by Joanna Blake
The
Rock Star
Next Door
A Joanna Blake Single
To my readers
I decided to write a series of short 'singles' in the vein of the full length novels that I normally write. Each novel can take up to two months to write- or longer. I have so many stories to tell and I finally realized that not all of them need to be novels. Some are perfectly sweet in a shorter, more compact form. Some of these characters may show up in other stories, or in their own extended versions. Either way, they were in a hurry to meet you so I let them.
Much love,
Joanna Blake
Copyright © 2015 by Joanna Blake
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2015
Pincushion Press
http://pincushionpress.tumblr.com/
For Angus
1.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
Rattatat rattatat ratttat tat
Jenny pulled the covers over her head. Then she added a pillow, hoping that it would stop the incessant banging.
Nope.
Nothing she'd tried yet could block out the sound of the construction workers next door. Ear plugs. White noise machines. Sound canceling headphones. They'd been building an enormous beach house for the past three months. With each nail, a little piece of her soul was getting smashed to pieces.
Jenny lived in her Meemaw's house by the bay on the North Fork of Long Island. Her grandmother had willed it to her, knowing that the young chef would need a home after culinary school. For the past two years, Jenny had lived there full time, inspired daily by her beautiful view of the bay.
Not only was the new house disrupting her sleep but it would block her beautiful view. It made her want to cry. In fact, she did cry about it. All the time.
She felt something cold and wet against her toe and peeked out of the blankets. Basil Rathbones was sitting by the bed, staring at her mournfully.
"I know boy. You don't like it either."
She sighed and sat up.
"Oh well. We might as well get on with it."
Jenny slid her toes into her slippers and padded into the kitchen to make coffee. She stretched her hamstrings and glutes while she waited for the coffee to brew. A plate of scones were sitting under a napkin. She selected one and dipped it into the coffee, taking a delicious bite.
As a pastry chef with her own small catering business, Jenny was always baking.
And eating.
Basil was staring at her.
"What? I'll jog it off later."
He tilted his head to the side and whimpered.
"Oh okay, you can have one too."
She reached into the old fashioned candy jar she kept on her tiny countertop and fished out a doggie scone. She made them twice a week just for her little fur buddy. They smelled kind of gross to her, but he loved them. Plus they were good for him.
That was extra important to Jenny.
He was all she had since Gran passed.
Friends, sure. But family? Just this one scruffy little hairball. She sighed and rubbed his head while he finished his treat.
"Ready to go out?"
He whimpered and held his paw out.
"Alright buddy. Let's go."
She slipped into her jogging shorts and jog bra, throwing a worn in rock t-shirt over it. It was one she'd had since junior high school, with the neck and arms cut off. It had been washed a couple hundred times and as a result was super soft and barely covered her tummy.
She tied up her beat up old sneakers and ran outside with Basil right at her heels.
It was a beautiful day. Clear blue skies with a couple of fluffy white clouds. A nice breeze. Warm but not too hot. If she could ignore the sounds of construction from next door it would be one for the books.
It was perfect.
**********
It was perfect.
Slate stared out at the view. An unobstructed view of the calm waters of the bay. It was quiet here too, with only a handful of cottages dotting the shoreline.
This was the place he would write his next album in. Recover from the last tour and all the hard partying.
Regroup.
Lord knows he'd deserved it. He'd done everything the label wanted. His manager. Everyone.
Everyone except him.
Slate felt like he hardly ever did what he really wanted. Hell, he wasn't even sure he knew what that was. It was all about maintaining the image. Keeping everyone else happy.
As much as he loved the music, he hated the other side of it.
Even the groupies were overly demanding. He'd done the whole Rock Star thing. Doling out one night stands like they were going out of style. Kept condoms in business for years. Even enjoyed it. A lot. But now he just wanted some peace and quiet.
He wanted to be alone.
Or rather, he wanted to be away from those people. The grabbers. The hanger ons. He wanted something real.
Too bad he had about three real friends in his life. And all of them from the South End of Boston where he'd grown up. But they all had families of their own now.
Still, he'd have to tempt them down east with a little beach time at some point. All kids loved the beach, right? And he knew his buddies loved beer. He made sure to send them some from each country he toured in.
That always gave them a laugh.
He'd already worked out at the gym he went to in Southampton, where he was staying while they finished up the house. That's about all he did really. Worked out, slept, watched TV.
It was heavenly.
Lonely as hell, but heavenly.
But soon. Very soon, he would be moving in. Next week actually. Then he could start over. Get settled. Create a home base.
He stared out the windows over the beach. He'd just approved the last of the plans. Now he could just relax, check out the progress. Take in the scenery.
Speaking of which… a gorgeous girl was jogging by.
A really, really gorgeous girl with a golden retriever and what looked like- yes- it was an ancient looking Ramones t-shirt.
And Chuck Taylors.
Who the hell ran in Chucks?
He grinned. He just had to meet this girl. She had already run past the house but she had to come back this way didn't she? He grabbed a bottle of water and strolled outside to casually 'bump into' her.
He watched her tight little bottom bounce out of view.
It was fine.
He could wait.
2.
"Those are terrible for your arches you know."
Jenny looked back over her shoulder. She'd been stretching her hamstrings when the stranger came up behind her.
The very, very good looking stranger. He had a chiseled face, wavy brown hair and a body that looked like it was straight out of a mens magazine.
Devastating really.
There was something familiar about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on…
Familiar. And smug.
Her hackles started to rise.
Jenny hated smug.
"What?"
"Your sneakers. They are rotten for your feet."
She glanced down at her shoes and then over at his.
He wore leather boots, expensive looking jeans, a soft black t-shirt and a leather jacket. And aviators.
So she couldn't see his eyes to see if he was being a prick or not.
She shrugged defensively.
"I tend to just use what I've got."
"Ah so not a mindless consumer."
She stared at him, surprised.
"Yeah, exactly."
"I like that. I'm Slate."
He reached out his hand. His very large, tan hand. She took it, not really having another choice in the matter.
"Jenny."
He smiled at her warmly.
"And who is this?"
He knelt down and shook paws with Basil. Basil responded by giving a loud yip and trying to lick Slate's face. Jenny frowned. Basil didn't usually do that. He must like the smell of money.
Slate stood up again. She couldn't help but notice how fit he was. His shoulders were enormous, his stomach flat, and those legs… well, he looked a bit like a soccer player.
He probably had a great ass.
Not that it mattered. She had other things to worry about after all.
**********
Slate watched Jenny jog away. She wasn't the friendliest little thing in the world, but looking like that, he wasn't so sure he blamed her.
She probably spent half her time beating off men with a stick.
His eyes widened appreciatively as her round little bottom flexed in those tiny shorts. Her long toned legs seemed to literally eat the ground as she ran. She looked graceful and determined. Her long honey colored hair swooshed back and forth against her back.
But it was her face that had startled the hell out of him. She was stunning. Not just beautiful. Certainly not just pretty.
No, Jenny was drop dead gorgeous.
High cheekbones, a strong jaw, stubborn little chin, pert delicate nose and the most luscious looking lips he'd seen in his life. And huge grey green eyes that completely dominated her face. Hooded eyes that said 'keep your distance.' Her thick sooty lashed and high arched brows framed a face that would stop traffic from fifty feet.
Jenny had a classic beauty that was impossible to hide, no matter how hard she tried to dress it down. And she did try to hide it, he could tell. She was unlike any of the good looking women he'd known over the years. Women who primped and preened themselves within an inch of their life.
This girl put them all to shame and she wasn't even trying.
Good lord.
Slate a strong feeling he knew what he would be thinking about for the rest of the day. And the night. He reached down and adjusted himself.
He was getting hard just thinking about the girl. Looking at her didn’t help either.
That's when he noticed her turning into the ramshackle little beach hut that was right next door to his house. In fact, he'd thought about trying to buy it. Make it into a pool house. But his lawyer hadn't had any luck so he'd let it go.
Oh boy.
With her as a neighbor he was sure to have a lot of sleepless nights. That would be fine, as long as she joined him.
Slate could think of a lot of interesting things to do with little miss hot pants in the dead of night.
3.
Jenny rolled over and stared at the clock.
Ten AM.
She blinked and pulled out her ear plugs.
Blissful silence.
She sat up and looked around. Basil was on his back in a patch on sunshine, sound asleep. He snorted and his little paws jerked in the air.
"Is it Sunday?"
Ever since the construction had started she'd gotten one day of silence a week. Sunday. But today was Friday.
Oh my god.
It was quiet outside.
Was there a power outage?
Was it finally over???
She rolled to her feet and stood up. Basil huffed and didn't move. Jenny almost laughed. Her dog was like her, a light sleeper. And for once, he was asleep past the crack of dawn.
For the first time in forever, she felt well rested.
She pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and made herself a pot of coffee. She had orders to fill for the weekend so she got to work immediately after taking the pup out for a walk. For a new small business owner like Jenny, she worked 24/7, just to break even. But she loved what she did and word of mouth about her recipes and magic fingers was spreading quickly.
Next year, she'd be flush.
Hopefully anyway.
She was dusting a mocha crumb cake with powdered sugar when the knock came at the door. She jumped and ended up covered with a film of powdered sugar. She cursed under her breath.
Jenny didn't like unexpected visitors.
She especially didn't like them when she was working.
Oh well, it wasn't the first time she'd been covered in powdered sugar.
She set her accoutrements down and went to answer the door.
Of course. It was him.
The slick handsome stranger she'd met last week on the beach.
The one she hadn't been able to get out of her head. Whenever she had a quiet moment she found herself wondering about him, if she'd ever see him again. And promptly got pissed at herself for doing it.
Slate.
What a ridiculous name.
Yet somehow, it suited him.
She opened the door and stared at him through the screen door. He was wearing that same leather jacket and tight jeans. He leaned against the side of the door smiling at her, looking utterly thrilled to see her truth be known.
"Hi."
"Hey Jenny. Oh my god it smells good in there."
She shouldn't invite him in, she shouldn't invite him in, she shouldn't invite him in.
"Would you like to come in?"
"Yes."
She opened the screen door, feeling a bit like she was in one of those movies and had just invited a vampire inside her house. She almost laughed. Now he was going to either seduce her or suck out all her blood.
Maybe both.
He ducked under the door and stepped inside. Immediately Basil came over to say hello. They greeted each other like old friends, which Jenny found annoying for some indefinable reason.
Really annoying.
He glanced at her and walked toward the kitchen. Not that it was far in the tiny beach house. But he was definitely intrigued by the set up.
"So, you are a baker?"
She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. She'd forgotten to put on a bra and suddenly she felt naked.
Exposed.
The man was so damn virile that he made her feel tiny, weak.
Turned on as hell.
He grinned at her. The man seemed to be determined to wear her down. For some reason she found it enraging.
Mostly because it was starting to work.
"I'll have to buy a cake then."
"Sure. I can give you my menu or you can request something custom. I'm flexible."
He grinned wider as she rifled through the drawer for a menu. She handed it to him. She just knew he was taking her statement as some sort of sexual innuendo.
Ugh.
"Thanks."
She shrugged and crossed her arms again. Had his eyes just skimmed over her tits or was she insane? It was impossible to tell through his sun glasses.
"I'm glad you guys were in. The whole day has been madness really but I wanted to make sure I stopped by."
She cocked her head. What the hell was he talking about?
"Oh?"
"Well, my big housewarming party is tonight. I would love it if you came."
Her jaw dropped.
"You are- the one who has been making all that noise for months now? You are the one who has destroyed my view?"
He looked a little bit alarmed as she stood up straight and pointed her finger at his chest accusingly. He held up his hands and backed away.
