Page 10 of Temptress

Darcy glanced over her shoulder at me before turning back to the window and separating the slats in the blinds with her fingers for a better look. “That’s our neighbor?”

I moved into the kitchen, the open floor plan making it so I could see directly into the living room as I washed my hands at the sink.

“Yep.”

“She’s really pretty.”

I arched a brow as the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I wasn’t sure I liked whatever direction my daughter’s mind was going. Something told me it would make avoiding the woman next door that much more difficult.

“I guess,” I replied, keeping my tone emotionless.

Truth was, the woman was too fucking beautiful, especially for my own good. That was a huge complication I couldn’t afford to have, not when my main focus needed to be repairing the relationship with my daughter.

It didn’t matter that the sight of her jogging down the steps to her car day after day made my dick stir. Or how I’d caught myself imagining moving behind her whenever she was bent over in her yard, pulling weeds, and thrusting into her. It didn’t matter that the times she’d smiled and waved, doing her best to be polite, I’d felt like I’d been punched right in the gut, because,Christ, but she had a beautiful smile.

None of that mattered.

The only thing that did, the most important thing in my entire world, was Darcy. A relationship, even one based solely on sex, needed to be pushed so far into the back of my mind it was as if it didn’t exist.

I moved to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water and unscrewing the cap. As I brought it to my lips and drank deep, Darcy moved off the couch and came to sit on one of the barstools across from me.

“You’re telling me you don’t think she was pretty?”

Fuck yeah, I thought she was pretty. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that to my fourteen-year-old daughter. “What I’m telling you is that I haven’t given it much thought.” It was amazing how easily that lie rolled off my tongue.

I wasn’t sure if she bought it, but she moved on. “Well, is she at least nice?”

Was she nice?

At that question, I thought back to the fire in her eyes when she caught me taking my chainsaw to the bushes on my property. With how she’d come at me, I’d expected a knock-down-drag-out, but as soon as I mentioned my daughter’s allergy, the fight had drained right out of her. Not only that, but I’d seen the way she had turned around and looked back at her yard, her thoughts registering so clearly on her face they might have been running across her forehead in blinking neon letters.

I’d been trained to read people, and it had taken nothing to know what was playing in Sloane Chambers’s head. She’d worried that her yard was dangerous for my girl, and something in my gut told me that if I hadn’t put her mind at ease, I’d have come home one day to find she’d dug everything up.

I thought back to her smile, small but completely genuine, when she’d looked at my daughter, and that cute-as-fuck wave.

Yeah. She was nice. Sweet enough to give you cavities, actually. Which didn’t help things one goddamn bit.

I finished off my water and tossed the empty bottle into the trash can across the kitchen. “I don’t know. I’ve spoken all of five words to the woman.”

I didn’t know why the hell I was lying to my girl, but I wasn’t going to dig into it just then. This was my last day before starting my new job, and there was still too much to do to stand around talking about a neighbor who shouldn’t matter.

Fortunately, the pizza arrived a short while later, and my girl forgot all about her curiosity of the woman next door.

I, however, couldn’t say the same, because later that night, once Darcy was long asleep in her bed and the house was locked up tight, I took my fist to my cock and stroked it until I came with the image of Sloane’s ass in those fucking shorts on the backs of my eyelids.

6

SLOANE

Asher came dancing up to me at the end of Whiskey Dolls rehearsal, a massive grin on her face. “So?” she started giddily. “How are things going with Sexy Neighbor Guy? Any progress there since we last talked?”

“Shh,” I hissed with big eyes, worried someone had overheard, but I should have known it was a waste of time. I loved these women, but when it came to gossip, they were like freaking bloodhounds. It didn’t matter how quiet we were, if there was a piece of news they considered juicy, there was no keeping it from any of them.

Alma skipped over to us, sliding to a stop and plopping down on the floor right beside me, excitement dancing in her eyes. “Ooh, who’s Sexy Neighbor Guy?”

Naturally, that caught Layla’s attention, who grabbed Marin’s hand and pulled her over. “Did someone say sexy neighbor?”

In no time, every Whiskey Doll in the studio was gathered around, eager to know what was going on.”