The question left my mouth before I could stop myself.
“Yes. You let a complete stranger have a key to your house and open your door for you.”
“I felt safe.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have.”
“I shouldn’t feel safe around you?”
He was trying to pretend like he was a dangerous man, well maybe he was in some other aspect of his life. But the way he looked at me, I could tell he wouldn’t harm a woman ever.
“You shouldn’t feel safe around any man. They only have one thing on their mind.”
Before I could respond, he was there, right next to me. His arm wrapped around my waist and I felt his hand on my back, pressing me into his sweaty body. Dazed, I just stood there. My camera in one hand and my other hand placed firmly on his chest. Oh, the delight of feeling his skin again. I prepared myself to be kissed.
His lips were only mere inches away from mine and I could feel myself subconsciously urging him to keep moving closer.
“What would that one thing be?” My breath was quiet and filled with desire.
I could feel my chest heaving up and down as I tried to calm myself. There was just something about this man that wouldn’t let me stay calm when I was near him. I certainly couldn’t calm down now that his hand was wrapped around my waist.
“To taste you,” he said.
His deep brown eyes peered right into my soul. I wiggled a little in his arms and he adjusted his grip. Then I felt it. Through his running shorts, I could feel the girth of his erection. He wanted me. The way he looked at me, it was like he needed to have me. It was a primal urge that could not be stopped by anything.
I smiled and pushed away firmly. This time he released me.
“I should get going,” I said as I looked down at my camera.
Never in all my life had a man so overtly tried to sleep with me. I didn’t know if I was impressed with his forwardness or if I should have been angry. Maybe I should have slapped him?
“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.
My jaw dropped open and I just stared at his phone. How had I slept so late again? What was coming over me? Then I realized he had just let me hold his phone. I don’t think I have ever had a man freely let me hold their phone and my girlfriends and I had just talked about this a few weeks ago.
Men are always trying to hide things: secret flirty text messages, naked photos, there was always something on their phones that they didn’t want women to see. Yet here I was, holding this complete stranger’s phone in my hand. It struck me as odd. He seemed like the kind of guy who had a whole plethora of secrets; I figured they just must not be located in his phone.
“Wow, I can’t believe it is so late. I really have to get some staining done before the end of the day. It was nice meeting you Chris.”
I turned toward my house and only had a few more steps before I was in my house when he hollered after me.
“Hey, do you have any painter’s tape? I seem to be making a mess everywhere.”
I looked at his paint-coated hands.
“I don’t think painter’s tape will help with that,” I said wryly, then smiled and continued toward the door of my house, “but, yes I have some. Come on in. Just don’t touch anything with those hands of yours.”
The last thing I needed was his paint-covered hands touching any of the woodwork I was working so hard to restore.