Neighborly Complications (Stories of Serendipity)

by Anne Conley

  Smirking with satisfaction, Claire decided to enjoy this. What the hell, right? In for a penny, in for a pound.

  Slowly, she walked over to her underthings box, and pulled out a lacy white thong. She held it up for his inspection, before laying it out on the bed. With the lights in his bedroom out, she couldn’t see him, but she knew if he was there, he could see her just fine. Sauntering back to the box, she pulled out the matching bra, a lacy demicup push-up. Claire walked back to the bed, pulled on the panties, slowly, before putting the bra on, arranging her breasts artfully, tweaking the nipples slightly.

  She strolled over to the bedside table and retrieved her bottle of lotion, taking it to the other side of the bed, to give Max a superb view of her slathering lotion over her arms, legs, and torso. Satisfied she was sufficiently greased up, she wondered what Max was doing. Claire wondered if he was enjoying the show. She looked at his window, wondering if he was even still there. What if he had left right after he’d turned out the light?

  Shrugging, she went to the closet, and selected a flared, short skirt and a clingy top to wear, with some high heels. Going back to the bed, she pulled them on, as slowly as she could. She loved the idea of teasing this man relentlessly. If he was going to watch her, she was going to give him a show he wasn’t likely to forget. She wasn’t sure why she enjoyed teasing him, except it seemed to her like he deserved it somehow.

  Summer came to pick her up a half an hour later. That was a half an hour in which Claire had utilized every ounce of her will power to not go next door. She’d managed to turn herself on by her little show, she was a little shocked. She’d never really considered herself an exhibitionist, but something about the idea of Max watching her, had made her want to do something about it.

  On the way to the Gin, in Summer’s yellow Volkswagon bug, Claire barely listened as Summer gave a running commentary on the history of various places they passed. The Gin was an old cotton gin, officially named Shelton Hall, but everybody in town just called it the Gin.

  When they walked into the smokey area, the music playing was country, and the dance floor directly in front of them was filled with line dancers. The bar was to the right, and just beyond that were some pool tables. After having their IDs swiped by an incredibly bored looking bouncer, they walked over to the bar and Summer ordered two Shiners.

  Summer took a swig of beer and looked over at Claire, “Wanna play some pool?”

  “Sure!” She liked playing pool. She had gone to college with a work/study program in the game room of the student union, and when the game room wasn’t busy, and Claire wasn’t studying, she practiced playing pool.

  Claire racked up the balls, and Summer broke, sinking the two ball, and nothing else. The other balls had a nice spread though, so she went for the six ball into the corner pocket and missed. She chugged the rest of her beer and went for another, while Claire contemplated her strategy. The song the DJ was playing changed from country to an old ACDC song. Good. She liked the beat. Claire liked to give the table a good walk around, bending over to eyeball her strategy a couple of times, and when Summer came back, she pulled off a combo shot that knocked in the twelve and the ten balls.

  “Wow. You’re really good!” Summer said with a huge smile on her face.

  As she looked up from the shot, she felt a pair of eyes on her. Over Summer’s right shoulder, against the wall, was Max. His gaze pierced her insides, and for just a second, she saw nothing else, just those ooey gooey, caramelly eyes. He was staring at her with his lips turned up in an amused expression. Claire smiled and waved at him. Max tipped his glass. Summer looked to see who she was smiling at, and saw Max. She went over to give him a hug.

  “Hey, Max! Good to see you! What’s going on?” Summer seemed excited to see everybody.

  “Not much, can I play the winner?” Max looked at Claire, that amused expression on his lips. Lips she could only imagine doing things that made her tummy quiver. She took a long pull of her beer. It’s getting hot in here

  “Sure, man! Just put your quarters up.”

  Claire bent over and lined up her next shot, sinking another ball. Then she walked around to the other side of the table, squeezing past Summer and Max so she could make her next shot.

  “Excuse me,” her thigh had accidentally brushed against Max, sending little tingly shivers all up and down her leg, causing it to tremble. Claire missed the shot, and drank half her beer in one gulp.

  “Finally!” Summer lined up her shot very carefully, and cut the cue ball a little hard, knocking the eight ball into the side pocket.

  Claire finished her beer, and went to get another, while Max racked up the balls. She needed to get away from him for a minute. The bar was awfully tall, almost to her shoulders, so she had to stand on tiptoes and lean up to get the bartender’s attention and asked for another Shiner.

  As she stood leaning against the bar, Claire was overwhelmed by an earthy, man smell, and a strong, familiar arm came around her waist and rested on the bar to her right. A rather large hand rested on her left hip. A smooth voice whispered into her right ear, “Summer went to dance. Wanna bet I can make you come before she gets back?”

  “Come where?” His left hand slid down her hip and under her skirt before she could even finish the question. His right hand came up to her breast.

  “Oh”

  “You kind of owe me after that little show you put on. You have absolutely no idea what you do to me.” His bourbony voice was husky with desire, which melted any resolve that Claire was hanging on to into a pool between her legs.

  As his hand slid up her thigh and under her skirt, finding her already wet panties, Claire had the vague notion she probably shouldn’t be doing this, but then his other hand went inside her blouse and brushed against her breast. That’s when she forgot about notions altogether, and remembered this was one of the most beautiful men on the planet.

  She inhaled sharply, as he whispered in her ear again. “You are already wet, Claire. Do you like to play pool that much?” And then his hands started moving, and she was lost.

  His left hand started long, slow strokes along the outside of her panties, while the fingers of his right hand grazed her nipple and started flicking, twisting, squeezing. She started to breathe faster, and his left hand slipped inside her panties, grazing around her button, bringing a soft gasp to her lips. She was trying to be still and quiet, even though this was a bar, and a tall one at that, so no one could really notice her. The music was loud, and nobody was really paying attention. Max’s leg lifted between hers, to spread them, and she leaned back into his chest.

  Max’s left hand was rubbing in small circular motions around that spot, every now and then going down deeper, into Claire’s warm, wet lips. Feelings were building in her groin, and spreading up into her belly. The same feelings were building from her nipple, where his other hand was still playing, twisting, squeezing, spreading down into her belly. Her knees were going, but Max was holding her up, with the hand wrapped around her chest, playing with her breast. His other hand slipped two fingers inside of her, and she couldn’t take it anymore. She climaxed around his fingers with a low shuddering moan, and then went limp, right as the bartender delivered Claire’s beer with a curious expression on his face.

  “Put it on my tab, please.” Max, ever the gentleman, removed his fingers from Claire’s various body parts, then, he actually put his fingers in his mouth and licked off her juice.

  “That was hot.” Claire was hot. She could hardly breathe, so she started fanning herself..

  “You ready to play, Claire?” Max was looking at her with a smirk on his face.

  She drank her beer quickly, in an attempt to quench the fire that Max had lit inside her. He had already racked up his balls.

  “I gotta go.” She said simply. She had no idea what she had brought upon herself, but she couldn’t stay in the same room with this man another minute. The way he looked at her made her want him so badly, but the arrogance he’d d
isplayed made her realize there was no way he would ever respect her.

  Not that she’d done a damn thing to earn his respect.

  Suddenly furious with herself, she sought out Summer. “I’m so sorry, I’ve got to go home. Can you take me, please?”

  Concern etched her friend’s face, “What happened? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I just…Please take me home, if you can. If not, I think I can walk. It’s not that far, is it?”

  “Shut up, I’ll take you home. Just give me a minute to close out my tab.”

  While she waited for Summer, Max came up to her. “Are you going home?”

  “Yeah. That was…intense. I can’t deal with you right now.”

  “You stay. I’ll go home. You need to have fun with Summer.”

  “She’s already closing her tab. I’m leaving. You stay.”

  “Claire…” She looked up at him, and he really looked damn good. “I’m sorry. We’ve gone about this whole thing all wrong…”

  Summer walked up, eyeballing Max warily. “Everything okay? You ready?” She asked Claire, who nodded.

  An hour later, Claire was sitting at home, cursing her foolishness. Max had her all kinds of shaken up. First was the rescue from the scary well, which she later found out wasn’t all that deep. When she had gone back to cover it with plywood, she saw it was only four feet deep, because somebody had filled it in with concrete. She felt like an idiot. But then was the thumb-sucking incident. She had no idea what had come over her. Then he had come over to the house, all good looking and great smelling, and questioned her ability to fix her own home, then he’d offered to buy it! Then he came over again, pulling the same shit, tossing some offhand comment at her about curtains. So she’d given the guy a show. But then of course, that had come back to bite her in the ass.

  She didn’t know what to do with Max. She had no business doing anything with him, she reminded herself, again. But they obviously had some chemistry. But he was such a jackass.

  But he was a cute jackass.

  A knock on her door interrupted her traitorous thoughts.

  . Immediately cursing herself for not looking through the peephole, she saw Max standing on her porch with a six-pack of Shiner in his hand. “Can I come in? I brought a peace offering.” He held up the beer, looking yummy in the tight black T-shirt and cargo pants.

  Claire shrugged and turned to go back into the house, leaving the door open behind her. She was so tired of thinking about him, and lookie lookie. He shows up. Perfect.

  He looked at her with those chocolatey caramel eyes, full of remorse. “I’m sorry about what I did tonight. I’m not sure what came over me. I just saw you there, and I had to do something. I actually went to the bar tonight to get you off my mind. I’m pretty sure I probably had too much to drink. If I messed up any possibilities of something happening between us, I’m sorry.”

  “Between us?” Claire gaped at him disbelievingly. “There is no us. You are an arrogant, egotistical, sexist asshole!” Max flinched, visibly. “What in the hell did you think you were doing? Getting me off in public? In a bar? At the bar?”

  She looked around for something to throw at him, finding a bag of supplies she had bought to remove wallpaper. Digging around, her fingers closed on a bottle of glue remover. She chunked it at him, hitting him squarely in the chest.

  “What right did you have to touch me like that? To make me feel like that?” Her fingers found a scraper next. He dodged it, as it went flying at his face. Looking amused, he started stalking towards her. She retreated.

  “What’s so funny? Huh? Why are you laughing at me?” Claire had cornered herself, and had nowhere to go, as he came closer to her.

  “Aw hell…” He took her in his arms, one hand behind Claire’s head, crushing her mouth to his. The other hand went around her waist and pulled her body against his. He let loose a guttural growl as his mouth pressed against hers insistently. The kiss was full of need, of want. His tongue teased the outside of her lips, willing them to open for him.

  Claire’s body responded. She dug her fingers into his hair, pulling him impossibly closer. She opened her lips for him, and his tongue was in her mouth, tickling her teeth, teasing the roof of her mouth. She whimpered into him. His tongue retreated, and her tongue took over, exploring his mouth, his teeth, his tongue. One of her hands reached around and down, and cupped his ass.

  He gasped against her mouth. Claire’s hand was squeezing and kneading his tight butt. One of his hands came around and cupped her breast. His thumb rubbed the nipple, through her bra, bringing it to full attention. It was Claire’s turn to gasp. My goodness, that feels good.

  In one frantic motion, Max pulled her blouse over her head, before his mouth trailed kisses down her neck to her breast and took it into his mouth. His tongue teased the nipple, his teeth grazed it, then he sucked it.

  “You taste so good.” He breathed around the nipple in his mouth. She was feeling pretty good. Both of her hands went up under his shirt and pulled it off his head. She needed to feel his skin against hers. She pulled his mouth back up to hers, and pressed his chest to her. His skin against hers was hot and smooth. She could feel his heart pounding against her chest.

  He broke away from the kiss and leaned his forehead into hers, gasping ragged breaths.

  “Do you want to do this? If we go any further, I may not be able to stop. You are unbelievable, Claire.” His voice was a whisper.

  “No.” What? “I mean, yes.” What was she saying? “I don’t know…um…” She leaned forward to kiss him again, but he pushed her away, gently.

  “You need to know for sure. I don’t want regrets tomorrow. And I’ve probably had too much to drink, anyway…” He ran his fingers through his hair, exhaled slowly, and turned to leave.

  “Wait, Max!” Claire went after him.

  “What?” He stopped and turned to look at her, indecision in his face.

  “What does this make us?”

  “I’d say this makes us complicated.” He said simply, before walking out the door.

  Chapter 6:

  Max woke up the next morning in a twisted mess of sweaty sheets, visions of the night before fresh on his mind, as they had filled his dreams.

  Swinging his feet out of his bed, he involuntarily looked across the hedge to Claire’s bedroom window. Last night, she had nailed a sheet up over the window. He had watched her do it, irritation radiating from her actions as she wielded the hammer.

  He knew she was mad at him for stopping last night. He could tell she was unsure about the whole thing, though. And the fact she thought he was ‘an arrogant, egotistical, sexist asshole,’ made him question why he wanted her.

  Well, Max knew why he wanted her. Claire was the most awesome woman he’d met. She used power tools, she played pool, she drank good beer, she knew Glen Miller. And she was sexy as hell.

  Max rubbed his face and walked to the kitchen to make some coffee, still thinking about Claire. She sure seemed to be mad at him a lot, and he wished he could figure out what irked her so badly. Granted, he loved the way the anger flashed in her eyes and made her cheeks flush. But he hated that she was pissed at him so much.

  With the coffee maker brewing, Max went back upstairs to shower. On the way to the bathroom, he looked over at Claire’s house again. She had really done good work in the yard. It was looking better. He wondered what her plans for the place were. Since she didn’t seem willing to sell it to him, he may need to get beyond his own dream of owning it.

  He’d wanted the house badly for a really long time, since high school, probably. He’d dreamed of opening up a bed and breakfast in that house since he’d stayed at one with his parents on a family vacation to Arkansas. In fact, that trip had inspired him to remodel homes for a living, and eventually, he started building them too. He had fallen in love with that particular house at a party one night with his buddies, when they’d all broken in with bottles of Boone’s Farm. They had all gotten falling do
wn drunk, while Max walked from room to room, dreaming of fixing the place up.

  He’d asked Claire’s uncle to sell it to him, but the man had been unwilling, saying he had plans for the place. But nothing had ever happened to it, and Max had always wondered what exactly his plans were. Now that Claire lived there, she didn’t seem inclined to sell, and honestly, Max wasn’t too inclined to see her leave.

  After showering, dressing, and drinking coffee, a knock at his door gave him something to do besides daydream about Claire. It was Summer.

  “Hey. Come in. Is something broken?” He stood back to let her inside.

  “No. I was just wondering what happened last night. With Claire.”

  “At the bar?” Max was stalling, putting her off. No way was he going to talk to Summer about Claire.

  “Yeah. She seemed to be having fun, until you came over. I went to go dance, and the next thing I know, she was ready to leave. What happened?” Summer looked at him, perturbed, expecting an answer that he wasn’t willing to give.

  “She didn’t tell you?”

  “No. I asked a million times on the way home, but she wouldn’t give me anything.”

  “Well, I’m not going to tell you, then.” Max crossed his arms.

  Summer stomped her foot. “Oh come on, Max. Don’t you start holding out on me!”

  “I acted inappropriately. Let’s just leave it at that.”

  “What did you do?” Summer put her hands on her hips, as if she was going to wait him out.

  He sighed. “I’m not going to tell you, Summer, so you might as well leave, if that’s all you came over for.”

  “Do you like her?”

  “Yes, I do. Now don’t go sticking your meddling little nose in my business. I’m going over there later to talk about us. I don’t need you interfering.”

  “I don’t interfere. I offer solicited advice. Don’t make me out to be my grandma.” Summer said, petulantly.