Irresistible (Neighbor from Hell Book 11)

by R. L. Mathewson

  He’d never had any problems talking to anyone even when he was a kid and could barely get a word out without mangling every single syllable in the process, but whenever he was around her…

  She made him nervous and he had absolutely no idea why.

  “I wouldn’t feel comfortable with that, Aidan,” Melanie said, clearing her throat awkwardly before adding, “I think it might be for the best if I stay with my parents for a while. At least until the baby comes,” and if she’d actually sounded like that’s what she wanted, he would have let her go and figured out another way to make this work.

  But it was the way that she said it that had him closing his eyes and saying the one thing that he prayed would change her mind.

  “I used to wet the bed.”

  “Ummm…”

  “When I was ten, my brothers paid me two dollars to wear my mother’s bra, took pictures, and then charged me twenty dollars not to show my friends.”

  “Well, that’s-”

  “You know those marshmallow peeps?” he asked with a heavy sigh.

  “Um, yeah?”

  “They freak me the fuck out,” he reluctantly said, admitting his secret shame.

  “I see,” Melanie murmured thoughtfully before asking, “Is there a reason why you’re telling me all this?”

  Nodding, he said, “It’s my five things.”

  “You’ve only told me three things,” she pointed out, sounding amused.

  “That’s because I’m pacing myself,” Aidan said even as he opened his eyes so that he could reach back into the tub and turn the water on.

  “For…?”

  “Well, I don’t want to rush things.”

  “And telling me five completely random things about yourself at once would be rushing things?” Melanie asked, blinking up at him.

  Sighing heavily, he said, “Yes, yes, it would.”

  “Okay, should I take a moment to prepare myself for the two earthshattering revelations that are about to come?”

  “That would probably be a good idea,” he said as he moved so that he could drop the stopper and fill the large bathtub.

  “I’m not sure if my heart can handle all this excitement,” Melanie said, smiling as she carefully sat up with his help.

  “Are you ready?” Aidan asked, helping her to her feet.

  “Do I have a choice?” she asked as he adjusted the water.

  “I’m afraid not,” he said with a helpless shrug before admitting, “Once, when my brother Garret refused to share his sandwich, I convinced him that he was invisible.”

  “Wow,” Melanie said, shaking her head in wonder before asking, “And how long did that last?”

  He shrugged. “A year, give or take a few months, but by then, Arik and Reese had convinced him that he was adopted.”

  She chuckled. “You’re so mean.”

  With a heartfelt sigh, Aidan said, “True, but that wasn’t the worst thing that we did to him.”

  “I probably don’t want to know.”

  “That might be for the best,” he admitted with a shrug.

  “Okay, so what’s the fifth completely random bit of information that I absolutely must know about you?” Melanie asked with a teasing smile.

  “That,” Aidan said, shooting her a wink as he shoved his jeans off, “I love baths.”

  *-*-*-*

  “Well?” the man that had somehow charmed her into taking a bath with him by using weird and somewhat disturbing trivia asked as he wrapped his arms around her and placed his hands on her belly.

  “Well, what?” Melanie murmured, somewhat distracted by just how incredibly comfortable she was.

  After spending the last few months struggling to get comfortable, she was in heaven. It only confirmed her earlier suspicions that she was a snuggle slut, but at the moment, she simply didn’t care. She never wanted to leave this tub, Melanie thought with a sigh as she shifted to get more comfortable, murmuring a, “Thank you,” when Aidan adjusted her tee-shirt to keep her covered.

  “Your five things,” he said as she leaned back more, resting her arms on his boxer-short-clad thighs.

  “And why exactly are we sharing five things, might I ask?” Melanie asked, unable to help but smile as she watched Aidan absently trace circles on her belly over where their baby boy was moving.

  “We’re getting to know each other.”

  “And we’re doing that by sharing five completely random things?” she couldn’t help but ask as she laid her head back against his chest.

  “Mmmhmm, I thought it would be for the best if we went with the accelerated version,” Aidan murmured, chuckling when their son kicked his hand.

  “I see,” Melanie murmured, her lips twitching with amusement as she asked, “Then shouldn’t sharing a bath be considered part of this accelerated program?”

  He sighed heavily. “I’m starting to think that you don’t want to share any deep dark secrets with me.”

  “And what would these deep dark secrets consist of?”

  “The usual, your favorite color, favorite ice cream, your most mortifying secret so that I can blackmail you with it at a later date. The usual,” he said, making her smile.

  “I don’t know. Telling you what my favorite ice cream is might be going too far.”

  “But, you’re okay with sharing your most mortifying secrets?”

  “Oh, absolutely.”

  “Sounds reasonable.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Melanie said, nodding solemnly.

  “What’s the first item on your list?” Aidan asked, shifting so that he could gently rub his hands over her belly.

  “I don’t know if you’ll be to handle my deep dark secrets. They might scar you for life.”

  “I’m willing to take that risk,” he said, chuckling.

  “As long as you know the risks,” Melanie said, sighing for effect before admitting, “I believed in Santa Claus until I was fourteen.”

  “I see,” Aidan murmured thoughtfully before asking, “And how did you manage to pull that off?”

  “Denial,” she admitted.

  “And the Easter Bunny?” he asked.

  “I think it would be for the best if we moved onto my second completely random thing,” Melanie said.

  “You’re probably right.”

  “I usually am,” Melanie said, nodding in agreement as she shifted to get more comfortable.

  “I’ll try to remember that,” he said, chuckling.

  “You really should,” she said with a nod before asking, “Does that count as my second thing?”

  “Are you stalling?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Second thing or I pull the plug,” the devious bastard said.

  “Fine,” Melanie said, making sure to sound put out before she admitted, “When I was six, I tied my sister up and locked her in the closet.”

  “Older or younger?”

  “Older.”

  “Impressive,” Aidan murmured, and she couldn’t help but nod in agreement since Caitlyn had been in mid-tantrum mode when she’d pulled it off.

  “And your parents?”

  “Conveniently forgot to punish me,” Melanie said with a sigh, reminiscing about that slice of pumpkin pie that her father snuck into her room for her later that night.

  God, she could go for pie.

  And some ice cream.

  “And your third thing?”

  Sighing heavily, she said, “I’m afraid that I’m too weak to go on.”

  Chuckling, Aidan said, “You’re a devious little thing, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, yes, I am,” Melanie admitted with absolutely no shame whatsoever, not if it got her pie.

  Chapter 15

  “Okay, let’s have it,” Aidan said as he handed her the large bowl overflowing with the pumpkin pie and the extra creamy French vanilla ice cream that the devious little thing talked him into getting for her.

  “Is that from Dixon’s?” Melanie asked with a hopeful expression that
had him chuckling as he joined her on her bed, absently noting that this bed was bigger than his, but not as comfortable.

  “Of course,” he said, settling in even as he did his best to ignore just how fucking exhausted he was.

  For the past month, he’d been getting up an hour early to check on her and take care of her before racing off to work only to rush back during his lunch break to check in on her, going back to work and putting in another five hours before rushing back, taking care of her for the night, and putting in another five or six hours working on her apartment every night or working a shift at the emergency room before finally passing out on the couch only to do it all over again the next day.

  Unfortunately, that’s pretty much how his days had always been. He’d drag his ass out of bed, head to work, work through lunch, work until it was time to head out, pick up a shift at the emergency room or help his brothers and cousins with whatever they had going on before heading home and crashing and doing it all over again the next day. God, he couldn’t even remember the last time he went out on a date. He was really looking forward to the next two weeks, Aidan thought as he closed his eyes only to find himself on his stomach and hugging a pillow a minute later.

  Frowning, he looked up to find Melanie taking a bite out of a sandwich that he didn’t remember making before she said, “And it was really embarrassing, but I eventually got over it,” with a shrug before saying, “Okay, your turn.”

  “My turn for what?” he asked, unable to help but frown when she said, “Your next five things.”

  “It’s still your turn,” Aidan pointed out with a yawn as he turned over onto his back.

  “After I just shared my pain?” Melanie asked, only to shake her head. “No, no, I just couldn’t go through that…not again.”

  Narrowing his eyes suspiciously on the woman as she finished off the sandwich that looked really good, he reached over for his phone and-

  “I’ve only been asleep for ten minutes,” he pointed out as he tossed his phone back on her nightstand.

  “Ten brutal minutes where I shared my pain,” Melanie said with a sniffle and a heartfelt sigh that had his eyes narrowing on her.

  “Start sharing or I eat the rest of the pie,” Aidan said, tempted to steal the little brat’s sandwich, but since he already knew just how dangerous it was to come between her and her food, he settled for glaring at her.

  Shrugging, Melanie said, “I finished that off five minutes ago.”

  “You owe me three things, woman,” he reminded her.

  “Will you get me another pie?” she asked, pausing mid-bite to throw him an assessing gaze that told him what would happen if he said no.

  Since he valued his balls, he nodded.

  “Fine. I used to stuff my bras,” Melanie said with a shrug as she returned her attention to her sandwich while he laid there, admittedly staring at her large breasts clad in only a tee-shirt, trying to figure out why she would ever have to stuff her-

  “I should probably mention that I was ten at the time and stole my mother’s 40DD bras and stuffed them with my brothers balled-up gym socks and toilet paper.”

  “I see,” he said, forcing himself to shift his attention away from her breasts and back onto the sandwich that-

  Was long gone, Aidan realized with a reluctant sigh as he climbed off the bed, grabbed her empty plates and headed for the kitchen where he quickly loaded her plate into the dishwasher before making his way to his apartment where he made another sandwich, grabbed a bottle of juice, and a bowl of grapes and headed back to the woman who was now sitting in the middle of the bed, hugging a pillow against her chest and shooting him a sweet smile that he simply couldn’t resist.

  “So, since you’re skipping work and all…” Melanie said with a hopeful smile, gesturing towards the spot behind her where she’d piled all the pillows but one against the headboard.

  “I took two weeks off,” Aidan said, placing everything on the nightstand before climbing on the bed and sat back so that she could sit between his legs.

  “Really?” she asked as she settled back against him and sighed with satisfaction.

  “Figured we could use some time to get to know each other,” he said before asking, “Comfy?”

  “Mmmhmm,” Melanie mumbled absently as she closed her eyes and settled back against him.

  “Your fourth thing?” Aidan asked, not really expecting much as he reached over for his phone.

  “When I was five, I decided to turn the basement into a pool,” Melanie said as she continued to shift and wiggle while he checked his text messages to make sure that everything was going smoothly with his patients. “And for some reason, my father wasn’t happy,” she said, making his lips twitch.

  “I can’t imagine why,” he said dryly, making her chuckle.

  “The goldfish seemed happy.”

  “I bet they were,” Aidan murmured, placing one arm around her as he pulled her closer.

  “They really were,” she said, nodding solemnly. “Until the cat decided that it could swim. But thankfully after that, my father decided to install a pool in the backyard, so everything turned out for the best.”

  “And the goldfish?”

  “Preferred the bathtub as it turned out,” Melanie said, making him chuckle.

  “And your fifth completely random thing?” Aidan asked, shifting his attention to a text message from his sister, letting him know that she would have her revenge.

  She was just so damn cute, Aidan thought as he responded by sending her a picture of the biggest needle that he could find on the internet, even as he couldn’t help but worry about her. He never should have agreed to keep his mouth shut. Maybe if he hadn’t, she never would have-

  “I don’t know if I should tell you this or not.”

  “Oh, then you should definitely tell me,” Aidan said, tossing his phone aside so that he could focus on whatever earth-shattering announcement the woman that he was beginning to realize was so much more than a pretty smile, said.

  “That does seem like sound logic,” Melanie murmured with a nod before taking a shaky breath and announcing, “I’m a Yankees fan,” and god help him because if he didn’t think that it would have seriously fucked up their chances of making this work, he would have kissed her right then.

  Chapter 16

  “That doesn’t count.”

  “It really does,” Melanie said, nodding solemnly as she swiped to the next page of the iPad that Aidan handed her a few minutes ago.

  “It really doesn’t,” Aidan said, shifting behind her so that he could write something down in his notebook before adding, “Next page.”

  Nodding, she swiped to the next page of her file and landed on what appeared to be a lab report. “Why doesn’t it count?” Melanie asked, taking a bite of one of the many Hostess pies that Aidan ran out to get for her at the gas station down the street after a craving woke her up at two this morning.

  “Goes against the rules,” Aidan said, writing something down before he reached over and grabbed her small bottle of apple juice off the nightstand and handed it to her.

  “Wait. What rules?” Melanie asked as she accepted the bottle.

  The long-suffering sigh that followed had her lips pulling up into a smile. “The rules that we discussed last night.”

  “We did?” she couldn’t help but ask as her attention shifted to the lemon Hostess pie on the bed that looked especially delicious as she took a sip of her apple juice.

  “We did. We really did,” Aidan said as he gently caressed her belly through her shirt as he wrote something else down.

  “Was I awake when we discussed these rules?” Melanie asked as she handed the apple juice back and focused on finishing her Hostess apple pie so that she could move onto that lemon pie.

  “Probably not,” Aidan murmured, placing her bottle back on the nightstand with another, “Next page.”

  “I see,” she said, swiping to the next page.

  “Did you want me to refres
h your memory?” Aidan offered, making another note.

  “Well, that depends,” Melanie said, finishing off the last bite of apple pie.

  “Depends on what?”

  “Are the rules negotiable?” she asked, reaching for the lemon pie.

  “Well, now that depends on whether you’re going to share that with me,” he drawled as she looked down at the lonely lemon pie in her hand and-

  “So, what are these rules?” Melanie asked, holding up the delicious treat that she would prefer not to share.

  Chuckling, Aidan ripped open her pie for her. “Well, the first rule is that you can’t tell me something that I already know.”

  “But you didn’t know about my obsession with baked goods,” Melanie said, frowning as she took a bite of the lemon pie and-

  Oh, God, that was so good, she thought on a moan.

  “Lucky guess,” Aidan said dryly.

  “What’s the second rule?” Melanie asked as her gaze shifted back to that pile of snacks and she couldn’t help but notice how delicious the Hostess chocolate cupcakes looked.

  “Next page,” he said, writing down another note. “No lying.”

  “Does that really need to be stated?” Melanie asked with a sad shake of her head.

  “Fair enough. How about this then? Out of every five things, you have to tell me one thing that nobody else knows,” Aidan said, making her frown.

  “But I tell Rebecca everything,” Melanie said even as she had to admit that there were a few things that she’d kept from her best friend over the years…

  “Looks like you already broke the second rule,” he said with a tsking sound and a, “Next page.”

  “And you know this how?” she asked as she swiped to the next page.

  “Doctor’s intuition,” Aidan said, making another note.

  “Is that even a thing?” Melanie asked even as her lips pulled up into a smile as she looked at the sonogram picture of their son.

  “It’s the reason I went to medical school.”

  “That is a good reason,” she agreed, nodding solemnly as she took another bite of her lemon pie and couldn’t help but wonder if there was any spaghetti left in the fridge.

  “I thought so,” Aidan said, chuckling as he gently caressed her belly. “Now, about that first rule…”