Big Bad Neighbor: A Single Dad Next Door Romance

by Tia Siren

  She looked beautiful though. Nothing could ever take that away.

  “Hey,” she said, her voice a bit raspy. “I didn’t expect you to be here so soon.”

  I sat down next to her on the hospital bed. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I savored the feeling of Jenna leaning up against me with a steady exhale of breath. Her skin felt warm and soft through the hospital gown she wore.

  “Your mother bailed me out,” I said, pressing a kiss against her hair, which still smelled fresh from her shampoo. “I owe her about five thousand dollars though.”

  “Five thousand?” Jenna pulled back to look up at me in alarm. “Why was it so high?”

  “I crushed his face,” I said calmly. “That’s why.”

  Jenna shook her head in dismay. “I still don’t understand why they arrested you. You saved me.”

  “They didn’t know what to think when they pulled up,” I replied, shrugging. “The charges will be dropped given your statement, so don’t worry about it. They were doing their job.”

  “And Leon?” Jenna asked hesitantly. “Where is he?”

  “Jail,” I said, and I didn’t feel an ounce of guilt for the lie when Jenna sagged against me in relief. “He won’t be able to bail out either. The judge denied bond for him.”

  “I bet that made his family happy,” she said, snorting. “The doctors said I can go home in an hour.”

  I picked up her hand that rested between us. Pressing a kiss to the back of her knuckles, I rubbed them with the pad of my thumb.

  “I talked to Owen,” I said.

  “About us?” Jenna asked.

  “Yes, about us,” I said, twining my fingers through hers. “He understands that you aren’t going to replace his mother. I’ll explain the rest later when he’s old enough to understand it.”

  Jenna was quiet for a long time as we both watched the television for a few moments, leaning up against one another. She eventually looked down at our twined hands. Taking a deep breath, Jenna looked back up at me. “I wanted to move away earlier today because I was afraid of how I felt about you.”

  The soft confession didn’t surprise me. I had felt that same overwhelming urge several times to put distance between us before either one of us could get hurt.

  “I don’t think either one of us expected this to happen,” I said.

  “No,” she murmured in agreement. “I didn’t expect it at all. What do we do?”

  “For starters,” I said, smoothing a few stray hairs back from Jenna’s slender face, “we can talk about you permanently staying at my house.” I caught her wide-eyed stare and added, “If you are comfortable with that. I won’t force you into anything.”

  “I want to,” Jenna said. “I’m just amazed that you are offering to let me to stay there with you, as you’re…”

  She trailed off uncertainly, looking at me for help.

  “I’m not one for titles,” I said. “Dating isn’t even something I want to consider. You’re with me, and I’m with you. Is that a good enough explanation for you?”

  Jenna smiled brightly at me before her face crumpled in pain. I rubbed her shoulders soothingly as she regained her composure.

  “I was going to kiss you,” she said. “I can’t smile without hurting.”

  I grinned at her. “You have plenty of time to kiss me all you want starting when we leave this hospital room.”

  Jenna sighed loudly.

  “My mother is going to be exasperated when I tell her that I’m selling the house after all,” she said.

  “We’ll deal with it together,” I said. “You won’t have far to move this time.”

  She pressed a soft kiss to the center of my cheek. “Thank God for that.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Jenna

  One year later

  The trees were splashed with fiery oranges and yellows when I stepped out into the chilly afternoon air. A wetness coated the ground from the recent bout of rain. Everything felt crisp and ready for fall. Soon the leaves would fall and even Lone Tree would be bare for the upcoming winter.

  The passenger door opened. I turned to see Owen slipping out of the car while trying to fumble with the zipper of his sweater. Crouching down, I helped him work the zipper up with a smile.

  “Keep your sweater on,” I said. “It’s going to be cold all day. The summer days are gone.”

  Owen pouted unhappily at that. “I want to go back to the ocean then where it’s warm, and where my mommy lives.”

  I opened my mouth to reply, but it was Derek who beat me to it. He came around the front of the car to place a hand on my shoulder as I rose from my crouching position. He gave Owen a stern glance.

  “We talked about that, bud. You can visit your mommy for Thanksgiving this year.”

  “Fine,” he puffed out dramatically. “I guess that’ll do. I don’t like the cold here.”

  “Me either,” I said, shivering against the crisp air. “Let’s go inside to eat. My mom is waiting from what I can see.”

  Owen darted up the stretch of stone steps that led to the small restaurant in Lone Tree that all the retirees visited daily. It did have good food despite the “old people” smell, as Owen had put it one time. He had bonded, though, with my mother, who enjoyed having him around. “He reminds me of you as a child,” she’d tell me, beaming happily.

  Derek guided me along the stone steps with his hand resting on the curve of my lower back. It felt nice to be guided and protected as we followed Owen up into the restaurant. The second I walked through the patio doors, I reared back in surprise to see the entire dining area decorated with balloons and flowers.

  My mother stood in the center of it all, dressed in loose trousers and a coffee-colored cashmere sweater.

  “There you two are!” she exclaimed, resting her hands on Owen’s shoulders. “You’re late, Derek. What took you so long?”

  “We hit traffic,” Derek said, pushing me through the doors so he could shut them behind us.

  I caught sight of the word “Congratulations” on a balloon floating in the back. It made perfect sense then why Derek had insisted on seeing my mother this weekend. I turned to look at him, and he smiled innocently.

  “You know about this?” I asked, scowling. “You know I hate surprise parties like this.”

  He didn’t reply. Instead, he pushed me forward into the center of the room where everyone shook my hand. My mother tugged me into a tight embrace.

  “I’m so proud of you, Jenna,” she said, beaming at me through tears in her eyes. “You must feel proud for finally finishing your bachelor’s degree.”

  Embarrassed from all the attention, I patted my mom on the shoulder awkwardly as she guided us into the room to sit down at a table. I did feel proud, but a surprise congratulations party was a bit over the top in my opinion. I kept that to myself though, because I knew Derek and Owen had also planned everything.

  My stomach churned queasily at the faint smell of garlic and butter. I looked over at Derek as he took a seat next to me, placing a reassuring hand on my knee underneath the table.

  “Breathe,” he said, squeezing a lemon into my water. “Try drinking some water to fight the nausea.”

  “Nausea?” Anna turned to look at Derek. She immediately placed a fretting hand on my forehead, much to my annoyance. “She doesn’t feel warm. You didn’t tell me she felt sick.”

  “I’m fine,” I grumbled, swatting her hand away. “Don’t worry about it, Mom. This is really nice. Thank you.”

  “I like all the balloons,” Owen said, happily tugging at the string of one. “I helped pick out all the balloons for you, Jenna.”

  “Thank you,” I said sincerely. “I really like all of them. We can see how many we can pile into the car afterward.”

  Once Owen was occupied with talking with my mother, I leaned into Derek’s side to whisper in his ear. “You could’ve warned me about this. You know I don’t feel good right now.”

  His fingers squeezed my kn
ee. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t find a way to tell your mother no. If I said anything, she would’ve figured it out. Speaking of that”—he paused, leaning forward to press a kiss to my lips that instantly soothed my already bad mood from trying to find something to wear that fit— “when do you want to tell everyone?”

  “Well, I—”

  “Tell everyone what?” Anna asked. She was far too perceptive sometimes.

  I turned to glare at her as she hovered above me again. “I’m going to turn that hearing aid off. It makes you prone to eavesdropping.”

  “You sure are moody for a joyous occasion,” she replied, frowning down at me.

  I didn’t know what to say to that. The wheels in my mother’s brain were already turning rapidly. Then realization filled her eyes.

  “Oh my!” she said, one hand clutching at her chest. “Please me tell that what I’m thinking is right.”

  I looked over Derek, who didn’t even bother hiding that charming and knee-trembling grin of his. Pride flashed in his eyes. He reached up to cover the small bump I had strategically hidden underneath a loose and oversized sweater.

  “You’re thinking right,” he said. “There’s a baby bump that is making Jenna a horrible grump today.”

  I rolled my eyes in exasperation at that before I was embraced again by my mother, who was practically bouncing in her heels from excitement. It was a right damn miracle that Owen hadn’t told her yet. He was excited to have a sibling to play with.

  “I didn’t tell,” Owen said proudly. “I kept the promise like you and Dad asked.”

  Derek reached over to ruffle his hair fondly. “You did good, Son. I’m proud of you for keeping quiet.”

  My mother sidled down into the chair next to me as a waiter arrived with a platter of various fruits and cheeses. She placed a hand on my stomach with a happy grin.

  “When is the due date?” she asked.

  “May 24th,” I said. “I’m nearly out of my first trimester.”

  “After everything that has happened,” Anna started whimsically. She smiled over at Derek, who returned it. “I’m so happy for you both. A baby and a future wedding to plan.”

  “You only like Derek because he got me to complete college,” I said, but a grin tugged at my lips as well.

  Even if I felt sick to my stomach, and unable to fit into my clothes, it was hard to contain the joy and happiness I felt. I stared down at my left hand, where the overhead lights sparkled off the ring there. It still felt bizarre and good at the same time to have a ring there.

  “At least he got you to,” she replied, sniffing back tears again. “I’m just happy that everything worked the way it has for you. The both of you are blessed with Derek taking on that job as a lead investigator for a private firm, and finishing school after so long…” Anna sighed in relief and sat back to fan herself. “I’m just so relieved too. A baby. A baby. So many changes that I hope you both are ready for.”

  I reached over to grasp Derek’s hand. He smiled at me in faint amusement as he gave my fingers a tender squeeze.

  “Ready for those changes, Mr. Summers?” I asked teasingly.

  He winked at me playfully. “More than you know, Mrs. Summers.”

  THE END

  Thank you for reading Big Bad Neighbor.

  This book contains free bonus stories for your enjoyment, including Big Bad Professor, Big Bad Billionaire and an exclusive sneak peak of Big Bad Daddy.

  Please refer to the TABLE OF CONTENTS to see what to read next.

  Sports Romance Collection

  A Dangerous Game – A Football Romance

  “He’s lookin’ a bit rough today, Angie,” I heard Jim saying behind me.

  “Everyone has their off-days, Jim,” I replied.

  “It seems it’s been more of an off-season. The kid threw three interceptions this game alone. If he keeps this up, he won’t be on the roster next season.”

  He was right; this was a rough situation that Jake got himself into. His numbers were really low, and it was going to set me into a difficult position for negotiating his contract for next season.

  Monica was here watching as well; I use the word watching very loosely because she preferred to spend her time nursing a glass of wine and talking to the other wives.

  She was quite gorgeous, slim-figured and tiny; just the way Jake seemed to like them. I never really cared, quite honestly. She was the kind of girl I avoided; easy to look at and hard to please. The only real conversation we had was about money, and how much her boyfriend was going to make her.

  They were talking so loud that I couldn’t help but overhear a bit of their conversation.

  “He’s making good money, are you going to make him put a ring on it?”

  Monica replied, “There’s only one sure way to get him to ask me, and I don’t know if I should talk to him about it, or just surprise him.”

  “You’re not thinking about having kids, already.”

  “I always wanted a family, and I don’t want to have to wait to start one. He’s taking his sweet time proposing. I thought maybe if I had a bun in the oven he might man up and ask.”

  “You’re terrible, Monica.”

  Monica giggled along with her friends. I couldn’t figure out how someone could talk about having kids in such a cavalier attitude.

  I tossed back the rest of the scotch in my glass and made for the bar nearby. This game was beginning to look like another loss, and I knew that my boss would probably be ready to yell at me on Monday, and I didn’t want to be sober for that.

  Monica gave me looks as I walked by, and I could feel the disgust coming from her friends as well. It seemed like they’d never seen a hard working black woman before; as though all they wanted me to do was bring them a serving tray.

  “Another Scotch, Angie?” asked Devlin, the barman.

  I nodded, and he poured me another.

  “You better make that a double, Devlin. It’s going to be a long night.”

  He added more caramel liquor to the glass while I reached for my wallet.

  “I think this one is on the house. Maybe it’s high time to start buying something to eat before you make yourself sick.”

  “Thanks, Dev. It’s going to be another one of those nights. Are you going to be working tonight, again? I can swing by and give you a hefty tip.”

  He smiled.

  “If you’re drinking then I know I won’t starve for the next month. I got a few rumors flying around, though.”

  “What have you heard, Dev,” I asked.

  He leaned over the bar to whisper.

  “Some of the players are planning a night out. A couple of ‘em just fired their agents, and might be on the market; If you come with a straight head, then you might just bag one.”

  I pulled out a large tip and shoved it into Devlin’s hand. He tipped his hat, and I returned to the game.

  There was almost no shock at all from me when I noticed that we were behind in the scoreboard. I plopped down in my chair and nursed my drink. It was going to be a long afternoon.

  2.

  I’m a classy dresser when I want to be, and for a night on the town, it was rare. If you’re going to be dropping it on the bedroom floor anyway, it’s best just to dress light and wear as little as possible.

  I didn’t have that intention tonight, but I still wanted to drink to forget Jake’s abysmal performance today. Devlin was right, though, it would be a great opportunity to cheer my boss up by signing a new client.

  Working with athletes and spending so much time around attractive people was an amazing inspiration to eat right and exercise regularly. The last thing you want to be is the ugly person in the corner trying to sign a new client.

  Still, no amount of exercise will cure genetics. And, as it was, I was stuck being curvier than most. I did enjoy the compliments from men that I slept with. They said I had nice breasts, not too big, not too small. But, I always thought my best feature was my legs, they were long and toned. To c
ompliment my figure, I wore a long black gown that scooped low in the back and showed off my small amount of muscle.

  Upon arriving at the trendy little club I made sure to tip the bouncer well, he always let me in when I came by, now.

  You can get anything in life if you’re willing to spend the right amount of money. But, sometimes, a friendly smile is worth more. I walked towards the bar after I got in, and I could already see a couple of players that I recognized from today’s game. One of the players was celebrating victory over our local team with some women of the evening. I rolled my eyes at how easy some of these players were.

  “Devlin, I think I’ll have another drink. Send one over to that player with the girls as well, would you?”

  Devlin nodded and started pouring. Once the drink was delivered, it was easy enough to ingratiate myself into the group of women.

  I worked my subtle charms for about an hour before the player agreed to come in for a visit tomorrow before returning home. I handed him my card and got his number before buying his group another drink and walking off.

  I tend to get tunnel vision when I see something I want, and it becomes easy to trip over things you didn’t see coming. This thing happened to be a man. My drink slipped from my hands and covered his shirt in my third drink of the evening.

  “Oh, excuse me. I can get clumsy after a few drinks.”

  I could already see the bouncer looking at me, hoping that I wouldn’t make a scene.

  “It’s fine,” he said.

  I grabbed a nearby cocktail napkin and started doing my best to clean him off. He did the same. His shirt didn’t look cheaply made in the slightest, and I didn’t think that any amount of dry cleaning would take out the stain I’d just caused.

  “Angie?” he said.

  I looked up; it was Jake. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t recognized him earlier.

  “Oh wow. Hi Jake,” I responded.