Love Thy Neighbor (2 page)

“Yeah, he went all goo-goo over you, and now
he won’t come back here, tramp!” My younger sister, Helena,
sneers.

Ahh, feel the love.

When a person looks at us together, they can
tell we’re sisters. We’re only a year apart from each other. The
only difference between us is Nina’s hair is dyed blonde and
Helena’s hair is dyed black.
Nina is a hairdresser and has her own salon in Cali. I hate having
to pay to get my hair done in New York when my sister is a
hairdresser. Helena is still studying. She wants to be a physical
therapist.

“Back off, whores. It was totally obvious
what you were doing. Stop embarrassing yourselves.” I say out the
side of my mouth.

Anyone looking at us would see three sisters
smiling and having a nice chat. No one would guess what we were
really saying to each other. Every cuss word and insult is uttered
with the utmost affection though, I promise.

Nina smiles and wraps an arm around my
shoulders. “He was totally into me. Back off, hag.”

Helena fake laughs and lightly pushes Nina.
“Oh please, he didn’t want you, Nina. No one wants a girl with a
moustache.”

We all burst out laughing and wrap our arms
around the others’ waists. We really do love each other. We just
have a weird way of expressing it.

I joke, “Maybe we should do the sister act.
You know, if you want one of us, you have to take all of us.”

Nina replies, “Oh, yeah, because one hoe
isn’t enough. He needs three.”

Helena teases, “Sure. We could invite mom
and dad to watch.”

All of us stop and blink at each other. At
the same time, we scrunch our faces and mutter, “Ewww.”

Stefan comes past our side of the bar, and I
yell out, “Sheriff, I need some lemonade. Stat. The bride is
retching again.” He stops suddenly, turns, and the lemonade appears
in front of me like magic.

I take the bottle, kiss my sisters’ cheeks
and head back to the restrooms. I pass the lemonade under the
stall, and Tina cheers, “Hooray! No more vomit breath.”

I chuckle and ask, “Do you want me to stay
with you, sweetie?”

She answers immediately and firmly, “No!
There’s nothing worse than listening to someone vomit. Actually,
there is. Smelling someone else’s vomit!”

I give in. “Okay, well, I’ve got my cell on
me if you need me.”

As I walk out the restroom door, someone
crashes into me from behind. Hard. I teeter and almost fall, but
strong arms wrap around my middle and hold me firmly.

My head sways and I suddenly feel
lightheaded. I close my eyes and breathe deep.

Oh, damn.

I know that scent. I fantasize about that
fragrance. My eyes flutter open, and I look up to focus on the rat
bastard.

Ghost looks down at me with what appears to
be concern in his eyes. “Okay, pretty girl?”

I hate that I love how he calls me that.

Still in a daze, I stupidly croak, “You
smell good.”

A round of applause, please. Bravo.

My back is pressed up against his stomach
and chest. He isn’t built like Nik. Ghost is more slender than Nik,
and almost as tall and strapping. He has the lean, muscular
physique of a swimmer, although his arms are built bigger than a
swimmer’s. The feel of the ridges of his abs in my back makes my
vajayjay dance. His messy blonde hair sits atop his head looking
perfectly styled, even though he runs his hand through his hair
every five minutes, and he looks outrageously handsome in a tux and
bowtie. His warm brown eyes are dancing.

He replies in a husky, soft voice, “Oh,
yeah?” He leans down and buries his nose in my hair. He breathes me
in. “Well, I gotta say, you smell good, too, pretty girl.”

I quickly straighten and spit, “God, why are
you such an asshole?!” Before he can respond, I’m gone.

That was a little uncalled for.

Shut up, brain.

***

The evening begins to slow. People are
leaving the wedding reception. It’s almost two a.m.
I’m seated at the bar, talking and flirting with Sheriff who has
opened up to me quite a bit.
He’s easy to talk to, funny and attractive. I take a moment to
ponder why I never noticed this before.

Then I take a closer look at him. He’s
blonde, brown eyed, tall and muscular.

Ghost.

He looks like Ghost. That’s why.

I don’t want an imitation Ghost. I’ve had
the real thing, and I know how good it is. There’s no faking
that.

Stefan reaches over and takes my hand. He
says, “Sorry, Nat. I got to clean up. It was great talking to you.
Hope I get the chance again this Saturday.” He kisses my hand, and
I smile softly at him.

“Me too. Don’t be a stranger, Sheriff.” I
reply.

I’m about to stand when an arm goes around
my waist. I look up and see Ghost frowning down at me. His bowtie
is undone and it hangs around his collar.

So hot.

He orders, “Dance. Now.”

Then he tightens his hold around my waist
and drags me to the dance floor. We’re the only ones on it. He
takes my hands, winds them around the back of his neck and steps
closer to me. He holds me tight with one hand on the middle of my
back, while the other is half on my lower back, half on my ass. He
has me wrapped up.

I’m unsure what’s going on right now, so I
react the only way I’m programmed to.

In anger.

I blink then hiss, “What is wrong with
you?”

He blinks. His brow furrows and his eyes
flash, then he hisses right back, “With me? What the fuck is wrong
with you?”

Ouch.

I don’t like Ghost being angry with me. What
did I do now?

“Nothing’s wrong with me. I’m having a
ball.” I roll my eyes and sigh. “Are we going to do this every
single time?”

Ghost stops swaying us and says sharply, “I
don’t make it this way, Nat. You do. Ever since we… You’ve been ten
times the bitch you normally are. What you don’t get is,” he leans
down and whispers, “
that
does something to me. It makes me
wanna soothe the tiger in you. Bend you over another table and
pound you into submission. Because that works with you.” His lips
brush my ear. “From a tiger into a mewing kitten. And I like that
side of you. I like all sides of you, pretty girl. You think you’re
putting me off with this supreme bitch act? Nope, all you’re doing
is making me hard.”

I lean back, look into his eyes and croak,
“I think we should avoid each other.”

He shakes his head slowly and smirks. “I
think we should fuck again. Tonight.”

My stomach dips and my core moistens just
thinking about the possibility of having Ghost again.

Get the hell out of his clutches,
stupid!

I lower my head and shake it. I whisper,
“No. It was a mistake. Never to be repeated. I got to go. Please
leave me alone, Ghost.”

Ghost stiffens and replies quietly, “If
that’s what you want, pretty girl.”

I look up into his eyes and still. He
doesn’t look angry. He looks hurt and resigned.

I don’t understand it.

My heart squeezes and I beg, “Please, Ghost.
We’re not good for each other. We need to start avoiding each
other.”

His brow furrows as he nods. His arms loosen
and he walks away from me.

Ghost walking away from me leaves me feeling
alone and bitter.

Why did I do that?

Because you’d fall for the broken man which
would leave you lonely, regardless.

Oh, yeah.

Thanks, brain.

Chapter
One
My neighbors suck

Seven months later…

Tatiana pulls my hair hard.

Yowza!

I squint in pain, remove her grabby hands,
and softly reprimand her, “Hey peaches, that’s Teta Nat’s. You’re
just going to have to grow some of your own if you want some hair.”
Teta means Aunt in Croatian. Tina insists we use Teta instead of
Aunt.

She smiles a gummy smile and jumps around in
my arms. I can’t help but smile right back at her.

She is too damn cute.

Tatiana is three months old. All eight of us
were present at her birth. You really can’t separate us…if one of
us gets called, we start a phone tree to alert the others.

Tatiana looks just like Tina when she was a
baby; chubby and cute as hell with dark hair. The only difference
is my sweet little girlie has Nik’s amber eyes rather than Tina’s
green ones. Tina was overjoyed at this. She loves Nik’s eye
color.

I walk over to the storeroom and knock
before I enter. Tina sits behind the desk going through paperwork.
She smiles as we enter. She coos to her daughter. “Hi, my beautiful
girl. Are you giving Teta Nat a hard time? You eating her hair
again? My cheeky little thing.” She takes Tatiana out of my hands
and pops her onto her hip. Tina’s smiling face falls when she looks
over to me. She asks, “Everything okay?”

No.

My heart aches whenever I’m around Tatiana.
I’ll never have children. Watching Tina with Tats brings me as much
sorrow as it does happiness.

A random doctor’s appointment last year led
me to being diagnosed with PCOS. I have cysts on my ovaries and
uterus. I have around eighty cysts on each ovary.

That’s a lot.

The doctor advised me to be prepared for the
fact that I’ll never have children. My ovaries and uterus are too
scarred and damaged for me to conceive.

I force a large smile and reply, “Of course.
Just a little edgy with the move, that’s all.”

Tina smiles. “Don’t you even worry about the
move. I asked the girls to help out. The guys offered to help, but
I told them this was girl-bonding time.”

Smiling back at her, I sigh. “What would I
do without you?”

She scrunches her nose and tilts her head
up. “You’d have to
buy
cupcakes.” She blinks and goes on
“That’s about it.” We both laugh.

Tina’s cupcakes are the
bomb
.
Actually, anything Tina bakes is out of this world.

Tina owns Safira Boutique. Safira’s is a
clothing store, but we also sell accessories and lingerie. Mimi,
Lola and I work with Tina. Right across the street is The White
Rabbit, which is where all the guys work. We’re pretty close knit
which makes avoiding Ghost not so easy.

For seven months, I’ve managed to stay away
from him. We haven’t so much as said hello to each other in this
time. What’s crazy is I miss his stupid little aggravating comments
and how he called me pretty girl. What’s not crazy is that, of
course, I want the bad boy.

But isn’t that always the way it goes?

Every girl wants a bad boy who is only good
to her.

We all want to tame a wild beast. And Ghost
is as wild as a man comes. He’s unpredictable, broody and
emotionless. He may as well be a wild animal. I’ve never even heard
him laugh before.
The Ghost of my fantasies is loving, dominant and funny. That Ghost
doesn’t exist. He’s in my head.

My memories of the night Ghost and I had
crazy monkey sex are as clear as daylight.

They haunt me.

Every. Freaking. Night.

My belly tightens and I flush whenever I
think about it.

Tina pulls me back to reality with an
amused, “Hellllloooooo? Anyone in there?” She flaps her hand in
front of my face.

My face forms a scowl and I poke her lightly
in the ribs. She giggles and I smile. My friend is a goofball, but
she’s so adorable that it just makes her even cuter. We make each
other laugh all the time. It’s the real basis of our
friendship.

I sigh and say, “Please tell me you
baked.”

Her face falls immediately and I know she
didn’t. Tina wears her heart on her sleeve. I love that.
“Oh, honey, I promise I will soon. It’s just with Tatiana and the
housework, and Ceecee, I’ve been all over the place!” She sounds
panicked.

I quietly laugh and reassure her, “Sweetie,
I was only kidding! It’s not a cupcake emergency day.”

She looks only slightly reassured and
promises, “Tomorrow. Cupcakes.”

Toot toot! Yum!

I glance at the wall clock. 3:24pm. A few
hours and I’ll be moved into my new place.

Wicked.

***

The moving truck has arrived, and we’re all
working on getting the boxes inside my fabulous new apartment. The
price was a little over my budget, but the security in this place
is amazing! There’s a code to get through the front door and a
different code to use the elevator. Each apartment has a security
system, and the premises are monitored. I was happy to spend an
extra fifty a month on rent to be secure in my little home.

The moving guys help put my furniture in as
promised. Once all the heavy items are inside, the girls and I take
over. Lola, Mimi and Tina are opening boxes and moving them in and
out of rooms.
This is why you need girls to unpack a girl’s apartment. They all
know where things should go!

With the four of us going at it, it only
takes two hours, and I’m ecstatic when we finish.

Lola disappears for a minute then returns
with some champagne. Not the cheap stuff but Dom Perignon.

Six hundred dollar champagne! I’m giddy!

This has to be thanks to Nik. God, I love
that man.

I look over to Tina and grin. “I love your
husband.” Tina smiles and shrugs.

Mimi pops open the bottle and we all whoop
and cheer. She pours glasses for us, and we all drink with
enthusiasm, apart from Tina who takes only a tiny sip because she’s
breastfeeding Tats.
After we drink, they all hug and kiss me. I thank them for their
help and wave them off. I shut the door and lean my head against
it.

Alone at last.

I love my friends, but I seriously love my
alone time too.

I turn my back to the door, scan my newly
outfitted apartment and smile.

It looks awesome!