Delectable (Neighbor from Hell 9)

Needing a moment, she stepped behind Eric, wishing that he was bigger and slowly exhaled, telling herself that everything was fine and that the incredibly handsome man that had seen her naked didn’t make her nervous.

He didn’t.

She was just overwrought by the loss of her precious hammer, she told herself as she risked a peek to find him watching her with a look in his eye that made her heart skip a beat and had her licking her lips, because that look in his eye wasn’t going to work for her.

Not. At. All.

“So, Reese, how long would it take you to renovate this kitchen?” Sara asked with that creepy smile, even as she threw Kasey a look that clearly asked, “What the hell is wrong with you,” for which Kasey promptly shook her head with a shrug, because she had absolutely no idea what was going on here.

“Two months, give or take a week,” he answered Sara even as he kept his gaze locked on her, which only left her feeling unbalanced. It was not a feeling that she welcomed.

“And how much would it cost for you to do said remodel?” Sara asked, pointedly clearing her throat to get his attention, but he didn’t take the bait.

He also didn’t shift his gaze away from her.

“I could do it for free,” Eric offered, sounding hopeful and she would have rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t seem to move, not with Reese watching her.

It was stupid and foolish and she had no idea what was wrong with her, because men didn’t make her nervous. They didn’t make her heart skip a beat, make her palms sweat, make her mouth go dry, leave her trembling, or make her wonder what it would take to have his arms wrapped around her again, because that wasn’t something that she wanted.

So, why did it feel like she was lying to herself?

Chapter 12

“Don’t make me kill you, Eric!” Sara bit out, but he vaguely registered the threat that promised bodily harm, because he couldn’t for the life of him take his eyes off the woman in front of him and he had no idea why.

“I can help!” Eric snapped back, all while the woman that intrigued him more than he ever thought possible noticeably took a fortifying breath and then practically ran the rest of the way to the refrigerator, threw the door open, and promptly hid behind it.

The smart thing would be to leave her alone and go back to enjoying his vacation, but as he watched that blush crawl up the back of her neck as she did her best to ignore him, he found that he didn’t want to leave her alone. He wanted to keep making her blush, and make her lick her lips in the way that was starting to drive him crazy for the simple fact that he could.

She cleared her throat, awkwardly, before saying, “He’s on vacation,” as though that was going to somehow save her.

“Which means that he has plenty of time to kill,” Sara quickly added.

“He probably has plans,” Kasey pointed out, sounding so damn hopeful that he couldn’t help but smile.

“Actually…” he said, letting his words trail off, loving the frustrated groan she released as she grabbed a bottle of water and reluctantly closed the refrigerator door.

“See? This works out perfectly!” Sara announced while he watched Kasey make her way back to the safety of the table, worrying her bottom lip and clearly trying to come up with a reason to get rid of him.

“And what about his girlfriend?” Kasey suddenly asked, looking relieved as she latched onto whatever fucked-up excuse was running through her head.

“What girlfriend?” he couldn’t help but ask, because he honestly had no fucking clue what they were talking about.

“The hot chick that loves to glare?” Sara suggested, blinking innocently.

“Loves to glare? I have no idea who you’re talking about,” he said with a shrug and a shake of his head as he continued to watch Kasey and noting that she was once again blushing.

Had he mentioned how much he loved that blush? Because he did, he thought as his eyes devoured the way that she shifted nervously in her chair, causing her breasts to bounce ever so slightly and giving him a better view of that heart shaped ass that was now clad in another pair of cutoff shorts.

“Mac?” she said, looking hopeful, really hopeful, he noted.

“Mackenzie’s my sister,” he said, tearing his eyes away from her ass and glad to have the matter settled so that they could-

“But, don’t you think that you should spend some quality time with her?” Kasey suggested in that same hopeful tone.

He pretended to think about it before he said, “No, not really.”

“But…” Kasey started to say only to let her words trail off as she tried to come up with another bullshit excuse to keep him from taking this job that she hadn’t exactly offered him.

“It’s a lot of money!” she suddenly blurted out and it took everything he had in him not to smile, because she was just so fucking cute right now. “I’m not sure that I can afford it right now,” she added in a softer tone with a shrug that had her best friend rolling her yes.

“What the hell are you talking about? You’ve been saving for this for years,” Eric, his new best friend for life, said, shooting her a confused look that earned him a glare that should have eviscerated him on the spot.

“I’ve changed my mind,” she bit out evenly, throwing him a look that dared him to argue, but thankfully his new BFF was completely oblivious.

“Since this morning?” Eric asked, frowning at what was left of the kitchen sink.

“Yes!” she hissed, which had Sara shaking her head with a pitying sigh and absently petting Kasey on the head.

“It’s okay, sweetie. No need to play hardball anymore,” she said and before Kasey had a chance to argue, Sara got to the point. “How much and when can you start?”

“I don’t remember offering him the job,” Kasey pointed out, which they all ignored, except for Eric, of course.

“I can start tomorrow!”

Reese ignored the ensuing argument and glanced around the large kitchen and for once he wasn’t thinking about all the changes that he would make if he had the chance. Instead, he was thinking about beautiful blue eyes and an intriguing blush and just how badly he wanted to see both of them again.

“I’ll do it,” he said, forcing himself to leave before he ended up talking himself out of doing this and ended up with one more regret.

Then again, he thought as he walked away, he might just end up regretting this, too.

*-*-*-*

“What? Wait, no!” Kasey said a tad desperately, but she didn’t care, not when the man that was threatening her equilibrium walked off before she could get a chance to put an end to this nightmare.

“Not happening,” Sara said, as she deftly grabbed hold of her arm and held on with all her might as Kasey struggled to stop this before it was too late only to groan pathetically when the front door closed behind him with a resounding click.

“Crap,” she muttered, yanking her hand free so that she could rub her hands down her face as she struggled to figure out what just happened.

“What the hell was that?” Sara asked, sounding terrifyingly intrigued.

“I don’t know!” she snapped, dropping her hands away and shrugging, because she had absolutely no idea what just happened.

“You blushed,” Sara said, grinning hugely.

“No, I didn’t,” she scoffed in outrage, because if there was one thing that she could say for certain, it was that she hadn’t bl-

“You really did. It was disturbing,” Eric said, tossing his bag on the kitchen island before joining them at the table.

“You’re exaggerating,” she said, folding her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair, uncaring that she was pouting.

“Oh, how I wish we were,” Sara said with a sad shake of her head. “But, you, my friend, blushed.”

“Shut up,” she grumbled, hating them almost as much as she hated herself for what just happened.

“You also hid,” Eric pointed out.

“And mumbled,” the

other traitor said.

“And she blushed when she mumbled,” Eric added with a thoughtful expression on his face as he studied her. “It was probably the creepiest thing that I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“It really was,” Sara agreed.