How to Love (6 page)

She paused on her front doorstep at seeing her next door neighbor pushing the lawnmower across his patch of grass…and hers. Mike looked up and saw her, and a smile lit up his face. He lifted a hand.

He was shirtless.

Oh sweet baby Jesus. Now the sun was out, the day was warming and he’d taken off his shirt, his bronze skin gleaming in the bright light. Her gaze moved over the rounded muscles of his upper arms, the flat slabs of his pecs, the freakin’ eight pack abs, his defined obliques tapering down…lower…his cargo shorts hanging so low on his hips the white band of his briefs—or boxers?—was visible.

She’d totally been right about asking him to pose nude.

She inhaled a long, slow breath and stepped down the stairs to the brick sidewalk leading from her house to the road. Mike killed the motor of the mower.

“Morning,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind me doing your grass too. Where I grew up, when the neighbor mowed the lawn he did ours, and when we did it, we did his.”

“That’s very fair.” Her eyes still wandered over his body, now taking in his muscled arms with a tribal tattoo circling the left upper deltoid, the prominent veins running beneath his smooth tanned skin down to his wrists and onto the backs of his strong hands.

She lifted her eyes and met his. One eyebrow rose and the corners of his mouth lifted.

She’d totally been ogling him.

He grinned. Then he lifted his chin. “You left the party early last night.”

“Don’t remind me,” she said. “I was just getting over my bitchy mood about that.”

“You? Bitchy?”

“Oh, I can be a bitch,” she said, but truthfully, even being reminded of the party wasn’t really harshing the sweet pleasure of looking at his body and talking to him.

“I gather Bella pissed you off.”

“Carlos told you.”

“Yeah.”

“We have some…history. Well, in her mind at least.” She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“Carlos and I wanted to invite you over for dinner tonight.”

She blinked. “Really?”

“Yeah. We’re going to grill some steaks on the barbecue. Just casual. If you’re free, come on over around five.”

“Oh. Well. That’s nice of you.” She smiled. “I think I’m going to like having you as neighbors.”

“Yeah,” he said. “We’re good neighbors.”

“And modest.”

“That too.”

Their eyes locked for a long, stretched out moment.

“Where are you off to?” he asked. “Working on Sunday?”

“Yes. But first I’m going to the farmers’ market. Hey, is there anything you need for dinner?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. We have steaks. And a salad. Potatoes.”

“Okay. I’ll see what I find. You should check out the farmers’ market on the weekends, it’s awesome.”

“We’ll have to do that some time.”

“Okay, so I’ll probably see you later then.”

“Okay.”

She strolled toward her car parked on the street, aware of his gaze following her. She smiled.

Well, that warmed her frame of mind up a few degrees on the mood thermometer.

The farmers’ market was as usual a feast for the senses, with all the colors of daisies and orchids and gladioli, the textures of avocadoes and melons, the scents of strawberries and apricots and apples. Even though she’d taken countless photographs of the various stalls and vendors in the past, she still itched for her camera every time she came here. The bounty of sensual pleasure from nature never ceased to thrill her. And picking out some things to take to Carlos and Mike’s place was fun too: some baby eggplants and zucchini, some sweet Imperial Onions from the Imperial Valley, and shitake, oyster and crimini mushrooms to toss with fresh herbs and olive oil on the grill.

She picked out a bunch of flowers for her kitchen table, a new bouquet every week, such a simple pleasure but so uplifting. And she picked up two boxes of Decadent Indulgence chocolate, excited to share them with Mike and Carlos after dinner.

Luckily she had a bottle of wine in her fridge she could take too.

Pleasant anticipation of the dinner with her new neighbors made the work go faster at the gallery, the part of running her own business that she’d at first hated but now had come to accept. Paying bills never thrilled her, and there was never as much money left as she’d like. She didn’t need a lot and she was making it on her own, of which she was proud, but sometimes the bottom line was a little too skimpy for comfort. She really did need some new material. She bit her lip, remembering Mike’s shirtless torso and her impulsive invitation to him to pose nude.

Would he do it? She’d issued the invitation mostly to throw him off, because he’d been talking about things she didn’t want to talk about. But seriously, he was hot, and her mind wandered to poses and lighting, her heart quickening its pace.

Work. Business. Focus.

She finished what she was doing, chatted with Anna and Min for a few minutes before closing, with only a couple of people browsing in the gallery, then paused to look at the nude photographs as she headed out. Once again the image of Mike’s half-naked body, so beautifully shaped, well-muscled, smooth skin gleaming with sweat, drifted into her mind and she lost herself in that for a moment. God. In the studio, with the right lighting, he would be incredible. The things she could do with that body.

She couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips, her mind going beyond just doing photographic things with that body. He was seriously hot.

Would he pose for her? She nibbled her bottom lip as she continued walking toward the back door. He could be the answer to her problems. He definitely inspired her. She grinned again.

At home, she didn’t bother changing out of the T-shirt dress, but grabbed her sunglasses as she left in case they were sitting outside on the patio. As she stepped out her front door, voices and a rumbling noise caught her attention. She looked up the street at the two boys who lived across from her on the road with their skateboards. She smiled then did a double take as a man executed some kind of spinning maneuver.

Carlos. Huh. She slowly walked across her lawn, arms laden with her packages, watching the boys as they laughed and cheered, clearly impressed with Carlos’s skater skills. Then Carlos popped the board up and caught it, grinning at the boys.

“That’s rad!” Justin said as Carlos handed him his board back.

“Can you really help us build a half pipe?” Riley asked.

“Sure. As long as it’s okay with your parents.” He spotted Jules and lifted a hand. “Hey, guys, I gotta go.”

“Hi, Jules!” the boys called to her. She smiled and waved back at them. They were good kids and although she didn’t know how to skateboard, she’d often sat on her front door step and let them show off their moves to her.

“Having fun?” she asked Carlos as he approached.

“Yeah.” He grinned. “I haven’t skated for a while. That was fun.”

He led the way down the brick sidewalk running down the side of his house and through the gate to enter the backyard. As they rounded the corner, Mike lifted the lid of what appeared to be a brand new gas barbecue, all shiny silver in the sun, holding a beer in his other hand.

“Gonna wash up,” Carlos said, disappearing into the house.

“New toy?” she asked Mike as she approached, nodding at the barbecue.

He looked up and grinned. “Yep. We had a crappy old barbecue at our place in San Diego and tossed it. This baby’s got five burners and fifteen thousand BTUs.”

“Uh-huh. Impressive. Here. I brought mushrooms for you to grill. A bottle of wine. And chocolate for after dinner.”

“Would this be the orgasmic chocolate?” He lifted one eyebrow as he took the things from her.

“Yes, it would.”

“Hmmm. Well, much as I like chocolate, I prefer to get my orgasms the traditional way.”

“From your hand?”

He laughed and led the way through sliding doors into the kitchen. “Well, that’s one way. But really, the possibilities are endless.”

Heat washed over her. She wasn’t one to embarrass easily and didn’t hesitate to say what was on her mind, even—or maybe, especially—when it came to sex, but the images Mike’s words conjured up made her…hot. Images of all the different ways he could come…some of them involving her.

She also really liked how he just went with her comment without embarrassment of his own.

Should she wait until after dinner to talk to him again about posing for her? Her insides tightened. Since the invitation had spilled from her lips, it had grown in her head until she wanted it with a deep, needy desire. But wanting something that much made it all the more risky to ask, because if he said no, she’d be so disappointed.

She followed him into the kitchen where Carlos stood at the sink. He looked up from his hands, all lathered up with soap. “Got that barbecue fired up?” he asked Mike.

“Yup.”

“Jules, would you like a glass of wine?” Carlos asked. “Beer? Cocktail?”

“Wine would be nice.” She held up the bottle of merlot she’d brought over. “I thought this would go nicely with steaks.”

“Excellent. Mike’ll open it.”

“Sure Mike will,” Mike said. He set down the parcels on the counter.

Jules looked around. “You’re lucky Mrs. K redid her kitchen a couple of years ago. You should’ve seen it before.”

“It’s a great kitchen,” Mike said.

“Yeah,” Carlos said. “We’re gonna learn how to cook now.”

She frowned at him. “You don’t know how to cook? And yet you invited me for dinner?”

“How hard can it be?” He looked over at Mike opening the wine. “Hey, do we have any wine glasses?”

Mike rolled his eyes and wiped his hands on a towel. “Yes.” He walked over to an end cupboard and pulled out a glass.

“Ah.”

“So um…what else are you making?” she asked, peering over where Carlos started rubbing seasonings onto some steaks. “Jesus, those steaks are huge. How many people are coming?”

“Just us, doll,” Carlos said cheerfully.

“Okay. Well, I’ll eat maybe a quarter of one of those.”

He shook his head. “That’s sad.”

Mike laughed as he pulled the cork out of the wine with a pop. “No problem, Jules. How do you like your steak done?”

“Medium.”

“Let’s hope we can achieve that,” Carlos said with a wry smile. “Okay, do you think I should cook these potatoes in the microwave before we grill them?”

Jules sucked briefly on her bottom lip. “Seems like a good idea.”

“Er…you don’t cook either?”

“I can cook. A few things. I’m not exactly a chef, though.” An unpleasant thought flashed through her head. “Don’t tell me that’s why you invited me over? To help cook?”

“Nah. We know what we’re doing, I’m just messing with ya.”

She smiled to show she’d also been joking. Even though she really, sort of, hadn’t been. She shook her head at her silly doubt.

Carlos set three potatoes in the microwave and punched some buttons. “Don’t worry, we won’t poison you.”

“Ooookay.” She deliberately let doubt creep into her voice as she accepted the glass of wine from Mike.

He smiled at her. “Don’t sound so confident.”

She couldn’t help but smile back, her gaze snared by his hazel one as he stood there looking down at her.

“And she brought orgasms for dessert,” Mike said, for Carlos’s benefit.

Carlos turned and gave them both a look over his shoulder that was shockingly hot and sexy, his eyes sinfully dark and delicious. “No shit? Now that’s the kind of dinner guest I like.”

Jules licked her lips then sipped her wine as Mike chuckled. Holy hell, these two guys were a match for her in the sexy banter department. Her insides tingled at the mild flirting with two hot guys. Two. Hot. Guys.

Orgasms for dessert. She could definitely get on board with that.

Chapter Four

Mike grinned at the joke about orgasms even though his cock was fully erect, and Jesus, an orgasm wasn’t that far off at the moment. Between Carlos’s hot eyes and Jules’s sexy body—or was that Jules’s hot eyes and Carlos’s sexy body?—he was hard and ready. But that wasn’t what they’d invited Jules there for. It was supposed to be a neighborly dinner, so she could get to know them, see what great guys they were. Nice and friendly. Not too fast.

“So have you thought about my offer?”

He focused on Jules, a little lost for a few seconds. “Offer?” Hadn’t they been talking about orgasms? Then he remembered. “Oh. Yeah. That offer.”

“What’s that?” Carlos asked, opening a beer.

“I want to take nude photographs of Mike,” Jules said.

Carlos choked on his beer.

Mike laughed. “Hey, I’m not that ugly.”

“Not at all,” Jules murmured with a hot up-and-down look at him. His cock swelled even more.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” he lied. He leaned casually on the counter.

“Oh. Well, you should. I’m serious. Nobody has to know it’s you. We’d do it privately in my studio.”