The King Next Door

Now he was tired enough that he hoped for actual sleep tonight, and if he was really lucky, he wouldn’t dream.

Because if he did, he knew Nicole would be the star in another very hot scenario that would have him waking hard and miserable.

“Good times,” he muttered and laid his head back against the edge of the tub.

Overhead, the branches of the ancient elm waved and danced in the ocean breeze, making the leaves rattle gently. Glimpses of stars came and went between those branches and Griffin settled in to force himself to relax.

The old, settled neighborhood in Long Beach was quiet at night. Somewhere down the street, a dog barked and the muted sounds of rock music played in the air from someone’s stereo. The whole scene was damn near perfect.

“Should be relaxing,” he muttered, then he sat up and fisted his hands on the edges of the huge, square tub. Yeah. This wasn’t working. Hell, he hadn’t been anything but tense since he had started this vacation, no matter how many hours he tried to laze away in the hot tub he was beginning to hate.

“What’s so great about a damn vacation anyway?” he whispered, his voice lost beneath the rush and rumble of the tub jets. “Why is work such a bad thing?”

There was no one to answer him—not that Griffin expected an argument. Hell, he knew that work was better than no work. Kept a man’s mind occupied, increased his fortune and gave him something to do.

This whole mess was his own damn fault. He was the one who had decided to take some time. To rethink his workaholic, commitment-free lifestyle. Right about now, though, he wished to hell he was in his office buried in work. Or in Cadria visiting his twin. Or on a date with some nameless model. Hell, he wished he was on the other side of the planet, because since Nicole and Connor had moved in with him—

He shifted uncomfortably on the bench seat. Between the heat in his blood and the hot water pulsing around him, he was teetering on the edge of a very sharp cliff. All because he had wanted to change up his life. Mature.

Well, maturity was seriously overrated.

“You just have to hang on for a couple of weeks,” he told himself in a whisper. “Lucas has an extra crew working on Nicole’s place. It’ll be done and she will be gone before you know it.”

Perfectly reasonable.

It just didn’t help him now.

Hell, nothing could. He was wound tight enough to give off sparks, for God’s sake. And there was no end in sight. Thoughts blew through his mind, spinning with the force of a tornado. Griffin wasn’t used to backing away from a beautiful woman. Turned out, it was damned uncomfortable.

He thunked the back of his head against the edge of the tub. “You could just leave the house to Nicole and her son and go to a hotel. Hell, screw the whole vacation thing and go back to work, too.”

But that thought hit him wrong. Not only would his twin never let him forget it if Griffin gave up early and went back to work, but leaving the house now would be like running away, and one thing a King never did was turn tail and run. They stood their ground, even when that ground was crumbling beneath their feet, dropping them into an abyss of misery and pain.

He snorted. “Do-it-the-hard-way-Kings. That’s us.”

“Talking to yourself again?”

He sat up straight, sending water sloshing against the rim of the hot tub. Turning his head, he watched as Nicole stepped out of the house and walked toward him. Immediately he wished he hadn’t looked at her at all.

Damn.

He’d known the woman had a great body, but admiring her curves under a layer of tank tops and shorts was different than seeing those same curves defined by a bikini small enough to barely merit being called a swimsuit.

In the wash of moonlight, her skin gleamed like warm honey and looked just as smooth. Her breasts were perfect, high and full and just barely hidden by the triangles of neon-green material. Her belly was flat, her hips rounded, and as his eyes were drawn down to another scrap of fabric at the juncture of her thighs, his own body went hard as stone.

Oh, man. This was not a good thing.

“Wow,” she murmured, tipping her head and smiling at him. “Didn’t think I’d ever see Griffin King suddenly struck speechless.”