The warmth from his hand matched the warmth she felt in her chest.
Bad idea. Very bad idea. May tried to tug her hand back, but Chandler only smiled.
She arched an eyebrow and looked at their hands. “It will be rather hard to make you something to eat with only one hand.”
He shrugged. “You could probably manage.” But he moved his hand from hers and kept smiling at her.
May shook her head. “Do you have a preference for lunch?”
Another large boom of thunder shook her windows.
What color there was in Chandler’s face bleached right out.
“Anything,” he croaked and quickly cleared his throat. “Um…anything.”
May turned back to her refrigerator and pulled out a couple of chicken breasts left over from dinner a couple of days ago. She took out lettuce, tomato, and a pesto. “You’re in luck. Ever had a panini?”
“A what?”
May looked over her shoulder and smiled. “A panini. If not, you’re about to. Never hurts to broaden your culinary horizons.” She paused. “Lucky for us, my stove runs on gas. Now settle back with your tea. This shouldn’t take very long.” May put all the ingredients on the counter between them. “Tell me about your work.” She pulled lettuce apart and waited for Chandler to speak.
The wind howled outside. Tree limbs waved from the monsoon in the yard. May shook her head and tapped the counter lightly. “Chandler.”
His head swiveled around to look at her, and those chocolate eyes were glazed over. “Huh?”
“Your work. Enlighten me.”
Chandler raked his hands through his hair once again and took a deep breath. “I design video games.”
“Video games,” she prompted.
“Sure.” Chandler smiled briefly. “Updated board games. Games anyone can play on his or her gaming system of choice. You ever played Backstreet Boogie?”
May smiled, shook her head, and began to cut the tomato. “Can’t say that I have.” She chuckled. “What am I missing?”
“It’s a treasure hunt of sorts.” Chandler leaned forward a bit with excitement tangible in his voice. “I designed a course that young players need to complete a series of dance moves using their controller to receive clues. It’s a great hand-eye coordination tool.”
May bit her lip. “My hand-eye coordination is fine, thanks. But how do you come up with your ideas?”
Chandler grabbed a slice of tomato and popped it in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully. “They come to me. Sometimes I’m doing something else. Sometimes they come when I try to sleep at night.” He grinned. “But they always come.”
“What are you working on now?”
He shrugged easily. “Two or three ideas. I haven’t narrowed it down yet. There’s a lot of room to make your mark in this business.”
“And have you? Made your mark, that is?”
“I will.” Chandler’s dark eyes were serious. “Once I set my mind to something, I wouldn’t bet against me.”
May’s fingers curled against the counter. She had the distinct feeling they had moved into murky territory. “I’ll make a mental note,” she responded lightly. She moved back to her stove and turned it on. “A couple of minutes and you will taste the goodness that is a panini.”
“Can’t wait.”
May looked out her kitchen window and studied the storm. Maybe half an hour more. It wouldn’t rain all day.
“What are you thinking?”
“Storm won’t last another half-hour.”
Chandler glanced at her sharply. “How do you know? And are you saying that simply to ease my mind?” He smiled. “Not that it would bother me in the slightest.”
May slid the sandwiches into the stove and turned around. “The worst of it is over. The thunder is farther away.” She took a sip of her tea. “You might want to look into getting a radio for yourself.”
Chandler grinned and winked. “But then I wouldn’t experience a panini.”
“Shameless,” May said with a grin. “Let me guess. You have every restaurant in a fifteen-mile radius on your speed dial.”
“Thirty miles,” he boasted.
May closed her eyes and shook her head. “They offer cheap cooking classes at the college. May want to look into those, too.” She opened her eyes and noticed Chandler staring at her. “What?”
He opened his mouth to say something when the lights flickered back on.
“Perfect timing.” May turned her back to him and slid the paninis out of the stove and onto a trivet designed with magnolia blossoms on it. She carefully cut the two sandwiches into large triangles and transferred them to plates.
“Chips are best with these.” May slid the plate across the table to him. “What would you like?”
“Do you have barbecue?”
“Sure.” May rubbed her right leg absently and walked slowly over to the pantry. She opened the door and looked on the right side where she kept her chips and frowned. How in the blue hell did the barbecue chips get on the top shelf?
She felt Chandler come up behind her. The heat of his body moved against her, and May shuffled a bit forward to put some room between them.
“I hate to sound like a complete idiot.” May didn’t turn around but motioned to the chips above her head. “But I have no idea how in the hell those got up there. Can you reach them?”
“Sure.”
Before May could move out of the pantry, Chandler pressed up against her and reached over her to snag the bag from the shelf.
Heat flooded her body. Chandler’s hard body pressed against her back totally wiped all thoughts from her head. His spicy scent washed over her again. He stayed pressed against her as he brought the bag down and put it in her hands.
“There. Better?” Chandler’s breath moved over her ear.
“Mmm hmm,” May murmured. No way in hell would she turn around and press herself against him. No. Way.
But he didn’t move.
“Um, Chandler?”
“Yes.”
“Your panini is getting cold.”
A low chuckle rumbled through his chest and moved against her back. “Let it.”
This is wrong. So wrong. Maybe Chandler has a thing for older women. Better to set him straight now than to have this continue.
May drew a deep breath and turned around. Words deserted her. Traitorous bastards. Chandler stared at her. Simply stared while she tried to form the words that would put space between them.
His thumb traced over her lips as her eyes widened. And then he lowered his mouth toward hers.
Their lips met, and his brushed lightly back and forth against hers.
May’s hands clenched and unclenched at her sides. He didn’t deepen the kiss. Chandler simply let his lips move across hers gently. When he moved back, May blinked rapidly. Thought was for rational people. Obviously, not her.
Chandler smiled down at her. “Thanks for a lovely morning, May.”
She cleared her throat. “You’re welcome.”
He took the chips from her nerveless fingers and moved out of her way. “Want some?”
“Chips?” She looked at him dumbly.
“Sure.” Chandler opened them and sprinkled them across both plates. “You said they go best, right?”
“Right,” she repeated. May tried to calm her rapidly beating heart and shuffled over to her side of the table. Distance. She needed distance. She would stay on her damn side of the table, and Chandler would stay on his. Perfect.
The storm moved on quickly. The flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder came farther between now.
May sat down across from Chandler and watched him take a bite of his panini. That mouth. She bit her lip. That lovely mouth had been on hers minutes ago.
Chandler chewed slowly and winked at her. “Tasty.”
“Yes.” May swallowed convulsively and reached for her own sandwich. “I learned to make these a couple of years ago. It’s my fall-back meal. Easy and quick to make.” S
he quickly took a bite and ordered herself to quit looking at Chandler’s mouth.
They ate in companionable silence until the last of the meal nothing but crumbs. Chandler sipped his tea and smiled at her. “I’m going to have to pay you back for these meals you keep making for me.”
May’s heart tripped in her chest. “Not necessary.” She smiled. “That’s what neighbors are for.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
Chandler stood and cleared the table. When he came back, he stooped low and brushed his lips across hers again. “Thanks, May. I’ll look into buying one of those radios.” He smiled and walked out her sliding door seconds later.
May touched her fingers to her lips. Is this the new thing young people do now? Are we that familiar with each other? Her fingers traced her bottom lip and remembered the feel of Chandler’s mouth on hers. Not an intimate kiss, but it left her unsettled.
She would need to tell him at their next meeting that it wasn’t acceptable for him to kiss her at will. Maybe his generation thought it acceptable, but she didn’t.
But what if it is something else?
May’s pulse quickened. Maybe her neighbor was into older women. She clenched her fists on her thighs. She had no room in her life for any of that. Her two affairs when younger disabused her of that notion quickly. Both had been unmitigated disasters.
College had been a time for experimenting and stretching boundaries. But it had been more than that for her. May’s adolescent years were consumed with hospital visits and rehabilitation. College had been a time to start over. To shape her life into what she wanted it to be. There were still residual checks from the television series she worked on as a child. They were more than enough to pay for her schooling.
There had been excitement at first. Her parents didn’t know what to do with her after the accident. They couldn’t manage her career anymore. They simply let themselves drift farther and farther away from her. May had been raising herself for more years than she could remember.
College meant she was an adult. She could make her own hours and finally cut the last ties to her family.
And the men. May remembered her first visit to the college and watching a group of young men play football. Her heart raced. They were beautiful in a purely masculine way. The way their bodies moved in the sun. And so she sat and watched them for hours. Her young body ached with unknown possibilities.
As the game wound down, she stood awkwardly and brushed the grass from her jeans. Better to leave early and avoid the awkwardness that would surely follow if she were there when they finished.
May had turned away from the game and moved slowly back to the parking lot where she parked her car.
“Hey!”
May kept walking.
“Hey!” Louder this time.
May looked over shoulder. The man who played the quarterback position trotted over to her with the football still in his hands.
“I’m Billy.” He stuck out his hand.
“I’m May.” She blushed and put her hand in his. When he shook hers, she tried to keep her legs steady. She felt the strength in him.
“Leaving already?”
May nodded. “I’m here for a visit. I don’t start for another month.”
“You have a last name, May?”
“Fairchild.” She looked up at him and smiled. He was the epitome of a golden boy. Golden blond hair and rippling tan muscles on display under his black mesh shirt. His gray shorts emphasized the strength in his thighs. Her hormones tap danced simply in his presence.
“I’m Billy Myers, Senior.”
That translated to Billy Myers, Greek God.
And the irony of it, he was. He was in the largest fraternity there. And he made it his mission to get to know May better.
May sighed. It had been like a fairytale at first. Big, strong, sexy upperclassman falling for underclassman. But none of it had been real. Billy knew her identity long before she knew who he was. He charmed himself into her good graces and tried to manipulate her.
Billy had been a sixth year senior. Something he neglected to tell her upfront. His money running out, he recognized her as the child star she had been. May was his gravy train. And she had been too stupid and enamored to know any different.
They had sex.
It hadn’t ever been love.
The lights were always off, and May made sure to keep Billy’s hands away from her scar. A month after that, he hit her up for a large loan to pay for school books.
A warning bell went off. She politely declined. And then he began to avoid her. And May knew. She packed up her belongings from her dorm room and moved off campus. She thought college would be different. But it had been the same. May was the meal ticket.
The next two years were lonely, but May immersed herself in her studies. And the accounting came to her. She took as many classes as she could while retaining her sanity. When she graduated, she obtained a job immediately with a large accounting firm.
They could’ve cared less who she was. As long as she balanced her numbers and kept up with her workload.
May had been ambitious. She wanted to strengthen her skills. Polish her talent. And she had. May made a name for herself and soon one of the partners noticed her. Steve Blair. He was the exact opposite of Billy.
Whereas Billy was light, Steve was dark. Dark hair and eyes. An olive complexion. And an accent that turned her insides to mush when he addressed her. He had only been made a partner for a couple of months before he approached her.
May closed her eyes and remembered the meeting. She had been working late again. Eight hours not nearly enough for her. The balancing act consumed her. Make the numbers mesh. Look at the bottom line and make it work for her.
It had been a productive day. She had stumbled across an account that could potentially save millions with a few tweaks. The folder lay on the stack of several in her inbox. They were all finished but the one she worked on now. But she learned early on that an empty inbox wasn’t good for her. Other associates were jealous. So she simply made it look like she was always backlogged.
When Steve walked in, she had been immersed in the Banhurst account. The family owned a large horse ranch and wanted to identify and utilize every available tax break.
Research had always been May’s forte. Whatever she needed, she would gladly look up. The information was there. She simply had to dig for it. And she did.
There were four large textbooks across her small desk, and she scribbled furiously on her notepad.
“Miss Fairchild.”
May’s head whipped up, and her breath clogged in her throat. Steve Blair stood there in his designer suit and polished black shoes. Every hair in place. And that exotic mouth in a welcoming smile.
She stood quickly. “Mr. Blair.”
“Sit, sit.” His voice wrapped around her and soothed her nerves.
If they were going to fire her, surely they would sit her down at one of their meetings and do it. Right?
“Can I help you, sir?”
He moved gracefully around the desk and patted her shoulder. “I simply wanted to see what our newest shining star occupied herself working on. Word is you’re the one to watch.”
Pleasure pinked her cheeks. “Thank you, sir.” She sank back into her chair and tapped the books. “The Banhurst account.”
“I see.” He leaned over and looked at the books spread before her. “Anything else I should know about?”
May could have hit herself in the forehead. “These.” She quickly grabbed the folder. “I was working on the business account for Dialton.” She splayed the papers across her desk. “I’ve made notes where they could possibly save millions.”
“Have you?” Steve’s voice warmed. “Is it okay if I look at these?”
“Of course.” May shut the folder and held it out for him to take. The next thing she knew, their lips were pressed together and Steve’s hand had been in her bra.
They hadn’t slept toget
her that first night. But it hadn’t been long after that May would work late only to be visited by the newest partner. He gave her sex. She gave him millions of dollars in savings for the company.
And she may have never realized it if not for overhearing one of the secretaries gossiping in the break room. The two blonds had their heads together, but May could hear every word by the coffeemaker.
“I’m telling you. He’s the golden child. I’ve never seen someone rise so fast with this company.”
“Oh, he rises fast all right.” The second blond licked her lips. “I can vouch for that during some of our dictation meetings.” She smiled.
“Did you hear what he did with Dialton?”
The second blond shrugged. “If that’s the day he earned his fifty thousand dollar bonus, I would say he had been a bit excited. Our meeting took nearly two hours.”
The blood drained from May’s face.
And all the pieces clicked together. Not only had Steve probably been screwing most of the staff, he used her.
Fury lit in her suddenly, and she approached the blonds. “Excuse me, ladies.”
Both heads turned.
“You say Mr. Blair saved the company millions?”
“Sure.” One of the women shrugged easily. “It went out in the newsletter. Big bonus. Corner office. All that.”
The second woman smiled a Cheshire smile. “And he was rather happy about it.”
May nodded. “Thank you.”
She walked immediately to her office and bundled up all of her belongings. May took them to her car and typed up her resignation letter. Then she sent it to all the partners and carbon copied it to every manager in the building.
Seconds later, she had been on her way to pick up a pint of chocolate chip ice cream.
A month later, she moved and went into business for herself.
Reality set in slowly. May didn’t need validation from someone else. She was damn good at her job. The last word she heard about Steve Blair was that he had been made a senior partner. No doubt he found another source of information. Men like him never changed. They simply found new victims.
May shook herself out of her reverie.
Well. That had been an unpleasant stroll down memory lane. All because her new neighbor decided to let his lips meet hers.
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