Girl Next Door: The Complete Series Read online

  Aidan threw his head back and roared with laughter. I just stared at him. I didn’t see the humor in the situation, but he was hot when he laughed. I would enjoy the view. Then, I might kick him in the shin for laughing at me. He stopped laughing and stared down at me, still smiling a little. His hands squeezed my hips tighter.

  “What are you like when you really cut loose, Nat?”

  I had a feeling he was being a smartass, so I popped off the truth, just to show him.

  “I usually go wild about twice a year, and, twice a year, the cops usually show up at my house.”

  “Really?”

  I nodded and bit my bottom lip. Aidan shook his head. He grabbed my wineglass off the counter and placed it in my hand. Then, he led me over to the huge dark grey suede couch. He sat and pulled me down next to him. Damn, this couch was almost heaven.

  We sipped our drinks, Aidan looking very relaxed, and me feeling like I was about to jump out of my skin. Screw sitting in silence. If he didn’t want me to jump my bones, then I was going to make conversation. Besides, fuck buddy or not, I wanted to know who I was going to bed with.

  I leaned back into the best couch ever made and asked, “So, what do you do, Aidan?”

  He took a swig of his beer. “I own my own business. I’m a general contractor.”

  Okay, that explained the great tan and the very sexy muscles.

  “What do you do?” he asked.

  “I’m an accountant.”

  Aidan almost choked on his drink. “What? You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?”

  I frowned at him. “No, I work for a firm in Dallas. We mostly do bookkeeping and other things for Dallas-based businesses.”

  “You don’t look like any accountant I’ve ever met before.”

  My frown became a scowl. He was saying that like it was a bad thing.

  “What do you mean?” I snapped.

  Aidan set his beer on the coffee table. No coaster, of course, and turned to face me a little more.

  “You don’t look serious or boring, for one, and I’ve never had such a sexy accountant.”

  I rolled my eyes and set my wineglass down with a snap. I knew I didn’t look boring, I made sure of that, but I wasn’t some flake. I certainly was serious about my job. The sexy part, well, I didn’t often feel sexy, but it was good that he thought so.

  “Not all accountants wear big glasses, black suits, and carry pocket protectors,” I said.

  Aidan leaned in a little more, tucking my hair behind my ear. “I know.”

  “Also, I don’t need any of those things to be serious about my job and very, very good at it.” I was on a roll. “It’s insulting that you would think a woman couldn’t be both attractive and good at her job.”

  Aidan looked like he wanted to laugh again.

  “That’s not what I meant, but you sure are cute when you’re all fired up.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

  Aidan seemed to get closer, his eyes staring deep into me, their green and gold seeming to darken. Okay, now my heart was pounding and I was struggling to breathe. Then, he was kissing me again. His lips were hot and firm. This wasn’t like the kiss last night. As last night had been familiar and intense, this kiss was the opposite. This was a first kiss; slow to build and searching. I heard a whimper and realized it was me. I inched closer and fisted my hands in his short hair. Suddenly, Aidan lifted me across his lap so that I straddled his hips. Here was the heat I remembered from last night.

  Aidan’s hands clasped on my ass and pulled me tighter to him. I shifted closer, sliding my hands from his hair to his shoulders. Lost in the moment, I nipped his bottom lip. Aidan shuddered under me and pulled away.

  “Damn, woman, are you trying to kill me?”

  My chest felt thick. “Why would I want to do that? I haven’t gotten what I want from you yet.”

  The sound Aidan made was part groan and part laugh. His hands squeezed my hips. “What do you want from me?”

  Hmmm. That was a good question. I licked my lips and tried to decide what I wanted to do first. I was still contemplating my answer when Aidan’s lap started ringing and vibrating.

  “Shit.” Aidan cursed and shifted me back a little. “I’m gonna get rid of whoever this is and then turn the damned thing off.”

  I stared at him. He was actually going to answer the damned thing? Okay, the fog of lust surrounding me was dissipating very quickly.

  He touched the screen and barked into the phone. “What?”

  His shoulders went solid under my hands. Okay, this was not good. Not only did he answer the phone, but he was obviously not happy with whoever was on the other end.

  “Seriously? You’re calling me now about this shit?” He was definitely pissed at the caller.

  I started to slide off his lap, and his hand tightened on my hip. I pulled away more firmly, standing in front of him. I watched his now free hand run roughly through his blond hair.

  “Fine. I’ll be there in twenty.” He cut off and his jaw clenched. I could hear the caller’s voice, but couldn’t understand what was said. The tone came across loud and clear, though. The caller was seriously unhappy.

  “I said I would be there in twenty. If you can’t wait that long, call Patrick, if not, shut up and sit tight.”

  I moved further away from Aidan as he hung up. He pocketed his phone and stood. I wasn’t sure if I was pissed or relieved we had been interrupted. Things had been moving so fast, but I also didn’t like the fact that he was ditching me so easily. We may be in a non-relationship, but I definitely wanted sex with me to rank above phone calls.

  Aidan’s half grin didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m sorry, Natalie. I have to go. It’s a family problem.”

  Okay, that really didn’t sound like the truth, but what could I say? Liar, liar pants on fire? I shrugged.

  “I’ll see you later,” I said. Maybe, I added silently.

  Aidan walked me to the door, and didn’t stop there. He not only walked me to his door, but all the way to my door. He looked down at me, his gaze intense.

  “I really am sorry, Natalie. I definitely don’t want to leave, but it’s pretty important.”

  Okay, that was definitely more sincere than his earlier apology.

  “I’ll see you later, Aidan.” I rose up to my toes and kissed his cheek.

  This time his smile reached his eyes.

  I opened my eyes the next morning, Monday morning, and groaned. I had barely slept the night before. At 2 a.m., still wide awake, I glanced out my bedroom window, casually of course, and just happened to notice that only Aidan’s house was pretty dark. Okay, so I was in denial and almost desperate. I was curious who had called and why he’d ran out the door so fast he’d almost left an Aidan shaped hole.

  I rolled onto my back on Monday morning, exhausted but unable to sleep. Coffee was an essential. Actually, a caffeine IV would be best. I threw myself out of bed and stumbled downstairs in my tank and panties to switch on the coffeemaker. While I waited for my coffee to brew, I looked toward Aidan’s house. I couldn’t help myself. What all those kisses had promised me was hot and I really, really wanted to know what I was missing out on. I wondered when he’d made it home the night before.

  As I contemplated the previous night, I noticed an adorable blue car parked in front of Aidan’s house. I’d never seen it before. Just as I observed this cute little sedan, Aidan’s front door opened and a tall, lithe brunette strode out like she was working the catwalk in Milan. Aidan followed behind her. This alone might have thrown me a little and made me curious, but the leggy brunette was dressed in a sexy, skintight dress that was obviously wrinkled and Aidan was shirtless and barefoot. Now, this little fact shot me straight from confused and slightly hurt to supremely pissed off. Okay, so I was more than slightly hurt.

  So Aidan’s important phone call last night had to have been Ms. Legs-to-her-Ears. That asshole ditched me mid-clench for another woman. So much for the condition I gave him last nigh
t. The dickhead couldn’t even wait more than a few hours before chasing after another piece of ass.

  My ire burned through the last of my exhaustion. I poured a cup of coffee and stomped upstairs to get ready for work. I let my anger carry me through my morning routine. I took extra care with my appearance. I may not be a tall, slender brunette with hair to my ass and legs that made up ninety percent of my body, but I could do my best to look hot.

  I dressed in a snug black pencil skirt that stopped a couple of inches above my knees. I topped the skirt with a slinky red top that bared my arms and had a demure boat neck. A pair of fuck-me red stilettos brought me four inches taller than my diminutive five-four height.

  Dressed to kill, I flew through my day, a woman on a mission. I finished a tremendous amount of work. After work, I let my indignation carry me through an intense session on the elliptical machine at the gym. After the sweat fest, I dropped by the grocery store for a few things I’d forgotten on my trip the Friday before, plus a bottle of sparkling wine.

  Once I got home, I stripped off my gym clothes, showered, and slid into a ragged pair of cutoffs and another of my girl-fit tees. This one had an awesome skull and crossbones with a sparkly pink bow on top of the skull. Barefoot, I threw together a quick sandwich and salad.

  It was after dinner that my anger began to fade and I fell into a bit of a funk. It was time to implement Plan A. I had bought the sparkling wine in anticipation of a little pity party. A girl was entitled to one good sulk when a hunky guy turned out to be just another asshat. I was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with me. The last two men I’d shown an interest in had ditched me for other women, or at least preferred the company of other women to me, since I’d been the one to ditch Jack.

  I took my very chilled bottle of wine onto the back deck with me and settled into a lounger. The moon was a teeny sliver in the sky and my deck and pool lights were off. My backyard was pretty dim and I relaxed in the warm evening air. After I drank about half the wine, straight from the bottle, of course, I decided a little swim might be nice. Because of the darkness of the night and the trees surrounding my back fence, I decided to go sans swimsuit and skinny dip.

  I stripped out of my shorts and tee and slid into the warm water. It wasn’t cheap to heat the pool, but, if I was going to the expense of building an in-ground pool, I wanted to be able to use it whenever I wanted. I left my wine at the side of the pool and floated on my back, staring at the stars.

  I thought I heard my doorbell but decided I was too lazy to investigate. It was almost ten at night, I didn’t want to see who it was anyway. I rolled over and slowly swam to the stairs and my wine. Sitting on the steps, waist-deep in the water, I was taking a slug of my wine when I heard the back gate shut. I immediately submerged myself to my neck in the shallow end and looked up.

  Of course, Aidan was standing at the opposite end of the pool, watching me. I was pretty sure he had seen quite a bit of my body, but, in my inebriated state, I didn’t give a shit. What I did care about was the fact that Aidan seemed to be undressing. He reached over his head and grasped his tee between his shoulders, pulling it up and off. It wasn’t until his hands went to his jeans that I snapped out of my stunned silence. Oh, hell no, he wasn’t doing what I thought he was.

  “What are you doing?” I snapped, gesturing with my almost empty wine bottle.

  He didn’t even have the decency to pause.

  “Going skinny dipping with you.”

  Yep, he was doing what I thought he was doing.

  “No, you’re not.” I definitely sounded as pissed as I felt.

  Aidan’s brows lowered and he scowled at me.

  “You suddenly feel shy?”

  I snorted and finished off my wine. “Yes, I’m a delicate effing flower.”

  Aidan’s scowl disappeared and he smiled as he continued to unbutton his jeans.

  “But that’s not why you aren’t skinny dipping with me,” I said.

  Aidan toed off his sneakers.

  “Why not?”

  He didn’t really sound interested, nor did he appear to be listening. After he kicked off his shoes, he unzipped his jeans.

  Okay, this was getting WAY out of hand.

  “Because I don’t think Ms. Endless Legs would appreciate you dipping with her one night, then me the next. As a matter of fact, I don’t appreciate it either.” There, plainly said and easy to understand.

  Aidan stopped and looked me with a slightly confused expression on his face. Now, I was furious. Not only had he ditched me last night, but he seemed to have forgotten he walked a stunning brunette out of his house that morning. Call me skeptical, but I didn’t think he had short-term memory loss.

  “Ms. Endless Legs?” he asked.

  I put my now empty wine bottle at the edge of the pool, then turned to look at him.

  “The brunette you walked to her car this morning. You know, really long legs, wrinkled dress, and fresh fucked hair. The woman who called last night right before you took off like your dick was on fire.”

  Aidan started smiling as I described the woman. When I finished my inebriated tirade, he was wearing a shit-eating grin.

  “You mean Anya?”

  I snorted again. Yeah, only a woman who looked like her would have a name like Anya. She’d probably had it changed to Anya from Ashley or some shit like that. I waved a hand in the air, water flying everywhere.

  “Whatever. You need to leave.”

  Instead of gathering his clothes and scurrying home, as I’d asked, Aidan shucked off his jeans and dove into the pool naked. When the shock of seeing his very nice body nude wore off in less than a second, I moved toward the side of the pool closest to the back deck, and thus the door, but a hand slid around my waist and pulled me back against a wet, hard, naked, male body. My heart began to beat in overdrive, and, I swear, I lost about a thousand IQ points.

  Aidan began pulling me into deeper water until I had to let him hold me afloat. There went my plan of making a mad dash for the back door and locking it behind me. His arm tightened around me, keeping my back plastered to his naked front.

  His lips tickled my ear just before he began speaking. I shivered and knew he felt it, because I felt his lips curve into a smile against my skin.

  “Anya is my brother, Patrick’s, fiancée. Well, ex-fiancée after last night. My brother kicked her out. She claimed she couldn’t get her girls on the phone, so I let her crash in my guestroom. I didn’t call you back because I was up until friggin’ 1 a.m. listening to the bitch cry about Patrick breaking up with her. Personally, I think Patrick avoided a train wreck by ditching her, which is why I let her stay at my place rather than let her have a chance to spend the rest of the night at Patrick’s apartment, trying to change his mind about this shit.”

  I held myself very still after Aidan finished speaking. I really, really wanted to stay pissed off at him. I don’t know if it was because we were naked or that it was only fair that a woman that beautiful was also annoying in some way.

  Than all thoughts of being pissed evaporated because Aidan’s mouth moved down my neck and he nipped my skin with his teeth. This got a bigger shiver, which included goosebumps, and my nipples got hard.

  His hands drifted to my hips and pulled my ass to him. Holy cow, he was extremely happy to see me. My eyes crossed and I lost my train of thought as he nibbled up my neck to my ear. I gasped when he suddenly bit the back of my neck a little harder than before. Okay, I really, really liked that. I whimpered a little.

  Aidan must have realized that all the fight had gone out of me. He turned me to face him and gripped the outside of my thighs, wrapping my legs around his waist. I wiggled closer as he cupped my ass and began to walk through the water, up the steps, and out of the pool.

  I skimmed my lips up his neck, to his ear, and lightly scraped my nails over his back and shoulders. Aidan growled and laid me out on the lounger I’d abandoned earlier. He snagged his pants and jerked a strip of condoms out
of his pocket.

  Stretching out on top of me, his lips found mine and our mouths were fused together. Damn, he could kiss. I dug my fingers into his very firm and sexy ass, pulling his hips tighter to me and rolled my hips against him. He pulled away from me, making me whimper again. If he stopped, I was going to be forced to tie him down and use him, regardless of consent. His hand slid down my belly until he cupped me. Okay, so he must have taken my hip roll as an invitation. I widened my thighs because his hands were pure magic. His fingers played lightly over my skin, then slid inside me. He found my happy place immediately, no fumbling or directions needed. I lost control of my body and my hips lifted into his hand involuntarily. Then, his thumb hit my clit and stroked it just right.

  When Aidan’s mouth moved down my throat to my breasts, combined with what he was doing with his hand, I almost lost it. I realized that the mewling sounds I heard were coming from me. His hot mouth closed over my nipple and sucked. My hips bucked again, hard.

  He pulled back a little more to look into my face.

  “Damn, you just got so tight. I can’t wait to get in there.”

  I really wanted more kissing, less talking, so I grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his mouth back to mine. I heard the condom packet rip and felt Aidan’s hands moving between us. I reached down between us and stroked him as he rolled on the condom.

  Aidan groaned and grabbed my wrist to pull my hand away. I tightened my grip a little, lifted my hips, and started to guide him inside me. I was in no mood for games. He must have agreed because he slid in just a bit, then slowly worked his way in until his dick was buried in me. I shifted my hips again, restlessly, urging him to move.

  I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his face, but he kept completely still. I felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin, I was so turned on.

  “Aidan, please.”

  He grinned his half-grin and started to move. Okay, so this felt amazing. My right hand was still in his hair, and I pulled his head down to mine. I kissed him, my tongue teasing his and my teeth nibbling his lips.

  I was so close, but I couldn’t fall off the edge. I must have made some frustrated sound because Aidan sat back on his calves, pulling my hips into his lap, and his thumb found my clit.