by Joanna Blake
"Hey, I'm sorry it was loud or about the view. I had no idea."
She scowled at him.
"You and your construction crew have ruined my life for the past six months! I've barely been able to think straight!"
His hands were high in the air like it was a hold up at a 7-11. Hell, maybe it was. Jenny sure as shit wished she had a gun at the moment.
"Who are you anyway? Some slick investment banker? You are just the kind of person who is ruining Amagansett!"
She yanked the menu out of his hands.
"I will not be baking you anything! Ever!"
He stopped backing away.
"The kind of people? Isn't that a bit prejudiced?"
She snorted. He was not leaving fast enough.
"What, scummy wall street guys are a protected class now?"
"I'm not a wall street guy. I'm a musician."
He pulled his sunglasses off. Her jaw dropped. Huge golden brown eyes stared at her. Now she recognized him.
Slater Fucking Kinney.
Rock Star and scumbag extraordinaire. Dater of models and actresses. Partier. Womanizer. Scoundrel.
Fanfuckingtastic.
He had an earnest look on his face.
"Hey Jenny, ease up. I'm not the enemy I swear."
She crossed her arms again and sighed.
"Are you going to start throwing loud parties every night?"
"What? No. Just this one. It won't even be loud. I promise. I came out here to get away from all that bullshit."
She frowned and looked at him, saying nothing.
A famous asshole had just moved in next door. Her peaceful, bucolic life was over as she knew it.
UGH.
And to add insult to injury, for some bizarre reason she found him attractive.
Really, really attractive.
And she liked his music. In fact, if he looked at her collection, he'd see not only his latest album, but a few of the old ones. Including his first. Not that she listened to music much anymore. The sound of the ocean was the perfect backdrop to- well, anything.
But she didn't want him to see his disks in her collection. Even if they were gathering dust.
God Damn It.
Well, she just had to get him out of here before he noticed that was all.
"Fine. Here. Take the menu. Have a cranberry scone."
She thrust the menu into his hand and handed him a pastry she'd been experimenting with.
"Thanks."
He looked utterly baffled as she hustled him toward the door.
"So you'll come? Tomorrow?"
"Uh huh. Sure. Whatever. No problem."
He was grinning at her as she shoved him out the door. The poor man seemed a little daft to be honest. Or he just really liked her for some obscure reason.
"Awesome! Come by around six. Or anytime really. If you run out of sugar. Looks like you might need some more."
Her jaw dropped open. The sugar! This entire time she'd been coated in it.
She wanted to sink into the ground.
"See you later neighbor. Oh, and thanks for the scone."
He smirked at her and bit into it before walking away. She stood behind the screen door, watching him. He looked back over his shoulder and shouted through a mouthful of crumbs.
"Delicious!"
She shut the door rapidly and leaned against it.
Had she just agreed to go to his stupid party? She could always bail on it, she reasoned. He'd probably make it a habit of stopping by though. She groaned. She'd just have to be firm with him. Rude even.
Lord knows she was good at that.
At least he was gone now and she could hide the damn CD's!
**********
Slate licked the last of the crumbs off his fingers. He'd much rather be licking his delicious, if cantankerous neighbor though. She'd been covered in sugar and almost certainly not wearing a bra. He'd been aroused from the moment he set foot in her house.
Hell, he'd been aroused since he met her.
He glanced at the menu and smirked.
Her company was called JennyCakes. How cute. He'd like to do something with her cakes…
The best part of it was that her phone number was on there. It was a cell obviously. So he could text her.
He was going to break down little miss JennyCakes defenses one by one. He'd start with dazzling her with the food and fine wines at his party. He'd make sure the whole thing was low key. He'd prove to her that he would be a good neighbor.
And more.
Much, much more.
For a moment he paused to wonder if it was just her obvious disdain that made him so determined to get into his feisty neighbors jogging shorts. The girl was not star struck in the least. That didn't happen to him too often.
Actually, it never happened to him. This never happened to him. Oddly enough, he liked it.
But that wasn't the total reasoning for this absurd fascination.
He remembered the shot of pure lust that had surged through him the first moment he saw her. From a distance too. Up close she'd been far more devastating.
And that's before he realized what a pain in the ass she was.
He laughed. Maybe that is what he liked the most about her. Jenny was real.
He waved at the crew that was unpacking and cleaning the house and headed into the office. He fired up the computer- the one thing he'd set up by himself. Then he started googling.
He wanted to know everything about Miss Delicious Cakes before he planned his attack.
And it would be an attack. A gentle one. But still.
He always played to win.
4.
Jenny groaned. Her phone buzzed for the third time. She knew who it was.
Him.
It was almost 7 pm. Her new neighbor wanted to know when she was coming over.
How about never?
Still, the party did sound nice floating through the open kitchen window. People laughing, soft music playing. Not the raging drug fest she'd been afraid of. But as tempting as it would be to go over, let her hair down for once, she held firm.
Slate would never leave her alone if she gave in now.
She leaned over her laptop, trying to stare the numbers on her spreadsheet into submission. As a sole proprietor she was supposed to do her taxes on a quarterly basis. But she didn't have enough money for an accountant. So she'd gotten some software program that she was still trying to figure out.
Basically she hadn't paid taxes for this year at all yet.
Ugh.
A soft rapping came from the front of the house.
Someone was at her door.
Obviously it was Slate. The man just wouldn't take no for an answer. Annoyance shot through her, intermingled with something else.
Anticipation.
She hated herself for it, but it was there. Jenny hated liars. She never lied. Even to herself.
Especially to herself.
She sighed and went to answer the door. Sure enough Slate was standing outside with two glasses of champagne. As usual, he was smiling at her.
What the hell did he have to be so damn happy about?
"Hi Slate."
"Tsk tsk tsk. You promised."
"Sorry, I forgot. Paperwork. Really busy."
She started to shut the door in his face. But he was too fast. It was almost like he knew what she was going to do before she did it.
He reached down and opened the screen door, inviting himself inside. He glanced over at the stack of papers and receipts on her small dining room table. Which doubled as a desk. And tripled as a pie cooling rack. Or a place to roll out dough.
Every now and then she actually ate there too.
"Come on doll it's Saturday night. Have a glass of champagne. Loosen up."
If only he knew how much she hated people calling her pet names. Or telling her to loosen up. Or relax.
The last time she'd actually taken that advice, she'd gone down a pipeline that was impossibl
e to resist. It had taken her years to clean up her life after the last lothario she'd let in. Jake had destroyed her peace of mind. He'd nearly destroyed her life.
It was sure as shit not going to happen again.
Well, maybe just for one night…
She took the champagne and downed it, handing the glass back to him.
"Happy?"
He was staring at her as if he were star struck. Honestly the man looked like he wanted to eat her alive. Or lick her anyway.
She wondered what he tasted like.
A funny feeling started to pool in her stomach.
Maybe she kind of wanted him to. Lick her, that is.
Ugh, no STOP IT JENNY.
He smirked and handed her the other glass. She rolled her eyes and took it, taking a lady like sip. He laughed.
"Come on."
"What?"
He grabbed her hand.
"I'm taking you with me."
"But I'm not dressed!"
He didn't let go of her hand as he turned and looked her over.
Thoroughly.
Very thoroughly.
He seemed particularly intrigued by her feet.
Jenny realised belatedly that she was barefoot in jeans and another old rock t-shirt. No bra. Her hair was down and she wasn't wearing a stick of makeup.
Not that she ever did. She already attracted more attention than she wanted. Makeup just made it worse.
Meanwhile he was wearing a very expensive looking button down shirt over another pair of soft looking tight jeans.
The man really knew how to wear jeans.
"You look perfect."
He started dragging her again.
"Wait!"
He sighed as if very put out and waited while she grabbed her keys and a cherry chapstick. He smirked at that. Then he took her hand and dragged her out of the house, sighing impatiently as she locked the door.
"Is that really necessary?"
"Well there are all sorts of strange men out tonight. So yes."
He laughed again and threw his arm over her shoulder. For some reason he seemed to find her charming. No matter how hard she tried to put him off.
Maybe he was on drugs. He was a rock star after all. He seemed straight though.
And his big strong arm felt heavenly around her back.
"Come on doll. Let's get you some more of that champagne."
That's when she realized that he hadn't been wearing glasses for the first time.
His eyes were brown. But that word didn't do it justice. They weren't chocolatey. They were amber.
Warm, glowing amber.
She gave in and let him lead her over to his house.
**********
Slate sat in the low slung all weather couch on his deck. It formed a semicircle and was filled with people laughing and talking in front of an eco gas fireplace. Soft music played. He didn't have anything against loud music. It just overpowered the sound of the ocean less than twenty feet away.
And according to Jenny, that would be a travesty.
He had to admit, he kind of agreed with her.
Jenny was full of surprises as she sat beside him tonight.
The girl was not only relaxed, she was sparkling. She was surprisingly well read and sharp as a tack. There were revealing moments as well, like when she mentioned that she was well read only because she spent so much time alone.
He'd felt a strange hitch in his chest at the thought.
Then there was the time she'd said that she was alone in the world. Literally. She hadn't been throwing a pity party, on the converse, she'd made a joke about being an orphan. Something about how simple the holidays were when you didn't have any living relatives. None worth mentioning anyway.
Everyone had laughed.
But it had broken his heart.
Just a little bit.
Just enough to crack it open and let something else in.
He'd switched to mineral water about a half an hour ago. As soon as the party started to thin out. He wanted to be relatively sober when he kissed her.
And he was going to kiss her.
Of that he had no doubt.
Now, he just had to keep her distracted while he hinted that everyone else should leave.
5.
CRACK
Jenny made contact with Slates hands again. He was letting her win the game of slap, she had no doubt. But she couldn't stop laughing. Besides, she figured he deserved a slap or two, with the dirty looks he'd been throwing her way all night.
Not dirty.
Hot.
Smokin' hot.
He'd been sitting next to her for most of the night, despite having fifty other guests to attend to. It's almost like he was afraid to let her out of his sight. She'd felt his eyes on her almost constantly. He'd managed to slide closer every half hour or so as well. Until his thigh was pressed against hers and his arms slung casually over the back of her seat.
It felt completely natural for some reason. Even though she knew he was putting the moves on her. He wasn't being overbearing but it sure as shit wasn't subtle either. Now they were facing each other, two of the last people at the party. She kept getting up to leave but he kept pulling her back down and entertaining her with some other wild story.
Now he was letting her slap the shit out of his hands.
"Ow!"
He winced and held his hand dramatically. She laughed giddily. She hadn't really hit him hard. Oddly enough, even after hating him all this time, she didn't want to.
"You deserve it for waking me up all those mornings!"
"It wasn't me! If I had known I would have told them to start work at nine. No- ten!"
She laughed. It was impossible to stay angry at the man.
"Ten AM is the perfect time to get out of bed."
His eyes warmed up and he leaned forward, stroking her cheek.
"Or get into it."
He was going to kiss her. She knew it. She hesitated for a moment and then turned away imperceptibly.
"I should go. Basil needs to go out."
"I'll come. We can try and finish some of this champagne."
She didn't say yes or no but when he followed her homeward, she couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Nobody had paid her this much attention in years. Mostly because she hid away from the world but-
Now where had that come from?
She loved her life. She was safe here. Nobody bothered her or made demands. Sure it got lonely sometimes but…
Aw, hell.
It got lonely a lot.
"Hey Basil!"
Basil was ecstatic to see them as they came in the door. He grabbed his leash between his jaws and rolled onto his back, encouraging Slate to rub his belly.
It was a bonafide love fest.
Strangely, Jenny felt left out.
"Alright let's go you two."
The boys followed her to the beach. She leashed Basil, mostly because it was so dark out. She'd heard of dogs getting lost at night and didn't want to take a risk.
After all, Basil was all she had. Basil and a beach house. And her business, JennyCakes.
Gee, that was depressing.
She swigged deeply from the champagne bottle Slate kept handing her. They were laughing while Basil ran circles around them. Slate looked serious all the sudden as he reached out and grabbed her hand.
He rubbed his thumb over her palm and pulled her towards him. Jenny's laughter faded as she stared up at him. He was smiling softly as he looked hungrily at her lips.
She took another swig and pulled away.
"Let's go swimming!"
His eyes lit up as Jenny shimmied her jeans off and ran into the water.