Hero Next Door (Next Door Romance Book 2)

by Mia Ford

  “The girl with purple hair… the one who was moving in with you… oh God, am I wrong?”

  I toss my head back and laugh. “That’s my sister, Natasha. Not my girlfriend. She was just giving me a hand.”

  If it was possible for her to blush even brighter, she does. She might as well be flaming in fire. I can’t help but wonder why she’s so embarrassed about me being single. I also wonder why that look sends a shiver down my spine. I mean, I have already told myself that I’m not going to fall for anyone any time soon, so it can’t be that. Maybe it’s because I want to know about her love life, to see if that’s the reason she’s entangled in knots about life all the time.

  This is my chance, I think desperately to myself. This is my time. Now I could try and get to know her better.

  Just to help her of course, just to get her to open up to me. I don’t have anything else in mind at all.

  “I don’t know if this is a bit weird, but I have just been cooking and I made far too much. If you don’t have any plans, would you like to come in and have something to eat? It’s a bit late for you to start cooking now, right?”

  “Oh, really?” Her eyes almost pop out of her head. “Are you sure? I don’t have any plans, but…”

  “Well, unless your boyfriend would mind?” Was that smooth or totally cringy? Who the hell knows…?

  “I don’t have a boyfriend.” She tries to laugh but the sound is much too strangled to really work. I hope that I haven’t made things awkward for her in some way, I don’t want her to think that I’m hitting on her… “Yes, that sounds really nice. I don’t normally get home until very late so I don’t have time to cook anything for myself. Noodles are my staple, so it would be lovely to be fed something good for my body.”

  Hmm, so it isn’t a boyfriend, but it’s definitely something. I can’t help but wonder if it’s something to do with her job instead since the reaction that she had to something work related this morning definitely seemed excessive. I don’t know if I will be able to do anything to help her if that’s the case, I only really know about love life dramas, but I will give it a go, see what I can do for her. Even having someone to talk to can be helpful.

  “Come through. Sorry that the place is a bit of a mess, I’m still getting sorted.”

  “This is really tidy,” she gasps in total shock. “What must you have it like when you’re happily settled in?”

  “Actually, my sister did most of it. She’s the really tidy one,” I admit. “But when I got in from work earlier I just tossed my stuff all over the place as you can see. She would kill me if she knew that much.”

  I head over to my drink’s cupboard and pull out a bottle of wine that someone gave me as a celebratory gift for moving house. I’m not usually much one for drinking, but I think that the both of us will be able to relax more if we have a bit of booze in our systems. I don’t want her to feel uncomfortable here at all. Not when she’s being all sweet at the moment. I like this side of her a lot. From what I have seen anyway…

  “So, what was the work drama?” I ask as I hand her the wine and continue to stir the food. “You know, if you want a fresh ear to moan to? You never know, I might even be able to offer some kind of helpful solution…”

  “I don’t know if there is any solution to my problem,” she sighs. “Because it’s all to do with my boss and unfortunately, there isn’t a damn thing that I can do about him. He and his attitude because the company isn’t doing as well as he wants it to.” She shakes her head sadly. “Unfortunately, as his PA, I get it in the neck all the time.”

  “Why?” I demand instantly. “I mean, that doesn’t make any sense. Surely, you are the person who is in charge of his diary and I can’t imagine you losing him money that way… unless you’re terrible at making appointments.”

  Her face cracks in to a smile. “Actually, I think you will find that I am excellent at that. But it always falls to me anyway. I think because he’s afraid to take it out on the people who are really in the wrong because they might be the ones who can point out his own errors, making him look at himself in the mirror for a change.”

  I would suggest that she does the same but I only have to look at this poor broken down woman to know that she is beyond that. There’s no way she is in the right head space to stand up to this bully of a man. The only thing that I can really do at the moment is make her laugh and I know just how to make that happen.

  “Sounds like a playground thing to me.” My tone is teasing, my eyes sparkling with jest. “He likes you, so he picks on you. He wants your attention so he pulls on your hair, that sort of thing…”

  We both start laughing but a horrible realization quickly dawns on her. “God, you don’t think that it could really be that, do you? I just thought that he had an obsession with me because he hated me…”

  “Well, I was only joking but I can’t picture anyone hating you so maybe…” I shrug one shoulder helplessly. “You might want to watch his behavior with that idea in mind, just see if that’s how it looks…”

  She shudders. Poor Esme, clearly this is her problem and maybe now I have found a way that she can deal with it. I don’t know what she will do if she figures out I’m right, but she has the option now. She has the choice to consider things from a new angle and I’m pretty sure that she needs it more than anyone else.

  “Ooh, dinner is made. Do you want to take a seat at the dining table and I will bring it over?”

  She giggles and glugs back some more wine. “I don’t think that I have ever been served like this before. You better be careful or I might get used to it. I will be coming around for dinner all the time.”

  The alcohol is definitely making her feel more at ease, which is exactly what we need to happen, so after I have put the plates down on the table, I bring the wine bottle as well, making sure to top up our glasses in the process. There is a smile playing in the corner of my lips as I do because this might not be exactly what I was dreaming, but it feels similar. I like Esme, the more that she talks, the more of her I like. This night is the start of a beautiful friendship I believe, and it might just be what the pair of us need to move us forwards. Maybe I can finally say goodbye to Jane at long last, and she can sort out her terrible work situation until she is happy. I can only hope…

  Dinner ends much too quickly, but thankfully Esme is willing to stick around and drink some more with me so we can chat some more. I have told her about my dreadful divorce, which she helped me to really laugh at and not just in a lady banter way. She told me about her life as a single child with over protective parents who she just had to move away from the moment that she was old enough. We’ve talked about our friends, our social lives, or lack of since we both have jobs that don’t leave us my freedom, although I love mine, and our dreadful high school prom stories as well. I feel like I know her even better now, and I still like her a lot… maybe too much…

  I don’t want to get captivated by the way that her hair shines or how beautiful she looks when she laughs. I keep trying not to swim in her deliciously soulful eyes, but she’s dragging me in regardless. It might be the wine, but something is definitely happening to my heart, to my body, I’m finding her increasingly irresistible with every passing second. Saliva keeps flooding my mouth as I can feel myself starting to lose control. I don’t know what will happen.

  I haven’t ever been the one night stand guy, nor have I experienced a short term fling. I know with utter certainty that I shouldn’t even think about going down that road with my stunning neighbor who is supposed to be my friend and nothing more. She has enough on her plate without me adding in more, I am not supposed to be getting myself in another complicated situation with anyone. I just need to ignore this magnetic pull between us, whatever it takes…

  Chapter 7 – Esme

  Oh my God. My heart is pounding, my whole body trembling, I can barely contain myself because this is so wild. Not only does the very gorgeous Theo not have a girlfriend, which is a great reason to
celebrate, I am also inside his house because he invited me in for dinner and drinks. This is practically a date and I am feeling all romantic because of that. What started out as one of the shittiest days of my whole life, has become one of the best.

  He’s near me as well, touching me every so often. When he found a chocolate that he thought I would like in the box that I purchased for him earlier today, he feeds it to me. We must look like one of those couples in movies who are just so much in love that it doesn’t matter who is watching them… not that anyone is watching us. I barely taste the chocolate as it slides down my throat, I am too busy looking at him, watching him, studying him…

  He is everything. I buzz and vibrate with excitement and desire. Everything that I could want and more.

  He seems to like me too, that’s what is really getting to me. The way that he is looking at me makes me feel like he likes me just as much as I do him. I’m not alone in all of this. It’s him as well. He wants me just as much as I want him. Even if that feels like it should be something which is impossible… it’s happening.

  Well, either that or I have had far too much wine to drink. Who knows?

  “I like your hair,” Theo says as he softly brushes it off my cheeks. “But I always expect red heads to be fiery. You are too sweet, it’s lovely. It’s great when someone isn’t what they seem to be on the outside.”

  I feel a fiery heat travel through my system. Even if I’m not a person consumed with flames, my body is. “I like to defy expectations,” I joke as a way to cover up the embarrassment that comes from not being as I should be.

  “I don’t think that I am either,” he admits thoughtfully. “A lot of women look at me and see me as only a playboy, but that hasn’t ever been me. I’m always the relationship guy, even if it doesn’t always end well…”

  Oh my God, is he saying that he wants me? That he wants to be with me? I would be stupid to think that he isn’t flirting with me when he is being so blatant about it, unlike anyone else who’s ever been in my life before, but I don’t know what this exact comment means. I want to ask him but I’m far too busy being drawn in by his delicious looking lips. They want me, I can see them coming for me, Theo wants to kiss me and I want that too…

  Oh wow! I’m pretty sure that I must be dreaming because the moment that his lips crash in to mine, fireworks explode deep within me. This isn’t real, it’s off the scale, there is a fizzing in my body which is making me animalistic and crazy. I honestly can’t contain myself any longer. I don’t want to let him go.

  I grip my hands around his neck and dive my tongue in to his mouth, massaging behind his lips as he does the same to me. Thankfully, he can’t get enough of me as well which fires me up even more. A moan rumbles in my throat, Theo now knows exactly how turned on I am, and I don’t even care. I want him to know.

  “Oh, Esme,” he moans between my lips, his words shooting to my spine. “I want you so bad.”

  It’s the wine, it has to be, that’s why the pair of us are acting so crazy like we can’t get enough of one another. As he lies me back down on the couch and he rests his body on top of mine, we might as well be horny teenagers who have finally been given a moment alone. With our parents out of the house, we need to have fun.

  “Can I touch you?” he whispers as his fingers graze the underneath of my top. “Do you mind?”

  With him asking for my permission, it is hot as hell. I nod eagerly and arch my back so that the moment his fingers slip underneath the material, he heads for my breasts. Luckily, I have one of those easy bras that clip at the front. I always wear them when I am dressing in a major hurry, so my bra pops open quickly and he grasps my nipples.

  “Oh, shit, Esme.” My nipples stand to attention for him and he can’t get enough of them. He tugs and teases, sending a flurry of unexpected sensations bolting like lightning down to my core. “You are stunning.”

  No one has ever made me feel like so much of a goddess before. I want him to see me, really see me, all of me, so I lean forward just enough to tug my top over my head so my slick skin is revealed to him. Then I assist him with getting his baggy faded tee shirt off as well because I am absolutely dying to see what’s underneath… and I am not disappointed. I actually gasp in shock because his body is so hot. He has muscles where I didn’t even know a man could be so thick and strong looking. His arms look like he could toss me over his shoulder and carry me without even feeling me, which I suppose he could since he is a fire fighter. He might actually have to do that sometimes. And he even has the perfect V that I trace with my fingers until it reaches the waist band of his sweat pants…

  What is underneath there, I can’t even begin to imagine. I would love to find out though.

  “This skirt is in my way,” he growls as he nips the skin on my shoulders between his teeth. I need it gone.”

  I am more than willing for Theo to make that happen. Any material in between us is in the way as far as I am concerned, so I rise my hips off the couch and let him make light work of stripping me down. When I thought about taking my clothes off at the end of the day, I never assumed that it would happen in such a hurried manner and with someone helping me. But Theo’s fingers feel phenomenal as they trace over my skin, he leaves me a freaking puddle.

  With a surge of bravery that I don’t normally feel with men, and certainly not ones that I don’t know very well, not that I ever find myself in this position with guys that I don’t know very well normally, I tug Theo’s sweat pants down. I yank them so hard that without me even meaning to, I take his underwear off as well… although that is a happy mistake, I have to admit. His cock springs free, causing yet another surprised gasp to break free.

  It doesn’t even matter that I shouldn’t be here, that I shouldn’t be doing this, that this is the wildest thing I have ever done, it feels too good for me to even think rationally. I just want him inside of me and that’s all I care about.

  “Take me, Theo,” I whisper deep in to his ear. “I need you. Take me right now…”

  My panties melt away. They vanish, I don’t even know what happens to them. All I’m aware of next is Theo’s fingers lightly tracing down my soaking wet slit, exploring me in ways that have me teetering on the knife edge of desire. He alternates between plunging his fingers between my soaking wet folds and massaging me, to tracing the most incredible feeling patterns over my clit. The desire is gripping on to me, just as hard as I am clinging on to him, and I just know that when I tip over that edge that I will never stop falling. No matter what…

  “Oh fuck, Theo!” I scream as the pleasure rockets through me. Theo has me now, he has me flying through space, seeing stars, swimming in ecstasy. I writhe, I thrash, I buckle underneath him. The orgasm is all consuming, rolling over me in a tsunami of waves, but I already know that it isn’t enough, it will never be enough. I need more, so much more from him. Even this doesn’t sate me. I need his cock, I want to feel him thrusting deep within me. I don’t know what causes the desperation, perhaps because it has been a long time or maybe because I don’t know if this will ever happen again but I find myself screaming at the top of my lungs for him to fuck me.

  He takes a second to grab himself a condom which is thankfully in reach and sheaths himself in preparation. I am shaking the entire time. Trembling through the intensity of the post orgasmic bliss which I know will turn in to another round of heaven in a moment. I love that I get this moment though to just watch him, to see him, his muscles flexing, his face dark with desire, because it makes me even more appreciative for how good looking he is.

  Good looking and all mine… at least for the minute. I want to savor every second of this.

  “You are beautiful, Esme,” Theo whispers as he rests his forehead against mine. He’s staring deeply in to my eyes with a look of feelings so deep it nearly knocks me sideways. It must be the drink because he can’t really feel that way about me. No way. It’s only been one night. He can’t know me well enough, but it still feels delicious to hav
e his eyes up on me in that way, even if it’s only for a moment. I can enjoy this second for exactly what it is…

  But I have to admit that my attention keeps drifting, focusing on the way that his cock is teasing my entrance, never quite giving me what I want. I’m hungry for more pleasure, he has unleashed a dragon of desire inside of me, and I can’t put it back to bed. I roll my hips, slipping him inside of me because I can’t hack it any longer.

  “Oh fuck, fuck me,” I rasp out desperately. “Fuck me, Theo. I need you. All of you.”

  I grab tightly on to his muscular arms, feeling them flex with excitement as he thrusts in to me over and over again. The sounds of our bodies clapping together fills the room, matched only by the sounds of need bursting free from us. This is lust, this is powerful connection, this is a bond that I simply can’t explain…

  And that bond only wraps tighter around us as we come together hard and fast, shuddering and vibrating at the same time, kissing hard and fast to swallow up one another’s screams. It’s a phenomenally exciting moment, one that has my head spinning like crazy. I want to stay like this with Theo forever, wrapped around one another, kissing like there is no tomorrow, loving each other in a way that I’m sure neither of us knew that we needed.

  I don’t want to think about what will happen tomorrow, what will happen in one minute’s time, I just want to enjoy this, all of this for exactly what it is. With every pounding beat of my heart I am grateful to Theo for giving me this bliss, for washing me in happiness when all I have felt is stress and sadness for far too long.

  If only this could last…

  Chapter 8 – Theo

  “I… I have to go…” If I thought that Esme was red before she came in to my house, she was beet root by the time we both calmed down after sleeping together. She freaked out, she sobered up, she gathered her clothes up in an instant and she ran off. I wanted to hold her all night long, but I never got that chance… “I will see you later.”