“You don’t have to do anything,” I said again, feeling a growing desperation I didn’t let out for him to see. My experience as a lawyer was coming in handy outside of work. “It’s a little late right now, and I don’t think anyone will be taking advantage of the broken fence too soon. I can look at it in the morning and think of what to do then. You don’t have to do anything.”
My treacherous mind was already arguing with me. I can pay for the damages, but I wouldn’t see him if I handled it myself! Let him work on it and fix it himself!
Now that I’d seen him this close, I was getting greedy. I could just picture it. Him working in my backyard with only a tank top on. The sun would be up, it wouldn’t be too hot, but he would be sweating from all the work he was putting in.
Just the image in my mind made me tremble.
“But I really wouldn’t feel okay just leaving it,” Ken insisted. “Old or not, your fence would still be standing if not for me. Let me help you out.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. There was no way I could let him. Even if I tried to keep myself away, the temptation would be too great. I’d never looked at another man since Mike and I got married and then had Bryson years later. I had large windows in my kitchen that showed a clear view of the backyard; there was no way I would pass up the chance to drool over such a fine male specimen.
Get it together!
Ken was stubborn. “If you won’t let me work on the fence,” he started slowly. “Then, I could fix anything else, whatever you want to take care of. Anything you need.”
Anything I need… my mind repeated.
I wondered if he was wording it intentionally, or if I’d become a pervy old woman. Here was a young man insisting on trying to offer me help, and my mind was jumping to dirty thoughts. His expression was so clear and earnest, but he had my thoughts rushing in another direction, thinking about what other less innocent situations he might have that look on his face.
My mind needed to get out of the gutter, I chided myself. But wait… did he just give me a once over? And was it my imagination, or did his voice just get a little bit deeper, smokier… I could have sworn…
I shoved those thoughts to the back of my mind and smiled up at him.
“Yes, actually, I have noticed that you’re handy around a house. Your place was left alone for too long, and it was practically falling apart when you moved in. I’ve seen how you’ve changed it.”
Ken pursed his lips in thought, and my eyes unconsciously fell to them. My eyes rose up to meet his just as quickly, but I was sure he’d noticed. Damn it! I didn’t want him thinking badly of me. I gave him an uneasy smile that he returned with one of his own.
“At this point, I think you could say we’re at a stand-off,” he said, sounding amused, his smile crooked.
Fuck, his smile just got hotter. I smiled innocently up at him. “I guess you could say so. There is no need, but if you’re going to insist, I guess we can talk about it.”
He opened his mouth to say something when our conversation was interrupted by the sound of something blowing up. A squeal followed, and I looked into the living room. The angle wasn’t right to see much, but I’d just remembered my son wasn’t that far away, waiting for me so we could get back to our movie night.
Damn it. How could I forget?
That thought made me panic a little. No one was more important to me than my son was, not even this hot, new neighbor that was insistent on making himself useful to me.
As if to make sure I would go back, Bryson spoke up.
“Mom, get back here already! We’re almost at the best part of the movie!”
“I thought you hadn't watched this one before,” I called back, feeling amused.
“Mom,” he whined. “My friends already watched it! I asked them for some spoilers, and they told me something awesome happens when the explosions start! Hurry up!”
I chuckled at my son and his excitement, before turning back to my guest. His eyes were aimed inside, a look of curiosity on his face. I wondered if he’d ever seen Bryson, though he’d probably heard him. My kid didn’t like staying too quiet.
“I have to go now,” I said to Ken. “I’m watching some movies with my son, and I’ve already missed a part of it. I should probably get over there before he comes for me.”
I didn’t need Bryson to see him at my doorstep and wonder why he was there. Or worse yet, invite him in to enjoy movie night with us, because my son was polite like that.
Ken nodded. “I figured. But I don’t feel right just leaving things as they are, either.”
I sighed through my nose, puffing my cheeks up a little bit. “Why don’t we talk about it tomorrow, then?” I offered. “I’m not going anywhere for the day. I’ll be awake by around nine or ten, and we can decide what to do?”
He offered me another grin, this one larger and brighter than the ones that had come before it. “Sure. Oh, and you never did introduce yourself…”
I blinked, then felt my face warm up again. “Oh! My name is Lydia. It’s nice to meet you, Ken.”
“The pleasure was all mine,” he said, and I thought his voice was just a little lower.
I waved at him and waited for him to leave before I went back inside and moved over to Bryson.
His eyes had looked down at me, I thought, a little giddily. His eyes had, very obviously, lingered on my chest in that short time before he turned away. I’d been looking closely, and I knew I hadn't imagined it. I should probably be offended, but I couldn’t help but be thrilled.
Does that mean he thinks I’m hot?
I knew I shouldn’t be letting myself get carried away. It wasn’t like anything would happen between us. I’d already made that much clear to myself. It just wasn’t practical. But it was an enormous boost to my ego to know that someone that young and attractive could look at me with desire. Juggling between a demanding job and looking after my son had left me feeling older than my years, and I couldn’t help the smile on my face as I curled back into the couch with Bryson.
The feeling was too much to keep to myself. I picked up my phone from where I’d left it, biting on my lower lip.
I’ve still got it, I thought to myself, sending a quick text to my friend Annara.
Her reply was back in a moment, and I put my hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t do something embarrassing like squeal.
Yes, honey, you still do.
3
Kenji
I took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off my forehead.
Fuck. Too much work to do.
I didn’t mind it, if I was honest with myself, I was kind of loving it. A lot of work kept my muscles from going soft, and I wasn’t a slave to my own thoughts, either.
It just felt too much like I was trying to hide.
The whole move, making myself busy so I had no time to try and contact my parents. Not that it was an easy thing to do.
My parents were… I couldn’t say I hated them, exactly. They still raised me and took care of me, even if the standards weren’t quite up to what I would have liked. Because of them, I hated my own name. Well, it’s more because of all the teasing I got for it, but I still hated it. My name was Kenji, I knew full well it was a Japanese name, and people in school had given me shit for it. My parents, the carefree people that they were, told me not to care about other people and embrace my name. I wanted to go by Ken, but they insisted on calling me by my full name.
That made it hard for me, because it was hard to get everyone to forget my full name if my own parents spewed it everywhere.
It was a hard decision, to move to a new town, to this broken-down house that I knew I’d have to fix up. I’d bought it pretty cheap, and I had dumped almost all of my savings on it. But I wasn’t just running from my parents, I was also running from an ex.
When I met her, I thought she was the best thing ever. For a long time, I thought she was the love of my life, and I thought she felt the same. She was nice, gentle, and beautiful. She knew m
y real name and made fun of me a couple times, but I knew it wasn’t meant to hurt, and she called me Ken when I insisted. We’d had plans of moving in together and starting up a family, one that would be entirely different from what I was subjected to for most of my life.
But it wasn’t meant to be. Because I found out that she didn’t think the same as I did, no matter what she’d said to my face. She might have told me she wanted a family with me, but she had a pretty healthy nightlife. She said she would settle down, but she couldn’t settle down with one man. I didn’t even know how many men besides me she’d actually been with. I’d chosen to walk away instead of asking for an explanation, because her carefree attitude reminded me so much of my parents.
Ah, my parents. If it wasn’t so rude of me, I would call them the bane of my existence. They never cheated on each other, but they had other shortcomings I couldn’t help but be critical of as I grew up in a public school environment, getting to see just how different my family was from the norm.
I loved my parents, but they just never understood the real world, and they didn’t want to understand it. They were what most people would call hippies. Because of their beliefs, I was subjected to a lot of ridicule, and in my earlier years, we had to travel a lot. I didn’t know just how different my family was at first, because I didn’t join public school until my parents decided to settle when I was seven. Before that, I was homeschooled, if you could even call it that.
My parents had this make-believe world they’d built for themselves, and they were totally immersed in it. They were always too busy clinging to it to ever understand me and how I felt. Once I realized how everyone else was, all I wanted was the real world and not their make-believe, and they treated it like some kind of betrayal. That feeling didn’t last that long, though, they just chalked it up to me growing. They thought once I was older I’d understand them.
Fat chance of that happening, I thought to myself with a scoff.
I distanced myself from my parents in high school. I still talked to them, and they had phones around so it wasn’t too difficult. But there were times their phone bills weren’t paid, or now that I was out of the house, they left with no notice to go for a trip somewhere in some remote area with no hope of any signal all because they liked to experience nature. It was the one thing we had in common, but unlike them, I would never drop my real life responsibilities to go hiking and exploring.
I hadn't talked to them since the move, and it had been several weeks already.
Just forget about it, I told myself, pushing my thoughts off with a shake of my head. They know my number, I told them where I would be. If they need me, they’ll look for me.
I was in the backyard of my new house chopping wood, and I got back into it with more vigor, letting out my frustration with the world. I’d already done half the work, now to get to the other half before it got dark. I’d heard a car, which could only mean that my neighbor had arrived, and she usually got back home late, so I knew I had to get on.
The ax swung hard as I brought it down with all my strength. I was already panting from all the work I’d done today, with little breaks in between to catch my breath, eat and drink. I’d been at this for an hour now at least, but I needed to get everything done.
When I moved, I moved with a plan, and I wanted to put it into action quickly. The wood broke, and I picked it up, tossing it away toward the growing pile. I might have done it with more strength than necessary. Also, I wasn’t really paying attention because my mind was on something else. But I heard when it hit, and I looked up to see I’d hit the neighbor’s fence. It wobbled, and to my surprise, the whole thing toppled over.
Fuck, I thought to myself.
I dropped the ax with a sigh and wiped my forehead again. I couldn’t leave it lying there, but I couldn’t touch it just yet. There was no way I could fix it quietly, and I didn’t want to shock my neighbor with the damage before I could even inform her or apologize for it.
I wiped my hands on my jeans and went over to the woman’s place. I’d seen her a few times while I was fixing the place up. There was a son, and as far as I knew, no husband. I waited at her door, giving myself a minute to catch my breath. I raised my hand to knock, pausing a little because my body trembled with nerves.
I swallowed. This was my responsibility. Unlike my parents, I knew what that meant.
I knocked in three hard raps and waited for the door to open.
When it did, I was surprised.
We had been neighbors for some time, and I’d seen her in passing, but because I was always busy or exhausted from doing so much work, I’d never taken such a close look before.
Beautiful.
She had dark hair and gray eyes, a combination I’d only ever heard of in books, and it was as beautiful as I’d thought it would be. She was maybe thirty-two, with pale skin. She looked a little soft around the hips even under the clothes she wore, just a little bit, but I knew she exercised. I’d seen her a few times in the morning, coming back from a run just as I was heading out to start my day with more repairs and chores, so she was definitely fit.
Lydia, I thought when she told me her name. Just as beautiful as she looked.
I could feel my body stir with attraction, and I was a little surprised at myself. Not because she was older. It had been some time since my ex, more than a year, and no other woman had caught my interest in that time. It was hard anyway, before, when we still lived in the same town and I’d occasionally run into her on some other man’s arm. I’d learned to not let it bother me, but I couldn’t get it up for anyone after that, not even a one night stand. The move had been partially so I could forget her and try to move on with someone else.
My eyes roamed over Lydia as we talked. I couldn’t help it and I tried to be discreet. I wasn’t paying too much attention to the conversation, but it went smoothly. Her son needed her, so we made the agreement to talk the next day.
I couldn’t help but be pleased when we came to that conclusion because it meant I’d be seeing her again, and soon. Yeah, we were neighbors and I would see her anyway, but I’d get to talk to her, get to know her more.
“Slow down, boy,” I muttered to myself as I crossed back over to my place. “It’s only talking about the fence that you broke.”
I winced at the reminder. I walked to the backyard and saw the damage again, sighing. I did feel guilty about it, even though she hadn't seemed all that mad. But I knew that even if it didn’t seem that way, it didn’t mean she wasn’t mad. I couldn’t even blame her if she was mad. I had been careless.
“I’d better stop for today. I’m too distracted to do much, anyway.”
I had a habit of talking to myself, both in my head and out loud. It was from back in school when a lot of kids wouldn’t want to be around me, so I ended up alone a lot. I cleared up my yard, then went back to the house. I’d done a lot of fixing up, and there wasn’t much left before I turned it all into a real home. I’d need to buy some furniture and other things because it was still a bit sparse, but I had everything I needed for the moment.
For a moment, I stood and stared. I’d done it plenty of times since I had moved, and it had grown less overwhelming over time. The house was great. Because it was so run down and the realtor wanted it off his hands, I was able to get a good price. But the place was so fucking empty and not just with the lack of furniture.
One thing about my parents that I’d absolutely loved—the main reason I couldn’t bring myself to hate them—they knew how to fill a house with warmth. My place was empty. I couldn’t call it a home yet because there was absolutely no life in it. I wanted to do a walkthrough of the rooms and think about my plans some more.
Instead, I sighed and went into the kitchen, grabbing some snacks from the cupboards. I only had a few to tide me over. I took my health and fitness very seriously, so snacks were only an emergency food for me. I’d yet to set up the kitchen so I could cook, so I usually had take-out from a restaurant nearby.
Lydia, I thought with a sigh. So fucking fine…
My thoughts went back to when I showed up at her doorstep. I knew I was distorting reality a bit since but, in my mind, the smiles she was sending me were coy and flirtatious. There was more cleavage than I’d actually seen. My eyes had dropped to her chest just as I’d left, and I couldn’t help thinking about having her up against her wall, her legs around my hips as I claimed her breasts with my hands and mouth. I let out a harsh breath as my heartbeat sped up, but I shook my head rapidly, turning away from the window.
“Bad Ken,” I growled to myself. “You can't think about your older neighbor like that. She has a kid in the house!”
I was a little curious about what had happened to the kid’s dad, but I didn’t think too much about it.
After eating, I went to sleep early so I could get an earlier start the next day, do some work before heading off to talk to Lydia.
She featured in my dreams, and I couldn’t stop my thoughts then.
Kidnapped by 2 Men
Menage Romance
About the Book
Lily doesn’t get into these sorts of situations. She’s always been a good girl, the kind who kept her clothes clean and got straight As in school, and she’s spent the years ever since working dutifully as a secretary. Kind and gentle, Lily is the sort of person everyone wants for a friend.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of her boss. Intelligent and successful, James Dominick has always craved success—and when possible, he makes sure other people bear the cost of his actions. So it’s hardly a surprise that when hit-men show up to take him out, James has disappeared…and the only person in his house is Lily.
Kidnapped and terrified, Lily has become determined to talk her way out of this. The gang that’s captured her can’t possibly be so ruthless as to kill an innocent woman, can they? In fact, she’d bet that Liam and Cameron, the ringleaders, are a lot nicer than they want to admit. She’s pretty sure they don’t want to kill her.
Billionaire's Game Page 18
