clothes left a trail from the hallway.

“I’m getting
your floor wet. I’m sorry.”

“Let’s get
changed, and if you’re interested in what you see, I’ll show you
some of my work.”

Oh, I
definitely liked what I saw.

“I love
photography.” The words squeezed through my throat, but I wasn’t
lying. Photography had made the decision to try modeling much
harder. Had the agent not stopped me on the street, I would have
pursued photography instead.

Eric turned me
toward the staircase. “This way.” He gently pushed behind me,
guiding my hips with the tips of his fingers. A fiery trail spread
from their touch to the front of my body. As we walked upstairs, my
feet squished against the wood floor. When he opened the door to
his bedroom, light shone the same way it had when I’d first seen
him in my doorway.

“You had a
chance to pull up the blinds,” I noted.

“I figured you
wouldn’t sunbathe topless anymore. Not that I minded.”

“You liked what
you saw?” I looked out the window to where I’d been sunbathing
earlier.

“What’s not to
like?”

Eric led me to
an en suite bathroom off his bedroom. A soaker tub filled one
corner and a glass shower the other. He handed me a towel.

“You can drop
your clothes here.” He pointed to the hamper. “I’ll be back with
some shirts.”

As soon as he
left, I hurried to undress and placed my wet clothes in the basket.
I wrapped the towel around my body, folding it above my breasts.
The setting reminded me of a photo shoots and I found myself quite
comfortable in this ensemble. The fact that Eric was a photographer
made our connection feel more natural than I’d expected. Inside
though, my racing pulse confirmed where I was. I was standing
nearly naked in my neighbor’s bathroom. Shaving cream, cologne, and
other essentials lined the counter in a neat row. A tube of
KY-Jelly made me blush. I picked up the lube, wondering when Eric
used it last and with whom. Would he use it on me? My hand slid to
between my legs, feeling the swelling increase at the thought of
Eric’s hands on me.

A knock on the
door startled me and I dropped the container into the sink.

“Come in.” I
heard a shake in my voice as I placed the tube back on the counter.
My instinct told me this was more than a house tour. Did I want it
to be more? After the kiss that left me lost on my own driveway, I
wanted to lose myself in Eric’s house as well.

He opened the
door, holding a shirt and a pair of shorts in his hand. Eric had
removed his Hawaiian bottoms. A towel was wrapped around his hips,
exposing the triangle between his hips even more than before. I
found myself staring at
that
part of the towel until he
cleared his throat.

“April, you
seem lost in thought.”

“I was just
thinking I should bake your muffin... I mean, bake more muffins for
you,” I stumbled.

“How about we
bake them together?” he suggested in a lower voice, but I was
certain he wasn’t referring to the muffins in the kitchen.

“That sounds
good,” I whispered, feeling the pull toward my neighbor increase.
In his company, I felt as if I were under a spell. What power of
persuasion did he hold over me? I’d never have thought that I’d
have ventured into the home of a man whom I barely knew and be
standing half naked in his bathroom.

I reached for
the clothes in his hand. “Are these for me?”

He took a step
closer. Less than a foot separated us. His body was like a magnet I
couldn’t resist. My juices began running down my inner thigh, and
my gaze flew to his lower half again. The contour of his swell
began to show under the towel.

“Yes, but the
question is, do you want them?”

Instead of the clothes he was holding, my
hand found the top rim of his towel. Eric dropped the shirt and
shorts to the floor. I slid my finger beneath the fabric. The heat
of his skin against my hand flowed up my arm, and I took a deeper
breath, looked into his eyes, and released the fold of the cloth at
his pelvis. The towel dropped. I kept my gaze on Eric’s. He tugged
the fold at my front, removing me from the tight hold. Eric’s body
connected to mine. Though I wasn’t cold, his skin was the perfect
temperature to soothe my trembling limbs. He cupped my face in his
hands. I closed my eyes and lost myself in his lips for the second
time today.

The rim of his
mouth felt harder than I remembered, or perhaps his desire had
increased. I moistened his lips with my tongue and he responded,
possessing the kiss as if he wanted to deprive me of all air. I
inhaled, the scent of his aftershave filling my lungs. Its orange
and maple taste invaded the inside of my mouth as our kiss
deepened.

Eric’s erection
began to dig between my legs, and I felt myself moisten with a need
that had been neglected for too long. I would do whatever Eric
wanted me to. It no longer mattered that I hardly knew him. My body
had been overtaken by something more primal than fear; a need long
overdue to be satisfied by a man. I wanted to give myself to him
and for Eric to take me any way he could. It was as if I were under
his spell, willing and wanting like never before. I was at my
neighbor’s will.

Without
breaking the kiss, he lifted me into his arms. He carried me to the
adjoining bedroom and cradled me in his embrace. Silk cooled my
heated back and the smell of lavender and lilac overwhelmed me as I
sank into the fabric.

Fresh
sheets.

Centered in the
middle, the heels of my soles dug into the cotton duvet. With my
legs bent at the knees, I positioned myself directly under Eric.
The kisses became tender and nurturing as Eric supported himself on
his arms, hovering above me. The tip of his cock brushed against my
sex every few seconds, making me want to take him in, now. He
wouldn’t let go of my mouth, exploring its every need and
sensation. I wanted him to devour me like a beast, but the little
pecks he nourished me with sent greater jolts of pleasure through
my body than the hardened thrusts of his tongue until I didn’t know
which I desired more.

I wanted all of
him and none of him at the same time, as the pain of not yet
climaxing built inside me. A frenzy of tingles rushed from each
kiss towards my groin, the gentle stimulation more excruciating
than anything I’d ever experienced.

The need for
him to stop the teasing so I could finish myself off was demolished
by the tenderness of the moment, as his pure desire for my body
drove me to heighten my senses.

And when ready,
Eric freed my mouth, looking straight into my eyes. The rims of his
blue ovals glowed with passion. His hips moved lower and forward,
sliding into me, gently filling me. Eric pulled out halfway, then
pushed deeper, but just as slowly, never letting go of my gaze.
This man possessed every inch of me without knowing the hold he had
over my soul. He controlled the way I looked at him, admired him,
and made love to him.