by Lucy Smoke
“Uh, well, I guess you have your neighbor Stanley to thank. I’m Tobi. I’m part of the renovation team that’s staying next door for the next two weeks. Did Stanley call and give you a heads up?”
I couldn’t help following his hand as he ran it through his short, dark brown hair. Why was it so attractive when guys did that?
Thank you, Santa! I mean Stanley…
“Oh, well I’m Lowen. Yeah, he did. Cool.” I babbled stupidly. I wanted to face palm myself as soon as the words left my mouth. See! This was what happened when I was hungry.
“So, you’re staying two weeks?” I added quickly, hoping to change the subject before he thought I was a total spaz.
He nodded his head and rubbed a hand down his beard. “Yeah, just needed to get that key from you while my friends unload our stuff. He did leave that with you, didn’t he?”
“Let me grab that for you,” I said before walking over to the coffee table where I’d set the key down. I held back the urge to do a ridiculous victory dance at having him next door to me for two weeks.
He leaned in the doorway, looking towards the kitchen when I walked back to hand the key to him. “You burn something?” He asked.
“Not what I wanted to burn, but yes. I got in a fight with the oven and lost.”
He chuckled and waved the key. “Well, thanks for this. I guess I’ll be seeing you since you’re right next door.”
“Yep, I guess so.”
“Alright awesome. I’ll see ya,” he replied with a panty dropping smile and a wave as he backed away and started walking to the other side of the cabin.
“Later,” I said, trying to not sound too disappointed that he had to go. He was just so damn good to look at. I closed the door and peaked through the curtain.
I watched like a creepy stalker as he unlocked the door, then turned to go back down the steps leading to the driveway below. The cabin was up on stilts, since it sat on the side of the mountain, and the driveway was beneath the cabin itself. I was a bit bummed I couldn’t see what his friends looked like yet, but I wasn’t too sad about watching his perfect ass as he descended.
I’ll admit it. I was as bad as a dude when it came to flirting. When you’re raised with only a male figure in your life, you kind of lose the ability to be subtle. Well, at least I did. I had absolutely no qualms about hitting on someone I thought was hot. Some men liked it, but I intimidated most with it; which was another huge reason why I never did serious relationships. Any guy I started getting even remotely more serious with couldn’t handle me. They didn’t like not wearing the pants in the relationship, so I’d dump them if they couldn’t keep up, or they’d dump me before even sleeping with me. It was definitely their loss if the latter was the case. I wasn’t easy by any means, but I wasn’t afraid to get kinky either.
That’s why I’d dated twin brothers. Two men were easy for me. It was twice the attention and I got something different from each of them. Unfortunately, they felt more for me than I did for them and I had to end it before things got too intense in the feelings department. It was easier that way, rather than falling for someone and having to worry about being abandoned in the end like my mother did to dad.
I liked men who could handle someone like me. And just by looking at Tobi’s muscle mass and getting an alpha vibe from him, I bet he’d be just fine on his own. Odds were, he had a girlfriend already. Men that good looking always had perfect girlfriends that were more high maintenance than a Pomeranian.
Who knew, though?
If I played it right, I just may get laid this Christmas. Now that was a plan I could totally derail my original plans for.
2
“Sexy Dancing”
I had quickly texted Sara about my luck of having a hot neighbor for the next week and a half, and the possibility that his friends could be just as hot.
She was a bit more jealous of the situation than she wanted to admit, but I knew her. She loved a good piece of eye candy as much as I did. Caleb was a hottie, but that didn’t stop her from enjoying a long look at a nice ass. Though, she’d never tell him that obviously.
I ended up saying screw cooking and ordered a pizza, thankful that the delivery people were seriously good at maneuvering through iced over roads and snow. They were like the damn UPS; rain or shine, they’d be there.
As I ate and watched Prancer, I heard their voices on and off and the occasional bump of things being moved around. As I was getting to a really good part of the movie, obnoxiously loud rap music began to play through the wall.
At first, I was able to ignore it. But after fifteen minutes, I’d started losing my ability to concentrate on my movie. My aggravation level elevated beyond its normal limit. I didn't care how hot someone was, you didn’t ruin Prancer for me, or any Christmas movie I loved for that matter.
I stood and stomped into the kitchen to where the wall that separated our two sides was, and pounded on it as loud as I could.
"Can you turn your music down, please?" I shouted through the wall, hoping my voice would carry over the shitty tunes.
I waited a minute, but nothing happened. If anything, the music seemed to become louder. I pounded on the wall again; harder this time.
"Hello! Turn your shit down, assholes!" I shouted louder. Yet still, nothing happened.
"You've got to be shitting me," I mumbled to myself.
Without any other choice, I quickly went to my room and grabbed my hoodie, zipping it all the way up to my neck and throwing the hood over my head. I was pissed that I'd have to go out into the cold, but with no other options, paying them a visit was all I could do.
I threw open my front door and put my hands into my jacket pockets, muttering under my breath about stupid men and my nose feeling like it was going to fall off.
Luckily, I only had to run the length of the cabin before I was furiously pounding on their door.
It swung open to reveal a guy I hadn't met yet in nothing more than some black silky, pajama pants and a Santa hat that had jet black curls peeking out from beneath it. His skin was dark and rich, making me think he might be Spanish or Italian. As he leaned in close to me, his lips set in an interested smirk; I couldn’t take my eyes off his lean, ripped physique.
I almost imagined him in one of those foreign soap operas, telling the woman that he was banging her sister in a sinful accent that would make any girls panties melt right off them.
I inwardly yelled at myself to stop focusing on his deliciously toned abs and seriously stunning eyes, then pushed my way passed him into the room without giving him a chance to say anything.
I was expecting these guys to just be chilling on the couch and drinking beers as they listened to their ridiculous rap music. Instead, I found something a little more intriguing and a little hard to believe.
Dancing. And not just any kind of dancing, but sexy dancing.
The guy, Tobi, that I had met and one of his other friends, were doing some kind of strip dance using chairs from the dining room. It was becoming so hard to remember why I'd just stormed over here, while I watched them move their hips over a chair as if their bodies were just meant to move like that. It was probably one of the sexiest things I’d ever walked in on in my entire life.
I lowered my hood from my head and my head tilted to the side in interest. I was completely caught in a daze at these beautiful bastards rolling and grinding their bodies, making me wish for the first time in my life that I was a damn chair. They seemed to have no clue I was even standing there, at least, until the one that answered the door walked over and shut off the music.
"We've got company, guys," he said with an amused tone and a smile lighting his face.
No accent. Damn!
Tobi and the other guy stopped dancing and turned in my direction.
Do not look at their sexy, sweaty bodies! Do not look at their sexy, sweaty bodies!
"Oh, hey. It was Lowen, right? What's up?" Tobi asked me.
I cleared my throat, thinking about
what I was here for. But, I was completely distracted by his broad chest and washboard abs that were covered in dark hair. The smattering of dark hair was enough that I wanted to rub my hands over it, feel the roughness beneath my palms.
Why was I here? Think, think, think ...Oh, yeah!
I put on my best mad face, although I was sure I wasn’t successful considering my earlier train of thought. “Your music is so fucking loud, I can't even hear myself think. I pounded on the wall and yelled, but yet again, your music is too fucking loud. Can you keep it down in here?" High five, Lowen! You actually sounded like you were still mad.
Mr. Soap Opera came up behind me and his hand swept my hair from one shoulder to the other, then whispered in my ear, "I like girls with a little bite in them. Lowen's your name?"
I was a bit disappointed there was no Latin accent there, but I felt goosebumps raise along my neck where his breath fanned over it nonetheless. Warmth spread between my thighs.
Shit! It'd been way too long since I'd had sex, and these guys were sex personified.
"Uh ... yes?" That sounded more like a question than an answer. You so just lost your high five, Lowen.
"Leave her alone, Jasper," Tobi said to him as he grabbed a towel and walked over to me, wiping the sweat from his face. Mr. Soap Opera - or Jasper as Tobi called him - moved out from behind me and leaned against the doorway.
It was insane how fluidly Jasper moved. I wouldn’t even call it moving, but more like prowling. He was graceful, but had this sexy sway to his steps. Add in the sand colored stare of his lust filled eyes, and I swore I was being stalked by a large cat of some sort.
"Sorry about that,” Tobi added to me, taking my attention away from Jasper. “We're practicing for something and the loud music helps us keep the mood going."
It almost made me mad that he was being so nice about it and actually sounded sincere. It wasn't fair when men that looked that good could make you just forget your woes and turn you into a puddle. I had to stand my ground, though.
"Look. I don't care if you have to practice for whatever the hell it is you're practicing for; wear some damn head phones or something. The walls are paper thin and you're ruining my buzz with your shitty music."
"Well, damn. She has a mouth on her, doesn't she?" The third guy said to Tobi.
As if it wasn't enough that Tobi and Jasper had to be sexy as sin, this guy was just as much on their level. He had blonde hair that was short on the sides and longer on top and his skin had a warm, glowing tan like he’d never spent a day out of the sun in his entire life. In essence, he was undeniably lickable. I wasn’t sure that lickable was even a word, but fuck the dictionary. I was making it a word for now on.
"Learned all the best words from my dad. Now, seriously, will you just keep the music down?" I asked, losing a little of the steam in my voice as his bright blue eyes perused the length of me. I think all the steam was being detoured to other parts of my body. It was such a traitor.
"Why you rushing off? You can hang out with us. Maybe join us?" Jasper asked, coming in close again.
I unconsciously threw a hand out and laid it against his chest, keep him from coming closer. "You stay right where you are, Rico Suave. I am going to go back to my side of the cabin and finish getting wasted while watching a reindeer learn how to fucking fly. You three go back to whatever you were doing. Just keep your shit down and we'll all be cool."
Jasper looked down at my hand still on his chest with a smug smile. I snatched my hand away and glared at him. I shouldn’t blame him for what my hand did, but it was my only logical choice.
"Sorry. I promise we'll try to keep it low key the rest of the night," the third guy responded. "I'm Ezra, by the way, and I swear I'm not nearly as rowdy as these two. I'll keep them in line for you." He finished that with a blinding smile and a wink.
How come when I winked, I looked like I had a twitch? Yet another thing that just wasn’t fucking fair.
It took all my concentration not to focus on his body now. It was coated in sweat that dripped down his washboard abs. I tried looking at his face instead, but even that was hard to keep from staring at with awe. He had that classically handsome look going for him. I could clearly picture him with his blonde hair combed to the side, his lean body dressed in one of those penguin suits, and him ballroom dancing the night away.
While Tobi and Jasper radiated manliness to the full extent, Ezra’s looks laid on the line of manly and beautiful. I was pretty sure he was prettier than me and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. If ‘golden boy’ had a picture under its definition, you’d see his face there.
I raised a brow at him, doubting very much that he was as sweet as his voice and looks made him out to be. "Yeah. You do that," I replied blandly to cover up how he and the others affected me, before turning to leave. I added over my shoulder a quick, "Goodnight."
"Night.” Tobi and Ezra replied as I opened the door.
"See ya, Lowen!" I heard Jasper shout just as I closed it.
I quickly shuffled back to my side of the cabin and practically leapt into the room to get out of the cold. With how hot I was getting just standing in that room with them, the cold felt a bit more searing than it had when I walked out earlier.
I leaned against my door and replayed the images of all their gloriously half-naked bodies in my mind. How on earth was I going to get through this holiday with those three living next door to me? I was caught between wanting to screw each of their brains out and wanting to punch them in the faces for being so damn loud.
Though, for the sight I just got, I'd maybe give them the benefit of the doubt for now. It seemed only fair.
I didn't have any issues with music the rest of the night and when I woke up the next day, I couldn't even hear them. It wasn't until later that night that I did finally hear noise, letting me know they'd been gone all day.
I wondered the rest of the night exactly what it was they'd been practicing for the night before. The most likely explanation for it was stripper, but somehow, I didn't see that as a job of theirs, considering they worked construction and renovation. Then again, they were probably only strippers for a side job.
Two days after meeting them, I decided to get some breakfast at the local diner. It would probably be my last chance before the heavy snow started falling, and I'd have to wait for the plows to come through to clear the roads. Since I'd be out in town already, I figured I'd go ahead and pick up any essential food and drink items that I'd want for Christmas before the stores sold out.
I jumped in the shower and started up the water, loving the heat of it as it beat down on my chilled limbs. The heater in this cabin was total crap that I really needed to get fixed; otherwise, I was going to freeze to death in my sleep. My two down comforters just weren't enough anymore. Maybe if I begged them a little, I could convince Sexy One, Two, and Three to fix it for me. Could I really stoop to that level, though?
Hmm. Maybe.
I'd only been in the shower for a total of five minutes, when the water suddenly turned ice cold on me as I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair. I screamed in surprise and went to jump out of from under the liquid hypothermia, but my foot caught on the edge of the claw foot tub. I immediately went tumbling, taking the shower curtain down with me and getting wrapped up in it like a butterfly in its cocoon. Unfortunately, I went down so hard, my ass dented in the feeble wooden floor. I hissed in pain and groaned in aggravation.
Who the hell in my family did I have to blame for such awful luck? This just wasn’t normal.
I heard my front door crash open just before Tobi's voice called out to me. "Lowen? You okay?"
I rolled my eyes. This was all their fault. The cabin only had one large water heater to power both sides. An unfortunate flaw in the construction of this cabin and one of the few reasons I hated this place sometimes. But, up until these guys moved in next door, I'd never had to worry about sharing the hot water.
I was about to shout back as I gathered myself up,
the shower curtain wrapped around me, but the door to the bathroom suddenly opened. Tobi and Ezra appeared in the doorway, both with matching looks of shock when they realized I was naked and the shower curtain was pretty much see-through. I squealed and wrapped the shower curtain tighter around me, hoping if I gathered enough of it; it’d at least be a little opaquer.
"Shit!"
"Sorry!" They shouted simultaneously, both covered their eyes and tried to back out the room.
"Seriously? What the hell, guys? Like it’s really cool you are making sure I’m not getting axed by some dude in a mask, but you couldn’t knock?" I yelled at them.
“That would completely defeat the purpose of us saving you from being axe murdered,” Tobi stated sarcastically.
"Tobi, don’t argue with her right now. We'll just be going. So sorry, Lowen," Ezra mumbled out and grabbed Tobi's shoulder, steering him out of the bathroom.
"And get out of my side of the cabin, damn it!" I added just as they slammed the door shut.
I couldn't believe they'd both just barged in like that. I was fine with them being all nice and neighborly by checking on me after hearing that disaster. But, coming into the bathroom was the last straw. First the music, then my hot water, now this? I swore I was going to kill them all if they kept fucking with me like this.
I made sure the coast was clear before quickly dressing in an off-the-shoulder, long sleeve shirt, some yoga pants and my black, snow boots. I put on a little mascara and lip-gloss to look a bit more presentable to the world than I had been the last few days. Though, I did so rather violently and ended up having to start over a couple of times. I was pissed off from not having a complete shower. I'd had to finish washing my hair in the sink to avoid my whole body being blasted with more ice-cold water. I planned to have a few choice words with those guys about the water issue, the second I got some breakfast in me.
