So. Long.: Bad Boy Next Door (44 page)

Rachel, Danny, and I met Rachel’s date at the movie theater.
Not exactly a double date, because Danny and I weren’t together, not like that.
But after the show, Rach’s date wanted to take her for ice cream. Danny and I
headed home, just the two of us.

Danny drove, the music played, and we talked like we always
did. That is, until he pulled into the gates at the entrance to their estate.
He stopped halfway to the house, instead of driving up the driveway. Parking in
the road and turning the lights off, he cut the engine.

After only seconds, I asked, “Why’d you stop?”

He shifted in his seat, facing me. “I want to ask you
something. Whatever you say is fine. I won’t be mad or anything.”

“Mad? About what?”

“Mo, you know I like you?”

The moon was bright on the horizon and his features were
surprisingly clear, even inside the car. His expression was different—like he
was excited and scared all at the same time.

My stomach fluttered. “Like me—
how
?”

He slid his hand over mine and pulled it out of my lap. When
his lips brushed my knuckles, the flutter in my tummy morphed into a full-on
uproar of nerves. I gasped and yanked my hand away.

He leaned back, but then closer. His warm fingers smoothed
my hair behind one ear. “Sorry. I don’t mean to make you nervous.”

“I’m not nervous.” I chewed the corner of my bottom lip
while his gaze was riveted on my mouth as though he couldn’t look away.

I swallowed. “Danny, I don’t—”

He placed the tip of his finger gently over my lower lip.
“Shush. Just—please, listen. This summer has been good. Maybe the best of my
life. With you and Rach—mostly you.”

I twisted my fingers together in my lap and nodded.

He moved toward me, his eyes intent upon mine. “I want to
kiss you, Mo. Is that okay?”

My chest filled with hope while I inhaled a shaky breath and
my hands trembled.

Danny slipped his hand to my nape, pulling me toward him.
His lips grazed the corner of my mouth. Light flooded the car.

Danny groaned. “That didn’t take long.”

Rachel knocked on Danny’s window. “Everything all right?”

My shoulders drooped, but my heart hummed a little tune.

* * *

As soon as I pull up outside the Jennings’ guest house—
my
house, Danny jumps from the car. I put the sunshade in the windshield while he
shuts the door.

I let out a huge breath. It’s as though I’ve held it the
entire drive. Maybe I can avoid him the whole summer. Even just for a few days
would be nice.

I turn toward my front door. He leans against it.

Crap.

Why didn’t he go up to the main house?

I ask, “What do you want?”

He lifts one shoulder in a half-shrug. “Just thought I’d see
what you’ve got going on this afternoon.”

“I have plans. Big plans. Busy for days.”

“Oh? Who with?”

“None of your business. Why do you care anyway?” I
straighten to my full height, all five-feet and four inches, which means I’m
still dwarfed by his six-foot frame.

Danny pushes away from my door, but doesn’t move off the
tiny porch which he fills with his thickly muscled body. “Rach is worried about
you. I told her I’d make sure you’re okay without her. This is me following
through on my commitment.”

He says
commitment
like he should get a prize for
being a responsible adult.

I let out a harrumph. “I release you from your obligation to
watch out for me. I’m a big girl; I can take care of myself. Thanks.”

“Aw, now, don’t be like that. I don’t want to break a
promise to my sister. Hell, she’s the only one I keep my promises to. I have a
perfect record. Don’t go fucking it up for me.”

“Rachel isn’t here all the time. I have other friends. I’m
hanging out with them later, and I have a date after that. So, please, do your
thing. I’ll see you around. No promises will be broken.”

He doesn’t move. I push past him to the door and let myself
inside. He follows.

Great.

That first summer, after Mom passed away, Danny and I were
friends—of a sort. I thought there could be something more between us. He hung
out with Rachel and me almost all the time. He was nice back then. Something in
him was still good. He seemed to care about stuff—his future, the world, even
me.

Since graduation, he’s decided I’m beneath him. And he’s
made sure I know it at every turn. Plus, he’s gotten a rap sheet for indecent
exposure and public intoxication. The paparazzi love him as he’s a never-ending
source of tabloid headlines. Almost every Hollywood starlet and famous
rich-girl-wannabe has been caught with him. I can just imagine the angina it
must give his parents. Danny’s more like a demon than the son of a big time TV
preacher.

No. Danny’s not good any more.

Now, he’s—he’s just
bad
.

SO. BAD.

I saunter inside Mo’s domain. It still has the same
furniture and pictures on the walls as when she moved here. It’s like she never
really settled in. Then again, what do I know? I haven’t been through these
doors since that first summer. Not sure why I came through them now. Mostly
because she’s trying to get rid of me and I’m feeding that crazy-ass part of me
that loves fucking with her head.

She’s so damned uptight. All I want to do is get under her
skin and under her skirt. My dick stirs at the thought of what’s under that
skirt.

Does she ever go commando? Probably not. Too goody-goody for
that.

Damn, she needs a good fuck, if for no other reason than to
loosen her up.

She turns on me, glaring. “No one invited you in.”

“I don’t have to be invited. You do live on my family’s
property, in this house provided by
my
family. Seems I have the right to
go
wherever
I want,
whenever
I want.”

Mo’s tiny growl makes me smile.

She asks, “Oh, really?”

She’s so easy to mess with.

I step closer. “Yes. Really. And while we’re discussing your
living here—at
my
family’s pleasure—I’d rather you not use the pool this
summer.”

Her brow wrinkles, her eyes hard. “Why? It’s never been a
problem before.”

“Oh, it has. But with Rachel around, there was nothing I
could do about it. She’s not here this summer, so, no swimming.”

Mo throws her hands up and shakes her head. “You’ve lost
your freaking mind.”

“Maybe. Or maybe I’m just now finding it. I’m not spending
another torturous summer watching you run around in your swimsuit.” The memory
of last year’s suit, all wet and clinging to her luscious curves, causes that
ache deep inside—an ache I can do
nothing
about.

Her jaw hardens, and she grinds her teeth. “Well I’m sorry
to have spoiled your summers. Excuse me if I’m not a stick figure, plastic doll
you can ogle.”

I want to do way more than
ogle
. “No. You’re anything
but
a stick figure, that’s for certain.”

Her pearly-pink lips part as though she’s searching for a
comeback. She presses them together, her blue eyes flashing.

She stalks to me, poking me in the chest. “Let me tell you
something, you arrogant jerk, I will do whatever
I
want, whenever
I
want. If you don’t like it you can stick it up your—your—your bung hole.”

I grab her hand, shaking my head and laughing. “My
bung
hole? You’re so uptight; you can’t even say the word ass, can you?”

Mo swings away, pulling out of my grasp, turning her back to
me. “I can say anything. I
choose
not to. Just leave already. I don’t
have the energy for this crap.”

I step behind her, sliding my finger under the strap on her
sundress. God, what I wouldn’t give to slide it down and kiss from her shoulder
over to that little birthmark on the back of her neck.

Instead, I do what I have to do. “You should probably dress
a bit more conservatively too. You don’t need to show so much skin.”

She lets out an exasperated breath, turning to me, her mouth
open enough to fill me with the urge to cover it with my own.

She says, “You’ve
got
to be kidding.”

“With my parents gone, and no Rachel here, it looks bad. And
you know my father—heaven forbid we make him look bad. It might slow down the
millions filling the coffers every week.”

She gasps. “Since when have
you
worried what your dad
thinks? It seems to me you’ve done everything you can to embarrass him and tick
him off.”

“Maybe I have. So what?”

“So
now
you’re worried about how you and I living
next door to one another looks? I mean, it’s not like we’re under the same roof
or anything.”

Thank God for
that
small favor. I’d live with a
constant hard-on. I’d probably have to go to the emergency room on a weekly
basis for having
an erection lasting more than four hours
, like they
warn about on those commercials.

Really, I only care what my dad thinks about Mo and me, and
our
non-existent
relationship. And I only give a shit about him because
he’s a control freak who, at the moment, holds the keys to all of our futures.
He dictates there is no relationship.
None whatsoever
in his words.

I prop my hands at my waist. “Just do what I say and life
will be so much easier for both of us this summer.” And I won’t have to take so
many fucking cold showers.

“Can you please—just—look—there are only a few weeks until
you go back to school. I’ll stay out of your way. I’m sorry you’ve decided you
hate me, but—can’t you leave me alone?”

Hate
her?

Her words take hold of me, like a vice around my gut. They
drive me to act. I rush her, pushing her against the wall, holding her arms
above her head, my hand on her wrists.

Eyes wide, her mouth opens slightly. It’s as if she’s
begging for my kiss. Her chest heaves, rubbing those full tits against me as
she whispers, “What are you doing?”

I run my knuckles down her cheek. “This.”

And I break the rules, like I’ve wanted to do every waking
hour since I saw her two weeks ago. Hell, I’ve wanted this since that first
summer she lived here.

I skim my mouth across hers.

Damn. Sweet as hell, like cotton candy.

Claiming another taste, I slip my tongue along the seam
between her lips. When she opens on a gasp, I take full advantage and slant my
mouth over hers, delving in to savor the flavor.

I close my eyes, inhaling her summer scent, all honeysuckle
and sunshine. She squirms. I push my knee between hers and secure her with my
body, which gives me a raging fucking erection.

Moving my hips, I rub my cock against her. “Does this feel
like
hate
to you?”

She stills, her pupils dilating. A little noise at the back
of her throat, a cross between a moan and an exhale, hardens my dick even more.
Her heart thuds through her chest into mine.

I dip again and pull her lower lip into my mouth, sucking
and nipping. She leans her head back as I move closer, letting my body flatten
her on the wall. I thrust my fingers into the hair behind her ears, tangling
them there.

Her hands come to my chest and curl against my heart as she
returns my kiss.  Her tongue plays along, sliding against mine, sending
signals to my cock, saying it should prepare for entry.

With my hands fisted in her silky tresses, I pull her head
back and deepen the kiss, memorizing the texture of her mouth and her sweet
flavor. When I break away both our chests heave and our breaths are short. Her
lips are swollen from my kiss—our kiss—and I want to kiss them again.

And again.

And again.

My palms skim along her sides, and I trail kisses down her
neck to her breasts. I suck one into my mouth through the cotton dress she
wears. I tongue her beaded nipple until the wet fabric lets me outline every
contour.

When I find the hem of her sundress, my hands glide up her
legs. I take possession of her mouth again as I slide my fingers under her
panties. I cup her ass, pulling her hard against my erection; it flexes in
anticipation.

Her arms loop around my neck and she looks past me,
seemingly avoiding eye contact. But she doesn’t fight me when I slip my fingers
to the middle and run them along her seam. I dip low until they flit across the
wet place at her center. She doesn’t try to escape; she just makes that sexy as
hell sound again.

I drag her closer still and wiggle the finger hovering at
her entrance as I swoop in for another long sip of sweetness, kissing her
deeper—harder. Then, taking her jaw in my hand, I force her to look at me as I
lick the taste of her off my lips.

“I don’t hate you, Mo. You just—shit…” I shake my head. Aw
hell. Fuck it. “I
want
you—God, I want you more than I’ve ever wanted
any girl. And that pisses me the fuck off.”