Beauty and the Billionaire

“I’ll walk you home,” he said with a sly smile.

I tried to talk him out of walking me home. He looked like he was just heading out for his run, but since it was the middle of the night, I accepted his offer. We walked slowly and I talked while he listened.

I shared stories about Bain and how the small town had survived for so many years. It was a totally boring conversation, especially considering he had just told me he wanted to taste me.

Chapter 5

By the time I settled in for the night, it was more like early morning. I just couldn’t keep my brain off the mysterious neighbor. It killed me that I had, again, forgotten to ask him his name. Surely there was something wrong with me. What normal girl had feelings so strong about a man when she didn’t even know his name?

I figured his name was something exotic. He had dark brown hair with matching deep brown eyes. His olive skin was smooth as perfection. He had to have an exotic name to match his exotic appearance. Perhaps it was Xavier or Maximus, or something even more interesting.

As I drifted off to sleep, I could still feel the pressure of his hard bulge up against me. I closed my eyes and remembered how it felt to have such a gorgeous man desire me.

When morning came, I was determined. I was tired of thinking about my neighbor as “the gorgeous man.” I wanted to know his name.

With my coffee in hand, I walked casually over to his house and knocked on the door. Remembering back to the evening before, I suddenly didn’t want him to answer. I started to back away from the door, but he answered.

“Yes?” he said with a grin.

He was again without his shirt; I thought maybe that was a problem for him, perhaps he just didn’t like to wear shirts. It certainly wasn’t a problem for me! His hands were covered in paint and he wiped them on his pants as he looked at me.

“I need to know your name,” I said without any introduction.

His eyes widened and he took a step out of his house and toward me.

“What do you need this information for?”

His eyes looked deep into mine and I could hardly gather the words I needed to answer him. I desperately wanted to answer him, finally readying myself to speak.

“If we are neighbors, we should know each other’s names. You already know mine.”

“Yes, Katelyn. It is such a beautiful name.”

“My name is Chris,” he said dryly.

“Hello Chris,” I said with my own wicked smile.

I felt better instantly. I knew his name and could actually stop addressing him as the gorgeous man next door.

“Hello Katelyn,” he said my name slowly with his rough voice.

The way he said my name made me want him. Who am I kidding? He didn’t have to say a thing and I wanted him. I wanted to actually talk to him, I still knew nothing about him and as much as my body longed to know him more intimately; my mind told me to beware. There was something about this new resident of Bain, something secretive and suspicious.

“Are you painting? It’s pretty early to be painting,” I said as I looked at his paint-coated hands.

For some reason, this statement made him laugh. Not just a chuckle, but an outright full-on laugh. I didn’t get it. I looked away from him and uncomfortably continued to stand there.

“What time do you think it is?” he asked as his laughter calmed.

“I don’t know eight or so in the morning.”

I didn’t have my phone with me so I didn’t know exactly. But whatever time it was, it certainly wasn’t this funny.

“Sweetheart, it’s almost four o’clock in the afternoon.”

“What!”

The shock of his statement didn’t fully register with me. There was no way it was that late, I would know if it I had slept away my entire Sunday. He stepped into his house and left the door open. Within a moment, he was back with his own cell phone. He handed it to me and the clock on the front read 3:50pm.