by Lacey Legend
THE BAD BOY
NEXT DOOR
A BAD BOY ROMANCE By..
LACEY LEGEND
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Summary
When wealthy playboy Isaac Ross moved in next door to romance novelist Ruby Schmidt she knew he was going to be trouble, but she never knew it would happen like this....
After growing tired of the loud music coming from his house, Ruby went next door to introduce herself to the bad boy and ask him to turn the music down.
Ruby was not sure what sort of reaction she would get from her handsome but rowdy neighbor.
Would he be co-operative? Would he be angry? Could he get violent?
All these thoughts went through her mind and so she was more than shocked when the bad boy next door ignored her complaints and tried to seduce her instead....
Copyright Notice
Lacey Legend
The Bad Boy Next Door © 2016, Lacey Legend
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.
Contents
Chapter1
Chapter2
Chapter3
Chapter4
Chapter5
Chapter6
Chapter7
chapter 8
chapter 9
chapter 10
chapter 11
chapter 12
chapter 13
chapter 14
Chapter1
Ruby Schmidt stood on her porch, coffee cup in hand, listening to the night sounds that surrounded her somewhat isolated house on this beautiful Tuesday night. There were only four other houses on this street and she rarely saw her neighbors, so removed were they from one another. Ruby could hear the cicadas chirping softly and a light breeze rustling in the trees near her one-story cottage. She closed her eyes and let the sounds surround her. It was a peaceful night she thought, taking a deep breath. Ruby did all her best writing at night, undisturbed by daylight and all the obligations that came with it.
Ruby drained her coffee cup and went back inside. She opened the windows as she made her way to her small home office at the back of the house. In its previous life, the room had served as a small nursery. If she looked hard enough, Ruby imagined she could almost see the outlines of the Disney princess stickers that had adorned the walls of the baby girl’s room. When Ruby purchased the house from the former owners, her first order of business had been converting this room into an office. She needed a private place to work where she could close the door and create a firm, physical boundary between “work life” and “home life.”
She had painted the walls a soothing pear green color and was pleased with the way her white furniture contrasted with the walls. She had reupholstered the chair cushions in a geometric design in colors to complement her walls, figuring that since she had to spend six to eight hours of every day in here, she may as well have it decorated to her liking. Ruby sat down at the comfy, plush desk chair and closed her eyes briefly, bringing back to mind the closing scene of the book she was writing.
Suddenly, Ruby’s thoughts were interrupted by a low boom boom boom. Listening through the window, she thought the sound was coming from the front of the house. She hurried from the office, casting a glance at the wall clock as she did so. Out here in the living room, she could hear the strains of electric guitars and the low thrumming of a bass guitar, accented every so often by boom boom boom of a bass drum. Wrinkling her nose, Ruby went out on her front porch again and surveyed the small neighborhood.
Though there were only a few houses on this road, they were only set about a city block apart. It was possible to shout hello to your neighbor for instance, but not much more than that. Ruby’s head turned to her right, toward the sound which had grown much louder once she exited her house. The house she looked at now had been vacant until a few days ago when a moving truck had backed up to the front door and hired men had unloaded the contents before driving away again. Ruby had paid it little mind, however, until now. Now, it seemed as though someone were throwing a rather loud party.
She could see that all of the lights on both floors of the house were turned on and all of the windows were open, allowing both the music, and the shrieks of party-goers, to escape freely. Ruby huffed, feeling irritation rising in her petite frame. She threw her raven hair over her shoulder and went back into her house. Picking up the landline phone she kept in the living room, she dialed the non-emergency number for the police department after rifling through the phone book to find the number.
“Oak Brook Police Department, this is Jimenez.”
“Hello,” Ruby said to the pleasant young man who had answered her call. “I’m calling to complain about a very loud party my neighbor is having.”
Jimenez replied in a professional tone, “Per noise ordinance, they have until ten P.M. before we can do anything about it. I’m sorry, but I can’t send an officer out for this right now.”
“Oh.” Ruby felt deflated. “It’s really disruptive though and I’m trying to work. It’s a Tuesday night for Pete’s sake.”
“I understand your frustration,” Jimenez said sincerely, “but our hands are tied. Come ten o’clock however, if the music is still on, we can put in a call for service.”
“All right. Thanks anyway.” Ruby hung up her phone and proceeded to close all of the windows in the house in an attempt to shut out the cacophony of sounds coming through. It dampened, but did not silence, the noise.
Ruby went back to her office and resumed typing. Thankfully, the window in her office faced away from the neighbor’s house, and with the door shut, she could barely hear the sound at all. She finished typing out the closing scene of the book and finished it with a “THE END.” She ran a spell check and then returned to the very top of the document and stared at the title page for a few minutes.
The Affair in White, by Ophelia Maddox. Ruby stared at her nom de plume, fascinated that so many people were reading her books; even distant family and friendly acquaintances who had no idea it was actually shy Ruby Schmidt’s words they were reading. Ruby had told only her parents and a few close friends, not wanting to jinx her good luck by boasting too loudly. She had picked the name Ophelia Maddox after careful consideration. She liked the sound of the name, the way it dripped off the tongue so smoothly. Her BFF Julia Gordon had agreed, saying it was the perfect name for a writer of steamy romance novels.
This was only Ruby’s third book, and she hadn’t quit her day job yet so to speak. She wasn’t making quite enough yet from her novels to enjoy that. Between a trust fund which paid out a stipend each month, and her part time job working in a hu
man resources office for a nationally popular insurance company, Ruby lived comfortably within her means and had enough left over to set aside a good-sized nest egg.
Ruby attached the document to an email addressed to her agent and sent it off into cyberspace. Then she sat back in her chair and glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight, time for bed. She had to get up at eight the next morning for a run before meeting Julia for breakfast and then heading into work at ten. Ruby was surprised to find that she could still hear the reverberations from the music her neighbor was playing.
“It’s a wonder they aren’t all deaf,” she said aloud as she exited the office, closing the door behind her. She could hear the music growing louder as she moved toward the front of her house. Stepping out onto the porch, Ruby looked at the neighboring house and saw that not only was the party apparently still in full swing, but someone had lit a bonfire behind the house. Ruby could see the silhouettes of dancers circling the fire as music continued to pour out the still open windows. Ruby knew she’d never be able to fall asleep with this racket. Her bedroom window was on the side of the house facing the neighbor.
“Dammit,” she cursed as she went back in. She hit redial on the land line, not wanting to bother with looking for her oft-lost cell phone.
“Oak Brook Police Department, Jimenez,” came the same voice she had heard earlier.
“Hi, I called a while ago and you said that they had until ten to turn off the music,” Ruby said.
“Oh yes, hello again. Is the neighbor still causing a racket?”
“Yes. And now someone’s lit a bonfire out back,” Ruby said, her voice rising.
“As long as the fire is at least twenty feet from a structure, they aren’t breaking the law,” Jimenez explained. “However, we can send an officer out about the noise. Give me your address please.”
“710 Burdock Lane. The neighbor’s address is 720 I think. It’s the only other house on this side of the street,” Ruby explained. “When can an officer come out?”
“It may be a while,” was the response. “Noise complaints aren’t a high priority, but as soon as an officer comes off of a priority call, we can send one out there.”
“Fine. Thanks.” Ruby hung up the phone, not sure if she felt better about the situation or not. She disliked being told her call wasn’t a priority, but on the other hand she reasoned a domestic fight or robbery was definitely way more important than loud music. Still, she hoped an officer would go soon. In the meantime, she decided she would just have to break out the ear plugs and try her best to sleep through it. Ruby wondered that none of the other neighbors had called the cops. Surely they could hear the music too?
Ruby dug the earplugs out of her nightstand and shoved the uncomfortable foam bits into her ears. It was uncomfortable for her to have things in her ears while trying to sleep, but the addition of a sleeping pill would dull the discomfort and help her fall asleep quicker, she decided.
Finally, tucked into her comfortable queen size bed under her late grandmother’s feather duvet, Ruby closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, hoping the meditative breathing would help her fall asleep faster.
***
Isaac Ross was being summoned. One of his guests was standing by his open front door, frantically waving at him to come over. He obliged, grabbing his fifth beer of the evening from a large tub full of ice as he did so. He grinned at one of the many now half-naked dancers he had hired to come to the party. Isaac was a firm believer in half-naked dancing. He hoped to engage in some of it himself soon with one particularly hot piece of tail. She was currently twirling around the portable stripper pole she had set up in the dining room. Other party-goers were throwing dollar bills her way, and she was laughing, hanging upside down, using only her strong legs to hold herself in position.
The smile slid from his chiseled features however when Isaac saw that there was a cop standing in his doorway. He took a long pull of beer, showing all of his nonchalance, and then smiled again.
“What can I do for you, Officer?” he asked.
“Well, for starters, you can shut this party down,” the man replied. “It’s after midnight and we’ve had complaints.”
“From who?” Isaac asked.
“They wished to remain anonymous. However, you should be aware that the law states all loud music has to be shut down by ten. So let’s get it shut down.”
“Fine. Whatever.” Isaac shut the door and then went over to the expensive, top-of-the-line stereo system he had purchased and shut it off.
The music stopped abruptly. Dancers who were mid-dance stopped short, dumbfounded.
“Hey!” one anonymous person in the crowd shouted. “What gives?!”
“Party is over,” Isaac shouted to be heard over the protests. “The fuzz is shutting us down. Everyone out please!”
People grumbled and looked for their dropped clothing, or whatever other things they had left lying about in their fervor. Isaac nodded his agreement. “I know, I know. But fear not, friends! Friday night! Same time, same place! Your buddy Isaac has you covered.”
Cheers rose up, a dull roar, as people filed out of the house passed the police officer who was stoically ignoring the negative comments and glares that came his way. He tipped his hat to Isaac once the last of the party had left, and then he made his way to his patrol car and took off.
Isaac put his arm around the girl who had previously been hanging upside down from the pole. “What say you stay for a while?”
“That’ll cost you extra,” the girl said, with a cat-like smile on her face.
“Whatever.”
Chapter2
The next morning, Ruby pulled on her running clothes and headed out the door. Out of curiosity, she ran down the road past the party house. The remnants of the bonfire were still sending curlews of smoke into the air now and then, and the yard was strewn with plastic cups and empty bottles of various origins. All of the windows were shut and the blinds drawn against the morning sun. Ruby wondered vaguely if the new owner of the house had had an orgy the night before and if she were to walk in the front door, would she see naked bodies draped across one another like the murals on the walls of Pompeii?
Ruby jogged past the house and to the end of the lane where the largest house on the street held court over a cul-de-sac. It was a massive, three story structure not fitting the definition of any particular architectural style. Ruby knew that it was the only original house left on this road. The others had all fallen into disrepair for one reason or another until they were condemned and torn down, replaced by the three modern style houses that were there now, on larger tracts of land. Ruby enjoyed her morning run and normally branched out of the neighborhood and onto the surrounding blocks. This morning however, curiosity took her jogging around the cul-de-sac and back past the new neighbor’s house.
It was a two story house, pale creamy yellow with black trim and shutters. Ruby had known the previous owners, Rod and Jenny Brandon. They had been close acquaintances, inviting each other over for dinner or a game night from time to time. Rod and Jenny had moved back to Kansas though after Rod’s mother became too ill to be left alone. With no money for a twenty-four-hour nurse they’d had no choice but to move. That had been two years before, and the house had remained empty all that time. Ruby had kept up with the lawn maintenance for them as a favor. Since she owned a riding mower it was no big deal to mow two big yards. As she passed the house for the second time she wondered what kind of people had bought the house. Were they planning to throw massive parties every night of the week, or had this been a one-time “house warming” celebration?
After her run, Ruby showered and dressed, and then headed for The Coffee Cup, a greasy spoon diner near her best friend Julia Gordon’s house. It was on the way to work for Ruby so they met there often during the week. Ruby arrived a few minutes early and took a table near the window so she could watch traffic pass by outside. Julia arrived a few minutes later and they placed their breakfast orders.
>
Ruby sipped her coffee and looked at Julia over the rim of her cup. At thirty, Julia was a successful event planner with enough clients to keep her busy and pay the bills. Julia was proportionately plump and always dressed impeccably. All of her clothing was designer and bespoke. Today she was wearing cream pants with a matching shell, set off by a hand knit blue cardigan with cables running the length of it.
“How’s businesses?” Julia asked, noticing Ruby eying her.
“I finished my book last night,” Ruby replied as she ordered a refill on her coffee.
“Congrats! I am so jealous of you,” Julia said. “I can think up all kinds of stories, but I can’t get them on paper to save my life. Do you want me to organize your launch party again?”
Ruby nodded. “I’ll have my agent get a hold of you about it. I just sent it to her last night, so it’s still early in the process.”
“Of course. Leave it to me and the party will be a smash hit just like the first two.”
“Maybe not New York this time,” Ruby said. “I set the book in Miami, so maybe that would be a good place for the party?”
Julia stroked her chin. “Possibly. I’ll go over it with your agent and see what we can come up with.”
“I’m always afraid someone is going to learn my real name at one of these parties,” Ruby said. “I almost forgot to introduce myself as Ophelia Maddox at the last one.”
Julia laughed. “I don’t see why you don’t write under your own name.”
“Because nobody wants to read romance novels written by a Plain Jane like Ruby Schmidt. Ophelia Maddox sounds much more elegant and romantic.”
Julia laughed again. “Okay. But why do you care if they know it’s your pen name? The girl who wrote the Shopaholic books uses a pen name and doesn’t care that anybody knows.”
