I couldn’t help but want to pick up where we had left off, though.
I was surprised by the light knock on my door late that afternoon. For a moment, I couldn’t help but just stare at Leah. She was holding a pizza box in her hand, and as I left her standing there, she arched an eyebrow at me, smirking. “Just going to keep me waiting?” she asked, and I had a feeling she wasn’t just talking about the fact that she was still standing there on my front stoop.
I wanted nothing more than to yank her into my arms and pick up where we had left off that morning. But Carter was still sleeping on my couch just behind me, and the last thing I needed was for him to wake up, see me with Leah, and remember me shoving him away from her the night before. I could only imagine how that would go down.
So I took a step back, letting Leah inside and letting her see that I wasn’t alone. She glanced at Carter and then turned back to me, holding out the pizza. “I figured I owed you dinner since you were kind enough to try to cure my hangover earlier,” she explained.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said, even though at the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was just an excuse to come see me. Maybe she had been thinking about me the same way I had been thinking about her.
Still, there was no way it was going to happen with Carter there on the couch. There was enough tension in the band without adding that to the mix. Until I knew if he remembered me cockblocking him the night before, I couldn’t let him know about Leah and me.
“Why don’t we go over to your place so we don’t wake him up?” I suggested quietly, gesturing at Carter.
Leah grinned at me. “Sounds like a plan,” she agreed. “At least until he starts banging on your door again.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not letting him interrupt us again,” I growled. Leah’s eyes went dark with lust, but she simply turned and led the way over to her place.
My mind was definitely not on the pizza as we sat eating at her small table. I kept flashing back to the taste of her and flashing ahead to what might come in just a little while.
My mind flashed back to those helpless little noises she had made that morning, the moans and the gasps and the whimpers. She had fallen apart at the way I had touched her, and I wanted to do more.
I was also beginning to realize that she wasn’t my usual type at all. She wasn’t the free-spirit, free-love kind of groupie girl that came to our shows. She was a little uptight, a little high-strung. Getting her to relax, watching her fall apart, was intoxicating.
It wasn’t just my physical attraction to her, either, honestly. It was also the fact that she was smart. And as she chattered away during dinner, apparently nervous, I had to admit she was funny as well.
There were so many things about her that drove me wild, and I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to get to know her better. I finished a slice of pizza and pushed my plate away slightly, looking over at her. The food had been satisfying, but not as satisfying as it had been to lay my hands on her earlier in the day.
Leah’s breath hitched as I stared at her, an undisguised hunger in my eyes. She slowly set down her slice of pizza, staring straight back at me. Before I could make a move, though, she stood up, abruptly grabbing both of our plates and carrying them to the sink. She seemed uncertain, like she wanted to give in but wasn’t sure that she should. She was fighting it, her uptight nature warring with basic human need.
If she needed persuasion, I could help her out.
I went up behind her, standing close, waiting for her to take a step away. But she didn’t. If anything, she leaned closer to me. I slowly brushed her hair off her neck and kissed the soft skin there. She melted back against me with a shuddery exhale.
“I appreciate the pizza, but another taste of you would be much more enjoyable,” I murmured against her skin. Maybe it was cheesy, but we were both so caught up in our desires that neither of us seemed to care. I slipped a hand up under her shirt, playing my fingers across her smooth skin.
Suddenly, she pulled away from me, turning around and shaking her head. “This is a bad idea,” she warned me.
“Why?” I asked, a challenge in my voice. Oh, I knew all the logical reasons against it. I might not be Carter, but all the same reasons I hadn’t wanted her getting involved with him? The same held true for me. I might not mean to break her heart, but I was afraid that I might if I let this continue.
I wasn’t going to be here in LA forever, not if I had my way. I was going to make it with the band, and then there were going to be long months of touring. I wouldn’t want her just sitting around waiting for me to return. That wouldn’t be fair.
She couldn’t fit into my life. I wasn’t ready to let her go just yet, either, though.
“It’s probably not a good idea to get involved with a neighbor,” Leah said, shrugging. She looked uncertain.
I rolled my eyes at that lame excuse. “Why not?” I asked. “Anytime you want to borrow a cup of sugar, all you have to do is ask.”
Leah stared at me for a moment and then laughed, shaking her head. I could see in her eyes she still had reservations. I knew I had doubts of my own. Neither of us could deny the tension between us, though.
I leaned in toward her, giving her plenty of time to protest again, to turn away. Instead, she met me in the middle, kissing me again. I felt a thrill go through me.
I leaned into the kiss, pulling her even closer against me, already imagining her naked skin pressed to mine. I poured all my passion, every ounce of emotion, into the kiss. As Leah responded with an eagerness of her own, I knew it was going to be a very good time.
10
Leah
I hadn’t been sure if the pizza thing was a good idea. I had spent the whole day trying to focus on my work, but in the back of my mind, I couldn’t seem to quit thinking about the best way to conspire to see Jayson again.
There were so many different options. Should I show up at another of his band’s shows? But I wasn’t a groupie, and I didn’t want him to think I was. Nor did I really want to see Carter again and maybe accidentally give him the impression that I was there for him. Besides, I didn’t even know the band’s name. I hadn’t caught it the night before, and I wasn’t about to ask Piper or anyone else at work.
That wasn’t really any sort of option, unfortunately. So what could I do?
The only other things I knew about Jayson were where he lived and the fact that he was a dude. That didn’t give me many options, but dudes were always down for food, weren’t they? Besides, it would seem like the perfect response to his attempts to cure my hangover. If he wasn’t interested, if nothing else happened, if this morning had been a mistake, then we could forget all about it and move on with our lives.
I didn’t think that morning had been a mistake, though. Neither, it appeared, had Jayson.
I knew the minute he followed me back to my place that we were going to pick up where things had left off that morning. We weren’t just there so that we could keep from waking up Jayson’s bandmate; we were there so that he wouldn’t find out that I lived next door, so that he wouldn’t find out about Jayson and me.
There was something sexy about sneaking around like that. As though we were doing something truly naughty, something just a little bit dangerous.
I had never been the kind of girl to go for the bad boys, and I had sworn that there was no way that I was going to get with a rock star. But I suppose if you were going to have a fling like that, then LA was definitely the place for it. And Jayson was clearly the one to have a fling like that with.
His experience was immediately apparent. But it didn’t make me feel uncomfortable or self-conscious even though I knew that my fumblings back home had nothing on him. The kiss was full of raw heat, passion, and desire and not a single ounce of logic or uncertainty. I leaned into it, gasping as he felt me up through my shirt, his fingers strong and sure.
He grinned against my mouth, like he was amused at how turned on he could get me.
I ached to be filled by him, ached to have him pin me down and fuck me, bring me to the brink and carry me over. I had never felt this desperate with desire before. Was it just that no one had focused so intently on me before, or was there something more to it than that?
I trembled as delicious pleasure spilled through me. I had been so close already that morning with his mouth on me, and as much as I had wanted to, I hadn’t given in to touching myself, in spite of how much time I had spent thinking about him. I knew that anything else would be unsatisfactory, would only leave me unsated and unfulfilled.
Now, though, I was wondering if maybe it would have been better to give myself that release, even if it wasn’t a true release at all. Maybe it would have made me a little less desperate, held me back from the brink for a little bit longer. As it was, I could barely breathe by the time he pressed his cock into me, and it was only a matter of time before we were both throbbing with intense energy.
He thrust his hips and I lifted to meet his movements.
“Jesus, you feel so good Leah,” Jayson breathed against my ear.
I locked my legs around his waist and pulled in deeper, my pussy spasming around him as I came apart.
“Yeah, that’s it. Just like that,” he growled as he continued to fuck me through my orgasm.
I pulled his mouth back to mine and kissed him deeply, his tongue sweeping over mine.
“Harder, please,” I begged him as I came up for air.
Jayson lifted himself up on his forearms and looked down at me as he increased the depth and speed of his thrusts. He grabbed one of my legs and rested my ankle on his shoulder, creating a new angle where he could reach my deepest parts.
“Oh God, yes!” I cried as he plunged to dizzying depths.
Suddenly, a new wave of pleasure crested, and I came nearly without warning, my pussy clamping down on him, milking until he couldn’t hold back any longer.
Another deep thrust had Jayson roaring on top of me as his cock spasmed and emptied deep inside of me.
He collapsed against me and we lay there for a few minutes, neither of us saying anything.
As my breathing returned to normal and my thoughts stopped swirling, I was overcome by near panic. What had I just done?
I knew that Jayson was not close to my type. That he lived a completely different life than I did and that there was no way we could ever work out. Was getting laid worth the awkwardness and potential heartbreak that would follow if I continued to pursue this?
My anxieties got the better of me, and I climbed off the couch. The earlier feeling I had been dreading, the lack of fulfillment in spite of the orgasm, came creeping up on me. “I have a thing this evening,” I told him vaguely.
It was a lie. I didn’t have any plans, and I wanted nothing more than to melt back into his arms and let him shelter me from the world. I knew that I couldn’t, though. That wasn’t an option.
I was surprised to see Jayson’s face harden. He stood up, his whole body tense. I ducked my head, feeling ashamed, not entirely sure what was happening but knowing that I didn’t like the feeling. There was a part of me that wanted call after him as he straightened his clothes without a word and headed for the door.
The words stuck in my throat, though. I trailed silently after him. Inside my head, I was begging him to say something, anything.
At the last moment, he turned toward me. For the briefest second, there was a flash of regret on his face, a certain tenderness. I held my breath, wishing he would reach out and caress my cheek, brush my hair back, maybe kiss me again. Just because this couldn’t happen again, it didn’t mean that it had to end this way, with ice between us.
These feelings that I had for him were exactly the reason it could never happen again. God, how was I already so caught up in his web? I barely knew the guy. This was only a one-time thing; I had known that going into it. No point making it into something it wasn’t.
Then, Jayson shook his head slightly, one single and sharp movement. I couldn’t tell if it was a response to something on my face or if he was trying to negate something inside of his head. “Thanks for the pizza,” he said. With that, he turned to leave.
I slumped there in the front hall, wondering if I had just screwed everything up. The truth was I had nowhere to be that night. Except that now, since he lived next door, I felt like I had to go out, just to preserve the lie. I immediately felt tired. But what else could I do?
I sighed but texted Piper, hoping she might be free. I didn’t know what else to do. I had no one to meet, since I barely knew anyone in town yet. The other girls had been nice the night before, but I certainly didn’t know any of them well enough to text them.
I just hoped they weren’t out at another club. I didn’t know if I could take another night of drinking. I already still felt off after the night before.
My phone buzzed almost immediately with a reply from Piper.
No plans, but this is the perfect time to show you some of LA since you’re new here!
I texted her back: What did you have in mind?
I couldn’t help but think back to the way it had felt to be tangled up in Jayson’s arms on the couch. That was where I would much rather be right now, but I tried to shake that thought out of my head. That wasn’t an option.
I frowned down at my phone as it buzzed with another text: It’s a surprise. Dress casual, pick you up at your place. Text me the address.
I wrinkled my nose. The last thing I wanted was a surprise. On the other hand, I could use the distraction. Maybe it would keep me from thinking about Jayson’s strong, tattooed arms and the way he had fit so perfectly inside of me.
I headed to the bathroom to shower, then got dressed semi-casually in a sexy, low-cut top and dark jeans, figuring I was covering all my bases that way if we were going to a club or something.
I couldn’t help but wonder what Jayson would think of my outfit. No doubt it was tame and unremarkable next to the outfits of the girls was used to hanging out with. I had seen how the girls were dressed the night before at their show. All those groupies had been wearing something that was only a step away from lingerie.
Was I jealous? Did I regret sleeping with him?
For a moment, I paused there in the shower, the soap still clutched in my hand. Did I regret sleeping with him? To be honest, I couldn’t. The sex had been amazing. But whatever had happened between Jayson and me was over.
I shouldn’t be upset about that, anyway. He wasn’t the kind of man I saw myself with long-term, no matter how good the sex had been, and I was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. Still, now that I’d gotten my first LA fling, and indeed my first real fling ever out of the way, maybe I’d be able to focus on the things that really mattered.
Like work and building my connections there. As Piper pulled up out front, I fixed a smile on my face. Maybe we couldn’t talk about work outside of work, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t make friends. I had a feeling Piper was one of those people who knew a little bit of everything that there was to know about our coworkers, and that could make her invaluable as I moved up in the company.
That was what I was here for, after all—not rock stars. I was here for my work, and that was the way things would stay.
11
Jayson
I tried not to be pissed off as I went back to my place. I wasn’t used to having the girl kick me out. I especially wasn’t used to having a girl kick me out so she could get together with another guy. Leah hadn’t told me that that was what she was up to that night, but then again, she hadn’t not told me, either. Besides, it was pretty easy to connect the dots.
Why else would she be so vague about her plans?
Not only that, but I couldn’t pretend like I was surprised. Sure, she had been maddeningly close to Carter the night before, and she had said that thing about wanting to be with a rock star. At the end of the day, though, we came from two different worlds. I wasn’t her type. She was too uptight and prissy for me.
I had revised my opinion of her after our initial meeting. Now, I wondered if I had been too hasty on that.
I tried to imagine the type of dude she would normally go for. Or the type of dud she would normally go for, rather. Still, some smart, put-together, career-minded man probably suited her a lot better than I ever could. It was no wonder she rushed me out of there immediately after having sex with her. She probably had a date with her Prince Charming that evening, and she needed to wash my scent off of her.
There was a part of me that wondered if the only reason I was so disgruntled about the whole thing was that I could tell that she didn’t sleep with guys too often and I was pissed to know that she apparently didn’t think too highly of her time with me. Or was it just that I couldn’t get out of my head how good it had been for myself, and I assumed it must have been just as good for her, at least until she kicked me out of there. I knew she’d come at least twice. I had felt it.
I shook my head. Dwelling on this kind of shit wasn’t like me. True, I didn’t go home with that many ladies. I didn’t have many one-night stands. Still, I knew what a one-night stand was, and I knew better than to go mooning after them after things were clearly done.
There was a part of me that couldn’t help but wonder if I had expected something different from this one. I didn’t want to examine that too closely, though.
Once back in my side of the duplex, I shook Carter awake, nothing better to do. Besides, we should get at least a little practice today. Or if practice with the full band was going to be impossible, then I needed to practice my drums alone.
The Boy Next Door: A Standalone Enemies-to-Lovers Romance Page 5