The Promise (Neighbor from Hell 10)

Definitely for the best, he thought as he grabbed a file off the stack and started reading something about…something. Definitely for the best, he decided absently a few seconds later when he found himself watching her. She was adorable, but then again, she’d always been adorable. But now, she was also kind, sweet, and incredibly sexy, he thought, remembering the way she’d moved on him in the truck, the way she’d kissed him and the sweet little moans that she’d made when he’d-

“Goodnight,” Joey mumbled as she got up from the couch, stumbled, righted herself and continued walking toward the stairs all while looking down at her iPad.

“Goodnight,” Matt said absently as he stuffed another handful of popcorn into his mouth while Reed sat there, watching Joey’s every step until she disappeared around the corner.

It took everything in him not to follow her upstairs. It was only the reminder that they were trying to keep what was going on between them a secret that kept him in that chair. Besides, he had enough to deal with work, he reminded himself as he stared back down at the file in his hands only to find himself thinking about her, soft, naked, warm, and waiting for him upstairs in his bed.

“Where are you going?” Matt asked him, frowning as he helped himself to Joey’s abandoned can of Dr. Pepper.

“Bed,” Reed said, tossing the file back on the pile as he got up and headed for the stairs.

Frowning, Matt pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. “It’s only ten.”

“It’s late.”

“Since when is ten o’clock late?” Matt called after him.

Since he’d been waiting three hours to get Joey back in his bed, he thought that ten o’clock was really fucking late. After what happened in the closet, and god, he couldn’t stop thinking about the closet, he’d been counting down the minutes until he could go upstairs and touch her again. He’d planned on waiting until he couldn’t see straight and was too fucking exhausted to do anything more than make it back to his room and pass out like he did every night, but the thought of Joey waiting for him in his bed had him ready to call it an early night.

*-*-*-*

“There,” she said with a satisfied sigh as she placed the last pillow on her bed. Finally, she thought only to frown down at the large, incredibly comfortable bed decked out with clean sheets and a faux down comforter that had been delivered a few hours ago and realized something important.

“This just isn’t going to do,” she said with a sad shake of her head as she grabbed the small stack of books that she’d helped herself to and headed back toward the bathroom door.

After carefully sneaking inside so that the adorable kitten that she hadn’t figured out a good name for couldn’t escape, she spent the next five minutes snuggling the sweet little baby that she was definitely keeping before she carefully made her way to Reed’s room. She closed the door behind her only to find his bed empty. For a moment she stood there, not really sure what she should do. Since they weren’t exactly dating maybe she should go back to her room and wait until later, she wondered only to decide that she definitely needed some answers.

Decision made, she turned around and carefully made her way back into the bathroom where she spent another five minutes cuddling her precious little baby boy before she went back to her room. She grabbed her iPad off the bed only to end up following that up with a twenty-minute search through her bags and the boxes that she should probably unpack at some point, for her charger since the three hours she’d spent researching her camping needs had drained her battery. Once she found her charger after a second search of her computer bag she plugged her iPad in, curled up on her bed, and quickly realized that this whole thing was a lot more complicated than she’d originally thought.

“What are you doing?” the man that she was only supposed to acknowledge for sex according to this website and the previous five that she’d read, asked as he sat down on the bed next to her.

“Nothing,” she said quickly, which had him shifting so that he could see what she was looking at only to end up sighing.

“Please tell me that you’re not really looking up the rules for friends with benefits,” Reed said as she scrolled down the page and couldn’t help but shake her head with a sigh, because they were already screwing this up.

“I like to be informed,” she said, wondering how they were supposed to follow rules five through eight while she was living here. Then again, rule number four might be an issue since she really wasn’t interested in exploring her BDSM side. Except for the spankings. She was definitely interested in the spankings.

“I see,” he said with a thoughtful murmur as he plucked the iPad out of her hands and tossed it aside.

“Wait! I wasn’t done reading the section on booty calls!” she said only to sigh in defeat when he pulled her onto his lap.

“We’re not doing that,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.

“Oh,” she said, knowing that she was pouting, but she couldn’t help it. She kind of liked the idea of sending him a text anytime that she wanted him to-

“You’re killing me, Joey,” he said on a groan as he leaned in and kissed her.

“I get that a lot,” she admitted with a small sigh that had his lips twitching against hers.

“I’m sure you do,” he said softly as he brushed his lips teasingly against hers.

“I really do,” she said, reaching up to pull his tie loose.

“We’re not friends with benefits, Joey,” he said, grabbing the hem of the tee shirt that she’d changed into earlier and pulled it off her.

“Then what exactly are we doing?” she asked as she shifted her attention to his shirt.

“Making as many bad choices as humanly possible,” he said, making her lips twitch as she pulled his shirt free.

“I do that a lot,” she said as she snaked her hands beneath his shirt so that she could run her hands over his stomach simply because she couldn’t help herself.

“You’re a bad influence,” he murmured as he toed off his shoes and pulled off his shirt, tossing it aside.

“I really am,” she readily agreed as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

“You’re driving me crazy, Joey,” he said with an incredibly sexy growl that had her breath catching as he slid his hands down the back of her pants and cupped her bottom.

“I tend to do that to people,” she admitted only to gasp when he used his hold to pick her up and carry her toward the bathroom.

“You’re good at it,” he said as he managed to carry her into the bathroom without stepping on her sweet little kitten.

“I do try my best,” she said, as Reed set her down near the shower.

“So, you were planning on treating me like your bitch, huh?” he asked as he reached past her and turned the water on.

“I really was,” she said, nodding solemnly as she reached for his belt.

With that devastating smile of his, he gently cupped her face in his hands as he leaned down and kissed her as she pulled his belt loose. “Will you be gentle?” he asked teasingly as he slid one hand down her body.

Her breath caught when he slowly ran his hand between her breasts. “Probably not.”

“At least you’re honest,” he whispered seductively as he continued to kiss her while he traced his fingertips down her stomach

“I find that it’s best to be honest where my bitches are concerned,” she said, making him chuckle only to make him groan when she slid her hand over the large bulge between his legs. When he tore the rest of her clothes off her, she considered inquiring about those spankings only to decide to play it by ear when he picked her up and carried her into the shower.

*-*-*-*

“We have to get up,” Reed said, licking his lips hungrily as his hands fisted in the sheets and a groan was ripped from his throat as he watched his cock slide through Joey’s fist only to disappear again when he pulled back.

“We really should,” Joey said, her breath catch

ing as his cock slid back between her wet slit, brushing against her clit only to moan when he pushed back, moving back over her clit and sliding back through her fist, again. It felt so fucking good, he thought, groaning as she tightened her hold around him.

“We can’t stay in bed all day,” he said, mostly to himself in an attempt to find the willpower to leave her as he leaned down to kiss the woman that he’d spent the past couple of days losing himself in.

“We really can’t,” she murmured in agreement, reaching up with her free hand to thread her fingers through his hair as the reason why they couldn’t spend all day in bed opened his bedroom door and-

Reed found himself shoved onto his back, the comforter thrown over his lap, painfully aroused, and alone. Before he could figure out where Joey went, Matt was sitting next to him on the bed with a large box of Captain Crunch and a gallon of chocolate milk. Struggling to catch his breath, Reed glanced around the room for her, his gaze hesitating on the built-in bookshelf across the room before he dismissed the idea and moved his attention to the open bathroom door and-

“So, I was thinking,” the little bastard said around a handful of cereal.

“That I should have killed you in your sleep when I had the chance?” Reed bit out with a glare as he adjusted the comforter over his lap.

Matt looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I’m actually good with that,” he said, pausing long enough to shove another handful of cereal into his mouth before he washed it down with half the chocolate milk, “I was thinking that we should probably show Joey around town or something.”

“She grew up here,” Reed pointed out, somewhat distracted as he resumed his search for the woman in question, wondering where she was.

“A lot has changed since she left,” Matt said, shifting to get more comfortable only to frown when he saw Reed glancing around the room. “What are you looking for?”