Off Limits Neighbor

by Penny Wylder

  Klara’s cheeks flame with a blush, and the air between us goes tight. This isn’t something I ever would have predicted. When I knew her, she was a gangly teenager who faded into the background.

  The woman in front of me wouldn’t fade into the background of anything.

  Klara’s eyes drop to my lips, and I swear to god if she kisses me, the state of this house won’t stop me from making her scream. What will her lips taste like? They look like strawberries. That makes me wonder what she’ll taste like other places, and if I don’t step back right the fuck now, then I’m not going to be able to stop myself from asking.

  “Well,” I say quietly, “if you’re determined to do this, then I guess I’ll see you around.”

  “I guess you will.” Her voice is breathy, and I hold back the smile from knowing how deeply I’m affecting her.

  I open the door and look back to where she’s still staring after me. “Maybe next time I’ll see you without the skirt again. Or, if you’re game, topless would be a nice change of pace.”

  She gasps, and I pull the door shut just before she takes her shoe off and hurls it at me. It thuds against the other side of the wood and I laugh. She might think that I’m kidding, but I’m absolutely not. Now that I’ve seen part of her, I want to see all of her. I’m dying to know if her nipples match the color of her lips and how far down her blush spreads.

  If she’s planning to be around for a while to fix up the disaster that is this neighborhood, then maybe I’ll get the chance.

  Looking around, memories flow over me, both good and bad. Some of my best days were spent here in the summer, playing ball on the asphalt and tag in the rain. Bad memories too, like the day my father walked away and decided that he wasn’t coming back.

  This neighborhood is a minefield of bittersweet memories. I’ve honestly been avoiding it for a long time until I saw the car and decided to investigate. But now that I’m here…it’s not all bad. Maybe Klara being here is a sign that it’s an okay time to face some of the things that happened here and relive some of the best.

  As I walk down the sidewalk, back toward my own neighborhood, I find myself hoping that Klara is going to spend a lot more time here after all.

  3

  Klara

  Thankfully the bedrooms are in halfway decent shape and I brought my own sheets and comforter. The creaking of the house isn’t remotely comforting, especially with the wind coming in off the open plain of desert nearby.

  This neighborhood is on the very edge of Affliction Creek, and because of that, it’s one of the first things that people pass on their way into the town. Especially if you’re coming from the bigger cities down south. I’m not exactly surprised that the town is eager to clean it up in order to make a good impression.

  But Reynard’s words from yesterday echo in my mind.

  They gave you an impossible task, and that’s really unfair to you.

  Is it an impossible task? All the materials for the renovations are already purchased, and what little budget there is could be used for hiring workers to come and help me. But first I actually need to see the depth of the problem. In the morning, I’ll go through each house and make notes about what needs to be fixed and what I need to do in the interiors and exteriors.

  It will take time, but one of the things I’ve learned in the years of building my design career is that taking the time to organize and plan ahead saves you much more time in the end.

  I tossed and turned most of the night, unfamiliar sounds jerking me from sleep along with dreams of heat and lips that had me sweating. Every time I closed my eyes and tried to fade back into sleep, I told myself that the man in my dreams wasn’t Reynard. It was just a faceless, attractive man, and I’ve been in a dry spell for far too long.

  But now in the light of day, I know better.

  I’ve never been fully able to let go of the idea of Rey, and now that he’s crashed back into my life, I’m not able to ignore it. My body wants him. The way he stepped into my space and stared at me like I was the only thing in the world worth having was something that I’ve always wanted.

  No wonder I’m having dreams of his lips on my skin, and his mouth settling between my legs.

  Since I’m planning on being here for a while, I brought my vibrator with me. With those thoughts in my head, I settle and try to wring pleasure from my own body so I can focus on the task in front of me.

  But no matter how hard I try, it seems just out of reach, and I’m left sweating and cranky and too turned on for my own good. Perfect. Just the way I want to start what is likely going to be a very frustrating day.

  I don’t bother taking a shower. There’s going to be enough sweat today that it doesn’t matter whether I take one now. Instead, I dig in my bag for some cut-off leggings and a tank top. It’s summer in Texas, and it’s boiling hot already. At least it’s dry.

  Then I grab my clipboard and my pen. This, at least, is familiar. In the five years I’ve been gone from Affliction Creek, I’ve followed the one dream I really had, and that was to be an interior designer. Now I’ve got a job at one of the best firms in Austin, and I’m just starting to get my own contracts. Which is why I’m hoping this project won’t take too long. I’m eager to get back to my work and the life that I’ve carved out for myself. Even if the city life is a little lonelier than I’d like.

  I’ll start where it’s easiest, I guess. This house. I walk from room to room and do an inspection, making a note of any structural things that need to be fixed, utilities, and my own notes for decor once these are finished. It’s not the most exciting prospect, designing homes that will be rented to vacationers, but it’s simple. You have to keep a sense of universality. A style that almost anyone will find comfortable and homey.

  Even though I was horrified walking in yesterday, there’s less that needs fixing inside than I expected. That’s good. There are a couple of big things, but mainly superficial.

  There are five houses in this cul-de-sac, so I head over to the one that’s furthest on the end, but not before the cat that nearly caused my death speeds out of the door ahead of me. Wild thing. He would be cute if he weren’t trying to kill me and strip me in front of Reynard.

  Then again, maybe that would be a good thing. It would help me get rid of the ache that’s between my legs and the low-level frustration that’s still running under my skin.

  The second house is about the same as mine, not great, but not something I’m too worried about fixing. The third house…is a different story. I swear there must have been some animals living in here for all the damage. How the hell did this happen?

  Walls are broken, pipes are burst. I’m going to be glued to YouTube tutorials trying to figure out how to fix this stuff if I can’t scrape the money from Dad’s budget for a contractor.

  The list for this house is about as long as my arm, and all I want to do is stop and have a drink. But there are still two houses to go. Lucky me.

  “Howdy, neighbor.” I hear the deep voice as I step outside.

  Reynard is standing on the sidewalk, looking at me. He’s dressed in low-slung jeans and a t-shirt that’s so tight I can see the muscles underneath it. Holy shit.

  When we were younger, Rey was the hottest thing in this small town, and everybody knew it. But he’s filled out since then, bigger and harder. There’s an edge to him that didn’t used to be there, and I was too flustered yesterday to really, fully absorb the differences.

  Yesterday he was a fantasy come to life. Today he’s a man that’s very real and so fucking hot that I can’t breathe. Not to mention that my body is still humming with unresolved tension and arousal, and it’s very aware of Rey.

  “Hello.”

  “How’s it going?”

  I shift the clipboard to one side, balancing it on my hip. “Slowly,” I admit.

  “Is it bad?”

  I shrug. “That one was, but I haven’t gotten to the last two yet.”

  “Which?”

  Nodding
to the two houses across the circle as I meet him on the sidewalk. “Those.”

  “Mind if I tag along?”

  I look at him. “Really? Why?”

  Rey smirks and slips his hands into his pockets. “I’m off work for the day, so I figured I’d come over and see if you needed help.”

  “Out of the kindness of your heart?” I raise an eyebrow.

  “Something like that,” he says. “Maybe I just feel bad for you and want to see how gloriously in over your head you are.”

  I glare at him. “If that’s how it’s going to be, you can fuck off.”

  Rey just grins and follows me as I strike out across the asphalt. “Who knows,” he says, “maybe you’ll like the company.”

  He can’t see me when I roll my eyes. I’m trying to tell myself that I’m annoyed by him and that I don’t want him here. Because it’s easier to do this kind of work alone. But the truth is that there is a storm of butterflies in my stomach that feels like a hurricane, and I’m so desperate to have him close that it’s dangerous.

  I’m here for a very specific reason, and then I’m going back to Austin. No matter how much I want him to follow me into this house, pin me to the wall, and kiss the hell out of me, I can’t afford that. I can’t be distracted by him and that ridiculous face and body.

  It doesn’t matter that his eyes are piercing and his jaw looks like it could do all the sawing I’m going to need to do for these houses.

  Fuck.

  I step into the next house and realize that I’ve only been thinking about Rey and his abs and his jawline; not even thinking about the task in front of me. God, this is going to be a nightmare.

  A sexy nightmare.

  He steps into the small entryway behind me, and it feels like he fills the space. “This doesn’t look too bad.”

  “Maybe it’s not,” I say, and I’m aware that I don’t sound normal. I sound like I’m parched and dying. Because in a way, I am. My body is craving him like nothing I’ve ever felt, and I’m gravitating toward him like a magnet.

  Jesus, Klara. Get yourself together.

  Rey looks down at me, and the air between us is taut, just like it was yesterday. He looks at me like he could consume me, and his eyes drift down my body to my leggings. Is he remembering yesterday when he got an eyeful of everything south of the border?

  “What are you looking for?”

  I clear my throat. “I’m just…making a list of everything that needs to be fixed or replaced. And my own notes about decorating.”

  He looks surprised. “Decorating?”

  “That’s what I do. I’m an interior designer.”

  “Ah,” he says softly. “That’s why your parents called you.”

  I nod.

  “Still doesn’t mean they gave you a fair task.”

  The same defensive reaction I had yesterday rises up. “We’ll see.”

  “Yes, we will.” He steps past me, so close that I can feel the heat coming off his skin, and I haul in a breath like I’m surfacing from underwater.

  Taking a moment, I look over my list and make some notes about the entryway and the living room next to me. I need a couple of minutes to center myself before I’m in the same room with him again, because clearly, I’m not able to control myself. Fuck.

  “Klara?” Rey’s voice calls from the back of the house.

  “Yeah?”

  “You should see this.”

  He’s standing in the doorway to the kitchen, and I try to move past him, but he catches me around the waist just in time. Good thing too, because the floor is…gone. The support beams are there and then nothing but the crawlspace under the house, which looks like I don’t want to be rolling around in that dirt.

  “Well,” I say. “This looks fun.”

  “Some of these older houses have good bones. It’s possible that the floor was a good hardwood or some kind of reclaimed wood that was scavenged.”

  I sigh. “Perfect. I love that. Makes my life so much easier.”

  “At least you don’t have to rip anything out. Should be an easy replacement,” he says with a chuckle.

  It takes me a second to realize that he has me against his body. His arm is wrapped casually around my waist, and it’s so long that it curls to my hip. I like the way it feels. How long has it been since anyone has touched me like this?

  It’s been a long time. I’ve been so focused on my work that there’s not a lot of time for dating. And the one big relationship I had ended two years ago. I have to keep myself still in order to stop myself from leaning into him. God, I love just being touched.

  Slowly, Rey’s thumb moves where it rests against my hip. It wakes me up, the stab of desire that curls through my gut jolting me back to reality. I pull away from him and move back into the hallway. “Definitely something to add to my list.”

  Rey smirks. “Fixing the floor or snuggling with me?”

  “I was not snuggling.”

  “Your ass was up against me, Klara. I definitely felt some snuggling.”

  A blush rushes up my neck and across my cheeks. I hadn’t done that. I’d been forcing myself to keep still. But I can’t stop myself from glancing toward his jeans to see if I affected him at all, which only makes him smile wider.

  I clear my throat. “Let’s just check the rest of the house and see if it has floors.”

  “You’re the boss.”

  My imagination runs wild with his tone. Am I the boss of the renovations or the boss in the naughty visions I’m seeing in my head? I’m not sure. But either way, the thought of him being the boss makes me shudder. In a good way.

  I swear, this man has hijacked my brain. Just because he’s been a fantasy for years doesn’t mean that this is a good idea. Or that I can’t control myself. At least that’s what I’m telling myself because as I walk up the stairs, I swear I can feel his eyes on my legs and my ass, and I’m definitely not swaying a little bit more than necessary knowing that he’s looking.

  A cold shower would have been a good idea this morning. Because this? This is sweet torture having him only a few feet away.

  And it continues to be torture through this house and the last one. He’s always there. Watching me with eyes that I swear I’m imagining hunger in. But right now, all I want to do is take a shower and have a drink.

  “That’s all I’m going to do for today,” I tell him as we exit the last house. “Gotta make a game plan for all of this.”

  “You want to have a drink?”

  “Yes,” I say automatically. “I really do. But right now, the only thing that I’m going to do is take a shower.”

  Rey smiles. “How about you shower, and I’ll shower, and when you’re done you come over to my place for the drink?”

  I stare at him for a moment. This is a bad idea. I can barely control myself now. And in his house? This is a bad idea. “Where do you live?”

  He says an address that’s a couple blocks over. My heart thumps in my chest. So close.

  “Come on,” he says with a grin. “I promise I won’t bite, unless you ask.”

  I can pretend all I want that I resisted, but in the end, there was never a snowball’s chance in hell that I was going to say no. “Okay. I’ll meet you there.”

  4

  Reynard

  I run my hands through my hair as I head back to my house. The shower I’m about to take is going to be ice fucking cold. After a couple hours of watching Klara’s ass in leggings and feeling her up against me when I kept her from falling through the floor? Jesus, I’m done for.

  My clothes are coming off as I climb the stairs. I need to move fast so that I’m ready when she gets here. And if I’m going to have any chance of keeping my hands to myself, I need some relief.

  It doesn’t matter that I already got myself off to thoughts of her ass last night. And this morning. The need feels absolutely insatiable. I’m hard before I even step into the shower. Hell, I’ve been half-hard all day and desperately trying to keep it from showin
g.

  If Klara is here and she wants more, I’ll have no problem with that. But I’ll never assume, even if I’m begging the universe for it.

  My hand moves with intention, seeking pleasure. Remembering when I stumbled over her yesterday, felt her body against mine. I fantasize about how the rest of her would feel.

  I stroke and twist under my shaft, increasing the pressure until it’s exactly the way I like it. After that, it’s only minutes until pleasure sweeps down my spine and flows down the drain. My groan echoes off the shower walls.

  What I wouldn’t give to have her in here with me. My imagination has no end to ideas of what we could do in here together.

  I rinse myself off and wrap my towel before I fall into the trap of thinking about Klara on her knees in the shower. I’d end up with my hands around my cock again, and I don’t have time for that.

  This Klara is a very different Klara from the one that I remember, but I have no idea how long she takes to get ready. I’ll probably have time, but I want to be sure. Getting dressed, I do a sweep of the house to make sure that everything is clean before I grab a beer and crack it open. I don’t know what she likes to drink, but I’ve got a decently stocked bar.

  Energy is prickling under my skin and I feel like I could run a marathon right now. I want her to be here, and I can’t sit still, pacing back and forth in the living room. I haven’t felt this way in a long time. Hell, I haven’t felt this way ever. There’s something electric about Klara that I can’t let go of. And maybe getting her away from that hell of a project will let me get to know her better.

  Now I’m wishing that I really got to know her when we were younger, and we had the chance.

  It’s not long before I see her heading down the sidewalk toward me, and if I were smart, I would play it cool and wait for her to ring the doorbell.

  I’ve never been cool.

  Opening the door, I lean against the doorframe while she approaches, and it gives me the chance to just look at her. She’s wearing another skirt, but this time it’s a dress. Flowing and breezy, the fabric skimming her body and falling away as she walks. Those little peeks of her body make it very hard for me to keep my eyes on her face. But not that hard, because Klara is so fucking beautiful, I feel like I can’t breathe.