Jesus, I really needed to get some fucking sleep.
“Yeah… same here,” I responded, lifting my hand in a wave. “Good night, Delilah.”
“Night, Rich.” She smiled back once she was in her apartment. “And I’ll be sure to keep the early morning wakeup routine down tomorrow. Wouldn’t want you missing out on anymore of your beauty sleep.” With a wink, she closed the door, leaving me standing there wondering if the nerdy, eccentric neighbor might just be the one to take my mind off a certain woman in a red dress.
Or if neighbors with benefits was a slippery slope I’d want to steer clear of.
I CHOSE SUNDAY MORNINGS as laundry day because the basement laundry room was typically empty of other tenants during the early morning hours. That meant I got to fold all my unmentionables in peace, without fear of turning beet red if anyone were to see I favored lacy boy shorts over thongs.
With Zayn crooning “Pillowtalk” in my ear, I folded as I sang and danced around without a care, getting lost in what had to be the ultimate baby-making song.
“And we’ll piss off the neighbors!” I belted out, eyes closed, t-shirt clutched to my chest dramatically. I was so lost in my own little world that I hadn’t noticed I was no longer alone. That was, until one of my earbuds was pulled out, the song replaced by a deep voice saying, “Don’t you think you’ve already done enough of that?”
With a bone-rattling scream of terror, I spun around so fast, arms flailing, that I lost my footing, nearly face-planting on the cold concrete floor before two strong hands caught me around my waist, effectively saving me from many embarrassing bruises.
“Mother of pearl!” I gasped, placing a hand to my chest as my heart tried to break through.
“Shit, I’m so sorry.”
My eyes collided with Richard’s smiling ones and I glared.
“Then why do you look like you’re trying not to smile?” I snapped, still a little shaky from fright. My eyes trained on his mouth as he bit his lips between his teeth to keep from laughing. An immediate wave of lust slammed into me as I recalled all the amazing things he was capable of doing with that mouth.
He held his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he said through a small laugh. “It’s just… mother of pearl? That’s what you yell when someone scares you?” He lost his battle and broke out into deep, rumbling laughter that caused my belly to flutter.
Feeling defensive, I propped my hands on my waist and scowled. The threatening stance would have been much more effective had I not needed to reach up and push my glasses back up the bridge of my nose. “Yeah, so what? It’s a perfectly acceptable expression.”
“It is.” He smiled that killer smile that made me want to swoon. “I just didn’t expect mother of pearl to be shouted by the same woman who was just singing about fucking and fighting, that’s all.”
He winked and I felt every inch of my body flush bright red with embarrassment. How long had he been standing there listening to me? I covered my face with my hands and groaned. “Oh God. How much did you hear?”
His thick laughter sounded through the room again as I felt the touch of his fingers around my wrists. He pulled my palms away and grinned down at me. “Enough to be very intrigued by what you’re listening to.”
I didn’t think it was possible to turn any redder than I already was. I was wrong. And because of my embarrassment, I began rambling pointless information. “Zayn was part of One Direction. He left the boy band before they broke up and released his own album. Personally, I think it was a pretty smart business move. And it helps that he was one of the better looking ones. I mean, people go insane for Harry but I’m all, why? As far as I’m concerned, the dude always looks like he needed a bath like a week ago. And what woman would want that?” I let out a bout of nervous laughter followed by — you guessed it — a loud snort.
Kill me. Kill me now.
I expected him to be staring down at me like I was an escaped carnie or something when I finally got the nerve to look back at him, but the smile was still on his face, and those bright blue eyes shined under the florescent lights of laundry room. He wasn’t looking at me like I was crazy, but like he was thoroughly entertained. The concept was completely foreign to me. While Brant and I dated, he was constantly rolling his eyes or reminding me to keep quiet whenever we’d go out in public, his only concern being how I could possibly embarrass him in front of friends and strangers. The way Richard was looking at me was different. It was almost as if he actually enjoyed hearing me rant about nothing.
“Sorry,” I whispered sheepishly.
Richard’s head cocked to the side as he studied me so closely I could almost feel his eyes touching my skin. “For what?”
For what?
“Uh…” I had no response.
Richard stepped closer, speaking softly as he tucked a strand of hair that had fallen from my bun behind my ear. “Don’t apologize. I think you’re funny. I’ve laughed around you more than I have in a very long time.” His touch left a trail of fire across my flesh, and I was suddenly very aware of the fact that we were alone… in a basement laundry room… made of concrete… that was more than likely soundproof.
“No! Bad Delilah!” I chastised. This was a man who’d completely forgotten about our one epic night together, after all. There was no way in Hell I’d allow myself to fall — well, further — for another man who was completely wrong for me.
Nope. Not going to happen.
I took a few steps back and spun to the table where I’d been folding my clothes. “Well,” I said, holding my laundry basket up and shoving everything on the table into the basket with one long swipe of my arm. “I’m all done here.” I turned back to him with a big smile that probably made me look kind of manic. “I’ll just let you,” I waved my hand around, “get to it I guess. Happy laundering!” Shit! Did I really just say that?
Then I shot out of the room, speed walking all the way to the elevators like cardio was my thing. It was so not my thing. I hated cardio. Cardio gave me hives. Cardio could die and go straight to Hell.
I dropped my head just as soon as the doors closed, letting out a pained groan. “Happy laundering? I might as well just get a thousand cats, stop bathing, and call it a day.”
I closed myself in the sanctuary of my apartment, slamming and locking the door like I had a serial killer trailing after me, and spun around to be met by Devon’s startled gaze from her spot on the couch. “Too much coffee? You’re looking exceptionally hyper this morning.”
I grunted and stomped to my bedroom. It wasn’t until I got there and started putting all my clean clothes away that I realized one very important thing.
In my haste to escape, I’d left all my underwear in the washer. No way I was going back down there.
“Well, shit.”
LATER THAT AFTERNOON, AFTER careful reconnaissance to make sure the cost was clear, I left our apartment for my weekly family dinner. I walked into my parents’ house, a quaint little brownstone in Brooklyn that I’d spent most of my life in, to the sound of children being murdered.
Okay, not really. But they were screaming their heads off.
“Annabelle Marie Northcutt! You stop pulling your sister’s hair right now or, so help me God, I’m going to shave all of yours off as punishment!”
“Noooooooooooooooooo!”
I followed the shrieking into the family room, where utter chaos had clearly ensued. Just a typical Sunday in the Northcutt household.
“Ah, family,” I breathed with a smile on my face. “Such a joy, really.”
“Aunt Lilah!” my nieces Annabelle and Madison screeched before jumping up from the floor and charging me. I let out an oomph as I was hit by the twin three-year-old tornados. For such little girls, they packed some serious power. I looked over and gave my sister-in-law Claudia a warm smile, taking in her frazzled expression as she held my newest nephew Carter to her chest to nurse, a baby blanket draped over her shoulder for concealment. She looke
d about ready to lose it. My suspicions were confirmed when she whispered in a ragged voice, “Please, if you ever loved me, just hit me over the head with a heavy object and knock me the H–E-Double hockey sticks out. At least then I might get some sleep.”
“Aunt Lilah! Aunt Lilah!” I looked away from Claudia to the little hellions still attached to my leg. “Annie pulled my hair!”
The other twin looked like she was about to burst a blood vessel as she declared, “Maddie started it!”
“Nuh uh!”
“Yuh huh!”
“Okay!” I shouted over the both of them, placing my hands on the tops of their heads and forcing them to look up at me. “Your Mommy looks like she’s about two seconds from bursting into tears because you two can’t stop fighting and let her feed your little brother. The next one to misbehave is going home with me—” They both released me to jump up and down, fists in the air, as they screamed, “Yay!” That was, until I finished my sentence. “Where Auntie Devon will be in charge for the rest of the night,” I added ominously.
Both little girls’ mouths clamped shut instantly. To say Devon wasn’t very good with children was putting it politely. I brought her to a family barbeque in the park once, and the girls have never forgotten it. Needless to say, they hadn’t left with the warm and fuzzies about my best friend. There had been one unfortunate game of hide-and-seek that ended in tears, screams, and a month’s worth of night terrors.
They were terrified of her.
“That’s what I thought.” I grinned evilly as they stared at me with wide, frightened eyes. “Now, if you’re both good for the rest of the night and give your mom a break, I’ll give you the crayons and coloring books I have in my bag.” I held the massive hobo bag on my arm open just enough to see the loot I bought for them. “We got a deal?”
“Deal!” they yelped before taking off to the room my parents had converted into a playroom for all their grandkids.
“You’re an angel,” Claudia breathed as I walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek and patted the blanket covered head of my baby nephew.
“Where’s Jace?” I asked as I sat down on the sofa across from her. The scowl on her face at the mention of my brother’s name said it all.
“He took off out back with your dad the moment we got here, the bastard.” I giggled as I pictured my big brother bolting for my dad’s garage. The only place in the whole house women weren’t allowed.
“And Sarah?” I asked about my seven-year-old niece.
“In the kitchen with your mom,” Claudia answered, her eyelids beginning to droop with exhaustion. “Mom’s teaching her to make Babka.”
“Ooh! My favorite.”
Claudia let out a big yawn while Carter stirred beneath the blanket, having finished his meal. Once she’d adjusted her clothes and pulled the blanket off, I reached down and took my nephew from her, holding him against my shoulder as I started to pat his back. I tilted my head to the side and sniffed his downy little head, loving the smells as he cooed and snuggled against me.
“Why don’t you rest your eyes for a bit?” I offered, only to look over and find she’d already passed out. With a smile, I rocked Carter and headed toward the kitchen to greet my mom.
As I walked through the house, humming softly to the warm baby in my arms, I couldn’t help but be a little envious of what my brother had found. He had love, he had a family of his own. He found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with during his first year of college, and he never let her go.
I couldn’t help but feel a little morose as I wondered if I’d ever find the man who never wanted to let me go?
I FELL INTO BED later that night, exhaustion tugging at my body even though my brain refused to quiet down and let me sleep. Dinner with my family had been pure chaos. As it had been ever since Brant and I broke up, my mom nagged me about getting back out there and finding a suitable husband so I could bless her with more grandbabies, while my father threatened to get his old shotgun from the attic if I brought over another asshole like my ex. Jace backed my dad, of course. Claudia was Team Mom so I was being ganged up on from both sides.
All the while my mind kept going back to the laundry room, to the way Richard had touched me. Had the intimacy of that moment been all in my head? Had I made it out to be something more than it was simply because I knew about what had happened between the two of us even if he didn’t? The whole thing was enough to give me a migraine.
Adding to the drama of my evening, when I’d taken Shady to the park for his last walk of the night, he’d managed to slip loose from his collar and take off after a nearby poodle. The owner hadn’t appreciated her poor baby being humped into oblivion by the tiny bichon, and threatened to have me cited for not adhering to the leash laws. The poodle incident was already the fifth one of the month.
The little terror had given me no other choice. I’d called once we got home to set up an appointment to have him neutered. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, but the shit just wouldn’t stop humping stuff.
I looked down at his little doggy bed where he lay, sprawled out on his side, obviously exhausted after his latest sexcapades.
“Hope she was worth it,” I grumbled. He didn’t bother looking up at me, and I was suddenly very aware of just how pathetic I was. I was jealous of my own dog’s sex life, for Buddha’s sake! The only man I’d ever been in a real relationship with had cheated on me, and the guy currently living next door didn’t even remember the hot, sweaty night we’d spent together. I’d officially hit rock bottom.
I flopped over onto my back, silence surrounding me as I stared up at the ceiling, willing sleep to come. Devon was staying over at her most recent boy-toy’s place for the night so the loneliness of my empty apartment only added to the pity-party I was throwing myself over the sad state of my personal life.
“Sleep, Delilah. For the love of baby Jesuses everywhere, just go to sleep.” Fan-flipping-tastic, and now I was talking to myself. I squeezed my eyes closed and turned to my side, giving my pillow a frustrated punch before settling back in.
The minutes ticked by, and I’d just started to doze when I heard a faint noise coming from the other side of the wall. I sat up and listened closer. I’d almost convinced myself the sound hadn’t been real when I heard it again.
“What the—” Scooting closer to my headboard, I stood on my knees and pressed my ear to the wall in an attempt to hear better. For an apartment where the monthly rent was the same price as a black-market kidney, the walls really were embarrassingly thin.
A distinct male groan radiated through the sheetrock. I jerked away from the wall like it had burned me. “Jeez, you’ve got to be kidding me.” My cheeks heated with anger as I realized exactly what I was hearing coming from Richard’s apartment. I was in a bad enough mood as it was, there was no way I’d spend the rest of my night listening to Richard Locklaine getting it on in the apartment next to mine.
I curled my fingers into a tight fist, ready to pound on the wall and break up whatever was happening on the other side when another deeper, louder moan came through. It was then that I realized I hadn’t heard a peep from the woman the whole time I’d been listening in.
With any other man, I would have just assumed the poor girl wasn’t getting what she needed, but I’d had sex with Richard. I knew exactly what he was capable of. And even the most frigid woman in the world wouldn’t be able to remain quiet with that man working her over.
The moans gave way to grunts as I pressed closer to the wall and listened in on what I could only suspect was a self-love sesh. Pushing any guilt at my voyeuristic behavior to the back of my mind, I closed my eyes and visualized what he could have possibly looked like in that moment. All strong, defined muscles tensing and shaking as he grew closer to his release. That golden tanned skin glistening as he pumped his hand harder.
My breathing grew faster as the noises he made grew louder and quicker. My body burned as my arousal grew stronger with every sound he
made. Heat pooled in my belly as I squeezed my legs together to quell the sudden ache between my thighs. I let out a stuttered breath as the tempo of the sounds coming through the wall seemed to increase, followed by a string of muffled curses. I could almost see it happening behind my eyelids at the same time I heard his long, gruff shout of release. But it wasn’t until I heard his voice moaning what sounded an awful lot like “Delilah” that the moan I’d kept trapped escaped past my lips.
CHRIST, MY COCK FELT like it was going to explode the instant I woke up. The dream started with the woman in the red dress and quickly morphed into the one where I was having a three-way both her and my nerdy next-door neighbor. But then the room around us and the bed we were in disappeared, along with my one-night stand, leaving me and Delilah alone together in the laundry room. We were both stark naked and making out like two teenagers who had the house to themselves for the night. In the dream, I pulled away just long enough to spin Delilah around and press her chest against one of the washing machines, baring her gorgeous ass to me. Just as I was about to enter her, I woke up panting, my dick throbbing so bad I had no choice but to slide my hand beneath the sheets in the hopes of relieving the pain.
I groaned as soon as my fingers closed around my rock hard erection. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so close to coming with just one touch. It was that goddamned dream. Just the image of a naked Delilah spread out for the taking was enough to nearly send me over the edge.
As I dragged my palm up the rigid length my body shuddered, another moan shook loose from deep within my chest. I screwed my eyes closed as tightly as possible, searching for the image of Delilah from my dream as I pumped faster. I pictured those chocolate brown eyes of hers dark with lust behind her glasses as she looked at me over her shoulder. I swirled my thumb through the drops of precum that leaked out of the head of my cock, using the slickness as I fucked my fist with Delilah’s face firmly at the forefront of my mind.
Opposites Attract (The Locklaine Boys Book 2) Page 6
