Their Virgin Neighbor (7 page)

“
I won’t have a choice,”
she whispered. “Not once winter is over.”

“
Perhaps not. But you
never know. The unexpected can happen really easily out here.” He
paused. “This place takes you away from yourself. Let’s you feel
things that you never really felt before.”

Anna inhaled sharply. Lee looked at
her, wondering exactly what she had taken from his words that had
startled her. “I—”

The sound of the truck pulling round
halted the question that Lee wanted to ask. It was not a question
he should be asking though. Not now. Not so soon. “Go,” he said
instead. “You’re getting cold.”

“
Thanks again.”

“
I’ll see you soon, Anna,”
Jack said, and he meant it.

Chapter
Eight

The drive back from
Annie’s hadn’t taken long, but it had been long enough that Jack
had noticed things that he hadn’t even considered before. The
cottage really
was
isolated. Annie was all on her own over there without so much
as a security light in case she needed to walk their way for help.
He thought about the supplies in his various outbuildings and
decided that it wouldn’t take too much to put something together.
Maybe one light on the front, another on the back, and perhaps he
should think about some sort of gate at the end of the dirt
road?

He wasn’t hugely worried that Annie
was in any real danger, there hadn’t been any crime that Jack was
aware of in their area as long as they had lived on their land, but
still, he didn’t like the thought of her all by herself.

You like the thought of
her here with you. Preferably in your bed.

He frowned at that thought and hung
his jacket up. Annie’s floral scent still lingered in the hallway.
Jack suspected he’d smell it for days. He didn’t mind that thought
because yes, there was no denying it, he wanted Annie.

She was beautiful, more than that she
was interesting. Jack had enjoyed watching her eat, enjoyed talking
with her. In fact, he couldn’t remember enjoying a night half as
much in quite some time.

He had no doubt that his friend was
thinking along exactly the same lines.

What Annie was thinking Jack did not
know.

He walked into the kitchen to find Lee
sat at the table. The dinner things had been cleared away and
instead a decanter and two glasses were on the table, along with
the tin of cookies that Annie had brought. Jack dropped into one of
the chairs and filled both glasses. He took a healthy swallow and
looked at his friend.

“
Come on then,” he said.
“One of us might as well say it.”

“
Say what?” Lee
asked.

Jack sighed. “Don’t be a
dick.”

“
She’s pretty.”

“
She’s more than pretty,”
Jack said. “She’s beautiful.”

Lee shrugged. “I guess.”

But his words did not fool Jack. He
knew Lee well enough to know exactly what the other man was
thinking. It had not escaped Jack’s attention that Lee had spent
the majority of their dinner watching Annie.

Lee wanted her.

Jack did too.

This was something they were going to
have to figure out.

“
You guess?” Jack asked.
“Lee, you always were a sucker for a damsel in
distress.”

“
Is that what she
is?”

He nodded and took another swig of the
fiery liquid. “You know it is. She’s like one of the women from
your paintings. I can see the pain there, right behind her eyes.
I’ve no doubt you can see it too.”

Lee grabbed his own glass and downed
the contents. “Yeah. I can. I said as much to her in the
studio.”

“
You want her.”

“
Jack…”

“
You do.”

For a moment Jack thought that Lee
wasn’t going to answer. He leaned forward so that his elbows were
on the table and nudged the cookie tin. “It’s been a long time
since a woman has had me thinking things like that,” he said
slowly.

“
Sex?”

“
Not sex.” He undid the
clasp of the cookie tin and pushed the lid open. It fell back,
releasing a scent that was all Annie. Vanilla and chocolate and
something else, something indefinable. “I’ve done plenty of that
since we came home,” Lee added. “Maybe too much. But Anna?” He
frowned. “She’s not a quick fuck type of woman.”

“
What is she then?” Jack
asked.

Lee took a cookie out of the tin and
rubbed the edge of it between his fingers. The flaky material
crumbled on to the table. “She’s like these,” he said. “Soft,
delicate, vulnerable.” He paused and looked Jack right in the eye.
“But yes, you’re right, I want her.”

Jack sighed. “You’re not the only
one.”

“
You were never a knight
in shining armor.”

“
I know.”

“
Then what?”

“
She’s not just delicate
and vulnerable,” Jack said. “She’s sexy as fucking hell. That
dress…those eyes…that hair…”

“
I don’t think she even
realizes that,” Lee said. “The way she described her
upbringing…surrounded by a bunch of older ladies…”

“
She must have had
relationships with people her own age.”

“
I don’t know,” Lee said.
“But one thing I am sure of, she doesn’t have much experience with
men. I realized that just as she was leaving. Did you pick up on
how nervous she was? I helped her into her coat and she went bright
red.”

“
Maybe it’s because of her
recent loss? The nerves, I mean.”

“
No,” Lee said. “She’s
inexperienced. I’m almost positive of it.”

Silence settled between the two men.
Jack took the opportunity to finish then refill his drink before
looking down at Annie’s cookie tin. The cookies were laid out in
neat little rows. From what Jack could tell some were chocolate,
some had nuts. She’d catered for all possible tastes. Those cookies
fit Annie’s personality to a tee. Though he barely knew her yet
Jack had picked up plenty from their conversation. She had nursed
her Grand right to the end. She’d set up her own small business
though he doubted she needed the money. She was conscientious,
thoughtful…in short, she had many of the qualities that appealed to
him in a woman. Add in the drop dead gorgeous and was it any wonder
he was struggling?

“
So what do we do here?”
he eventually said. “We both want her, albeit for different
reasons.”

Lee snorted. “I don’t think this is
going to be a best man wins sort of situation.”

“
No. Not at
all.”

“
Maybe we should keep our
distance?”

Jack thought about how it had felt to
have her sat next to him in the truck. Her quiet presence, her
floral scent… “I don’t know if I can.”

“
You’re that far gone
already, Jack?”

“
I’m close.”

Lee frowned and refilled his own
glass. “Me too.”

“
She might not be
interested in either of us.”

He shook his head. “No. She
is.”

“
You’re sure about
that?”

“
When we were in the
studio…” Lee shrugged. “I saw it. There was a flare of interest.
Not sure if she knows it herself, but it was there.”

“
I thought I saw it too,”
Jack said. “When we were in the kitchen.”

“
So you think she likes
both of us?”

“
Why not?” he asked.
“We’re pretty alike.”

“
So let her
choose?”

Jack nodded. “I guess that is the only
option.”

They each took another swig of their
drinks. “Is this going to cause a problem between us?” Lee
asked.

“
No,” Jack said, and he
meant that, had not even considered the possibility. “Our
friendship runs too deep for that.”

“
Too deep for a woman to
come between us, even someone like Anna.”

“
Exactly.”

“
It’s a shame that…” Lee
halted. “Never mind.”

“
What?”

“
Nothing. Something
stupid. I was thinking it’s a shame we can’t press a button and
have two of her. Two Annas.”

“
Like twins?”

“
Yeah, except…” He waved a
hand. “It’s not just about her looks.”

“
No. It’s not.”

“
Well we can’t share her,”
Lee said. “That would be…” He trailed off and shook his
head.

Jack looked into his drink, Lee’s
words making him pause. Suddenly, and out of nowhere, he was
envisioning a situation where they were both able to spend time
with her, both able to touch and stroke her. Unsurprisingly, that
thought did not make him jealous. Lee was his best friend. His
happiness mattered as much to Jack as his own. “We
can’t…”

“
No, of course not,” Lee
said quickly. “But if we did, not saying we would, but if we did,
would that be such a bad thing?”

“
How do you
mean?”

“
She’s hurting,” Lee said.
“She’s, like you said, delicate. We could help heal
her.”

“
With sex?”

“
Not just sex,” he said.
“She’s here for the entire winter. We’re here too. We could spend
time together, have fun…”

“
And fuck?”

Lee grinned. “Yeah, that
too.”

“
This is a crazy idea,”
Jack said but already, almost as if he couldn’t not, he was
considering Lee’s idea. He imagined taking Annie out for a picnic
in the woods she loved. He thought about he and Lee having her
round for meals, maybe taking her into the city. They could talk,
laugh, eat. His and Lee’s relationship was such that they were
completely at ease in one another’s company. Maybe Annie would fit
into that dynamic too. Maybe she would do so far easier than he
could envision. And it would mean that neither man would have to
compete for her attention. Neither of them would be left feeling
like they had missed out.

Here, in the middle of
nowhere, there would be no one to judge, no one to suggest that the
three of them together would be wrong. And it
wouldn’t
be wrong, Jack thought.
They’d all lost things that mattered to them, every one of them was
aware how fleeting life really was, how quickly it could all be
taken away. If finding some love and passion together was a
possibility why not at least explore it?

“
Is it really that crazy?”
Lee asked, almost as if he was reading Jack’s thoughts.
“Considering that we’ve already been deemed such by pretty much
everyone we know.”

“
I don’t know, my friend.”
Jack shook his head. “It would all depend on what Anna
thinks.”

“
I’m sure we could bring
her way around to our way of thinking. We’re a pretty charming pair
when it comes right down to it.”

Jack laughed, because in reality they
were not. “I’m sure we could.”

“
So, shall we at least
explore the possibility?” Lee asked. “If that’s what she wants?
Shall we make the offer?”

The two of them wooing her…making her
happy…easing that pain in her eyes…

“
Yes,” Jack said. “We
shall.”

Chapter
Nine

When the doorbell rang Anna’s heart
hitched almost all the way to her throat. She cast the sitting room
a quick glance and then hurried in to the kitchen. The coffee
machine was already gurgling away, and the oven was busy finishing
off their meal.

She paused to make sure the pans were
still on low heat and then took a deep breath.

Jack and Lee were here.

Outside the door.

And she was excited about that
fact.

For Anna that feeling was something to
be cherished. Anything that broke up the dark cloud that hung over
her, or the ache in her heart, was something to be grateful for.
Add in the fact that the two hottest males she had ever met were
the ones causing it…

She exhaled slowly, patted her hair
into place and then walked to the door. She could hear them
laughing and talking on the other side. Seemed they were as pleased
to be here as she was to have them.

Anna opened the door and shot them
both a smile. “Hi.”

They smiled back. “Hey, Annie,” Jack
said.

“
Anna.”

Lee held out a bunch of flowers. Anna
knew immediately that they were wild flowers, could tell from not
only the look of them, but because they grew in the forest where
she took her walks. In truth, there were very few flowers in the
mix, mostly there were just bits of greenery, but then this was
winter and flowers were few and far between. Anna took them with
shaking hands. The idea that Lee had tramped into the woods to pick
these for her made her heart ache in a completely new way. She was
touched. More than that she was pleased.

“
Thank you, Lee,” she
said. “These are beautiful.”