Neighbors (Twin Estates #1) (8 page)

“But I was just pretending,” she insisted.

“Oh, okay. So you just pretended to get fucked in the ass.”

Forget blushing. A five-alarm fire broke out across her face, causing Liam to laugh again.

“
We are in public!
” she hissed at him, gesturing to all the people walking around them.

“So? Who gives a shit? Do you plan on fucking any of them?” he asked.

“What!? Of course not! No! But … they … you can't ...” she started sputtering.

“Then who cares what they think? You're talking to me – I'm the only thing you should be worrying about right now,” he said.

“No! You can't just say and do things like that, Liam! It's totally inappropriate,” she said.

“You know what else is inappropriate? You wearing this sweater,” he replied, then he crowded in close to her. She instinctively backed away, moving until he'd forced her against a wall. She held her breath when he reached out and plucked at the top button on her cardigan.

“There is nothing inappropriate about this sweater – it's J. Crew,” she told him.

“I think it's grossly inappropriate to hide a body as amazing as yours. You've got some serious self-esteem issues, angel cake,” he sighed, finally undoing the offending button. She slapped his hand away.

“I do not, I just don't want to dress like a slut. I like these clothes,” she said.

“Baby, no one likes to dress like that.”

“Stop arguing with me.”

“I'm not arguing, I'm just stating facts.”

“You're stating opinion – there's a big difference between the two.”

“Careful, you're getting feisty. In danger of becoming – gasp! – not boring,” he teased her. It was impossible to keep a straight face, she had to laugh.

“God, you're horrible,” she chuckled, letting her head drop forward till her forehead hit his chest.

“The worst. Come have tacos with me and I'll make up for it,” he whispered. She took a deep breath.

“Like go out to dinner?” she checked, then frowned when she felt him shrug.

“Lunch time is better for me. It'll be great, we can bring some home and eat them on my roof,” he told her.

Hmmm. Didn't really sound like a date. Sounded like two buddies meeting up to eat tacos and hang out. Katya figured she could handle hanging out with a friend. It wasn't like she had to end the night with crazy sex. Maybe new-Katya and old-Katya could sort of meld together.

“Okay. Okay, I think I can do tacos. But not today, I have to go to work. Tomorrow?” she asked, finally lifting her head.

“Sounds good. I'll grab you from you work, noon. Oh! And phone number, please. As fun as hanging out outside this building is, texting would be easier,” he said, taking out his phone. She hesitated for only a moment, then gave him her number.

“Sorry I'm so difficult,” she said while he tapped away at his screen. He frowned and put his phone away.

“What is it with that? You're always apologizing for something, or thinking you're not cool enough, or good enough. Who made you feel that way?” he asked. She stared at him for a second.

“No one, I just … I'm realistic. Objective about myself. Let's not get into it now, I have to go to work and you -”

She gasped when he pressed himself to her front. While her lips were still parted, he dove in, kissing her hard. Her head hit the wall behind her, causing her braid to press painfully against her skull, but she didn't care. She couldn't even think straight. She'd already forgotten how kissing him felt – like locking lips with a runaway freight train.

“
And I
need to remind you that you are that girl who walked into my club and rocked my world. That was you naked in that booth. Screaming my name in my bed. Seems like you only remember the bad, and never the good about yourself,” he growled as his fingers made fast work of opening her cardigan. She was wearing a white camisole underneath, and he yanked it free from her pants. There was a slight hesitation, as if he was giving her a split second to tell him to stop, then his hands were under her shirt, his fingers raking across her back.

“Trust me, I will
never
forget those things,” she moaned, gripping onto his jacket to keep herself upright.

“Good,” he said, then he kissed her again. It felt like he was going to inhale her tongue and when she started feeling dizzy, he finally pulled away. “Now remember some other things: tacos. Noon. You're a sexy beast.”

Katya burst out laughing and he smiled back at her, stepping away. She adjusted her shirt, but didn't bother buttoning up the sweater again.

“I'll try to keep that all in mind,” she said, running her hands over hair, trying to gauge whether or not it was still in good condition.

“And this time,
definitely change,
” he said. Katya went to argue, but then he leaned in, kissed her on the nose, and walked away abruptly, whistling a tune to himself.

Katya went to work in a daze, not entirely sure how she got there. She was of almost no use to anyone, struggling to even tie her apron. Was she going out on a date with Liam tomorrow? Had she just gone on a date with Wulf the night before? Was that okay? Shit, had she accidentally started dating two men? But wait, hadn't she decided she wouldn't be seeing Wulf again? Of course, she'd also made the same decision about Liam, but he'd changed her mind super quick. She had a feeling if Wulf was even half as insistent, she'd fold instantly.

She got herself together for her clients. Katya refused to let these stupid boys have any effect on her real life. Her libido, sure, but her career was another thing. She would no longer deny that both men had a pull on her, but she would not let them ruin what she'd built for herself.

After the design for the cake was finalized and her client had picked out what flavors she wanted, Katya was left alone again. She did a quick inventory on everything she'd need to set up the bakery for the weekend, put in an order for the supplies, then she was finally able to take off her apron again. She was almost out the front door when the phone started ringing. Before she could hit the sidewalk, her coworker was yelling her name.

“Some client,” the other girl said, holding the phone out. “Said it was important.”

“This is Katya Tocci,” she said in her professional voice.

“I should hope so, that's who I asked for.”

Again, Katya felt like she was going to fall over. Wulf. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since she'd seen him – was he really already calling her!? He wasn't going to do the standard boy thing and wait three days before getting in touch? It was shocking. She'd already halfway convinced herself that she wouldn't see him again.

“Wulfric. Hi. What can I do for you?” she finally managed to say.

“Hmmm, now that's the million dollar question.”

Seriously, if Katya kept blushing so much, she was going to permanently turn red.

“Is this about your order?” she guessed, and he chuckled. Actually made a sound of happiness and laughter – another shock. It was deep, rumbling through the phone and going straight to the pleasure center of her brain.

“No. This Saturday, six o'clock, meet me at Flannery's,” he instructed her. Her head started spinning.

“You're asking me out on another date?” she asked.

“I'm
telling
you to go out with me on Saturday,” he corrected her.

“Why?”

“Because you have amazing legs. Six o'clock.”

The phone line went dead. The disconnected tone buzzed in her ear, but Katya stood there. What in the fuck was going on? Was the universe playing a trick on her? She wakes up that morning determined to rid herself of both men, yet by the end of the day, she'd somehow managed to make dates with both of them.

You fuck a random stranger one time, and suddenly you've got more men on your hands than you know what to do with. Nice, Katya. Real nice. I am such an idiot
.

On the way home, Katya stopped and got her flowers, then even grabbed pizza. She left all of them on the kitchen table, then locked herself in the bathroom before Tori could get too chatty. A hot bath and some time alone with her thoughts, that's what Katya needed.

But instead of thinking about what was going on in her personal life, her brain took a different route. She slipped beneath the bubbles and as she closed her eyes, memories from her night with Liam began floating behind her eyelids. Her kiss with Wulf got spliced in, and her brain went wild from there. Would he touch her the way Liam had? Would he be as bold? Maybe even
bolder?
She smoothed her hands over her thighs and panted in the steamy air.

Good lord, on top of being an idiot, I'm also now a sex addict.

“I need to tell you something.”

Liam glanced at her over the massive taco he was attempting to shove into his mouth.

“
Mo morf it,
” he mumbled around his food. Katya frowned at him.

“You're so gross.”

“Not what you said the other night,” he teased, then belched. She tried not to gag.

Liam was unabashedly male. His apartment was a mess, his dishes desperately needed to be done, and his laundry looked like it was trying to escape. He could probably do with a haircut, though she liked the wild and bushy look on him, and he always seemed a day or two behind the shaving train. He was crass and he swore all the time and he was blunt to the extreme.

She
loved
it.

He was so different from any other man she'd allowed herself to associate with – he actually reminded her a little of her roommate, Tori. A good friend she felt instantly comfortable with, despite the fact that they'd only met two days before, and he'd already seen her in all her glory.

After ordering enough tacos to strangle a mule, Liam had loaded her and their food onto San Francisco's “subway”, the BART, and they'd rode it home together. They only stopped in his apartment long enough for her to be appalled at the state of it and to get some beers, then he led her up to the roof. Apparently, Twin Estates weren't entirely twins – they weren't allowed roof access in her building. She thought it was a little unfair, since both buildings were managed by the same company. Liam suggested writing a letter of complaint, and then told her to include a picture of her boobs for good measure.

“You gonna eat the rest of that?” he asked after he swallowed the last of his taco. Katya glared and pulled her bag of food away from him.

“
Yes,
you hoover vacuum.”

“Alright, touchy. What did you need to tell me?”

Katya took a deep breath and ran her palms down the front of her pants.

“Is this a date?” she asked.

“Do you want it to be?” he asked back. She rolled her eyes.

“Don't be cute. I'm asking a serious question. I guess I'm not really sure what's going on right now, so it makes me nervous, like I'm gonna accidentally break the rules, or something,” she tried to explain. He laughed.

“No rules, so nothing to get broken. I had a great time with you the other night, and you're kinda funny, when you put your mind to it. I thought tacos would be a nice segue into getting you to sleep with me again,” he said. She threw her used napkin at his face.

“Whatever. I just … I think you should know something, then,” she started again.

“What? Oh god, if you say you're pregnant, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave,” he said. She threw the whole bag of food at him that time.

“
I'm not pregnant,
you asshat. I'm dating someone else,” she snapped. She hadn't meant to just blurt it out, but Liam had a way of making her forget herself.

She wasn't sure what she'd expected. Maybe for him to get jealous, or a little upset. Or to tell her he didn't want her to see other people. She didn't know how it worked. Were they dating? Were they friends? The whole situation was driving her crazy – she needed to find her footing if she wanted to continue with either of them.

“Poor guy,” Liam sighed, digging one of her tacos out of the bag.

“Why?” she asked, totally confused.

“You're dating this dude, yet gave your anal virginity to me. Must not like him too much,” he said. She almost choked on air.

“You have seriously got to stop bringing that up.”

“Why? It was amazing. I'm thinking of writing a song about it.”

“Stop it.”

“Seriously. I could have an open mic night at the club.”

“I'm going to leave.”

“Maybe I could do some abstract paintings, as well. Hang them about, set the mood.”

Katya abruptly stood up and went to stride past him, towards the door. She'd barely made it two steps when she felt his hand on her hip. He grabbed her and yanked her off her feet. She fell into his lap and before she could get her bearings, she felt his fingers digging into her waist. She burst out laughing and immediately started squirming, trying to get away. But he was so much bigger than her, he was able to hold her in place with ease and tickle her to his heart's content.

“Stop!” she was shrieking with laughter. “Stop! Oh my god, I'm gonna pee. I'm gonna pee on you,
stooooppp
.”

He finally complied, but he didn't let her go. She went lax, still laughing as she tried to catch her breath. When she looked up at him, it was to find him smiling down at her. As her breathing returned to normal, he reached out to brush some hair away from her forehead.

“See, there it is,” he said softly.

“What?”

“You're beautiful when you're glaring at me or pretending to be perfect, but goddamn, Katya, you are
breathtaking
when you let go and just be yourself,” he told her.

She wasn't sure what to do with that information. Bizarrely, she felt a little like crying. No one had ever particularly made her feel bad about herself, but no one had
ever
spoken to her like that before; he made her feel beautiful.

Before she could do something ridiculous, like actually cry, he suddenly yanked her upright. She was on her feet before she knew what was happening and he smacked her on the ass so hard it stung. She yelped and skipped away from him.

“So is this Casanova your boyfriend?” Liam asked, and when she turned around, he was back to his old goofy self, trying to eat two tacos at once.

“No,” she said, moving back to her seat. “I don't even know if we're actually dating.”

“What do you mean?”

“We went on one date on Wednesday, and we're going out again on Saturday.”

“Ah, so you
just
started seeing him,” Liam said, licking grease off his fingertips.

“Yeah.”

“Must be a nice guy if you're giving him the time of day.”

“Actually, he's kind of an asshole. I can't figure out why I keep agreeing to meet him,” she said, earning a chuckle.

“It's always the assholes who get the girl, angel cake. Sleep with him yet?”

“What? No! I
just
slept with you, I'm not going to go off and sleep with some other guy!” she snapped.

“Why not?” he sounded confused as he demolished the last taco.

“Because! That would be … I mean … I can't just start having sex with every guy I meet,” she said, exasperation heavy in her voice.

“Why not?”

She looked around for something else to throw at him.

“Stop being a brat.”

“Okay, okay,” he chuckled, rubbing a napkin between his hands. “Yeah, sleeping with every guy you bump into might be a bad idea – but where is it a law that you can't have sex with this dude, just because we just had sex? Honestly,
who cares?
I mean, I'm not telling you not to. I doubt he's gonna tell you no. So really, you're the only one with the issue. What if you want to have sex with him? Are you gonna say no, just because you had devastatingly amazing sex with me the other day?”

She chuckled at him and looked away, letting her gaze wander over the skyline. He was completely right. The only one saying she couldn't sleep with both of them was herself. Well, and society. And her parents. But ultimately – did she really care about those things? She thought she had, but since the other night ...

“Lately, I don't have such a good track record of saying no,” she sighed, resting her chin in her hands.

“Hey, sometimes saying yes is a good thing. Yes gets you all sorts of stuff. Tacos, movie tickets, blow jobs, cookies, all kinds of treats. You just have to open yourself up to new experiences,” he told her.

“That's one way of putting it.”

“And don't worry about me,” he said, shoving their trash into the now empty paper bag. “We're just having fun. I mean, our friendship isn't contingent upon us having sex, but I was totally serious about fucking you. Anytime you feel like having sex, call me. I mean it, literally,
anytime.
”

“I'll keep that in mind,” she laughed.

“But this dude – you should tell him about me,” Liam said, his serious face making another appearance. Katya nodded.

“I will. I had already planned on it,” she said.

“Good girl. And what if Mr. New Guy has a problem with you banging a hot, successful, rich, night club owner?” he asked. She snorted.

“Okay, first of all – you're just as new as him. Second of all – hot, successful, and rich are seriously pushing it. I don't know, I guess it depends on how the date goes, but if he kicked up a fit … I think I'd tell him goodbye,” she said.

“Really? For me?” Liam sounded surprised. She shook her head.

“No,
for me
. I'm confused and I'm learning new things about myself and I have no clue what's going on in my head anymore, but … I think I like it. I don't think I'm ready to go back to being boring old-Katya again. I like this new-Katya. I think I want to see what she wants to do.”

Liam caught her off guard by jerking forward, almost lurching across the table so he could place a sloppy kiss against her mouth. He tasted like cilantro and Corona, and she squealed and clung to him when the table rocked unsteadily under his hand, threatening to send them both to the floor.

“See?” he said when he finally pulled away.

“What?” she asked, a little bewildered.

“You're letting go again. It's gorgeous. You better get out of here, or I'm gonna fuck you on this roof top, in broad daylight,” he warned her before he sucked down the rest of his beer.

“No, you're not. I'm still sore in very uncomfortable places, thank you.”

“Hey,
you
begged for that, missy. But I'll keep it strictly vag, I swear.”

“Right. I'm out of here. Thanks for the tacos.”

Liam slapped her on the ass again when she walked past him. Before she could move through the rooftop doorway, though, he called out to her.

“Call me when you're done with your date!”

“Why?” she asked, turning to face him. He hadn't moved from the ratty loveseat he'd been occupying for the hour they'd been up there. A stylish pair of vintage Ray Bans hid his warm brown eyes, but even without being able to see them, Katya could just tell they were smiling at her.

“Because I want to hear all the dirty sex details.”

She snorted at him again, then slammed the door behind her after she'd walked through it.

*

For their second date, Wulf was the one who was late. The place he'd picked out – Flannery's – was a high end bar, and Katya was the only woman in the entire establishment. It was mostly empty, true, but the half dozen or so other guests were all men in very expensive looking suits. An older gentleman was working the bar and he kept shooting her odd looks.

He probably thinks I'm a prostitute, awesome.

Wulf strolled in twenty minutes after six. He stopped to chat with a couple people as he made his way through the bar, even ordered himself a drink, before he finally sat down next to her. Almost as if she were an afterthought.

He explained to her that the bar was a hot spot for businessmen – expensive attorneys, lawyers, accountants, and realtors frequented the exclusive,
expensive
, eatery. When she pointed out they all also seemed to be male, he'd winked at her and said how lucky it was for her, then.

He'd picked the spot to meet her because he'd known he was going to be working late. He'd walked down from his offices, and it hadn't even occurred to him that the spot might make her uncomfortable – a twenty-three year old attractive woman sitting in what was essentially a shark tank.

While they had drinks and ate, Katya tried to pin down what exactly about him made her uncomfortable. He was smart – smarter than her, she could admit. And he was ridiculously good looking, and through their chats, she found out he still did swim frequently. He even had a lap pool on the roof of his building. He was also successful, and as a result, he was very wealthy. Katya's family was upper class and she made very good money through her job, but Wulf's bank account was on another level, she was sure. All those things spelled out intimidation in big, bold letters

But that wasn't it. Katya had dated good looking, rich, successful men before, and they never made her feel tongue tied the way Wulf did. Hell, Liam was rich and successful and so good looking, it was stupid, but she felt completely at ease with him. So strange, how one man could make her feel so comfortable in his presence, and the other could make her feel so nervous.

That wasn't the only way they were completely opposite, either. Liam was all kinky silly sexy, but there was always a hint of hesitation about him. He always, in his own way, sought permission to touch her. Once she gave the okay, he was aggressive and demanding, but only when she'd made it clear she wasn't going to stop him. He was
polite
.