Neighbors (Twin Estates #1)

by Stylo Fantome

  “Well, then. I guess lucky for me you met this guy.”

  “Yeah, lucky you,” she mumbled, staring out the window.

  They rode the rest of the way in silence. Katya spent most of it wondering about her choices. Sleeping with Wulf had seemed like a great idea while she'd been all hot and bothered. Now, she felt like maybe she should've made him try harder. He'd gotten what he'd wanted, so it was probably all over. Surprisingly, that's what upset her the most. The idea of not seeing him anymore.

  “Tocci.”

  The way he snapped her name, she realized he must have said it a couple times before getting her attention. She turned towards him and was surprised to realize they were in front of her building. She managed a smile and opened her door.

  “Thanks for the date, Wulf. It was fun,” she said, and she meant it.

  “Just a minute,” he stopped her.

  “What?” she asked, her heart starting to beat fast.

  “You're wearing my tie.”

  She frowned as she looked down at herself, a little disappointed if that's all he wanted to say. But then his hand reached out and he gripped the material, pulling her forward. She practically fell into his seat, and when he kissed her that time, there was nothing slow and methodical about it. She had a feeling she was kissing the real Wulf for the first time. Those other times had been calculated. Planned and precise, just enough to make her beg for him. This kiss, though, was all for him. Lots of tongue, his fingers in her hair, pulling. Stinging. She gasped and he took the opportunity to suck on her bottom lip, biting down hard before letting her go.

  “On second thought, keep it. It looks better on you. I'll be in touch, Tocci.”

  She practically fell out of the car and had barely stepped clear before he was peeling out of his spot, his flashy white car disappearing into the night. It wasn't till she was inside the building that she realized he hadn't asked for her phone number, again. She sighed and took out her cell, wondering if she could google her way to his personal number.

  She was surprised to see several missed text messages. One was from Tori, asking about the date, but the rest were from Liam. One was a close up picture of a taco, which made her laugh. The rest were generally dirty, filled with euphemisms, and teasing her about her date. When she got to her floor, she finally sent him a response.

  You're awful, stop harassing me.

  But it's so much fun! You took long enough to reply – how many times did you screw him?

  Katya rolled her eyes as she shuffled into her apartment, fighting to kick her shoes off as she made her way back to her bedroom.

  Why do you have to be so crass?

  Oh, defensive. You definitely fucked him then.

  I don't kiss and tell.

  How about suck and tell?

  You're so gross.

  Just tell me one thing.

  What?

  When you came, did you make the same little whining sound you made for me?

  THIS CONVERSATION IS OVER.

  It's so hot, I swear. I can hear it my head right now. God, I'm so hard now.

  Katya practically threw her phone across the room. She may have been working on expanding her boundaries and horizons, but she was not about to have phone sex with Liam, barely half an hour after she'd had actual sex with Wulf.

  She took a shower, then put on comfy clothes before padding back into her room. She looked over her closet, glaring at her clothes. Normally, she liked picking out her outfits for the coming days, but now when she looked at everything, she just saw beiges and pastels. Boring. She made a mental note to go shopping. Having decided that, she went to sit on her bed, then jumped up when something hard jabbed her in the ass cheek. She'd forgotten about her phone, and she groaned when she saw four more missed messages from Liam. She thumbed open the screen and laughed at the last one.

  I scared you off, didn't I? My sexual prowess is just too intimidating.

  She smiled to herself and typed out a response.

  Try too annoying.

  She's alive! You can't leave me hanging like that. Do you have any idea how hot and bothered I am right now?

  No, and I don't want to have an idea.

  Please, you have to help me. I'm dying.

  No.

  I'll send you a pic.

  If you send me a dick pic, I will block your number from my phone.

  Please, you've probably got my dick committed to memory. I have something else in mind, it'll be really hot, I promise.

  No. N-O, no.

  But he sent a picture anyway. Katya was too curious to look away and when she realized what she was looking at, she burst out laughing again. It was a close up picture of a thermostat, the mercury kind that hangs on a wall. The little red line was creeping up past ninety-five degrees.

  Try to contain yourself.

  Har dee har har.

  Seriously, my air conditioning broke today and something is going on with the radiator. Let me come over to your place.

  No, my roommate is here and she already wants to meet the guy who dragged me to a sex club. I'll probably look away and you two will start screwing on my kitchen table.

  Ooohhh, jealousy, I like it.

  Not jealous. Just protective of my table.

  Then come hang out on the roof with me.

  I just put on pajamas, I'm not changing to walk all the way over to your place.

  Don't bother – I'll walk over to yours.

  My building doesn't allow roof access.

  Does now. I talked to management after you left. I'm coming over.

  Katya was a little blown away. She'd mentioned wishing she had roof privileges. Just a comment in passing while he'd dished out the tacos. That he'd remembered was surprising, but that he'd actually called and done something about it?

  What a sweetheart.

  She grabbed a bottle of water and was pulling on a pair of sneakers when she heard someone walking in the hallway. Tori hadn't made an appearance yet, so Katya assumed she'd fallen asleep early. She didn't want to wake her up, so she cracked open the front door. When she saw that it was Liam heading towards her, she slipped into the hall.

  “What, not gonna invite me in?” he asked as they headed back to the elevator.

  “No, you'd probably never leave, and I can't afford to feed you tacos every day.”

  “I think you just want to keep me from your sexy roommate.”

  “Never said she was sexy.”

  “It's okay, angel cake. I'll always have a soft spot for you,” he assured her as they rode up to the top floor. “Tell you what, we can make it a threesome. Sharing is caring.”

  “I swear, if you bring up having a threesome with my roommate again, I will go back downstairs,” she threatened him. He leaned down close, wrapping his arm around her waist.

  “Such a scaredy cat. You never know, you may like it,” he whispered, causing her to shiver.

  The elevator deposited them on the last floor, then they had to walk up one fight to get to the roof top door. There, Liam shocked her again by pulling a key out of his pocket and unlocking the heavy door. She walked out ahead of him and started shivering as the night air hit her still-damp hair.

  “They gave you a key? Isn't that a little strange?” she asked, turning to face him.

  “It's actually for you,” he said, tossing the key to her. She scrambled to catch it while he pushed past her. She dropped her water bottle in the process and had to chase it around for a second.

  “Me? Why me?” she turned as she spoke, watching as he unfolded some beach chairs.

  “Because you're the only one allowed up here. Well, and me, of course,” he said, then he sat down. She gaped until he patted the chair next to him. She finally sat down, as well.

  “What did you say to them to get me exclusive access?” she asked. Liam sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. She hadn't known him long, but she already knew it was a gesture of annoyance or nervousness.

  “I have to tell you s
omething, but I don't want you to get weirded out,” he said.

  “Okay, then I'm definitely weirded out,” she replied, taking a sip of her water.

  “I sort of own these buildings.”

  She spit out the water.

  “What!?” she exclaimed, mopping at her chin. He winced and nodded.

  “Yeah. About five years ago, my aunt passed away. She didn't have any kids, so she left the property to me and my brother. A building each. I was already living in my apartment, and a management company was handling everything else, so I didn't change anything,” he said.

  “Why didn't you tell me?”

  “I don't know, sometimes it makes it weird. I've had girls fuck me to try to get free rent, weird shit like that, and I also didn't want you thinking like 'oh no, I'm banging my landlord', or anything like that. I honestly never thought we'd hook up, so it never occurred to me to mention it,” he told her.

  She was still a little shocked. He was so young, yet he owned a thriving business and some very expensive real estate in San Francisco – her rent was not cheap, hence the need for a roommate.

  “How old are you?” she blurted out.

  “How old are you?” he asked back.

  “Twenty-three,” she said. He let his eyes fall shut.

  “God bless you,” he breathed.

  “Liam.”

  “Thirty-two,” he answered. Her jaw dropped.

  “You lie.”

  “Nope. Wanna see my driver's license?”

  “Jesus, I was guessing twenty-eight, max,” she mumbled, her eyes wandering over his face. Over his clothes.

  “I'll choose to take that as a compliment.”

  Nine years. He was nine years older than her. He didn't look it, and he certainly didn't act like it. She couldn't believe she'd slept with someone that much older than her. Though if she was honest with herself, she found it kinda hot. Sexy older man, willing younger woman. Yeah, she'd read those books, she'd watched those movies. Besides, Wulf was twenty-nine, not exactly close to her age, either.

  “Okay. I guess none of that really matters, right? I mean, unless I can fuck my way to free rent,” she joked.

  “You definitely can.”

  “Can we get some sofas up here, like your place?”

  “Sure, I'll see what maintenance can scrounge up. But you're the only one allowed up here – no parties, no friends, no Mr. New Guy. Nobody.”

  “Not even Tori?”

  “Nope.”

  “Why?”

  “Because,” he sighed as he lounged back in the chair. “This place is special, angel cake. It's our place. Just for you and me. No one else. Just us.”

  It was so sweet, Katya couldn't argue about it, so she smiled and sat back in her chair, too. They sat in companionable silence for a while, both looking up at the sky. She wasn't sure how long they were like that before he opened his mouth.

  “I've never seen your hair down before.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked, caught off guard.

  “Your hair. In all the times I've seen you, I've never seen it down. It looks nice,” he told her. She ran her fingers through the wet tresses.

  “Oh. Thank you.”

  “So tell me about the crazy sex,” he said, sitting up straight. She shook her head.

  “There was nothing crazy about it. Just normal, missionary position sex, and that's all I'm sharing with you,” she said.

  “God, and here I thought I'd seen the last of Miss Boring Beige Pants,” he grumbled. She went to snap at him, but he held up his hand. “But no worries! I had a plan in place, just for this incident. I signed you up for something.”

  “Oh god, what is it?” she groaned.

  “Strip-aerobics,” he said with a big smile.

  “You did not.”

  “I totally did. Tomorrow, at five o'clock, have your ass downstairs waiting for me, preferably in some sexy yoga pants.”

  “Liam, I don't want to learn strip-aerobics. I'll probably slip and break my nose on the stupid pole,” she said.

  “All I'm hearing is blah blah blah. Fuck, it's kinda cold up here, isn't it? Let's head down to your place and cuddle.”

  “I am not cuddling with -”

  “And maybe your sexy roommate can join us, too.”

  “Stop calling her that!”

  “Alright, your sexy girlfriend can join us.”

  Katya rolled her eyes and complained some more. He ignored her and made jokes all the way down to her place. And while he and Tori did get along, they did not have sex on the kitchen table, much to Katya's delight. And when she went to sleep, Liam didn't hog too much of the bed.

  Though his hard on digging into her hip made it very difficult to sleep.

  8

  When Katya went to work the next morning, she left Liam in her kitchen. He was wearing only his boxers and drinking orange juice straight from the carton. Maintenance workers were already over at his place and working on the radiator, he assured her. Then he reminded her of their five o'clock date.

  “It's not a date.”

  At least, Katya was pretty sure a strip-aerobics class shouldn't count as a date. Either way, she told Liam to meet her at her work – she didn't get off till five, so if he wanted her to go, he'd have to come get her. She packed her gym bag along with her and at the end of the day, sure enough, he was waiting outside for her.

  They went to an interesting sort of place. An old building, there were fliers for lots of different classes, mostly ones hosted by “community members”, asking only for donations as opposed to charging a fee. The class they were at was a freebie and was hosted by a ridiculously sexy young woman, probably not any older than Katya.

  “I'm trying to build a client list, start private training, that sort of thing,” Candi – “with an i” – explained when Liam introduced them.

  “Oh. That sounds nice,” was all Katya could think to say.

  “Have you done this before?”

  “I didn't even know it was a real thing till earlier this week.”

  “You'll love it. You gonna join us, stud?” Candi said, poking Liam in the chest. He chuckled and rubbed at the spot.

  “Eh, not this time. Maybe if the show is good, I'll sign up for the next class,” he said, winking at her. She giggled and poked him again.

  “You are so bad, Eden.”

  Then Candi-with-an-i bounced off to greet some new students. Katya turned to look at Liam, one of her eyebrows raised.

  “Stud?” she asked.

  “Hey, some ladies just like to call it like they see it,” he joked.

  “Have you slept with her?”

  “I don't kiss and tell.”

  “Oh, please.”

  “You're right. I have, but not in a long time. When she moved to town, she stumbled into the club. Was a regular for a while, then discovered stripping was her passion,” he explained, his eyes lingering on the stripper-turned-aerobics-instructor.

  “Pity for you.”

  “I know. She's was … wild.”

  “You're not actually gonna sit here the whole time, are you?” Katya asked, glancing over the rest of the class.

  There were lots of women, ranging in ages from what looked like eighteen all the way up to easily seventy years old. There were even several men in the group, one of which was wearing a pair of heels higher than anything Katya had in her closet. But mostly, it was females in their late twenties to early forties, and none of them looked anything like a stripper.

  “Probably not. If I wander off, I'll be back to pick you up at six-thirty,” he assured her.

  “I've lived in San Francisco for years, Liam. I can find my way home,” she said.

  “And run the risk of some other guy picking you up? No, I'll be here, don't worry,” he teased.

  Candi started clapping her hands, so Katya fell in rank with the other attendees. The basics of strip-aerobics were explained, and then they were led into some light stretching. While she reached down and placed her
hands on the floor, Katya figured it would be an easy hour. She ran regularly, did yoga, occasionally pilates – how hard could strip-aerobics be? Especially a class that had a seventy year old in attendance? She would use the time to meditate on the ridiculous situation she'd gotten herself into, and the minutes would fly by.

  But an hour later, she realized she hadn't needed to distract herself. Strip-aerobics and Candi-with-an-i kicked her ass. Katya had new respect for strippers. At first, it had seemed simple, with Candi showing them some basic moves. On all fours, flipping their hair, doing body rolls. Easy stuff. Katya had felt a little silly and awkward, uncomfortable doing those things with a group of strangers.

  Then the moves got more difficult. She actually started to work hard, and she forgot about feeling awkward or uncomfortable. She peeled off her sweater at one point and chucked it against a wall, then went back to learning the routine Candi was teaching them. Katya didn't think she'd be getting a gig at a high end strip club any time soon, but she had a lot of fun, and it really was a serious workout. She felt great afterwards, and she had to admit it, she felt kinda sexy. Empowered.

  Liam had disappeared during the stretching, and then she'd gotten so engrossed in the class, Katya hadn't paid attention to whether or not he came back. When she went to collect her gear, he wasn't anywhere around.

  “Is there a changing room?” she asked, still panting. She'd planned on wearing her workout clothing home, having assumed the class would be easy and tame. Turned out, her sports bra was completely soaked in sweat. She wasn't in as good a shape as she'd thought. She couldn't wait to take a shower and put on some clean clothes.