“Sure. But then it turns into more like dating or a relationship or something rather than just getting together for hot sex.”
“And I take it the relationship and dating thing is something you’re trying to avoid?”
“Very much so. And living next door to you means that we’ll see each other occasionally and since you’ll be saving me from alligators on a regular basis, we could potentially turn into actual friends. And that makes the hooking up even more complicated.”
Having the sun up hadn’t made him feel any less attracted to, slightly confused by, surprised by, and definitely amused by this woman. “But friends with benefits has friends right in the title.”
This all sounded good to him. Having a neighbor he could get naked with whenever the urge struck, who didn’t want anything else from him, sounded pretty damned great.
“I’m just really not interested in a relationship,” Jill went on. “I’m not good at them. And I don’t really have time for them. And I don’t put the effort into them, which ends up bothering the other person after a while. Which is understandable. I’m not blaming anyone. I just really like to have everything laid out and everyone on the same page. And I like sex. It would be really perfect to be able to have amazing sex, but only when it’s convenient.”
Zeke gave a soft snort. Convenient hot sex. It really did sound pretty amazing.
“I don’t see why we can’t have that. Hell, being neighbors makes the whole thing even more convenient, right?” he asked.
“It couldn’t be an all-night thing like last night. I don’t have time for that very often.”
“If you just want to walk through my door, only wearing a robe and nothing underneath to save time, and bend over the back of my sofa, I’m not gonna kick you out, cher,” he told her. He was half-teasing. But only half.
She finally gave him a hint of a smile. “I can just show up on your front porch anytime I need an orgasm that I don’t want to do myself?”
Something about the way she said that—whether it was the word orgasm or the mischievous little twinkle in her eye or how damned easy she was making it all sound—made heat clench in Zeke’s gut. He reached up and cupped the side of her head.
He brought her in close and put his mouth against hers. “Any fucking time.”
Then he kissed her.
He hadn’t expected to see her again. He’d thought she was passing through. When he’d awakened alone in bed, her stuff had still been in the motel room indicating she was only out temporarily. He’d been disappointed, yes, but he’d also gotten out of the room quick. They had a hot one-night stand. That had been pretty clear. So he’d gotten out before they had to have any kind of awkward morning after. But he’d known he was going to be thinking about her for a very long time to come.
Now she was not only here on his front porch, but was staying in Autre. Even more, she was going to be living next door.
His day had gotten a lot better very quickly.
She leaned into him as he kissed her. Their tongues tangled. They both moaned and her hands started to roam over his chest and abs.
He really needed to get to work.
Except that the client who had been texting and emailing him this morning was the woman who was right now cupping his ass through his towel and pressing into him.
“Welcome to Autre,” he said roughly against her mouth.
She gave a soft laugh and leaned back. “This town is not what I expected.”
He grinned. “I think a lot of people say that. Maybe not for the same reason you think, but Autre surprises a lot of people.”
He took her hand and started to pull her deeper into the house. “Turns out I don’t have to rush off to work after all, so how about we go upstairs—”
She dug her heels in and he stopped.
“What do you mean you don’t have to go to work right away? I have an entire house that needs to be remodeled.”
“Your fault. If you’d answered a few emails, it would be a lot further along.”
She looked slightly abashed at that. “Well, I have to get to work. And I have to run back up to the motel to shower again.” She looked down at her dirty clothes and shoes. “I checked out the penguin habitat earlier.”
He frowned. “You got dirty at the penguin habitat? What did you do? It should be all locked up.”
“How about I just warn you, since we’re going to be running into one another regularly, that I often end up messy, dirty, wet, and other things when I don’t mean to.”
“I like you messy, wet, and dirty.”
She put a hand against his chest and pushed as he stepped closer. “Yeah, yeah. I also don’t do the friends-with-benefits-hook-up-thing two days in a row.”
“Why the hell not?”
“No time. Because it starts to build expectations. Because it makes things more complicated.”
He narrowed his eyes and studied her. “I’ve never done friends-with-benefits. You might have to fill me in on the rules.”
“I might have different rules than most.”
“Well, if I’m your friend-with-benefits, I guess your rules are the ones I should know.”
She studied him right back almost as if she didn’t believe him. “You’ll just let me take the lead here? You’ll just do this however I want to?”
He leaned in and met her gaze directly. “I will do just about anything for the taste of that sweet pussy again. But now that I know you have penguins too? I’m not going anywhere. Whatever rules you’ve got? I’ll follow them.”
Her pupils dilated and he watched her catch her breath. She swallowed. Then smiled. “You’re into penguins?”
“You could be bald and fat and named Roger and I’d be trying to get closer so I could hang with the penguins,” he said sincerely.
She laughed. “Okay, neighbor, I’m going to go clean up at the motel and then maybe we can meet at the penguin habitat and go over everything you’ve done there. Make sure everything is ready to go for when they show up in a couple days.”
“Okay. But you know you can clean up at your house. I can get rid of the gator for you.”
She gasped. “I forgot about that! Yes, please get rid of the gator. But what do you mean I can clean up at my house? There’s nothing at my house.”
“You didn’t go upstairs?”
“No. Why?”
“Because I did redo one bedroom and bathroom. I knew whoever you were, you’d at least need that much. So essentially, you’ve got a motel room over there. You can’t cook or do anything like that, but you have a bed and a working shower and a toilet.”
She looked startled. “Wow. That’s…thank you.”
“Sure.”
“Seriously. That’s…that was really thoughtful.” She wrinkled her nose. “I should have returned a few emails.”
“Yes, you should have.”
She looked sheepish.
“But…” This was going to sound like a come on. Especially after the conversation they’d just had. But… “There’s no soap or towels or anything over there though. Do you want to borrow some of mine?”
Her gaze dropped to the towel he was wearing. And there was no way she missed the erection tenting said towel.