Nora's Guy Next Door

by Jo McNally

  “You shut the hell up.” He waved his finger right in front of her face, forcing her to lean away, but she didn’t move her feet. “You stay the hell away from my family, do you understand?” He was shouting now, and still she didn’t retreat. He grudgingly admired her fearlessness.

  “Or what?”

  The words were spoken as softly as a lullaby, but there was steel behind them. He wanted to rend his own shirt from his body in fury and scream to the heavens to get this pressure out of his empty chest cavity. But no sound came out when he opened his mouth.

  “Yeah, that’s what I figured.” She nodded, and her shoulders relaxed. Had she been afraid of him? The thought soured his stomach. Damn it, would he ever stop hurting people? She pushed past him into his place uninvited, and he was too busy beating himself up to object. “Come on, show me where you keep your bourbon.”

  “You and Michael talked over dinner. About my family.” His voice sounded heavy and leaden in his own head. He was suddenly bone tired.

  “Yes.” Nora was in the kitchen, opening and closing cupboards until she found the liquor. It looked as if she’d dressed up for dinner with his son, wearing a swirly skirt that brushed her calves and a clingy peach-colored sweater. Two sparkling clips held her hair back, one on either side of her face. She took down two glasses and poured amber liquid into both. He accepted a glass, but he wasn’t done arguing. The problem? He seemed to be alone in this fight. His uninvited guest was unfazed, sipping daintily from her glass before screwing her face into a grimace at the strong drink.

  “I mean it, Nora. Don’t interfere with my family. And stay away from my son. You have no right to be discussing...”

  “Dylan?” The boy’s name came so smoothly from her lips that it almost dulled the impact it had on Asher.

  “You know what? I don’t need this shit. Go home. And stay the fu...”

  “Don’t.” An edge crept into her voice. “Don’t tell me again to stay away from ‘your’ family.” She made air quotes with her fingers. “Like it or not, Michael is now part of my family, too. He’s going to be the father of my grandson and also my son-in-law.”

  “That is not going to happen.”

  Nora’s hands flew up in frustration. “Oh, my God, Asher! You keep saying that and saying it and saying it, but you don’t get to just make a wish. There is no magic lamp to rub. You can’t twitch your nose and make the baby disappear. There’s no time machine to go back and stop Michael and Becky from falling in love. I saw you look at her belly. You know damned well that’s your grandson in there. How can you not feel anything for that baby?”

  Oh, he felt plenty. He just didn’t want to. He did his best to keep his voice steady.

  “Go home, Nora.”

  She stood there staring at him, eyes shining bright with unshed tears. Those tears, if they fell, might be the death of his self-control, and he looked away rather than take the chance.

  “Fine.” She blew out a long breath. “I’ll go. I’ll leave you here to stew in your own misery, Asher. You keep trying to convince the whole world, including yourself, that you’ve got this all under control. And people call me a control freak!” She gestured wildly before walking past him. He caught a whiff of fruit and sugar as she went by. She wasn’t done with her lecture.

  “You think if you just deny things, then they aren’t happening. Your son needs you, Asher. But you refuse to see it. You’re like an ostrich, sticking your head in the sand and hoping the world will leave you alone.”

  She spun, working up a good temper now, and this time it was her finger in his face. “Michael needs to talk about Dylan. And Lord knows, you need to talk about Dylan. But you pretend you never lost a son, just like you’re trying to pretend you’re not going to be a grandfather.” Her gold eyes were on fire, anger making her cheeks bright pink. The more she raged, the thicker her Southern accent became. “You live in a constant state of denial. You’ve closed off all your feelings.”

  “That’s not exactly true.”

  “Bullshit it’s not true.”

  That was pretty harsh language for the Southern beauty to be spitting out. She was almost to the door before the words escaped.

  “I can prove it.”

  “What?” Her eyes grew wide when he started walking toward her.

  “I can prove I haven’t closed off all my feelings. That I can’t deny every truth.”

  Her back was to the door, and he didn’t stop walking until his chest brushed against hers. She pressed back, her arms at her sides, hands flat against the door. Her lips parted, and she took a shaky breath as he lowered his head. Her pulse was jumping in the little vein at the base of her neck. He liked Nora best when she was knocked off-kilter, not so prim and smart and nosy.

  “Wh-what are you doing?”

  “I can’t control the feeling that I want to kiss you, Nora Bradford. Can you deny that you want me to?”

  Was kissing this woman the stupidest thing he could possibly do? Yes. But when her hands came up and cupped the back of his head, when she stood on her toes to press her lips to his, he no longer gave a damn.

  * * *

  ASHER’S LIPS WERE hard and tender at the same time as Nora lifted up onto her toes and kissed him. She kissed him! Because he was right. She wanted this as much as he did.

  At first they were gentle, tentative. Butterfly kisses, teasing and tempting. Making contact, then pulling back. But when his hands moved to her waist, up and around, slipping under her sweater, the feel of his calloused hands moving across her skin unlocked something inside her she’d never known existed, and suddenly she was on fire. Her fingers twisted in his hair and her lips parted. She felt the vibration in his chest as he growled before moving his tongue across her teeth and into her mouth.

  Their heads turned and bumped as their tongues twisted together and pushed against each other. Was that him moaning in pleasure or was it her? She didn’t care. She just wanted more. Their mouths came apart only long enough to gasp for air before crashing together again. Her arms tightened around his neck and she pulled herself higher, fairly climbing the poor guy, and he didn’t object. In fact, his hands dropped to cup her buttocks and he lifted her, pinning her against the door. His mouth moved down her neck, devouring her inch by inch, and she lifted her chin to give him full access. He sucked at the base of her throat, and a loud groan echoed in the hallway. Oh, God, that was her!

  “Asher...”

  She didn’t have any words other than that. She just needed to say his name out loud. How had she come to be here in his arms, moaning his name like some wild woman? It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was the feel of his lips on her skin, of his fingers gripping her, of her own name being whispered over and over as if he was breathing her in and out.

  He lifted his head and stared hard into her eyes. She wasn’t going to stop him, and he knew it. His mouth met hers again, but it was different this time. Less desperate, yet deeper somehow. He lowered her legs until she was standing, but his lips never left hers. His hands roamed up over her body until he was cupping her face, kissing her into oblivion. This. This moment meant something. Her hands dropped to rest on the waistband of his jeans. Mindlessly, wordlessly, her fingers started searching for a buckle. For an opening. He groaned her name again and her heart tightened. Her fingers found the buckle and feverishly went to work.

  The ringing of a phone brought them both to a sudden stop. It was Nora’s phone. It was Amanda’s ringtone. It was almost eleven o’clock at night.

  She removed her hand from Asher’s belt and he blew out a sigh. The moment was broken, and they both knew it.

  “It’s my cousin. I have to...”

  His head was next to hers, and he nodded against her. She pulled the phone from her pocket and stepped away. He leaned against one wall and she leaned against the opposite one, b
oth left shaking from that kiss.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Nora thought she’d covered her scrambled emotions, but apparently not.

  “Nora? Why are you out of breath?”

  “I’m fine.” The corner of Asher’s mouth tipped up and he nodded in agreement. She waved him off, trying not to laugh. “Why are you calling so late? What do you need?”

  “Are you okay? You sound weird.” Amanda waited, but Nora didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be okay again. “Anyway, Becky and Michael just stopped by to pick up those curtains I ordered for their place.” Amanda had some great contacts in the design world who owed her a few favors, and she’d been calling in those favors to help decorate the kids’ bungalow.

  Asher slowly slid down the wall until he was sitting on the hallway floor, and Nora followed suit with a knowing smile. She was just as legless as he was. Amanda kept talking.

  “Becky told me about your dinner tonight, and I just wanted to say yay, you. I’m so glad you guys are working things out. She also told me what happened with Michael and his dad on the way out. I can’t believe what a jerk Asher was.”

  His brows knit together, and she knew he’d heard Amanda’s words in the empty hallway. “No, he really wasn’t. They just have some things to work through, like Becky and I did.”

  “Look, I know he helped you with a spider and all, but he’s still the same guy who doesn’t want Becky to have that baby.” Amanda had no idea how close she and Asher had come to kissing in the laundry room that night. And judging from his reaction when he saw Becky’s rounded stomach this evening, Asher no longer had any desire to end the pregnancy. He’d been more frightened than angry. She looked up and met his dark gaze. He wasn’t frightened now. He rose to his knees and crawled toward her, brushing a strand of hair from her face and leaning in as if to kiss her again.

  Yes, please.

  “Amanda, things have changed. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

  “What is going on with you? Oh, my God, is he there in your apartment right now?”

  Nora looked into his blue eyes, so close to hers, and smiled.

  “He’s not in my apartment.” Her voice sounded ridiculously breathy.

  “Holy hell, are you in his apartment? Are you two a thing?” Amanda’s voice rose, and Nora could hear Blake’s voice in the background questioning her, and the muffled response. “Nora and Asher Peyton, Blake. Together. Now.” Amanda refocused on Nora. “Are you drunk? You’re the one who called him a...”

  Asher’s lips brushed against hers, and she never heard the end of the sentence.

  “Was that a kiss I just heard? Are you seriously talking to me and kissing him? You do remember he’s the grandfather of your grandchild, right? Isn’t that, like...incest or something?”

  Asher took the phone from Nora’s hand.

  “Not incest, Mrs. Randall. But definitely something.”

  Amanda started to shout. “Don’t you Mrs. Randall me! I’m on my way over there, and you’d better have my cousin back in her apartment by the time...” He swiped his finger across the screen and set the phone on the floor.

  They shared one more toe-curling kiss before Nora started shaking her head.

  “She’s not kidding, you know. She’s on her way, and she only lives five minutes from here. She might be petite, but...”

  They stared at each other in silence, then Asher grinned and rose to his feet, pulling her up with him.

  “If she’s anything like you, her size has no relation to her power.” He leaned in to kiss her again but stopped himself, stepping back with a grimace. He glanced around. “Look at us, making out in the hallway like a couple of kids. You should go.”

  With those words, she felt him retreating from her. Closing her out again. This man’s mood swings could give a woman whiplash.

  “Asher, don’t.”

  “Don’t what? Don’t act like a grown man instead of some horny kid?” He stepped back, physically telling her what she already knew. But his next words suggested he wasn’t completely shutting her out. “We’ll be continuing this...discussion later. I just don’t feel like being verbally assaulted by two women tonight.”

  It wasn’t until she heard a distant car door closing that Nora nodded and left his apartment. None of this was in her plan to help Asher. Not the argument. And definitely not the kiss that had turned into something so much...more. She hadn’t planned on more with anyone ever again. The last time she did, she ended up a betrayed, broke single mom. But for the first time in years, she wondered if a change of plans might be a good thing.

  Or a complete disaster no one would recover from.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  NORA STOOD IN front of the shiny red espresso machine the next morning, tapping her foot impatiently. Would this thing ever heat up enough for her to get a much-needed shot of caffeine?

  Maybe two or three shots.

  All in one cup.

  After being interrogated for an hour by Amanda last night, she’d fallen into bed but not to sleep. Her cousin wasn’t so much put out that Nora and Asher had kissed as she was by the fact that she hadn’t had any inkling there was a possibility of that happening. Nora had calmly explained that she didn’t have an inkling it would happen, either, but Amanda immediately called BS on that.

  “Kisses don’t just come out of nowhere. There has to be chemistry first—some kind of mutual attraction energy going on—or it’s not a kiss, it’s assault. So fess up, Nora. What’s been going on between you and Asher that you haven’t been sharing?”

  Nora had started at the very beginning, with her out-of-character attraction to a grumpy guy in a grocery store back in November. The icy parking lot. The spider incident. Caring for him when he was ill. And, yes, the amazing kiss last night when she climbed his body in the hallway.

  Amanda knew about some of these things in general, but Nora hadn’t conveyed what she felt while they were happening. The undercurrent of...something...that wove through every encounter she had with Asher. The way her heart skipped at the sound of his voice. The way her skin warmed when he looked at her with those intense eyes of his. The way her knees went weak when he held her in his arms. The way his pain became her pain when she tried to get him to deal with Dylan and Michael and Becky and the baby.

  By the time she’d finished, Amanda was sitting at the kitchen counter staring at her with wide blue eyes and an open mouth.

  “So, all this time I’ve been planning on setting up my prim and proper Southern cousin with a nice quiet high school history teacher, you’ve been having the hots for your bad-boy neighbor? I never thought I’d see the day you’d fall head over heels for a guy like that.”

  Nora had tried to deny it, explaining she couldn’t possibly be head over heels for a man so complicated and unpredictable. But Amanda wouldn’t listen and was still laughing when she finally headed for the door, apparently satisfied Nora wasn’t drunk or being victimized.

  “I can see it in your eyes, honey. You’re gone for this guy.” That was when Amanda grew serious. “Be careful, okay? I like Asher, but he’s got some deep stuff going on. His shadows have shadows. I know you like to fix things, but I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Her smile returned. “But, then again, a guy who can’t stop kissing you, even while you’re on the phone, might be worth the risk.”

  The light blinked on the espresso machine, snapping Nora back to the present. She made a mug of her favorite beverage: a mocha latte with a dash of toasted marshmallow syrup. And an extra shot of espresso, of course. She sat at the counter in the silent café, still an hour from opening.

  Her phone pinged a few minutes later. It was Bree, texting from North Carolina. Apparently Amanda hadn’t wasted any time spreading the word among the cousins.

  Kissing the Hot Produce Guy from next door? You go, girl!
>
  Nora couldn’t help but laugh as she typed a response.

  Don’t make too much of it, okay?

  Hard not to when our cautious little Mother Hen finally spreads her wings. I told you to be careful around sexy grumpy neighbors! ;-)

  Nora rolled her neck and sighed. Her lack of sleep last night combined with her nosy cousins were going to make for a long day. She glanced at the clock behind the counter and started typing.

  Why are you up so early? I have to open the shop, but you should be sleeping!

  She watched the wavering lines as Bree typed a response.

  Cole’s up and out early this time of year, doing his farmer thing. Lately I’ve been feeling queasy in the mornings and I can’t get back to sleep. Been going on for a week or two.

  Nora smiled. Bree and Cole had met last summer when Bree hid from a stalker in his tiny Carolina farm town. Although they’d argued nonstop in the beginning, Bree eventually left her glamorous life in Hollywood and moved to Cole’s farm. She’d never seen her cousin happier, and the news that Bree was now feeling sick in the mornings just made her smile all the more. Bree may not have put the pieces together yet, but Nora had. She started typing.

  Keep some saltines on your nightstand, and try nibbling one as soon as you wake up. That should help.

  The answer came quickly.

  Thanks *Mom*. Tell me about kissing Hot Produce Guy.

  Nora set her mug down and raised her fingers to her lips. They were still soft and swollen from his passionate kisses last night, but the caffeine was bringing her to her senses. It was a mistake to go any further with Asher. She was trying to bring the family together, not set off a nuclear bomb in the middle of it. What would Michael and Becky think of her and Asher having a relationship? What would happen if things worked out? What would happen if they didn’t? She couldn’t take that chance, even if her desire to kiss him again made her body burn. Her fingers started typing.