Rock Hard Neighbor

“Sarah. Can it,” I said curtly, heat rising to my cheeks.

“Whatever the hell your issue is, I highly suggest you fix it. Because I don’t tolerate my best friend crying that way,” Sarah said.

I felt Brian’s eyes on the top of my head as I gritted my teeth.

“Goodnight, Sarah,” I said.

She gave Brian one last hard look, before she turned to me and opened her arms. I hugged her fiercely and thanked her for coming to make sure I was alright. She told me to call her if I needed anything, that she had made arrangements to work remotely for a few days so she could be close to me.

I thanked her again and watched as she climbed back into her rental car and headed slowly down the mountain. Once she was out of sight, I closed the door but stayed facing it. I couldn’t believe she had shown up on Brian’s doorstep, and I wasn’t sure how he was going to react. “Amanda?”

I sighed as I turned my face up to find Brian’s eyes.

“If you’d like to stay here, you’re welcome. If I made you feel like you were unwelcome yesterday at all, I apologize. But if you want to go sleep in your own cabin, I understand,” he said.

“You did make me feel unwelcome. We have a lot to talk about, but I figured we could do it after everything was done tomorrow. We have enough on our plates for now,” I said.

“We?” Brian asked.

“Yes. We. Now, let’s go get some rest,” I said.

I backtracked into his room without a second thought, but Brian continued to stand at his door.

“Aren’t you coming to bed?” I asked.

“I’m just, well, yes. I am.”

“You’re what?” I asked.

Brian took a step into his room before he shut the door behind him.

“I’m surprised you’re not taking the guest bedroom,” he said.

“We have to give the illusion that we’re in love. Engaged. Getting married. Right? We’re still doing that?” I asked.

“We are,” he said.

“That means we sleep in the same room,” I said.

I watched Brian debate over my words before he finally relented. He started casting off his clothes and I diverted my eyes. I didn’t have anything to sleep in, so I picked his shirt off the floor and pulled it over my head. I wasn’t about to sleep in jeans and a sweater, but it was too late and too cold to go back to my cabin for something to wear.

I flipped back my side of the covers and slipped into bed. I could feel Brian’s warmth as he crawled in beside me, attempting to actively keep distance between us. I hated this. I hated the hesitancy looming between us. I turned onto my side with my back facing Brian, hoping to erase this moment from my mind. I didn’t know what he wanted, and I didn’t know what role I was supposed to play any longer. One moment, I felt like the new and craved woman in his world, and the next I felt like nothing more than a useless pawn. It was messing with my emotions and affecting my ability to think straight, and I didn’t enjoy it.

“Amanda?” Brian asked.

“Yes?”

I felt his body heat grow closer to me as my muscles braced.

I rolled over and found him face-to-face with me. Our noses were close, and his chest was hovering millimeters from mine. There was confusion and fear and restrained impulsivity flashing upon his face as his eyes danced along my features. I felt myself falling into his gravitational pull again. I felt my body yearning for him. My leg drifted out toward his, sliding in between his knees.

“What do you want?” I asked lightly. “Just tell me. That’s all you have to do.”

I could feel his breath pulsing upon my lips. I could feel the way his legs clamped down onto mine. His hand slipped around my waist and pressed into my lower back, pulling me closer to him as my hands planted on his bare chest. His muscles twitched underneath my touch. Jumping and trembling as I ran my skin across his. Our lips were ghosting against each other’s as our eyes stayed connected.

The electricity surging through my veins was threatening to fry my brain if I didn’t do something about it.

“Damn it, Brian. Just tell me what the fuck it is you want,” I said.

“You,” he said. “I want you.”

His lips encompassed mine, and that was all it took. I rolled him over onto his back as our lips massaged one another’s, our tongues meeting in a tango of sweetened passion. My hips rolled down onto his growing cock as it slipped through the opening of his boxers. I could feel his tip already dripping for me as his hands ran up and down the curves of my body.