A man who’d had heart surgery a few months ago not feeling well? That was—
“He’s fine,” she said. “I know you worry, but you don’t need to. It’s just a cold. He wasn’t up to a long car ride today, that’s all.” She tapped her chest. “I’m a nurse, remember.”
True. That did make him feel a bit better. His mom would know if Joe needed to go to the doctor, and she’d get him there even if she had to drag him the whole way.
“You want to go out for lunch?” Cole glanced at the clock. “I guess we should go soon. The only place in town—other than the coffee shop—is the diner, but we can drive to Ridgewood if you like.” There wasn’t a lot in Ridgewood, either. Another diner, a pizzeria, and a Chinese restaurant. “Or we could eat here, since you brought enough food to feed an army.”
“Let’s just eat here.” She started opening cupboards.
“One to the right. That’s where the plates are.”
His mom got out two plates and put them on the counter. “Who’s the woman you were talking to when I arrived?” She turned toward him and smiled.
Crap.
“My neighbor.” Cole scowled. He did not want to have this conversation.
“Oh.” Her face fell. “That’s all?”
“Yeah, that’s all.”
No, actually, he had sex with her at least once a day, but that was not something his mother needed to know.
She opened up a container of pasta salad and sighed. “I worry about you sometimes. I feel bad about…everything.”
“You did the best you could.” Cole placed a hand on her shoulder as she leaned back against the counter.
“I just… I wonder if…”
For whatever reason, his crappy childhood had bothered her more often lately. He wished he could take away her guilt, but nothing he said seemed to make a difference. Still, he tried.
“I bet I would have been an antisocial loner no matter what you did.” Maybe not to the same extent, but he doubted he would have been a completely different person. “Don’t blame yourself, Mom.”
She wiped her hand over her face. “I’m sure you’d still be an introvert, but I doubt you’d keep people at such a distance. I think you have trust issues.”
You think?
A few years after leaving his father, his mother had started dating again. The men she’d gone out with were never abusive shitheads like his father had been, but they inevitably came across much better at the beginning than they actually were.
So if he didn’t trust people, it was for a damn good reason. People were generally shitty, and usually did their best to disguise that fact.
“You know what I’m going to do?” Cole leaned back on the counter beside his mother and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m going to find myself a fake girlfriend, like in those romance novels you read. I’ll get her to meet you a few times before we ‘break up’ so you’ll believe I’m actually capable of having a relationship.”
“I know you’re capable of it.”
“I just don’t want one.” He felt a prickle of doubt at his words, even though he’d never wanted a relationship with any woman. What the hell? “There’s nothing wrong with being on your own. Marriage is not for everyone.”
“Maybe not. But I don’t think you’re one of those people. I know you better than anyone, honey.”
She did. Still, despite that niggling doubt, he didn’t think she was right about this. And he hated that she blamed herself for how he chose to live his life.
“You don’t just worry about me sometimes,” Cole said. “Admit it. You worry about me all the damn time.”
She chuckled and started hunting around in the kitchen drawers, presumably for some utensils.
“Here.” He opened a drawer and took out a couple of forks.
“You know what happens in those romance novels, the ones with the fake relationships?” She smiled. “They fall in love, even though they were totally against love at the beginning. So, I support this fake relationship idea of yours.”
“Because we all know that what happens in books is exactly what happens in real life.”
“Sometimes it is.”
His mother was always so hopeful, despite everything she’d been through.
He’d never understand it.
Later in the afternoon, Cole and his mother went for a walk around town.
When they reached the diner, she came to a stop and put her hand on his shoulder. “Do you avoid relationships because you’re afraid of turning into your father?”
“No,” he said, but she kept talking.
“Sweetie, you are nothing like your father. You would never treat a woman the way he did.”
Cole looked at the faded sign for the diner. “I know. I’ve never been anything like him.” He’d made damn sure of that. “I’m your son. Not his.”
That brought tears to his mother’s eyes, and she reached into her purse for a tissue.
He didn’t regret saying it, even though she hugged him, right there in the middle of the sidewalk.
…
The basement apartment, near High Park in Toronto, looked nice online, but it was hard to know without seeing the place.
Rachel liked the idea of living near a large park. Perhaps that would help her ease into city life, and it would give her a place to go jogging. Plus the apartment was less than a ten-minute walk from the subway. It was available starting in October.
There was a phone number, but no email address. She should call. Make an appointment to see it. But that simple phone call freaked her out, so she put it off a little longer and kept searching for apartments. There was a studio apartment in a high-rise in the same area. About the same price. That was another possibility.
She was leaning toward Toronto over Ottawa at the moment, and the number of options was overwhelming. In Georgeville, you were pretty limited if you wanted to rent. Or buy, for that matter. But in Toronto, the options seemed endless. She couldn’t afford to live in the downtown core, but there were still lots of neighborhoods that interested her, including High Park.
After an hour of looking, she’d found four apartments that she wanted to check out. She wouldn’t rent a place without going to see it first. Toronto was a few hours away from Georgeville, and it was doable as a day trip on one of her days off.
Her hand trembled as she reached for her phone. This was it. She was finally making a concrete step to follow her dreams. It was exhilarating—and frightening at the same time.
But she would do this.
She dialed the first number.
Chapter Twelve
Rachel hadn’t heard from Cole in more than twenty-four hours. She hadn’t seen him since she’d knocked on his door as his mother was driving up.
Twenty-four hours. That was the longest she’d gone without having sex in the past week.
After finishing dinner on Sunday, she texted Cole and asked him to come over. When he didn’t answer right away, she filled the sink with soapy water. She was nearly done with the dishes by the time her phone chirped.
She dried her hands then snatched the phone off the table. But it was just Jenna sending her a photo of an ugly bridesmaid dress. Now that her friend was planning to elope, she seemed to take great joy in researching weddings, just to find the most ridiculous themes and dresses.
So Rachel returned to the sink. She listlessly rubbed the dishcloth over a plate, rinsed it, and put it in the rack.
Okay, she was disappointed. She’d hoped Cole would come over tonight. Yesterday she’d gone to a nearby town and purchased a surprise for him. Buying lingerie seemed like a relationship thing, but that wasn’t what this was. She just wanted to look sexy in bed.
When her phone chirped again, she pounced on it. This time it was Cole saying he’d come over in fifteen minutes.
Fifteen minutes. God, that was far too long. She was already aroused. The soapy water in the sink made her think of a bath, where he would carefully run a washcloth over
every inch of her skin.
But not tonight. No, tonight she had other plans.
She finished the dishes, ran to her bedroom, and changed into her new black babydoll. She lay on the bed, on her side, with one leg bent and the sheets pulled up to her hips. From the top drawer in her night table, she selected a toy. She slid it inside her body.
And then she texted him to let himself in and come to her bedroom.
She didn’t move the toy as she waited for him. It was a large, realistic dildo, and it filled her to the brink, as much as she could take. She ached to get herself off, but she waited for Cole instead, her body becoming more and more needy with each passing minute.
When he came into her room, exactly fifteen minutes later, he stopped in the doorway and stared at her.
“Rachel.” He said nothing more, but she could tell by his expression that he very much liked what she was wearing.
“I got it just for you.” For some reason, she wanted him to know that. It’s all for you.
One corner of his mouth turned up in a sexy grin. He climbed in bed and pushed her onto her back. He held himself over her and kissed her greedily. She could feel the need pouring out of him, funneled into that kiss. When he slipped his hand lower, she tensed in anticipation.
“You—” He grabbed the top of the quilt and threw it aside. “You’re already—”
“I already have a cock in me.”
His eyes darkened, and he dipped his head and kissed her again, rougher than last time. He moved his lips down to her throat, her collarbone, before moving outward and nipping her shoulder.
“Jealous of an inanimate object?” she asked.
“Does it vibrate?”
“No.”
“That’s a relief.”
She started to laugh, but the laugh was swallowed up by a groan when he bit her shoulder a little harder.
“I don’t think it’s a serious threat to me,” he said. “But yes, I’m jealous it’s inside you and I’m not.”
“I bet that will change.”
Cole held himself above her, on his elbow. Not close enough for his T-shirt to brush against her barely-there lingerie. But she could feel the heat of him, the closeness of him, all the same. He brushed his thumb over her nipple, visible through the sheer babydoll. He didn’t touch between her legs, not yet, but her core clenched around the dildo.
She closed her eyes and wondered…what would it be like if it wasn’t a toy inside her, but a second man?
God, she would love if Cole could watch as someone else fucked her.
She’d had fantasies involving multiple men plenty of times before, fantasies of being watched as she had sex. But she’d never felt comfortable sharing them with a partner.
Until now.
“If I had another man’s cock inside me,” she ventured, “how would you feel about that?”
He hesitated. “This thing we have… It’s not serious. You can sleep with other men.”
He brushed the spot where he’d bitten her shoulder, then ran his tongue over it. Strangely, she hoped she’d have a mark tomorrow, some evidence of their time together.
“You wouldn’t want to watch?”
He jerked his head up.
“Oh,” he said. “That’s what you mean.”
Her blood pumped furiously as she waited for him to say more. She was unbearably aroused by the man above her, turned on by her urge for him to see her with someone else, yet she was anxious at the same time. And his silence only added to it.
Perhaps she shouldn’t have said anything.
“It would make me jealous, of course.” His voice was quiet, but there was a firmness to it that made her body tingle even more. “But…it would get me hot, too. I would have to fuck you afterward.” His lips curved. “Yeah, I guess I’d like it.”
She wasn’t orgasming. He wasn’t even touching her pussy. But just his words… She could feel them all the way to the tips of her fingers, the soles of her feet. Being with him was so different from being with anyone else.
He slid his hand down from her shoulder. He lifted up the bottom of her babydoll and touched the dildo. He started moving it in and out of her body. Not very fast, not very deep, but still, she writhed beneath him.
“You want to be with a really big man?” he asked. “Is that why you bought this?”
“I’d like to try it. To see how much I could take.”
“It might hurt.”
“It might. But I could take it. For a night.”
He pressed his thumb to her clit, and she felt pressure building up inside her, all of her. Not ready to burst, not quite yet. But soon…
“And does it turn you on?” he said. “The idea of me watching your pussy take a giant dick? Does it turn you on to be a bad girl like that?”
She tilted her head to the side so she couldn’t see him anymore. She imagined him standing across the room, clothed, arms folded over his chest, as he watched another man fuck the living daylights out of her.
She would watch Cole, if another man was fucking her. She knew that was where her eyes would be. On him.
“To do it in front of you, yeah,” she said, turning back to face him. “Definitely.” To see him pulsing with jealousy because another man—a bigger man—was screwing his girlfriend…
Yes. She wanted that.
She froze.
Wait.
Girlfriend?
She wasn’t his girlfriend. They just slept together. And she didn’t want anything more than that.
But for this fantasy, maybe he could pretend to be her boyfriend. She wanted him seething with anger because another man was taking what was his.
He continued to move the dildo in and out of her. It filled her completely. But even though it was Cole touching her clit, moving the toy, it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t his cock inside her, and her body wasn’t pleasuring his.
“And then you’d fuck me,” she said. “Hard.”
“Yes.” He slammed the dildo harder into her as he said that, and she gasped. “I might not be as big as him,” he growled, “but dammit, I would be better than him.”
“I know…you would.” She could barely stutter out the words. “Screw me now. I need you.”
“No.” The edge in his voice made her tremble. “You’re going to come like this first. Then you’re going to come when I’m inside you.”
He was treating her roughly tonight, but she felt safe with him. He could even see another man fuck her, and although he’d be seething with jealousy, he’d still want her. He liked her for who she was.
And that thought… It made her stronger.
He looked at her for a moment, a lazy smile spreading across his face. He pulled out the dildo and placed it between her breasts.
“See how wet you are,” he said. “So fucking wet, to have anything inside you. Anything at all, you bad, bad girl.”
She felt a gaping emptiness as he kissed her mouth. She wanted to be filled, craved it so badly.
He dragged the toy down her chest, leaving a trail of moisture behind, and thrust it inside her once more. He moved down her body and licked her clit.
All it took was one lick. She grabbed the blanket, held on as tight as she could, and the orgasm consumed her.
Then he fucked her. It was a relief to have him. It was what she’d been waiting for. He wasn’t as big as the dildo, no. But it was Cole. He moved inside her, taking her as no one else ever had. A drop of perspiration fell off his forehead onto her cheek, and she darted her tongue out but couldn’t reach it.
She wanted all she could have of him.
She came again, and he came with her. She pulled him as close as she could for those last few moments before he withdrew, before she lay boneless in her bed.
Content.
For now.
When Rachel opened her eyes, the light was dim, but there was still a hot man in her bed.
“What time is it?” she asked, feeling a bit confused.
“Nine.”
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Cole lay next to her, on his side. His expression was softer than usual, and he brushed the back of his hand over her cheek, a gesture that made her smile. They were both naked, and the covers were pulled up to his chest.
“You can leave if you want,” she said. “You could have left while I was sleeping.”
“That’s okay. I wanted to stay.”
“Did you sleep at all?”
He shook his head. “No. Being the creep that I am, I just watched you sleep.”
She snorted. “I’m sure that was entertaining.”
“There are worse ways to spend an hour.”
She stretched her arms then settled back into bed. “I’m not used to having a regular sex partner.”
“Neither am I. The number of times I’ve had sex in my life has nearly doubled in the past week.”
She chuckled. “Glad to help.”
“I hope my sexual prowess has doubled, too.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but it was high enough to start with that it didn’t have room to double.”
“Ah.” A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Still, disappointing I’m not off the charts now.”
“You’re getting there.”
He rolled onto his back and put his hands behind his head. After staring at the ceiling for a minute, he said, “Have you ever actually fucked a guy while someone else watched?”
She glanced at him. He’d been thinking about that all this time?
She shook her head. “No.”
“Do you really want to? Or is it just something you fantasize about but can’t imagine actually doing?”
“I’d like to try it.” Still, she doubted it would happen. Would Cole really be willing to do that? She pressed closer to him and curled her arm over his stomach. “It’s nice to be able to talk about this stuff. Fantasies, and all. I know you won’t spread it all over town, and I don’t worry about being judged. You’re easy to talk to.”
He snorted. “That’s the first time anyone’s ever told me that.”
“Well, you can be kind of cranky and antisocial.”
“No shit.”
She laughed. “But it’s true. It’s easy because I don’t think there’s anything I could say that would turn you off. I don’t have to censor myself.”
Tempting Her Neighbor (a Georgeville novella) Page 8
