Heather smiled when she saw me.
“Sexy,” she said. “You look so hot pregnant.”
I blushed. “I do not.”
“You really do. Your boobs look amazing,” she said, shamelessly eyeballing my chest.
I looked down, frowning. They really were bigger, swollen, and though the dress covered most of my body, there was nothing I could do about the cleavage that stood out at the top.
“Let’s go,” she said, taking my hand, knowing I was about to change my mind to go upstairs to find something else to wear. “You look perfect.”
“Okay, Heather,” I said, following her out of the house. I could hear the music from the festival already, some upbeat folk music that I would have liked had I not been in such a gloomy mood. I dreaded getting to the park to see everybody in our town, but there was something about the fresh air and the falling sun that was admittedly refreshing after my long few days inside the house.
We got to the park and I saw the colorful rides set up behind the stage. The band was just as lively as the music, dancing as they played, but as I started to walk in that direction, Heather stopped me and started to guide me the opposite way.
“What are you doing?” I asked her. “The festival’s over there.”
“I wanted to show you this cool statue I found the other day,” she said. She wasn’t looking at me. I raised my eyebrows at her.
“You found a statue?”
“Yeah,” she said casually. “I don’t know how long it’s been there—”
“Heather, you know every inch of this park. There is no statue.”
She shrugged. “Maybe it’s new.”
I stared at her as we walked. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she insisted, and when I looked forward I saw that we were walking toward the gazebo. It was lit up in fairy lights that twinkled and in the middle, a table was set up with two candles that were lit.
“Are we going on a date, Heather?” I asked her. “I—”
My voice stopped suddenly when Lucas stepped out from behind the wall of the gazebo, his hands clasped in front of him. His eyes met mine and I froze.
“What—”
“Just hear him out,” Heather said quickly. I put my hands on my hips, turning to her, glaring.
“What the fuck, Heather?”
“I know he hurt you, Ellie. I know that. But this is on you, too. You’re running from him because you’re scared. Just listen to what he has to say.”
“No,” I said, turning my eyes to Lucas. My heart was fluttering madly in my chest just looking at his face.
“Ellie,” Heather said, taking my hand and squeezing it. “Listen to him, okay? He loves you.”
I swallowed, unable to take my eyes off Lucas. I started walking toward him before I could stop myself, and when I got close to him I reached up and pulled his mouth down to kiss me. He immediately wrapped his arms around me to pull me close but I pulled away, putting my hands on his chest and shoving him backward.
“Why are you here?” I asked him angrily. “Why won’t you just leave me alone?”
“Because I love you,” he said. “And you love me. And you’re having our baby, Ellie. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You say that now. You’ve said that before. And you abandoned me twice,” I said to him, crossing my arms. He looked over my body, his eyes settling on my rounded belly.
“The night I stood you up, Luna broke her arm,” he said, looking up and meeting my eye. “She fell out of a tree she was climbing. I took her to the hospital and forgot my phone. It’s no excuse,” he added quickly before I had a chance to say anything. “I should have called you. I should have called you right away from the hospital phone. I was panicking and it was stupid and it shouldn’t have happened. I am so sorry, Ellie.”
I stared at him. I was frustrated, angry to feel tears welling up in my eyes as he spoke.
“Is Luna okay?” I asked him.
“She’s fine. She loves her cast,” he said, then added, “She misses you.”
“I miss her, too.”
“So come back with me to the city,” he said, taking both of my hands.
I allowed him to take them, though everything within me was screaming that it was a bad idea. The part of me that loved him and craved to touch him was overwhelming whenever I looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity there.
“I can’t trust you, Lucas. Not again,” I said. “I don’t think I ever could.”
“That’s bullshit,” he said. The words caught me off-guard. I opened my mouth in surprise, then glared at him.
“What?” I asked him. It was the last thing I expected him to say.
“I said that’s bullshit. You don’t think you’ll be able to trust me because you won’t let yourself trust me. Even Heather said it—you run when you’re scared. And you’re scared because you’re in love with me.”
“I am not,” I said immediately. My first instinct was to deny it, to hope that the feeling went away.
“You are,” he said, dropping his hands to wrap his around my waist. “We’re in love. It’s scary. It’s fucking terrifying. But I’m not going to let you go.”
“Lucas—” I started, but he cut me off with a soft, sweet kiss. I stopped speaking when he kissed me again, then again before I started to respond, parting my lips for him to allow his tongue to taste me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, molding my body to his, giving in to what I wanted.
“You weren’t going to tell me you were pregnant,” he said after a moment. “Why?”
“Because I thought if we had to share custody and I had to see you, that it would be torture,” I said. “I didn’t think I could take it.”
“I want to be a father to our baby, Ellie.”
“I know,” I said, kissing him again. Something inside me broke and I felt tears sliding down my cheeks. He wiped them away, kissing the streaks, then kissed my mouth.
“Marry me,” he said softly. I looked up at him, my eyes wide.
“What?”
“I want you to marry me,” he said. “I want you to be mine, Ellie.”
I stared at him, unable to speak. I closed my eyes and imagined it, waking up to Lucas every morning, cuddling in bed with our baby while Luna snuggled up between us. My whole body felt warm at just the thought of it, and when I opened my eyes, I smiled.
“Yes,” I said to him.
He bit his lip, his face breaking into a wide grin.
“Really?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said again. He wrapped me in his arms, hugging me against him as the music played in the background. It had grown dark around us, and the world was lit only by the distant neon glow of the rides, the fairy lights in the gazebo and the candles on the table. I looked around then, taking it all in for the first time.
“This is beautiful,” I said.
“I wanted it to be perfect,” he told me.
“You wanted to butter me up,” I said.
He laughed. “Yeah, I did,” he said. “Did it work?”
I leaned in to kiss him again. “What do you think?”
“I think there’s no possible way I could ever be happier than this,” he said, looking into my eyes. “I think you’ve changed my life.”
I took his hand, putting it on my stomach so that he could feel the roundness there, feel the life growing inside of me that he helped to create. He rubbed it, then crouched down and pressed his lips to my stomach.
“This is perfect,” he said, gazing up at my face.
“It is,” I said as he nuzzled my belly, running my hand through his hair. “Everything is perfect.”
Dirty Doc Next Door
Sneak Peek
1
Abby
I sat on my bed, looking out of the window over my new neighborhood. My friend had put me up in the small guest room in the attic, which was clean but small. It was the perfect size for me—I hadn’t brought much stuff with me from my old place. I’d been in too much of
a hurry to really pack when I left and had only managed to grab the basics—some clothes, my toothbrush, a few other things that I couldn’t bear to part with. I wasn’t sentimental about much, but my mom had left me some things after she died and I’d never part with them.
My friend, Jay, peered in at me through the open door.
“You hungry?” she asked. I nodded. I hadn’t eaten since before I’d left, and eight hours later my stomach was growling and I was feeling light-headed. I stood up and followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Everything looked brand new and almost unused. The marble on the countertops was flawless and the walls were painted a light blue. I’d never seen a kitchen so extravagant and beautiful. It was something I was going to have to get used to now that I’d moved in with Jay. I’d never lived in a neighborhood as nice as this, and I felt uncomfortable being among people who were so much classier than me. Still, Jay put me at ease. We’d been friends since middle school and she’d been begging me to move in with her since we’d graduated from high school. Eight years later, I was finally doing it, though it was only because I didn’t have a choice.
We decided to order a pizza, then sat down to wait at the kitchen table.
“Do you like your room?” Jay asked me.
I nodded. “It’s perfect. Really, I would have been fine sleeping on the couch. You didn’t have to give me your office.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, scoffing. “You need your own room. I’ve been planning to give it to you for, what, ten years now?”
“Close enough. Thank you again for letting me stay here, Jay. I know it’s last minute.”
She swiped the apology away with a wave of her hand and grinned at me.
“I’m so glad you’re here. Now I don’t have to worry about you so much.”
Jay had always worried about the neighborhood I lived in, but it was where I’d grown up, where my family had always been. It was shady with a high crime rate, higher than most places in the city. But it was my home and I knew my way around well enough to navigate through the streets without being fucked with—I was tougher than I looked, and most people in the neighborhood knew me well enough to leave me alone. I’d told her over and over that she didn’t need to worry about me, but that had all changed when I heard the news about my ex. If I’d stayed, my life would have been in danger.
The doorbell rang and I gazed out of the window as Jay went to get the pizza. I saw the man next door walking up his driveway. Even from a few feet away I could tell he was handsome. It was afternoon, the sun shining brightly overhead, and his blue eyes were nearly glowing in the light. He had dark hair and great cheekbones, a body to die for that moved in an elegant, fluid way.
Jay caught me staring as the man disappeared into his house. She grinned at me.
“That’s Dr. Ian Cunningham,” she said. “Is he not the hottest thing you’ve ever seen?”
“He is gorgeous. Is he married?”
Jay shook her head. “Lives alone. I think he works a lot. He’s like filthy rich. But kind of mean.”
“Really?” I asked, my curiosity piqued as I looked over his house. From what I could see, the windows were easily low enough to climb in through. I made a note to walk around the house sometime when I knew that he was at work to check the doors and windows, see if there was a way in. Jay didn’t know about what I did to get by or how I got my money and that’s how I wanted it to stay, but a rich doctor who wasn’t often home might be the perfect target for the next burglary.
“No kids?” I asked.
“I’ve never seen any. He’s practically a recluse. Goes to work, comes home, never goes anywhere otherwise. He keeps to himself during neighborhood events, if he even goes.”
“Neighborhood events?”
“Oh, you’re gonna love this,” she said. “There’s so much drama. They have block parties here and neighborhood watch meetings on Thursdays at the church on the corner. We have to go.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really? Doesn’t really sound like my kind of thing.”
“Trust me. You’re not going to want to miss this. It’s like a Twilight Zone episode. These people are so weird.”
“Okay,” I said, chuckling. “We’ll see.”
“At the last meeting, these two old men—probably in their sixties—almost got into a fistfight about one of them overwatering his lawn. The drought is a big deal here.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sounds fascinating, Jay.”
“It’s better than you think,” she said, grinning.
When we were done with our food we flopped onto the couch in front of the TV, surfing through the channels. I thought some more about the doctor and his house; there had to be a way to get in there. I decided to introduce myself to him personally, hoping that maybe he would give me a tour of his house. I’d have to work up to it, to make him comfortable with me.
I went to bed thinking about it and decided to wait until I got more information to call the boys, though I knew they were getting irritated that I hadn’t found a target yet. I’d been too caught up in what was happening with my ex-boyfriend to keep an eye out for places to rob. But now I had no choice and the doctor was my best chance. I decided to go there tomorrow, learn what I could about him and hope for the best.
2
Ian
I noticed the girl next door the day she moved in but hadn’t had a good look at her. It was the next day when I saw her again, walking up to the house with her hands full of groceries. I was standing on my porch about to leave but I stopped moving as soon as I saw her, trying not to make it obvious I was staring but unable to keep my eyes off of her all the same. She was gorgeous and petite, slim but with wide hips with plenty to hold onto. Her blonde hair shone in the sun and I could tell when she met my eye that hers were a deep green. She smiled at me when she caught my eye, a playful curve of her full, pink lips. She seemed to hold my gaze until she made it to the porch, where she set the bags down while she unlocked the house. She disappeared inside and I shook my head, making my way to my car. Beautiful women couldn’t distract me—I had other things to worry about. I had my practice, which was thriving beyond what anyone had expected. It took a lot out of me, and I didn’t have time for the momentary distraction of a quick lay.
I ran to work for a few hours, distracted for reasons I couldn’t understand. I kept thinking about women, about how good it might be to have someone around to touch and fuck and love. The thought made me uncomfortable; it wasn’t who I usually was, but seeing a woman so beautiful with a smile so dazzling had distracted me.
I went home still lost in thought. I was at the kitchen sink when I saw her again. I had a direct view of their backyard. The girl was out by the pool, lying on her stomach with no top on, her cute little ass barely covered by the sea green bottoms she was wearing. I looked away, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose. I started cooking, glad that my stove faced away from the window, though I found myself peeking outside often. She’d shifted so that she was lying on her back, the top of her bikini simply draped over her breasts to hide them. My eyes wandered over the soft-looking skin of her stomach and her thighs. I wondered what her name was and where she’d come from, if she was staying indefinitely or just visiting her friend. I shut the curtains, blocking out the distraction so I could finish cooking and get on with dinner. I didn’t have much to do tonight but I knew that I had to keep myself busy, otherwise I’d just be gazing out of the window at the new neighbor like a creep.
I went to bed that night after not doing much at all but sitting around, occasionally trying to read a book or watch TV. I never had much to do when I wasn’t at work, especially since there was nobody else in the house. When I closed my eyes, I saw the new neighbor all over again, the round curve of her ass and the outline of her nipples underneath the thin fabric of her top. I fell asleep with my cock hard, refusing to give in to the fantasies that were racing through my head. I managed to fall asleep and was relieved whe
n I did not dream of her.
In the morning, I woke up and got ready for work, jumping in the shower and letting the hot water relax my body. I dried off and got dressed, about to go downstairs when the doorbell rang. Hurrying to answer it, opening the door revealed the girl from next door, the one who had been haunting my fantasies since I’d seen her.
“Hi,” she said shyly, though her eyes were almost mischievous as she looked into mine.
“Hello,” I said. “You’re the new neighbor.”
“I am.” She reached out her hand to take mine. “Abby. And I’m afraid I have a problem.”
I shook her hand, noting how soft her palm was, how her skin spread a warmth through me.
“Ian,” I said. “What’s going on?”
She bit her lip, something that made my eyes linger on her mouth. I forced myself to look away, to meet her eyes again.
“I locked myself out of the house. Jay hasn’t made me a key yet and I’m afraid to break a window.”
“Probably not a good idea,” I said, pausing. “Do you want to come in? I know it’s hot.”
“Sure,” she said brightly and slipped past me before I could move, her body brushing mine. I got hard from that contact alone and tried my best to hide it when she turned around to look at me.
“Cool place,” she said and grinned. “Thanks for letting me come in. I’d go back to the pool but I’d have to swim naked—I don’t have my swimsuit on me.”
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