Monroe, Marla - Nina's Neighbor (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  “We can’t,” she said.

  “Why not?” he asked again.

  “I…I can’t get involved right now. It’s not a good time.”

  He looked puzzled. “What do you mean it’s not a good time? You haven’t been dating for the last month except for that weird guy in the blue four-door sedan.”

  “You’ve been watching me?”

  “Couldn’t help but notice when a strange car drives up your drive, and I’m outside working on my bike,” he pointed out.

  “I just don’t think we should get involved is all.” She licked her lips and realized she was breathing hard.

  “We don’t have to get ‘involved’”—he made quotes with his fingers—“to fuck.”

  “That’s all you want to do? Fuck me?” she asked, outraged now.

  The very idea that he would think she was that shallow. To think that he was that shallow, upset her. She had thought for a minute that maybe he was serious about liking her.

  “If that’s all you want. I was hoping for a little more than that, but it sounds like you’re not into relationships.”

  “You presume to…to know me after observing me for a month, and then helping me for…for not even twenty-four hours?” she stammered. “Get out!” she demanded.

  “Come on, Nina. Why not give us a chance? I swear I’m a good guy.”

  “You’re a biker I don’t know, who just happens to live next door to me,” she sputtered.

  “So the fact that I own a bike and have tattoos knocks me out of your perfect little world?” he asked, his voice rising.

  She jerked back. He looked at her and shook his head. Then without saying another word, he turned around and walked out of her bedroom. A few seconds later, she heard her kitchen door open and close. Nina immediately felt ashamed of herself. He’d gone out of his way to be friendly and helped her when she’d been extremely ill, and she’d repaid him with accusations and a show of unease around him. He could have done any number of things to her while she was sick, but he hadn’t. She owed him an apology. Worse still, she probably owed him her life.

  Chapter Three

  Jack stomped over to his house and slammed the door behind him. He could do it now that he was in his own home. He hadn’t wanted to give her the satisfaction of doing it while in her house. He wasn’t a “biker” anymore. He was a business owner with a mortgage and responsibilities. Jack wasn’t Jack the Ripper anymore. Sure, he kept up with a few of the people he’d always hung with, but they were good guys. He’d never really done anything all that illegal—much. He sighed. Someone like him would never have a chance with someone like Nina. He should have known better. But she had responded to him so sweetly. He could still smell her hot pussy’s perfume.

  He finished putting up his groceries that he’d left out to take hers over to her. That was a wasted trip all around. Jack grabbed a beer and slouched in his lounge chair while turning the TV on to a movie he wasn’t going to watch. Just like he was trying to forget a woman who lived next door, while trying to ignore the cock that wouldn’t go down.

  The ringing of the phone pulled him from his self-imposed misery. He answered it and smiled to hear Jimmy Pharr’s voice on the other end.

  “What in the hell are you up to, man?” he asked.

  “I’m riding through town and thought I’d check and see if you want to meet up somewhere,” Jimmy said.

  “Hell, come over to the house and we can drink a beer together. They don’t serve alcohol on Sundays here,” Jack told him.

  “No kidding?”

  “Nope.”

  Jack gave him directions to the house and hung up feeling a little better. He hadn’t seen Jimmy in nearly a year now. It would be good to catch up on old times.

  Thirty minutes later, there was a knock on his door. Jack opened the door to Jimmy and Lacy, a woman from his past. He hadn’t expected to see her. He shook Jimmy’s hand, but Lacy insisted on a hug. He wasn’t that into her anymore. She didn’t seem to notice.

  “You look good, Jack,” she said, looking around his house.

  She was sizing him up, he was sure. Lacy had always been all about who could do her the most good.

  “Jimmy, man, what are you doing nowadays?” he asked.

  “Mostly odd jobs. I’m on my way to Louisiana to work on some houses there. They need workers bad. Too many people left after the hurricane and haven’t gone back.”

  “So you’re hooked up with Lacy now?” Jack asked.

  “Yeah, we’ve been together for about four months. You know she never got over you leaving the gang, Jack. I’ll share her with you. Be like old times.”

  “Thanks, but I’m not interested. Got my eye on someone right now.”

  Evidently, Lacy overheard because she walked in and tried to wrap her arms around him.

  “I’ll give you a good ride, Jack. We were always good together.”

  “Sorry, Lacy. I’m just not interested.” He managed to get her arms from around him.

  “So where is this bitch you’re so hung up on?” she asked sourly.

  “That’s enough, Lacy,” Jimmy said in a serious voice.

  She closed her mouth and sulked, dropping into a chair and crossing her arms. She stayed that way the entire time Jimmy and Jack talked about old times and Jack’s performance motorcycle store and shop Need for Speed. It had been Jack’s dream even when he was riding with the gang. Jimmy told him he’d ridden by the shop after looking up the directions in the phone book.

  “You’ve been here for what, two years now?”

  “Yeah, but just bought the house last month. I’ve been living in the back of the shop until now,” Jack said.

  “Still can’t get over you as a business owner,” Jimmy said. “Seems too calm for Jack the Ripper.”

  “I’m not him anymore, Jimmy. I’m just Jack now.”

  They visited for another hour and Jimmy said they needed to get on the road. “Why don’t you stay here overnight? The bed is comfortable, and you have an inside bathroom,” Jack offered. He knew that living on the road you sometimes ended up camping out.

  “You sure about that?” Jimmy asked.

  “Of course I am. You’re welcome here, man.”

  “Then we’ll take you up on that. I’ll go get the packs off the bike.”

  As soon as he was gone, Lacy jumped up and tried once again to wrap her arms around Jack.

  “Look, Lacy. I’m not interested. End of story. You’ve got a good man in Jimmy and you know it. He’ll take care of you. He’s not like the rest of the gang. Count your fucking blessings, woman.”

  She had just backed away when Jimmy walked back in. He looked from one to the other and sighed, then closed the door behind him.

  “Come on, and I’ll show you your room.”

  He put them in the bedroom farthest from his. He didn’t want Lacy surprising him in the middle of the night. He wouldn’t put it past her.

  “I’m going to take a shower,” she said, grabbed her pack, and disappeared into the guest bathroom.

  Jimmy sighed. “Man, I know she’s after you. You can keep her if you want. Don’t worry about me. I’m not that attached to her.” Jimmy nodded toward the bathroom door.

  “Thanks, Jimmy, but I’m really not interested. I really do have someone else I’m sort of seeing,” he said. Well, technically he had seen her and would continue to see her from next door.

  “Good for you. Hope she’s worthy of you, man. You’re solid.”

  “Thanks. So are you.” He knocked knuckles with him. “Come on. I want to hear the other stuff now that she’s busy taking a shower.”

  Jimmy told him what the real news was among the bikers and how Slick still had it in for Jack, given the chance he’d take him out.

  “He’s still pissed that you beat him out of the number one place at Reaper’s side,” Jimmy told him. “You watch your back if he heads this way. So far he’s staying on the West Coast, but you never know about where the gang will end up.”


  “Reaper hasn’t said anything about me, has he?” Jack asked.

  “Not lately. He asked about you about seven or maybe eight months ago. Told him I hadn’t seen you in that many months.”

  “Thanks,” Jack said and meant it. He really didn’t want to be on either Reaper or Slick’s radar.

  The bathroom door opened, and Lacy came out dressed in shorts and a tube top that showed off her considerable breasts. The shorts were almost thongs, and a good amount of her ass showed from under them. He shook his head and wondered why he’d ever thought she was sexy. Right now, he was embarrassed for her. Had she really changed that much, or had he just grown up?

  They parted company for the night, and Jack made sure to lock his door and put a chair in front of it. He didn’t want Lacy sliding under his covers because there would be no way to resist her once she started sucking his dick. Sure enough, around one a.m. he heard the doorknob rattle.

  * * * *

  Monday morning brought with it the need to apologize to her neighbor. Nina sighed and dressed carefully. She was still very sore and tender around her neck and the tops of her thighs. She resorted to not wearing hose because of it. The garters scratched her skin.

  She decided to walk over and knock on his door to tell him she had acted childish. She could only hope he would think it was because she’d been ill. She was thoroughly ashamed of the way she had acted. Once she was dressed, she grabbed her business tote and purse and walked outside. She tossed the tote into the passenger seat and stood up to go next door. She was surprised to see a very under-dressed woman and a bearded man walk outside with Jack. The woman wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He seemed to unwind her arms from around his neck, but she couldn’t be sure. Then he patted her on the ass and told her to be good. The man shook hands with him and thanked him for the bed and good time.

  “Good time?” she asked herself. What did that mean?

  She gritted her teeth and got in her car, slamming the door as she did. Had he called over some old friends for a bout of fuck the slut? She backed out of her drive and drove off in a rush to get to work. She suddenly needed to be somewhere else.

  The rest of the day went by in a blur of “hope you feel better” and “that looks like it hurts.” She had smiled and assured everyone she was fine until she was blue in the face. Maybe her pissy attitude had something to do with it. They would naturally think the sunburn was making her bitchy. She sighed. She needed to get her act together and calm down.

  “Nina honey, maybe you shouldn’t have come in today? You really are miserable. I can see it in your eyes,” Charlotte told her.

  “No, I need to be here. All I’ll do at home is mope around and drive myself crazy.”

  “Well, take some more Ibuprofen, and I’ll get you another bottled water. Just sit in here in your office the rest of the day. If anyone needs anything, they can bring it to you. I would think getting up and down with your legs burned like they are would hurt.”

  “You’re right, it does, but I don’t want to be a bother.”

  “Oh, honey. You’re more a bother getting up and down than you would be just keeping still,” her best friend confessed to her.

  “You know there’s speculation on whether that sunburn is ‘all over’ or not,” Charlotte whispered.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Nope. There’s a pool going around, and someone’s supposed to figure out a way to find out.”

  “Well, you can tell them the answer is no,” she said.

  “They won’t take my answer. I already tried that.”

  “Damn.”

  “So maybe wear something tomorrow that will show off some white skin, okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she groused.

  This was all she needed on top of everything else. They were holding a damn pool on if she had sunbathed naked or not, for crying out loud. Didn’t they have something better to bet on other than her sunbathing habits?

  On the way home, she bought some fruit juice and a pizza. She figured it was time to get off the sports drink and add juice to her regimen. She drove up to the house and noticed that Jack’s bike wasn’t there. It was nearly six thirty, and he was usually home by then. She wondered what he did for a living. He had to make pretty good money to be able to afford a house. Sure, the houses in this neighborhood weren’t pricey, but they didn’t come cheap either.

  She shrugged and carried her drinks and the pizza inside. She cursed when the grocery bag dug into her wrist where she was burned. She wondered how long it was going to take to get to the peeling stage. That would be the pretty part of the whole debacle, sloughing skin in the office.

  Nina put away the juices and poured a glass of lemonade to go with her pizza. She badly wanted a beer but knew it would just dehydrate her. She would have to wait until the worst of the burn was gone to have her nightly beer after work. Toying with the idea of eating outside in the evening breeze, she checked the temperature gauge on the kitchen window and decided it was cool enough and the breeze would make it even better. The sun was behind the trees now anyway.

  She carried the pizza and lemonade outside to the patio and noticed the beer can. The events of the day before washed over her, and she shivered at the memory of him kissing her. Her pussy wept at the idea that she’d missed out on more. Well, he sure hadn’t, she reminded herself. She emptied the beer in the grass and tossed the can into her garbage bin by the back door.

  As she went inside to wash her hands, she heard his bike drive up. He was home. Should she further embarrass herself and go over there to apologize even though he’d probably played bop the bimbo all night or forget the entire event? She decided to decide after dinner.

  When she walked back outside, she found Jack, sitting at her patio table with a beer and a pizza box much like hers sitting next to hers.

  “We had the same idea. Figured we could share the space, and I could apologize to you about yesterday. You were ill and I took advantage of you. I’m sorry,” he said.

  Nina realized he’d given her an out by apologizing first. She swallowed her pride and did it anyway.

  “I’m sorry I yelled at you and jumped to conclusions. It wasn’t fair of me, and you’d probably saved my life or something.” She looked away.

  “Now can we start over?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Hi, I’m Jack.” He held out his hand.

  She laughed and shook his hand. “I’m Nina. Pleased to meet you.”

  “I bet you have everything but olives on your pizza,” he said.

  “You peeked,” she accused him.

  “Guilty as charged.” He chuckled.

  They each ate their pizza talking about nothing important. He had a meat lover’s pizza, and somehow that didn’t surprise her one bit. He also not only ate all of his, but finished off her pizza, too, which also didn’t surprise her. Jack was a big man and probably ate a lot. She hated to see his grocery bill, she thought with a smile.

  “Now what were you thinking to put that smile on your face?” he asked, then drained his beer.

  “Oh, nothing important.”

  “If you said it’s not important, then it’s something important. What was it?” he asked again.

  Nina made a face at him. “I was just thinking that I would hate to have to buy your groceries every week. You’d eat me out of house and home.”

  “Are you saying I’m a glutton?”

  She laughed. “No, I’m saying you’re a big guy and probably have to eat a lot to stay in shape.”

  “Oh, so you like my shape, huh?” Jack gathered up the pizza boxes and tossed it in her garbage.

  “Thanks,” she said. Then she said something that surprised her. “Would you like to come in for a while?”

  He looked at her as if searching for where she was going with this. In truth, she didn’t know where she was going. She just knew she wanted to invite him in and talk some more. She waited for his a
nswer, almost forgetting to breathe.

  “Sure, I’d like that,” he said.

  Jack followed her inside where she rinsed out her glass and set it next to the sink. She opened the refrigerator.

  “Would you like another beer? I’m drinking water since I’m still burned.” She wrinkled her nose.

  “Yeah, a beer would be good.” He took the one she handed to him.

  She knew it wasn’t his brand, but it was cold. She led him into the living room and sat on the couch, careful of her legs. He sat next to her but didn’t crowd her.

  “So, what do you do for a living?” she asked.

  “I own a motorcycle store and shop,” Jack said.

  “Wow, really? I guess you really enjoy your job since you like bikes anyway.”

  “Yeah, I do. Like any job though, it has its challenging days.”

  “What do you mean?” Nina asked.

  “Disgruntled customers mostly.”

  “I’m lucky. I don’t deal with the public.”

  “What do you do? You dress nice, so I figure you work in an office.” Jack took a swig of the beer.

  “I work in an insurance office. We sell insurance to businesses.” She smiled. “Do you have insurance on your shop?”

  He laughed. “Trying to drum up business?”

  “Not really, but you should have insurance in case of a fire, burglary, or even just a natural disaster like a flood.”

  “I do. I’m covered,” he said.

  “How long have you been in business?” she asked.

  “Two years now. Business is good.”

  “That’s great.” She smiled and realized she didn’t know what else to talk about. She’d about exhausted her chitchat capabilities.

  “Nina.” He leaned in to her. “I’m going to kiss you, baby. If you don’t want me to, you need to tell me now.” He waited.

  Nina didn’t say anything. She just waited. She realized she wanted this kiss, had wanted it all day. He scooted closer to her but was careful not to touch her thighs. Then he leaned in farther and ran a hand through her hair to hold her head. When his lips finally touched hers, she nearly cried out. He sipped at them, slow and thoroughly. The barest of whispers against her lips soon had her seeking more. She opened her mouth, and he sucked in her lower lip to tease with his tongue. Soon she was tracing his upper lip with her tongue.