The Guy Next Door (Forbidden Love Book 1)

by Kelly Myers

  “Well, you’re covered in shit. You are shit. Everything is shit.” She pulled the plant into a hug and shook like she was crying.

  Crying women were my weakness. She was beautiful and in distress. Instinctually, I reached out to wrap an arm around her. I didn’t give a fuck that she had a man, or that she was pissed at me because of the layoff. She was crying. She swatted my arm away before I was remotely close.

  “Let me at least call Chase to come pick you up. You shouldn’t have to walk home with your knee all scraped up.”

  She scooted away from me with a turn. “I don’t have a boyfriend anymore. And thanks to you, I don’t have a job. And now I’m going to be homeless unless I can find another job in less than two weeks. Even if I do, I won’t get paid in time.” She sniffled for a bit and then held out her plant. “You killed Henry.”

  “How is it my fault you tripped?”

  She spun back and glared. Even when angry she was adorable. I took a few squat walk steps back, giving her the room she needed.

  She let out a dramatic sigh. “Henry would be content in a cubicle if I still had a job. But I don’t. I had to pack up four months of accumulated reference material because the sexist engineers I worked with were constantly quizzing me. They said it was because I was the intern, but they never actually quizzed anyone else, no, just me. I had to be smarter than any of them, even though I was the intern. I was there to learn, not serve as some kind of human reference database. But I was killing it. I was proving that I knew my shit, and I was in line to be hired.” She closed her eyes for a moment.

  “I digress. The box was heavy, I tripped. The pot broke. It’s your fault because if the solar panel group hadn’t been dissolved, I wouldn’t have been laid off today. Therefore, you killed Henry.”

  When she stopped talking she just stared at me as if to say point served.

  I rubbed my hand over my brow, massaging away the wrinkles that formed there when I was tense. This woman was making me tense. She wasn’t wrong. As crazy as her logic sounded, it was logic.

  “I’m sorry I killed your plant. Let’s gather your things and then we can discuss this rent situation. I’m feeling responsible.”

  She held her hand out to me. I stood, and then braced, as she levered herself to her cute little feet.

  “You should.”

  She looked me up and down with a great deal of judgment, before bending over to get the rest of her things into the box. I enjoyed the view. When finished, she stood with her hands on her ample hips and looked at me and then the box, and then at me again. I took her hint and picked it up.

  “How much rent money do you need?” I asked as I held her box.

  She shrugged. “Chase paid half. And right now I barely have enough to cover my half.”

  She was eerily calm. I guess she spent all her rage yelling at me about the plant.

  “Swing by my apartment when you get home. I’ll transfer the rent—”

  “No, you can’t do that.” She cut me off.

  “Crystal—”

  “As much as I blame you for the job, the rent is on me and Chase. So it’s on me. And… and… no I can’t let you.”

  I never noticed how big her eyes were. Or how long her lashes. The woman didn’t have on any makeup that I could tell, and she was stunning. Maybe it was the way the evening light filtered through the trees and lit up her honey brown eyes. And with Chase no longer around, I was going to be helping her. She didn’t have a choice in this.

  “Fine, if I can’t pay your rent, what can I do?”

  “Give me a job.”

  “I can’t give you your job back. What can you do? What did you do before Shingle Click?”

  Her mouth formed around words and I half-listened. Distracted by thoughts of having that mouth form around other things. I heard her mention marketing, management, and graduation. What I didn’t hear was any programming experience.

  “Fine, be in my office Monday morning. I’ll find you a job,” I said.

  She took the box from my hands with an excited little wiggle. Her face lit up with a genuine smile. “Really? There’s an opening in quality assurance. I can do product testing and proof coding. And the pay will more than cover rent. Thank you, Zack. Or should I say, Mr. Noble?”

  “Zack is fine.” The way she jiggled about when she was happy sucked the blood from my brain. I cleared my throat and got on my bike before it all fully transferred to my dick.

  3

  Crystal

  My stomach roiled, I was too nervous to drink or eat anything. The first day on a new job always did that to me. It didn’t matter that I had already been working there. As far as my stomach was concerned it was a new job.

  “Hey stranger,” I said, stopping in front of Charline’s desk.

  She gave a little “eep” as she looked up and saw me. “What are you doing here?”

  I shrugged. “New job. There’s an opening in QA, and I’m here to fill it.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me? Never mind, who are you interviewing with?” Her smile was infectious.

  “Zack told me to be in his office at eight-thirty. Can you let me in? I don’t have a passkey anymore.”

  “You don’t want to keep the big man waiting. I expect a full report later.” She pressed a hidden button letting me back into the labyrinth of cubicles.

  I crossed over to the elevator, and up to the second floor. It was eerily quiet there, the scene of the corporate bloodbath, the former home of accounting. I turned past empty cubes and into the hallway that led to the executive offices. The entire décor changed from a sea of gray and tan modular walls to wood paneling and the brushed gleam of stainless steel accents.

  No one sat behind the executive admin’s desk. I strolled past and tapped lightly on the frosted glass door to the CEO’s office.

  “Come in,” Zack’s deep voice commanded.

  I found him staring out the window, a cup of coffee in his hand. I needed to stop ogling him as my hot neighbor, and remember he was my new boss. The morning light highlighted the defined plains of his face: wide strong brow, high sharp cheekbones, a strong jawline, and a squared-off chin. He was clean-shaven this morning, and his dark hair looked as if it were still damp from a morning shower. His appeal did not stop there. He had broad shoulders that tapered to slim hips. With one hand in his pocket, his slacks strained at his firm backside. Must be all that cycling.

  He turned ever so slightly to see who I was.

  “Hi.” With a tip of his head, he indicated I should come in and over to the window.

  If Shingle Click were a more lucrative business, maybe Zack would have had a more interesting view. As it was, his window overlooked the parking lot.

  I stood next to him and watched as commuters began straggling into work. My stomach did one of its complaining flips. Or maybe it was an anxious flip since I was in such close proximity to him.

  “Hungry?” he asked.

  Crap, I had hoped the noise hadn’t been loud enough for him to hear. Wrong.

  “I haven’t had coffee yet,” I explained.

  The lift of his eyebrow was question enough.

  “Nerves,” I confessed as I looked out the window. I couldn’t look at him, not with the backflips already happening with my insides.

  He glanced at me, and then he turned to look at me. In my peripheral vision, I saw him rake his gaze down my body before he returned to look out the window.

  I bit my lip. If all went well, he wouldn’t comment on anything. It’s not like I didn’t already know my hips were larger than average. It always astounded me how many men seemed to think I needed this pointed out. Would he think I was too big to have a functional brain?

  “You’re all dressed up this morning,” he said.

  I released a sigh. After a look-over like that, I expected a disparaging remark. No size commentary was good. “Wasn’t sure if this was an interview, or if the job was mine. Either way, I wanted to make a good impression on my first day,”
I said. I risked glancing at him.

  He smiled, but his attention was somewhere out in the parking lot.

  “I got you something,” he said.

  “You did?”

  He quirked his head back toward his desk without looking at me. “I figured Henry could use a new home. I hope he survived the weekend.”

  I turned to see what he was talking about. In the center of his desk sat a new ceramic pot. I picked it up.

  “Henry’s going uptown. Thank you.” The pot was a combination of smooth cobalt blue glaze and red rough clay. It was hefty and seemed artisan made. With the pot in my hands, I sat in a chair facing his desk.

  Zack turned, and still not really looking at me, took his own chair. “I guess it’s time to discuss this job.”

  I sat up and was about to thank him again, when he cut me off. “I’m not giving you the QA job.”

  I bit my lip. I wasn’t going to cry in front of him again. This was exactly why I was so nervous this morning, the job offer wasn’t real. Maybe that’s what the new pot for my plant was all about, a consolation prize. Congratulations, you did not get a job but you won’t leave empty-handed. Have a pot.

  “I looked over your records and your Linked In profile. You have a skill set I can use. Let me tell you about our newest product.” He sat forward on his chair, placed his coffee down, and then clasped his hands together. His eyes bore into me. They were intense like cold blue laser beams.

  I gulped. I didn’t have the job I thought. But I had a job? Thank small favors for the pot to hold onto. I gripped it for all I was worth. Zack should have warned me he was going to take me on an emotional roller coaster ride this morning.

  “I’ve pulled our leading tech developers and programmers into a small team. We are focusing on upgrading the existing operating system in the Shingle Click Home Command Center unit. As I’m sure you are aware there are only two ways to access the HCC, through the device itself, or with an IP access dashboard. The dashboard gives users computer access, but it is not user-friendly, and definitely not mobile-friendly. I don’t know why they never made that happen. Fortunately, wi-fi is already integrated, but the interface to a browser on a cell phone is ten years behind where it needs to be.”

  I shifted in my chair. Did he want me to work on the development and programming of a phone app? I couldn’t stop the smile on my face. My already messy nerves lined up into an organized conga line. This was even better than working in QA.

  He sat back in his chair, running both hands through his hair, and resting them on the back of his neck.

  “Exactly, you get it,” he said with a satisfied smirk.

  “Where do I fit in?” I asked. It was hard not to vibrate with excitement. I knew exactly where I fit in.

  “Well, this is where your special talents come in handy. I saw that you were a traffic controller in a marcom agency. Engineers are notorious for losing track of time. I need you to be Project Manager on this one.”

  I deflated in my chair. I felt all the air leave my body. I was literally surprised I didn’t continue to deflate until I was a puddle on the floor. He didn’t want me to program anything. He wanted someone who could read a calendar and schedule to other people. I didn’t go to night school for six years to get a degree in program engineering to remind some guy to turn in his assignment on time. I’d done that for years with designers and copy editors. The smile left my face in a blink.

  “What? Don’t you want the job?” Zack’s entire demeanor also changed. “It has better career potential than working in QA ever will. And you get to work directly with me,” he said as if that was a major selling point. “And since you already have a few years of experience in the field, the pay rate is higher than an entry-level salary that a quality assurance tester earns.”

  I blinked a few times. “Did you just say I have years of experience, and that this pays better?” The QA job would pay enough to cover rent, buy food, and have some money to spend. It wasn’t the best salary in the world, but it would work for me. Earning more would be a dream, and that meant I would have enough with my next check to cover rent.

  He chuckled, and then stood up. “Let’s go meet the team.”

  Clutching Henry’s new home to my chest I followed Zack from the office. He paused at the now occupied admin’s desk.

  “Lisa, let human resources know Miss Pond is back in our employment. She’ll be in their offices after our meeting to get a new ID badge. I’ll email over the details regarding her responsibilities and salary.”

  Lisa looked down her long nose at me and breathed heavily in my direction. She could judge me on whatever she wanted to, my money woes were about to become a thing of the past.

  I followed Zack down the stairs to the first-floor conference room where, just as he said, a group of engineers was waiting for him.

  I recognized Tony Ramirez, solely because Charline couldn’t stop talking about him. And, my stomach plummeted again— damn this roller coaster ride— Greg. I had kind of hoped he had gotten the ax with the rest of us from the solar group. I didn’t like him much, and he didn’t like me a lot. There was a woman I didn’t yet know. It was nice that I wasn’t the only one on the team.

  “Oh, sorry, am I late?” Armand entered the conference room behind me. “Crystal! I’m pleased to see you again.” He patted me on the back and slid into one of the chairs at the table.

  I continued to hover behind Zack.

  “Great, everyone’s here. Let me introduce you to our new Project Manager, Crystal Pond. She is going to keep all of us on task and on schedule.”

  4

  Zack

  “Zacky…”

  I hated it when Paris called me Zacky. It meant she was cajoling and manipulating me. It meant her next approach would involve tears, and I couldn’t deny Paris anything when she cried. Zacky meant ‘give in now big brother, or I will cry.’

  “Fine Paris, I will bring a plus one. I do not guarantee they will be anything more than a friend out for th—”

  “Zack Noble you are not bringing a bro-date to my event. This is not an opportunity to get drunk and pick up women.”

  “You judge my friends harshly,” I winced into the phone.

  “I judge them accurately. Bring a woman. And one you would actually date. When I organized the Governor’s Ball in Sacramento you brought mother’s old friend Mrs. Dickens. That was awkward. People thought you were really dating some sixty-year-old.”

  “She’s mother’s oldest friend who actually checks on us. Not a lot of their friends did that after the accident. And no one thought we were dating. They thought she was mom. Which was worse,” I muttered the last bit.

  “And where do you expect me to get a date you would approve of with such short notice?”

  “Get on a dating app and swipe right. And put effort into it. It’s high time you started to get serious about settling down. So this needs to be a legit date.”

  I smiled as she berated me through the phone. I don’t know when it happened, at some point, the power dynamic between the two of us changed. One minute I was the one taking care of her, helping her with homework, filling out college applications, and the next… she was the boss of me. Maybe it happened gradually, maybe it had been going on since the day she was born. As her older brother, I was going to protect her and be at her beck and call for life.

  “I’ll find a date for your gala.”

  “It’s an opening, not a gala. Dress nice, but not black tie. Eat first,” she delivered instructions like a to-do list.

  “What? You aren’t going to dinner with me and my date afterward?”

  “I would never impose on your date. Love you, Zacky.”

  “Love…” She already hung up on me.

  I tossed my cell onto the desk in front of me. My intercom buzzed.

  “Yeah?”

  “Miss Pond wants to see you,” Lisa’s voice announced.

  “Send her in.” I looked up to watch Crystal peek her head around my d
oor before coming in.

  She was an interesting package of commanding and timid. It was rather adorable. I liked it. I liked adorable best when it turned sexy, and the way this woman’s mouth moved around words and the way her ass moved when she walked… yeah she turned adorable into fucking hot in the blink of an eye. I shifted and by sheer willpower, forced the blood rushing to my cock back to my brain.

  I nodded for her to have a seat. Crystal tended to fidget. Only she didn’t fidget with jerky gawky movements. She pulsed and rolled. If she stood in front of my desk undulating the way she did I was going to lose the battle of where my blood flow went.

  “You said you wanted weekly status updates,” she said.

  “I got your email,” I acknowledged. “Everything seems to be going as planned.”

  She bit her lip. I did not need to focus on that mouth right now.

  “And you told me to let you know if there were any problems. I figured it was best for problems to be handled in person and not through email.”

  “Fair enough. What kinds of problems are we running into already?” I sucked at my teeth and slowed my breathing. I wanted to breathe deeply and inhale her scent.

  She fidgeted, crossing and uncrossing her arms. Plumping her breasts, making a show of her cleavage.

  I forced my eyes to her face. I needed her to get on with it and get out of my office so I could think about anything other than her breasts, and the way her soft body moved.

  “Greg and I, no, that’s nothing I can’t handle. But for the record, I’ve had issues with him in the past. I’m a professional. I’ll deal with it. We don’t have any problems with the team. My issue is with HR.”

  “Greg? Human resources? What’s the matter?” I was ready to fire Greg on the spot if she said so. But I knew that was my cock talking. It currently was in charge of my brain and blood supply. I couldn’t exactly lay off the entire HR team because of Mr. Happy in my pants. That’s what caused the whole fiasco at Shingle Click to begin with, someone couldn’t keep their dick down. “How can I help?”