by Joanna Blake
"Gran you didn't tell me that we had new neighbors."
"Neighbor. It's just Hunter over there."
Her grandmother looked at me shrewdly.
"He's single, though there has been a stream of pretty women coming and going. Why? Do you like him?"
"Ew, Gran! He looks like a criminal!"
"Well then, he must be. If he looks like one, right?"
I gave Gran a look. I knew what she was doing. I'd heard the 'don't judge a book by it's cover' lesson a hundred times. Normally I didn't. But this guy- well, there was no mistaking him for what he was.
A first degree bad ass.
"All the same, I expect you to be polite when he stops by."
I stared at Gran in shock. What was my sweet old grandmother doing inviting that cretin over for muffins?
"When he WHAT?"
"Go fix your hair dear. He'll be here any minute."
"Gran!"
My grandmother looked at me with an arched eyebrow. It was the look that said 'don't you sass your elders young lady.' That look had kept me on my toes since I was two years old.
"I promised him muffins after he fixed the front door for me a few days ago. Doesn't squeak any more in case you didn't notice. Added some extra security too."
My Grandmother grinned at me cheekily.
"Those criminal types know all about that sort of thing. Now, go freshen up."
I ran into my bedroom and looked at myself in the mirror. Not that I cared what the guy thought. Not any man for that matter.
Oh yeah, I'd been off the market for quite some time.
It wasn't that men didn't like me. I just didn't have time for romance. I'd spent the past few years with my nose in a book and now I was almost a licensed RN. My dream of being a nurse was so close I could taste it.
I'd passed all my exams. The only thing left was passing the licensing test. That'w why I was home now after all this time. It had been too far to travel on my brief breaks to visit Gran. I'd seen her once or twice a year the entire time I'd been at school. It's been hard, but neccessary. Plus I'd been too exhausted to do anything more than order take out or do my laundry once a month. But now my student housing was up and I was here to study and make my next move.
Maybe if I was lucky I'd even find work at a hospital nearby. Gran was all the family I had and I'd missed her terribly the past few years. Phone call just weren't enough. The plan had always been to come home and start off with a great job. Really look after Gran as she got older. But this new unwanted element in the neighborhood was messing with that.
How was I supposed to study with biker parties next door? I groaned. I'd just left one house with a couple party girls. I needed my sleep, not to be worried about keggers and roaring engines.
Ding dong
Startled aqua eyes stared back at me from the mirror. Hastily I put my hands on my head, smoothing down the wisps that curled around my face. My long light brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a pink bandana wrapped around my head like Rosie the Riveter. I was wearing tight denim cutoffs, tennis shoes and a tight t-shirt.
In short, chore clothes. Or study clothes. Or 'everything I own is in the laundry' clothes.
Who was I kidding? These were my every day clothes. I was hardly ever off duty and had zero wardrobe to show for it. Maybe once I had a good job… maybe I'd finally get to spend some money on something fun, like shopping.
I shrugged. It was probably hopeless anyway. Gran always said that I wouldn't know a ladylike outfit if it bit me.
I moaned, looking at my face. There was a smudge of dirt over my pert nose. The silly nose that made me look like I was twelve years old. My large blue green eyes were make up free just like usual, as was the rest of my face. I swiped pink flip gloss across my annoyingly pouty lips and sighed.
I certainly didn't look intimidating but it would have to do.
It was too bad I wasn't wearing my scrubs. They wree shapeless and hid my curves. Plus they made people take me more seriously.
I called them my 'armor.'
Anything to make sure that Mr. Harley Davidson next door would take me seriously when I told him to keep the noise down or to tell his buddies not to park their bikes on Gran's lawn.
"Callie girl? We've got a visitor!"
I squared my shoulders and followed the sound of Gran's voice into the kitchen. It was a cheerful yellow and white room originally decorated in the 1950's, not large, certainly not new, but spic and span as always. And filled with one enormous man.
Hunter stood by the table, his head seeming to almost scrape the ceiling. He took over the room without doing a damn thing. Up close, he was even more alarming looking. His muscles were covered in terrifying looking tattoos. His face was hard lines with cool, ice blue eyes that seemed to stare right through me.
He was well constructed, almost too handsome, but in a blockbuster movie villain kind of way. The kind the girl might not mind being taken prisoner by… and not mind all that much.
He smiled slowly as I came into the room. His eyes flicked down my body quickly, but didn't linger long enough to be rude. I tried to act cool, leaning against the counter and nodded at him.
"Callie, this is Hunter. Hunter, this is my brilliant granddaughter that I've been telling you so much about."
He crossed the room and took my hand, enfolding it in his big, hard, callous one. He practically swallowed mine up in his big, hot mitt. I could practically feel the heat coming off of him from a foot away.
He must be nice to snuggle up next to on a cool night.
I shook myself mentally and tried to pay attention to what the behemoth was saying.
"I'm sorry?"
"Ellie here is so proud of you. It'll be great to have a nurse in the neighborhood."
He was grinning at me, as if he was saying something else with his innocuous words. Something along the lines of, I'd like to bone your brains out.
I gasped, belatedly pulling my hand back. His grin only got wider, as if he knew I'd received his message. Had I ever. Loud and clear.
I stiffened up and looked down my nose at him. Well, I had to settle for looking up my nose at him since he towered over my 5'4" frame.
"Yeah well I'm not sure if I'm staying here or not. A nurse sort of has to go where the work is."
He was watching me intently, really listening in a way that caught me off guard. It was hard to believe there was brain under all that muscle, but apparently, there was.
"You don't say."
I kept talking, wishing I would shut the hell up. The man made me about as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof.
"I mean, I hope it's nearby. I want to keep an eye on Gran and- make sure no one is bothering her."
That shit eating grin was back in a flash. He knew I was implying that he might be bothering Gran. He knew it, and he was letting me know he knew it. Oh yeah, there was a lot of unspoken communication going on between us all right.
"Are you sure she's the one who needs looking after?"
Gran bustled over and whisked Hunter away, seating him at the kitchen table by the window. He looked absurd. This huge leather clad biker squeezed into one of Gran's tiny vintage 1950's chairs. He managed to look completely comfortable somehow.
As if he hadn't just whispered something outrageous in my ear. Now he was leisurely looking me over. I realized it was because Gran wasn't looking. Now he was taking his time, letting me see him check me out. Thoroughly.
Way too thoroughly.
He stared at my feet and slowly slid his eyes up my legs. His face looked serious, intent, almost like he was in pain. When he got to the top of my thighs he licked his lips.
He actually licked his lips.
My face felt like it might burst into flames I was so annoyed. Annoyed, and something else. Something hot and unfamiliar. Something I'd rather not think about.
And his eyes were still roaming! Up my body to my tits. And there they stayed. He shook his head ruefully and made a satisfied gru
nting sound.
Like he'd just tasted something good.
Well, that was that.
"It was nice to meet you Mr. Hunter but I need to go and unpack."
I pushed myself away from the counter, not caring if it was rude. I just wanted to get some space from this man. He was making me uncomfortable.
And- overheated!
"Hunter."
I stopped at the deep, rough silk sound of his voice. He really should get a job working in coffee commericals… if you couldn't see him, that voice would sound sensuous. Comforting somehow.
"What?"
"It's just Hunter."
Now it was my turn to smirk.
"Oh really? Like Madonna?"
He scowled at me slightly. Ding ding ding! Score one for Team Callie! Gran covered up the uncomfortable silence.
"Now Callie you sit down and have a snack. Girl doesn't eat half enough I tell you."
Hunter dragged his eyes down me body again. Slowly. I cringed, almost feeling his eyes on my skin. He paused at my breasts on the way down, and between my legs again on the way up. I was froze, shocked at his forwardness. My face felt like it was actually aflame by the time his eyes met mine again.
"She looks alright to me."
Alright? ALRIGHT?
My feminine pride took immediate offense to that. First he eye fucks me, then he insults me? Not to mention, I knew he was lying.
I looked better than alright and I knew it. I'd had doctors chasing after me from the first day of my residency. Mostly married doctors but still. I was asked out by someone on a daily basis. Doctors, patients, delivery men, strangers, you name it.
And Mr. Eye-Fucker extraordinaire thought I looked ALRIGHT????
I narrowed my eyes and opened my mouth to lambast the idiot. Gran must have sensed my mood because she closed her hand over my shoulder and hastened me out of the room.
"Alright Callie girl, maybe you do need to unpack after all. Go on now."
I turned and left, vowing not to give the bastard a second thought.
Chapter Two
Hunter
Hot damn, that was a fine looking woman.
I watched as my sweet elderly neighbor bustled her bratty granddaughter out of the kitchen. After everything I'd heard about the girl over the past few months, I'd been expecting a plain faced saint. Or an angel.
But Callie was no angel.
She might look like one, but her temperament was more than of a devil.
But her eyes, her eyes were something else entirely. Smart, whiplash smart. Sexy. But innocent, with the puritanical zeal of a preachers wife.
Damn. What the hell had I gotten myself into? And I was into something, like it or not. It wasn't just sparks that were flying between us.
It was giant lightning bolts.
Best to wash my hands of her before I got in too deep.
Immediately, the thought of what to do with those clean hands turned into a vision of exploring Callie's hot little body. Taking my time. Making her squeal with pleasure.
Of course, I'd have to get past her defenses first. And the prickly little bitch had Norad level defenses.
But those eyes man, Jesus. Huge, thick lashes, throwing daggers at me. And the color. I'd never seen anything like it. Beauty wasn't everything though. The girl might be as smart as a whip but she was also as cantankerous as a mule.
She certainly didn't care for me. No matter what the sight of that tight little body was making me want to do to her. With her. But I never messed around with girls that young, educated or not. No matter if I knew the sex would be explosive.
I grinned to myself and bit into a muffin.
It would definitely be explosive, and not necessarily in a good way. The girl would probably try to kill me if I laid a hand on her. But then, after I'd gentled her with a couple mind bending orgasms, then she'd unleash that passion on my body.
And then she'd really kill me.
I took another muffin from the tray and inhaled.
To hell with it. It would probably be worth it.
Chapter Three
Callie
I lifted my head from my book. I'd dozed off again while studying. A little stickiness on the side of my mouth told me I'd been drooling.
Nice.
I stood and stretched, grabbing my hoodie. A walk around the block would do me good. Fresh air was all I needed.
I stepped outside into the brisk Fall day and stopped in my tracks.
Fantastic. Of course. He was outside again. Hunter was on his back under his bike, with tools spread out around him. He still managed to notice me immediately.
Boy, did he ever.
The man did have a pretty nice set of bed room eyes, even I had to admit that. The kind of eyes that made it clear any time spent in his bed would not be laying down. Not for long anyway.
A shiver went through me, straight to my you-know-what.
I tossed my hair and walked past him, ignoring the heated look he was giving me. Scratch that. The look he was giving my legs.
Jesus.
Did he have to look at me like she was something good to eat? Worse than that, did he have to look like he was starving?
Not for food. For me.
It might be flattering coming from anyone who was not a criminal!
We'd been playing this little game for over a week now, ever since the day I'd come home. He would stare at me. I would ignore him.
And every night I'd lay awake with my body feeling like it was on fire. And that was just from his eyes.
I wondered what his hands would do to me. Or his mouth. Or his…
I shook myself mentally and focused on where I was walking. It was a nice quiet day. In fact, they were all nice quiet days. Even quieter than things had been before Hunter moved next door.
Gran said there was something about having him around that made the rest of the neighborhood behave a little better.
If that was true then maybe I was being too hard on him. He might have some redeemable qualities after all. Other than the fact that he clearly wanted to go hard on me.
Jesus, what was wrong with me? Even my thoughts were full of innuendo!
Get a grip girl. He's just forbidden fruit.
There's a reason they call them bad boys you know.
Chapter Four
Hunter
I put the cap back on the oil gauge, which I'd checked for the tenth time this month. I loved my ride but this was getting ridiculous. All the same, I had my reasons for the overzealous maintenance.
Hell, I needed a reason for hanging around in my front yard.
It was just an excuse to see her. The brazen hussy who had somehow wiggled her tight little ass under my skin. I hadn't stopped thinking about her since that day in the kitchen.
Not for an instant. I was sporting ten boners a day. That had to be a record at my age. And I hadn't hung out with any of the club girls either. I knew they wouldn't be able to scratch this particular, giant, itch.
Only Callie could.
So I worked on my bike. And my other bike. And I did maintenance to the front of the house.
It's not like I could just sit out front in a lawn chair with a beer and a bag of popcorn, waiting for Callie to come out and put on a show.
I grinned. It wasn't such a bad idea actually. I wondered what little Miss short shorts would say about that. Probably a lot. Callie was very sure of her own opinions among other things. I had figuring out a lot about her over the past ten days.
First of all, she had at least three pairs of those tiny little denim cut offs. I knew. I was counting them.
I wasn't a religious man but I thanked God every day this week that it was still so unseasonably warm out.
Callie definitely did not have a boyfriend either. Nobody who was that pent up was getting laid. I liked that about her. I liked it a lot.
I'd be more than happy to help her unwind.
It took less than 24 hours after meeting her for me to give in and st
op fighting the insane attraction I felt for my prissy little neighbor.
Prissy, uptight and priggish.
Damn though, the girl was fine.
And come hell or high water, she was going to be mine.
I waited under the bike long enough for her to swish back this way. I wanted to have a second look. She was wearing a different t-shirt today. This one was really old and worn in, making it nearly see through. Probably hadn't done laundry in a while, what with the big test she was studying for.
She was a hard ass worker, there was no doubt about that.
I felt my mouth go dry, thinking about how soft that shirt must be. I'd love to get my hands on it. To feel her luscious tits through the shirt, maybe tease her a little before I slowly lifted it over her head.
"Hunter!"
I sat up sharply, banging my head on the underside of the bike.
My sweet neighbor Ellie was on her stoop waving something at me. Breakfast it looked like. I grinned and waved her over. I couldn't stand up at the moment without showing off the giant tent in front of my pants.
I saw Callie run inside from the corner of my eye.
Damn.
It was a good thing those muffins were so good. It was almost worth missing those legs go by.
Almost.
Chapter Five
Callie
I rubbed my shoulder with one hand and turned pages with the other. Thankfully I'd taken copious notes throughout the years at Nursing School, knowing that this day would come. Two weeks from tomorrow in fact.
My NCLEX test. Once I passed I would be a licensed RN. The real deal. I could work in a hospital, saving people. Helping. Being useful.
I stared at the page, letting my mind wander. People would take me seriously as a nurse. And better yet, I'd be able to financially look after myself and Nan.
I blinked and the world went dark. Really dark. I held up my hand inches from my face and couldn't see even a trace of it.
"What the?"
I took a deep breath.
