Lust Thy Neighbor (10 page)

She nodded. Sure. Thank you.”

"I felt bad for not walking him when I was sick."

“That's okay, I'm just glad you feel better,” she said at the exact same time Declan asked, "Where are you going?"

"That pizza place around the corner. The one by the theater."

She felt Declan's arms slip from her waist as he took a step toward his brother. "You need some money?”

Jacob shook his head. "I'm good."

"You have your phone with you?"

"Yes,” he snapped. “See you later."

For some reason, she knew she had to say something. "Hey, Jake? Can I talk to you for a moment?" Both of the Pierce brothers turned their heads in her direction, Jacob’s expression nervous and Declan’s slightly amused. She tightened her fists in her pockets and then shook them out to relax.

"I'm going to get something to drink." As Declan passed by he gave her a wink and muttered under his breath, "Good luck, Miss Kelly."

She swallowed hard. "Want to sit down?" She gestured to the pair of lawn chairs on the patio next to the grill.

Jacob shrugged and reached down to unsnap Bear's leash. The dog bounded over to explore the newly cut grass, sniffing around the tree that grew on the side. Jacob plopped down next to her but didn't make any eye contact.

She paused to get her bearings straight then angled her slim body to face him better. "I know your brother spoke to you about..." She didn't know quite how to phrase it. “About me and him."

"Yeah."

"And I just wanted to say that I understand it's sort of awkward, what with us being neighbors and you being my student and all, but I'm—” She cleared her throat. “—
we’re
going to do our best not to make things any weirder."

"Thanks for promising not to make things creepy."

"Jacob, can you look at me please?" Violet touched his arm lightly and then drew away when he shrugged her off.

Slowly, he turned to face her, his face blank. “What?”

"Your brother cares about you. A lot. And I don't want to see you hurt either. But the thing is....”

"I know Declan likes you," he inserted.

"Yes, well." She bit her lip. That was certainly good to hear.

"But he likes a lot of women," he added sullenly.

She tried not to laugh. "Declan is an adult."

He went on as if he didn't hear her. "He dated a lot in New York. Like different women every week."

"Okay." She rubbed her hand across the center of her chest when an anxious bubble formed there. “Why are you telling me this, Jake?”

"They weren't as nice as you," he finished softly.

"Oh, Jacob." She leaned into him. “Are you warning me away from your brother because you think he’s going to hurt me?”

He hunched forward, leaning his forearms on his thighs. "He's going to screw things up. There’s no thinking to it."

"Why would you say that?" Violet's heart clenched a fraction. "What if I end up hurting him instead?"

He turned sharply, his thick brows pulled together over his hazel eyes. "Are you going to?"

"Well, no, I have no plans of doing anything like that, but here's the thing: Things happen in a relationship—sometimes without good reason or on accident." She noticed that her words were strangely a repeat of Declan's previous ones.

"Mom always said that things happen for a reason. Even the shitty stuff. And in the end, it's how you handle the bad stuff and savor the good things that make it all worthwhile."

She smiled softly at those insightful words. She was beginning to apply that same concept to her past with Henry, but hearing it so eloquently from a fourteen year old hit her right in the feels. "She sounded very smart. You must have had an incredible mother.”

"I ... I won't say anything to anyone about you guys dating if that's what you're worried about."

She shook her head slowly. "No, that's not what I was worried about. Well, yeah, I'd like to be discreet about things, but that thought never crossed my mind. I didn't think you'd go around announcing your brother's business to everyone." She took a moment to choose the right words. "I guess what I want to say is that I'm not trying to steal your brother away from you or anything like that. And I'm not looking to replace anyone in your life either. I'm just ... I like your brother."

"I know."

She nodded, knowing that this was as far as the conversation was going to get. And it was enough for now.

"You guys okay?" They turned to see Declan lounging with his shoulder propped up against the back door.

"Yeah." Violet stood up and brushed a few pieces of grass off the back of her tiny shorts. "I better go get ready for tonight." She faked a look of horror. "I've got to squeeze myself into that dress and that takes prep work and layers upon layers of Spanx.”

Declan chuckled and when she passed by him, he moved so that she would brush up against him. “Just so you know, I plan on kissing off your lipstick tonight multiple times."

Violet barely suppressed her shiver at his words. "Then I'll bring extra.”

“And I'll bring that candy bar so you can chill around your grandparents.” He grinned. "See you at six-thirty."

T
he moment she opened the door when he went to pick her up, he couldn't find his words. His tongue had stuck to the roof of his mouth and he was glad that it was dark in his pickup otherwise he'd embarrass himself because there was no way he could keep his eyes off her.

Her hair was swept up in some fancy twist that made him marvel at how women could tame and manipulate something as simple as hair into a work of art. There were a few strands left by her temples and teasing at the curve of her neck. He wanted to step behind her and nuzzle that spot, sweep the hair away from her skin just to breathe in her scent.

And speaking of her scent ... whatever perfume she was wearing was sultry and bold. He would never have guessed that his sweet, blushing neighbor would choose a scent so seductive. He had pictured her putting on something light and floral, maybe vanilla or jasmine, but she currently smelled like sex. The kind that took all night and involved the whole body with lots of moans and sweat.

Her dress was some sleeveless concoction that dipped in the middle and parted to cup her small, firm breasts. It was ice blue, a match to her stunning eyes, and fanned out just above her knees. It was beaded and in the passing glow cast by the streetlights, it shimmered. He had been with plenty of women in the past but Violet in that blue dress and that sexy perfume would be the one who haunted his dreams. She took his breath away.

“You know what?” She smiled weakly beside him. "You're going to regret this by the end of the night."

"It can't be that bad."

She snorted. "Yes, it can."

He smiled sympathetically at her dramatics. "I'll consider myself fully warned." Reaching into the center console, he took out something he'd picked up for her that afternoon and placed it in her hand.

“A Snickers bar?” She laughed.

“For when your grandma makes you crazy and you turn into the guy from
Machete
.” He pulled her other hand into his and felt that satiny smoothness beneath his rougher palms. "Okay, tell me about your family."

She took a moment to respond, and he glanced over to find her fiddling with the edge of the candy bar wrapper. “My mom gave birth to me when she was in college and broke my poor grandmother’s heart.” She rolled her bright blue eyes, but there was a soft smile playing on her lips. “My parents got married because they were going to have a baby, but they had a hard time adjusting. Dad was supposed to finish Harvard and my mom was supposed art in New York, but they put all that on hold."

She gripped his hand tighter, and he knew without needing to look at her that the story was about to go downhill. “They started to resent each other. Dad, because he didn't get to party and study what he wanted to. And Mom resented Dad for getting her knocked up in the first place. She's kind of a free spirit.”

"She didn't want to be tied down," he concluded.

"Yeah. They eventually split up when I was seven. And that really pissed off my grandparents. They were confused why Mom and Dad didn't try harder to stay together for my sake.” She shivered, in spite of the warmth inside the cab of the truck. “They're old school like that.”

“A child is a horrible reason to stay together.”

She looked up from the candy bar in her lap. “I couldn't agree more.”

"So it was just you and her growing up then?"

“And my dad on the weekends. Mom did her best, and nowadays, she seems really happy. She started working as manager for this indie rock band a few years ago. I'm pretty sure she has an open relationship with the lead singer. It drives my grandma crazy.”

He stroked her hand with his fingers, tracing her lifeline. "Sounds about right. You love your parents, Violet?"

Her brows furrowed and he knew he had caught her off guard. "Everyone loves their parents."

He shook his head. "You think that because you love them out of duty. But not everyone loves them out of choice."

"Did you love yours by choice?"

He nodded and thought about his own mother and father. "Yeah, I did. I was a handful growing up. I was moody and hard to control, but they loved me and gave me room to figure out who I was. When I went off and did my own thing and blew off school, my parents took the time to find out what I was passionate about."

"Sounds like they really loved you."

"Yeah."

"I love my mom.” She gulped down a hard knot in the back of her throat. "She sacrificed a lot to be with me. In many ways, we're very close.”

"I'm sensing a 'but' to your statement," he gently prodded. “So what's the but?”

"Sometimes I wonder if she looks at me and sees nothing but regret. Like, she looks at me and immediately she thinks of all the other things she could have accomplished instead.” Her voice broke on the last few words.

"Why would you think that?"

She moved one shoulder into a shrug. "She wanted to travel and do all that stuff. She never wanted to settle down at such a young age. I guess she would've wanted a family eventually, but not at nineteen. When she should have been partying and celebrating her twenty-first birthday, she was at home dealing with a sick two year old with an ear infection instead."

Declan could hear the pain in her voice. He didn't doubt that she loved her mother. It was clear in her words and how her eyes seemed to go soft at the memories, but there was still a lot of hurt there. A hurt that only she could understand as a child knowing that she was unplanned and that her parents had put their lives on hold because of her.

"I'm sure she doesn't regret anything. You've turned out rather nicely. When you’re not losing your shit over being woken up at seven in the morning.”

She smiled for the first time since they started discussing her family. "You're so charming."

"I try."

A beat passed by and there was a brief lull in the conversation as Rudimental and Ed Sheeran’s “Lay It All On Me” filled the silence. When the song finished, she looked over at him. "So ... Jacob said that you see a lot of women."

He just about choked on his own saliva. "What?"

She laughed. "He was warning me off by informing me that you have quite the harem."

"I need a muzzle for that damn kid,” he growled.

Now, she was laughing so hard she had to swipe at an escaping tear. "Oh man, I don't want to ruin my makeup."

He stopped at a red light and leaned over for a quick kiss on the cheek. "Did I mention that you look pretty tonight?"

"I got that vibe when I saw your tongue hanging out as soon as I opened the door, but thanks for changing the subject.”

Declan was caught. "Damn. Here I thought I was being so cool about it too. I'm serious by the way; you look beautiful."

"Thank you. Now ... about your binder full of women?”

He felt like he was potentially stepping into a landmine, but he wanted to be honest with her. "I admit that I have a bit of a dating record."

"That's such a tame way to put it."

He cringed. He was going to kill Jacob when he got home. "Okay, I've seen a lot of women in the past. Nothing that was serious to the point of thinking about marriage, but I've had some steady girlfriends. But I have never been unfaithful. When I first got custody of Jacob, I didn't change anything in my life. I tried to fit him into my lifestyle, and I found out soon enough that it was hurting him. That's why I haven't seen anyone for a while now. I realized that not only will I be dating a woman, but I'm dragging her into my brother’s life as well.”

“I see.”

“It wasn't fair to Jacob to get to know someone and have them in his life and then lose them suddenly," he said with a nagging guilt in the back of his mind. “I realize that now. Plus, I never used to choose women who had any kind of a maternal side."

Her delicately arched eyebrow shifted up. “As opposed to now?"

Declan heard her soft question and smiled to himself. He wanted her to know that even though they might be taking things slow and starting casual, he wasn't just using her or lumping her in with the masses. "Having Jacob made me realize that I'm sick of sleeping around with random women.”

“Good to know I'm not a random.” She was silent for a long pause, tapping her nail gently on her candy bar, before asking. "But you've had some long-term relationships, right?"

He thought about it and his memories of Serena came to the surface. "A couple. Not long as in lasting for several years, but somewhere around there."

Declan could already sense what she would ask next and mentally prepared himself. “And your last real relationship?"

"It didn't end well." He sucked in a breath and lifted his shoulders nonchalantly. “She cheated on me.”

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well, what can you do, right?" He shook his head, remembering the helplessness and the anger when he caught Serena. She confessed that it all started out innocently enough. She met the guy, had mutual friends, they hung out in a group, but things slowly escalated from there. Soon, she was making excuses not to see Declan and he finally caught wind of what was really going on. But when he confronted her, Serena had blamed him. She said that he wasn't invested in the relationship and that he couldn't give her the kind of love and obsession—her words, not his—that she needed.