The Girl Across the Hall

by Thayer King

  She opened up her e-mail. Most of her day consisted of sorting through stupid questions, but that was okay. Some people enjoyed a challenge. Her opinion was that life was strife with enough challenges without her having to seek them out.

  At noon her cousin Felicia strolled in, making Justin and Luke start to stutter and drool. Felicia was her polar opposite. They both had caramel brown skin and thick long hair. But while Zoe kept hers in a bun or a ponytail, Felicia wore it flowing over her shoulders and trailing down her back. She wore fitted little dresses or sleek suits to work.

  As annoying as she found her cousin, she did have her to thank for getting her this job. “Hello, Felicia.”

  “Hi, Zoe.” Her eyes flicked over her with distaste. Felicia was always giving her fashion tips. Zoe staunchly ignored them. While Felicia relished being the center of attention, it was Zoe’s definition of a nightmare. “I came to see if you wanted to go to lunch with me and Henry.”

  “No, thank you.”

  “Do you have plans?” Her artificially purple gaze swung to Justin and Luke and just as quickly dismissed them. “You should come. We have some news to share with you.”

  Great. They probably wanted to announce their engagement. So she nodded. “Let me get my purse and we can go.” She might as well get it over with. Her cousin could be a real pain when she wanted something.

  Within twenty minutes she found herself situated at booth in an Italian restaurant, picking over her salad and pretending to be happy for Felicia and Henry as her cousin took every opportunity to flash her diamond engagement ring in her face. “I’ve already told Mom. She insists that you be part of the wedding party.” Felicia wrinkled her nose. “But you’re going to have to let me handle your hair and makeup.”

  Henry gave her what she supposed he thought was a kind smile, but Zoe found it to be condescending. “You’d be rather attractive if you let Felicia help you.”

  Zoe stared at him until he had the grace to look away. When she’d first been hired by the company, he’d made a special effort to check on her multiple times her first week. He’d even taken her to lunch. Justin and Luke were certain that he was crushing on her. She’d thought so, too. That is until he started pumping her for information about Felicia. Finally, he’d asked her to set them up. She’d been so humiliated, but she’d hid it well. She’d let Felicia know that he was interested and the rest was history. The two of them had clicked instantly. Zoe didn’t know why he hadn’t simply asked Felicia out on his own. He’d said it was because if he’d asked and she didn’t welcome his advances, it could have been perceived as sexual harassment. This way he knew in advance if she would be receptive.

  Turning her attention back to Felicia, she said, “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  “Having your hair and makeup done for one day won’t kill you,” she argued. “And you know Mom will be disappointed if you don’t do it. And there will be lots of cute guys there. Henry is inviting his friends.”

  Zoe ignored that. Henry wasn’t actually handsome himself. He was a thin, dark-skinned man of average height. His appeal lay in the way that he kept himself well attired. For example, today he wore a three-piece charcoal suit with a purple tie. His mustache and goatee were always neatly trimmed. Yet for all his attention to detail, he didn’t have the natural raw animal magnetism of her neighbor. That man was seriously sexy. Shoving aside thoughts of Noah, she asked, “Have you set a date for the wedding?”

  “No.” Felicia sipped her water carefully so as not to mess up her super shiny lip gloss. “Do you think you could handle being my maid-of-honor? If you can’t, please let me know. It’s a lot of work.”

  Zoe shook her head. No way could she handle that much responsibility and she didn’t want to.

  “Fine,” Felicia continued. “I’ll find something else for you to do. I’ll come over to your place after work and we can discuss it.”

  Zoe resisted the urge to groan. Great. More time with Felicia. She was dreading this wedding already and they hadn’t even set a date.

  “While it would be ideal if Zoe were your maid-of-honor, I understand completely if you don’t want to do it, Zoe,” Aunt Amanda said. Felicia had her phone sitting on Zoe’s table between the two of them. Felicia had placed her on speaker phone so that they could all talk at once. Zoe breathed a sigh of relief at her aunt’s words. She’d always been more understanding than most of her introverted nature. “But you can still be part of the wedding party. And, of course, we’ll both help Felicia with the planning.”

  Zoe nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” she said for benefit of her aunt who could not see her.

  “Well, Mom, I have to get going. Henry is expecting me.”

  “All right, baby. Congratulations again. Tell Henry I said hi.”

  “Goodbye, Aunt Amanda.”

  “Goodbye, Zoe. Love you two.”

  “Love you, too, Mom.” Felicia disconnected the call. Picking up her phone, she stood. Her gaze flashed about her, never landing on any one spot for long, but seeming to find everything in sight distasteful. Zoe was used to it. Nothing she ever did met with Felicia’s approval. “Henry and I are shopping for a new house. God, I can’t wait to get out of my tiny apartment.” She opened her clutch and dropped her phone inside. The shiny bag was so small that Zoe doubted that it could hold more than the phone and some keys.

  Zoe liked her apartment. There was space enough for her and her possessions. That was all she required. “I’m sure-” A knock sounded at the door.

  “Are you expecting company?” Felicia asked with a frown.

  “No.” She checked the peephole. She shouldn’t have been surprised to see Noah there, but somehow she was. She swung the door open.

  Grinning, he held up a bag of dishwasher detergent. “Since you wouldn’t allow me to take you to lunch, I figured I’d just pay you back.”

  “You didn’t have to buy an entire bag.”

  “I did. You were a lifesaver.” He winked at her before shoving the bag in her hands. “Take these. I haven’t given up on taking you out though.”

  Zoe was speechless. She glanced behind her. Felicia was clearly visible. Her cousin had arranged herself against the counter in sexy effortless sprawl. It didn’t mean she was interest in Noah, but her cousin had an insatiable need to enchant every male she came into contact with. Especially if he was attractive. And Noah was exceptionally attractive.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Noah said.

  “You’re not interrupting. This is my cousin Felicia. Felicia, this is my neighbor Noah.” There, she thought. She’d introduced them. Now he could ask Felicia out and he could leave Zoe out of their mating dance.

  Felicia tossed her hair over her shoulder and gave him a flirty little wave. Zoe just barely resisted rolling her eyes. “Nice to meet you,” Noah said, but then he redirected the full brunt of his attention back upon Zoe. “About that lunch…?”

  “Um…” She was so confused and flummoxed that she couldn’t come up with a response. Why wasn’t he asking out Felicia? She’d provided him with an introduction.

  He grinned. “Or we could do dinner if that would be easier. You know, it would be. I could pick you up after work. You get off at five, right?”

  “Yes, but-”

  “So, we’ll say six o’clock?”

  She was being steamrolled. She recognized the signs but she was currently unable to stop it. She looked to her cousin for help, but Felicia was looking annoyed. Zoe sighed. Sometimes it was best just to get an unpleasant experience over with. Clearly, Noah was not going to be easily deterred. After this, he could move on to the next girl. “Okay.”

  “Great. I’ll see you tomorrow evening.”

  The door had barely closed behind him before Felicia started in. “Why did you agree to go out with him? You can’t handle a man like that. He’s a player.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why are you going out with him?”

  “Because the
only reason he asked me out is to get information on you. I’ll tell him you’re engaged and that will be the end of it.”

  “Oh.” This seemed to mollify her and she smiled. “Break it to him easy. I’ll see you tomorrow at work. Oh, and I turned in my two weeks’ notice today. Henry doesn’t want me to work. It wouldn’t be appropriate for one of the partners’ wives to be employed as a receptionist at the firm.”

  “Of course,” Zoe murmured, opening the door for her cousin.

  Chapter Four

  Noah was no expert when it came to dating. He’d done it less and less over the years. He usually just picked up women in bars. Still, he could sense something was off with his date with Zoe from the moment he showed up at her apartment. For one thing, she hadn’t taken any extra efforts with her appearance. She was naturally beautiful. Nothing could change that. But…damn, shouldn’t she have done something special for their date?

  Her dress was a large, dark, floaty affair. He imagined that she could swim in it since he was damned certain that the only places it touched her were her shoulders and her hips. She’d been wearing a sweater when he picked her up. Somewhat reluctantly, she’d shed it in his car.

  She wore no makeup. That was fine with him. That meant he didn’t have to go through a layer of sticky lip goo at the end of the night when they kissed. But she’d also left her hair in a sloppy bun at the back of her head. He wondered what it looked like when it was down. Once again, he tried to be optimistic. This mean she wouldn’t mind if he mussed it up when he had her in his bed. And, damn, he wanted her in his bed very badly.

  Once they were sitting across from each other in the restaurant booth, she kept bringing up her cousin. At first he’d had to be reminded of who she was. He shrugged off this oddity as well when she explained that she had been raised by her aunt and the cousin was like a sister of sorts.

  Zoe was definitely not the type of girl he usually pursued. He didn’t know if she could handle what he wanted. If anything, her conservative clothing only increased his interest in finding out what lay beneath. His philosophy was that you couldn’t get a yes if you didn’t ask the question. So he was going to damn well ask.

  Noah watched her twirling spaghetti onto her fork. It suddenly occurred to him that there could be other reasons for Zoe’s behavior. She could be seeing someone. After all, he’d lured her out by pretending that this meal was about saying thank you. Or maybe she wasn’t interested in him. That was unlikely, but he supposed it was possible. “So, Zoe,” he began casually, “I didn’t ask…do you have a boyfriend? Are you seeing someone special?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “But my cousin Felicia just got engaged. I’m sorry.” She gave him a sympathetic glance.

  He frowned. “What’s there to be sorry about? Isn’t that something to be happy about? Or do you not like the guy she’s marrying?”

  Zoe’s eyes widened. “He’s okay, but…I just thought you’d be disappointed.”

  “Why would I be disappointed?”

  “Because you want to date Felicia.”

  “Huh?”

  “Isn’t that why you asked me out? So that you could pump me for information on Felicia?”

  He wanted to pump her alright, but her cousin had nothing to do with it. Noah laughed, glad to have finally come to the root of all her unusual behavior. “While your cousin is very pretty, I’m interested in you, Zoe.”

  ***

  He was interested in her. Not Felicia. She’d been peppering the conversation with Felicia’s name all night long in an effort to nudge Noah into asking for her cousin’s number. The shock caused Zoe to drop her forkful of pasta in her lap. She felt her face going hot with embarrassment. Of course she’d do something terribly gauche the moment he announced that he was attracted to her. “Oh!” She plucked the fork out of her lap and used her napkin to clean sauce and noodles off her dress. Fortunately, the material was black with a floral pattern. The stain would only show if it was held up to the light.

  But what the hell? He was interested in her. Zoe knew she wasn’t ugly. She attracted men occasionally. Unfortunately, they weren’t usually as hot as Noah. No, her usual suitors were men who saw her big boobs and thought that her IQ was lower than her bra size. So they weren’t that smart themselves. Or she got the old lechers who just wanted a young woman they could mold into the perfect, meek subservient wife. She was shy when she met new people, but she wasn’t an idiot and she definitely wasn’t a pushover.

  Still uncertain, wanting to clarify, she asked, “What do you mean? Um, do you have a computer you need me to fix?” Because that had happened before as well. People found out she worked in IT and the next thing she knew, she was repairing their PCs.

  Noah leaned forward, the pupils of his aqua blue eyes dilated. “No, Zoe. My laptop is fine.”

  She could barely hold his intense gaze. “You want to date me?”

  “I’ll be honest with you. I don’t date. What I’d like to do is give you so much pleasure, that you scream my name.”

  “Oh,” she said unable the keep the disappointment out of her voice as understanding dawned. She slumped in her seat. Somehow she’d been perceived as a challenge to this manwhore and accordingly, he’d decided to pick up the gauntlet. For a moment there, she’d been getting excited. His words brought her back to reality. Dating him wouldn’t have worked anyway. She recalled the way he was always eyeing her even when he had another woman on his arm. She would hate having him do that to her if they were dating.

  “What does that ‘oh’ mean?”

  She wiped her mouth with her napkin and placed it on the table. “It means that it’s late and I have to be up early for work in the morning. Thank you for dinner. It was delicious.”

  His eyes flicked down to her plate of half eaten food before focusing on her face again. “That doesn’t exactly answer my question. Should we go back to my place? Or yours?”

  She gave him a tight smile. “How about you go back to yours and I go back to mine?”

  “So you’re turning me down?”

  Zoe’s hands curled into fists. The more she thought about it, the more insulted she was. “Are you offering me something?”

  His eyes glittered between narrowed eyelids. “I want you, Zoe, very badly.”

  Her breath caught. That shouldn’t have affected her. Yet it did. Little flutters of pleasure took flight in her belly. As calmly as she could, she said, “We have different goals. And…” She looked down at her hands. “I don’t take physical relations lightly.”

  “Physical relations? Do you mean sex?”

  “Don’t be obtuse,” she snapped.

  “Zoe, do you like sex?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  “Because I really like sex and I think you’ll really enjoy the things I want to do to you.”

  Zoe swallowed. He could really turn up the sexual magnetism. “I’m not interested.”

  A wolfish smile curled his lips. “I think you are.”

  “W-well, whether I am or not, m-my answer is no.”

  His smile didn’t falter as he asked, “Did you want a doggie bag for that?” He indicated her plate of food.

  She shook her head. “No, thank you.”

  “Then we should go.” He caught their waiter’s eye and settled their bill in short order. Zoe expected him to try to persuade her to have sex with him but he said nothing. He slid out of the booth and waited for her. He took her elbow lightly and escorted her out of the restaurant.

  The short ride back to their apartment was really tense. For her. Noah was completely at ease, humming along with the music on the radio and drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. They rode the elevator in silence, standing side by side, Stephen’s arm brushing against her shoulder. The car was crowded because of two men taking their bikes up. Zoe was glad when they were able to get off because it meant the end of the evening was in sight. Since they lived on the same floor, she was unable to avoid having him walk her to
her door. “Thanks again for d-dinner,” she said, stuttering when she noted how closely he stood behind her. She cleared her throat. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around.”

  “You’re not going to invite me in?” he asked with a smirk.

  Her eyes flickered over him. Up close, she realized what a big man he was. She was average height and her head just reached his chin. She wasn’t worried he would attack her. He didn’t give off that vibe. Even now, she thought he might be teasing her.

  “Noah-”

  He interrupted her with a kiss to her forehead. “Goodnight, Zoe. Be sure to lock up.” He crossed the hall to his own door and pulled out his keys. When she just stood there watching him, he gestured for her to hurry up. “Go on so I can say that I saw you safely home.”

  Nodding, she unlocked her door. She gave him a brief wave and locked the door behind herself. “Well, that was interesting,” she whispered. Then she sighed. It never would have worked out, but sometimes her life was so dull. She usually liked it that way, but once in a while…she craved some excitement.

  However, she didn’t need that type of excitement. Now that she’d turned him down, he would leave her alone and stop staring at her whenever their paths happened to cross. She told herself that was for the best and she would not miss being ogled by that playboy in the least.

  Chapter Five

  The bouquet of pale pink tulips arrived just before lunch. The last time she’d gotten flowers was the night she’d gone to the prom. Zoe touched one of the soft blooms with a fingertip. They were exquisite. The gesture was probably meaningless to Noah, but she couldn’t deny that a little kernel of joy unfurled in her heart.

  She plucked the small white envelope from its plastic holder. The outside said “From: Noah, To: Zoe” She opened it and pulled out the card. Can we still be friends? Call me. – N His phone number followed.

  While she wasn’t certain about being friends, she did want to thank him for the flowers. Just as she picked up her cell, Felicia strolled into the office she shared with Justin and Luke. Justin had left early for a doctor’s appointment and Luke was out exchanging a broken monitor for a new one. Felicia paused upon seeing the flowers. “These are…cute. Who sent them?”