Single Dad Next Door

by Cathryn Fox

  Rachel nods her head. “Good to know, but I’m talking about—”

  “You needing to get laid?”

  3

  Rachel

  Rachel

  OMFG.

  Jaxon might not have killed anyone, but I sure as hell plan to. The second I get home, there are four necks I’m going to break. Slowly. Painfully. Ecstatically. Okay, yeah, I get it. I was about to bring it up, set the facts straight, but hearing those words coming from his mouth, all sexy and blatant and suggestive like that—it’s possible I imagined the suggestive part—well that’s shit is messing with my head, and my body.

  “I…I…” Jesus what am I supposed to say?

  Oh, yes, they were right. I do need to get laid. Are you up for that job, too?

  “Hey, it’s okay,” he says. “I know they were just giving you a hard time.”

  I swallow. “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me. I’m just offering to help you out with the house and Cassie. A business arrangement, that’s all.” Lord knows I’m off men. Not only am I a bad judge of character—guys seem to be one thing only to end up being something else entirely—I’m not about to let anything or anyone derail me again. I want to be a lawyer. I want to champion legal causes for the greater good of society and help those in need of assistance who might not otherwise be able to afford it. I want to help children, and other victims of domestic abuse. The subject is very near and dear to my heart.

  Muscles tense, he nods, and stares straight ahead. “I know. That’s all I want, too. Strictly business,” he says, a guarded note in his voice.

  “Okay, good,” I say, not wanting to examine the weird, unwanted ball of disappointment settling in my gut. “I can come by tonight and help get the place cleaned up.” I glance at my watch. “My shift at Pizza Villa doesn’t start until eight, so I have plenty of time.”

  As he drives, I take in his perfect features, the tattoos on his body. Do they have a deeper meaning? Is Cassie’s mother’s name on there? Not that it’s any of my business. Nor do I want it to be. But he did say he was sorry she was gone.

  “Perfect. I’ll get your spark plugs fixed and look for a radiator core.” He casts me a glance. “So, uh, these roommates of yours. They seem a bit younger, maybe a little less mature than you.”

  “They are. They’re all first year. I’m fourth. Still, I don’t think I was ever that juvenile.” I never had the luxury.

  He shrugs, and spears his finger through his hair, mussing it up and making him look impossibly sexier. “Just girls having fun.”

  “I don’t have time for fun. I never did,” I say, then mentally kick myself. He doesn’t need to know those things about me.

  Stop blabbering around him, already.

  “I remember fun,” he says and grins. “At least I think I do.” I laugh with him. “How did you end up rooming with four freshmen?”

  “I transferred here—”

  “From New York,” he states.

  I stiffen in my seat. “How do you know that?”

  “Your license plate.”

  I relax, and look at him closer. For a big, scary tattooed guy, he’s pretty observant. “I transferred last minute, because Penn State is where I ultimately want to go to law school.” Not a lie. But I’m not about to tell him about my crazy ex. We both clearly have secrets in that arena.

  “Law school. I’m impressed.”

  “A single dad who works all hours and takes good care of his daughter. I’m impressed.”

  “All hours? How do you know that?”

  “Neighbors, remember.”

  He holds my gaze for a moment, and says, “And yet it took two months and a broken car for us to speak.”

  “We’re both busy. Cassie is a full-time job as it is. You’re doing a great job with her, by the way.”

  A garbled sound catches in his throat. “I’m not sure about that. You saw the house.”

  “It’s just a few dirty dishes, Jaxon.” His mouth turns down, and I get the sense there is more going on with him. I should leave it at that but instead find myself asking, “What?”

  “It’s just… My fucking in-laws are trying to get custody of Cassie, trying to prove I’m an unfit father. Shit, if they showed up and saw the state of my house…” His voice falls off as he rubs his hands over his chin.

  My heart pinches. “I’m sorry.”

  “I can’t lose her. She’s all I have.”

  “Then it’s a good thing my car broke down, because now you have me.” Something moves into his eyes, something that looks like heat as he glances my way. “I mean, now you have me to help out,” I clarify.

  “Yeah,” he says quietly.

  He takes the corner and I lean into him. “You can drop me off there,” I say and point to my lecture hall. He pulls the car over and I unbuckle.

  “Do you have a drive home?”

  “I can walk, or take the bus. It’s a nice day.”

  “I pick Cassie up at two. I can swing by if you need a lift. Just text me.”

  “I don’t have your number.”

  “I have yours, so I’ll send you a text.”

  I smile at that. Was he really one of the nice guys? I honestly don’t know, being a jerk magnet and all, and truthfully, I don’t want to know anything more than I already do. This is business only, and I don’t care if he’s six million degrees hot. I don’t want anything more, and clearly he doesn’t either. We both have secrets, and at the end of a busy day, neither of us has time for anything else that might complicate our worlds.

  “Okay, thanks,” I say, with zero intentions of texting. I grab my backpack, and exit the vehicle. As he flicks on his signal, waiting to pull back into traffic, I give him a wave, and turn to find a couple of my classmates walking toward me.

  “Who the hell is that hottie?” Allison asks as we all start walking to class.

  “My neighbor,” I say with a shrug, not wanting them to read anything into it. “My car broke down and he gave me a lift.”

  “That man can give me a lift anytime, anywhere,” Sue says. “Preferably to his bed.”

  The sudden image of me on his bed rushes through my brain and has heat spreading though me. Ah, what was that I just said about not wanting anything more?

  I cast a quick glance over my shoulder, and when I find Jaxon watching me, I jerk back around and pick up my pace. “Let’s hurry or we’re going to be late.”

  I spend the rest of the day going from class to class, trying to concentrate on the words my professors are saying when my mind wants to keep straying back to Jaxon—to my phone. Why hasn’t he texted yet?

  Cut it out, Rachel!

  After one meeting, the man is proving to be a distraction I don’t need. I should have somehow found the money to pay him instead of offering my services.

  Tit for tat.

  Oh, God.

  Midafternoon rolls around and I grab a muffin, my stomach growling since the only thing I’ve put in it all day was a cup of coffee. I munch on it, and start toward home, the heat of the day falling over me. Maybe I should have accepted Jaxon’s offer and caught a ride with him. Then again, the less time I spend around him the better.

  I turn the corner and as I walk along the sidewalk, I spot Cassie and Jaxon. I grin when I see her coveralls—a familiar sight. Poor girl is going to grow up to be a tomboy. What she really needs is female influence in her life. I’d lost my mom in my teens, and that was hard. I can’t imagine what it’s like for Cassie to have no mother. Jaxon clearly didn’t want to talk about it. Did he still love her? Is that why I’ve not seen him with any other woman in all the time I’ve been here? He’s waiting for the love of his life to come back? If that’s the case I really need to stop drooling over him—and even if it’s not.

  Normally I’d give Cassie a wave and dart inside, but since they’re working on my car, I stop. “How’s it going?”

  Cassie’s head pops up from beneath the engine bonnet. “We fixed your spark plugs,” she says
, a spot of grease on her face. I can’t help but grin at her cuteness, the fact that she has the same blue eyes as her father.

  “Why thank you, Cassie,” I say. Jaxon helps her from the crate she’s standing on, and that’s when I notice he’s still wearing the T-shirt he tugged on this morning.

  Too bad.

  What, wait! Oh, God.

  “Why don’t you go in the backyard and play?” He rubs her head and she dashes toward the swing set.

  “Is it fixed?” I ask.

  He nods, and wipes his hands on a rag. “But I have bad news.”

  “Really?”

  “I went over your entire car and your tie rod end is going. It’s not safe to drive until I can get it fixed.”

  I do a mental calculation of the money in my bank account, and how many more horrible shifts I’ll have to take on at Pizza Villa. “How much will that cost?”

  “Nothing. You’re working it off, remember.”

  Warm from my walk home, I pull my t-shirt away from my body a couple times, fanning my skin as I think about that. “I know, but that’s pushing it. I can’t expect you to do all this work for cleaning and babysitting services.” Jaxon’s gaze drops to my chest as I cool my body, and for a second I get the feeling that he has other ideas on how I can work off my debt. I should be enraged. I really should be. But goddammit, I’m not.

  He makes a snorting sound. “I’m getting more out of this trade than you.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “You’ve seen my place, right?” He averts his eyes to check on Cassie playing, and I can’t help but take that opportunity to look him over—again. My gaze drops, takes in the nice fit of his jean, the thickness of his thigh muscles. What was it the girls called him? Slurpalicious. Yeah, that was it, and okay, I’ll admit it. I’d like to lick him from head to toe and back up again.

  “Do you want to get started?”

  “Get started?” I ask.

  WTF.

  Please tell me I didn’t say any of that out loud.

  He gestures toward his house. “On the cleaning. You said you’d get at it after school.”

  “Right, of course.”

  “What did you think I meant?”

  Oh, that I could start licking you from head to toe.

  “The cleaning,” I say quickly. “Just let me drop my books off inside, and I’ll be right back.” I hurry to my house and can almost feel his eyes burning into my back. I don’t dare look to check, though, but I am questioning my sanity. Do I even know what I’m getting into, inserting myself into this man’s life? No. But he’s good with his daughter, and I need my car fixed, so I need to do what I need to do.

  But will I sleep with him?

  What the hell?

  I’m not one for one-night stands or quick flings, and sleeping with him has nothing to do with this arrangement. We both made that clear.

  Oh, but you want to.

  I give my head a good hard shake to get it on straight and step inside the front door, only to hear music blaring from the kitchen. I walk down the hall and find my roommates drinking at the kitchen table. I should have expected it. It’s Friday night after all, and another party at our house. Fortunately, I’ll miss most of it, thanks to a late-night shift at Pizza Villa. Jeez, who would have ever thought I’d be looking forward to that.

  Sylvie jumps up when she sees me and her drink spills over the side of her glass. “We’ve been waiting for you to get home.”

  “Why?” I ask, and go to the fridge. I take out the water and pour myself a glass.

  “Don’t ‘why’ us,” Becca says. “We saw you leaving with the hottie next door.”

  Val holds her hands up and waves her fingers toward herself. “Come on, spill.”

  I take a long drink, and set the glass in the sink. “There’s nothing to spill. He gave me a ride that’s all.”

  “A mustache ride?” Becca asks. I glare at her, and she frowns.

  “So I take it you didn’t do the nasty with him?” Sylvie says.

  Jesus.

  “No, Sylvie. My car broke down, he’s fixing it, and gave me a ride so I wouldn’t be late for school.”

  “That’s it?” Becca says, clearly disappointed in me.

  “Well…” I say, unable to help myself from teasing them a bit. “There is one other thing.”

  Sylvie squeals. “I knew it. Tell us.”

  “Since I’m broke, he, and when I say he, I mean Jaxon, agreed that in exchange for fixing my car, I’d—”

  “Fuck him!” Sylvie says and starts clapping.

  As the four girls go ballistic, I fold my arms until their shrieks die down. When they finally settle, I say, “Sorry to disappoint you all, but all I’m going to do is clean and babysit for him.”

  Becca grins at me. “Say what you want, Rachel. I can guaran—fucking—tee, that after spending time at his place, you’ll end up in his bed. I mean, you’re only human, right?”

  “Right,” Val says. “And I am so freaking jealous, but I’ll get over it if you promise to give us all the details.”

  “Contrary to what you girls believe, there will be no details,” I say.

  “What’s his last name?” Becca asks, grabbing her phone. “Let’s creep him on Instagram.”

  “I don’t know his last name,” I fib. No way do I want them stalking him online.

  “Nameless sex. I love it,” Val says.

  “I will not be having nameless or any kind sex with him,” I say, and keep to myself that I had been thinking just that thing when he was diagnosing my car.

  Becca frowns. “How come you’re not on social media, Rach?”

  “I don’t have time for it,” I say, a partial truth. After my ex-boyfriend threatened to kill me if I left him, I stripped my identity from the Internet so he couldn’t track me down. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to go. Jaxon is expecting me.”

  I turn, and exit the room. As I make my way up the stairs to drop my books off, I can hear their comments.

  “Yeah, expecting you to bend over the coffee table for him.”

  Giggles.

  “Or expecting you to get down on your knees and take him deep.”

  More giggles.

  “Better yet, he’s expecting you in a hot little French maid outfit obeying his every command. I have one from last Halloween that I didn’t end up wearing,” Sylvie shouts. “You can borrow it if you want it as long as it gets some action and you give me all the details.”

  I might be rolling my eyes at my roommates, but there is a part of me that’s listening, visualizing all those acts with the hot daddy next door. Heat prowls through me, and I hurry to my room, drop my books on my bed, and step up to my mirror. I give myself a once over, and pinch my cheeks to add a little color.

  A noise outside my windows jolts some sense back in to me, and I take in a breath, let it out slowly, and make my way to my neighbor’s. I find Jaxon and Cassie inside the shop. The music is on, so I can’t hear what he’s saying to her, but from the intent look on her face it must be something very important.

  My heart pinches. It can’t be easy being the mother and father in a relationship. Jaxon looks up and I wave awkwardly. He turns the music down.

  “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” I ask

  “Nope,” he says. “You can head on up if you want. I’m going to finish some things here, then go over Cassie’s homework with her.”

  “I can do that.” When his head rears back, I realize I’ve overstepped. I’m here to cook and clean, not step in to do mommy things with Cassie. “Oh, sorry, I just meant, I could watch her if you were busy in the shop.”

  He scrubs his chin and looks around. “Actually it would really be helpful. I need about an hour to finish this job.” He points to the car up on hoists, one that wasn’t there this morning. “It’s a rush job for a buddy. I was going to work on it after Cassie went to bed, but if I could get it done now, that would give me more time to read with her before she goes
to sleep.”

  My chest squeezes. “Sure, I’m here to help with anything, Jaxon. Anything at all. All you have to do is ask.”

  His head dips, as his eyes lift to move slowly over my face, and my heart nearly stops as the blue bleeds into the black. Jesus, did he take my words to be sexual? And why does everything feel so electrical between us. Like we could light up a city block in a black out. For a week.

  “Cassie,” I say quickly, and hold a hand out to her. “Why don’t you come on up with me, and we can set you up at the kitchen table while I tidy.”

  Cassie looks at her dad, and he explains. “Rachel is going to be our new housekeeper for a little while. She’s going to help with the dishes, laundry and even babysit you, and I’m going to fix her car for her.”

  “Oh, okay,” Cassie says, taking it all in stride. “Gina has a babysitter sometimes. She lets her stay up late and eat ice cream.”

  Jaxon laughs as he helps her from the crate she’s standing on. “Nice try, kiddo.”

  I laugh with Jaxon as his precocious child takes my hand. She chats endlessly about some boy at school named Jacob who pulled her ponytail as we climb the stairs. I shove a full basket of dirty laundry out of our path, and usher her into the kitchen and she hops up on the chair.

  “What do you have for homework?” I ask.

  “I have to draw a picture of my family.”

  “Oh that’s nice.”

  She frowns. “Daddy says I can put Mommy in the picture if I want. It’s up to me.”

  I nod. That must have been what they were talking about so intently. I help empty her backpack, and clean out her lunch box.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and get started and I’ll tidy up the kitchen.”

  She dumps a box of crayons on the table and starts humming as I turn my attention to the dishes. I fill the sink with water, take a cloth to wipe down the counters, then wash and dry all the dishes. As I dry, I take a peek at the drawing.

  I grin when I see the picture of her dad. A big stick man, with a circle around his biceps, to represent bulging muscles I assume. Beside her father is a little girl with her hair in a ponytail, and two other people, a man and a woman. “That’s very good, Cassie.”