Love Thy Neighbor (Friend-Zoned)(41)

Oh yeah, this is awesome!

“Okay. I’m good with that.” I agree, nodding.

Ghost brushes my cheek with his thumb in a tender gesture. He says softly, “I promised myself if I ever got you again I’d do it right.”

Oh dear God. The feels!

That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard him say, and it affects me so much that I have to cover it quick, or risk him seeing this means something more to me.

Fake laughter bursts out of me and I ask him, “Wait. You think two orgasms is wrong? I like the monkey sex, Ash. I like it a lot.”

Ghost stands and runs his hands down my arms. He lowers his face to mine and speaks against my lips, “No more talking, pretty girl. I want you.”

Sweet baby Jesus, I want him too. The moisture seeps from my core, soaking my thong.

What do you expect? The man is a sexual god and the last time I had sex was over a year ago!

With my brain-to-mouth filter still on the fritz, I accidentally blurt out, “I missed you.” And as I’m saying it my brain mentally shouts STOP!

I immediately feel like a jackass. My face flushes, my body tenses and I’m mortified. His fingers come under my chin. He tries to lift my face, but I pull away from his hold. He says firmly, “Look at me.” He says this in a way that I know it isn’t a request.

I lift my face but avoid contact with his eyes. He pulls his arms tight around my waist and sighs. “Let me tell you a story. One day, right here at the club, I met this girl. Some crazy-assed girl. She had bright purple-pink hair, gorgeous green eyes with a rocking curvy body that could make any man hard. Fucking stunning.” He pauses for effect and I try desperately to hide my grin behind my hand.

My hair was magenta, actually. But, do go on…

Catching my grin, the ass smirks. He clears his throat and continues. “So, as per usual, I’m a f*cking ass to her. That’s not because of her, it’s just who I am. But instead of running or getting upset, she stares me down like the * I am. And I can only think about one thing.”

He plays with my hair and runs his hands down my bare back as though he’s finished telling his story. Clearly going insane from not knowing, I demand, “Well? What was the one thing?”

Ghost moves his large hands to rest on my hips and stares at my breasts. Completely ignoring me, he mumbles, “Fuck. You’ve got great tits, babe.” I open my mouth to hurl some form of abuse at him when he lowers his face in between my breasts and nuzzles the sensitive flesh there.

Leaning back, I sigh, running my fingers through his now-short hair. Against my skin, he admits, “The only thing I could think about was how that girl was somehow going to rock my world. And, f*ck me, she did. I was sneaking around to get close to her. Making sure she had no place to sit apart from next to me so I could listen to her talk. Something about that girl was calming me. Making life easier for me.” Planting kisses up my chest to my throat, he nips the skin there and goes on. “Then just when I think everything’s going well, she stiffs me. Tells me we should avoid each other. And even though it damn near kills me, I tell her it’s cool, even though it’s really f*cking not. So I spend the next few months f*cking everything with a pulse because I can’t have that girl.”

My heart squeezes at that last part. I had no idea he felt that way. I was too selfish to notice.

His kisses a trail up my chin, tracing up my jaw and back down til he reaches my lips once more. I hold his face in my hands and smack gentle kisses on his lips while looking into his eyes. An almost apology. With smiling eyes, he continues. “The thing is, nothing I did got this girl out of my head. She became an obsession. My choice of girls got pickier. No redheads. No green eyes. No curves. No attitude.” He runs his thumb over my bottom lip. “Definitely no sexy-as-hell, full blowjob lips.” His intense stare remains focused on my lips and he whispers, “Spent months thinking about what these lips would taste like. Fucking drove me crazy.”

I swallow hard.

Holy shitballs, this is intense. Then again everything with Ghost is intense. With every word he says, my heart swells a little. I almost have a pulse again. I’m nearly alive again.

I put my hands on his chest and manage to find my voice, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

He shushes me, makes a show of clearing his throat and continues the story. “Then one night, I think I’ve gone nuts because there she is, the obsession, at my door. Fuck me. So beautifully mussed. She’s in these goofy pajamas, her slippers are actual mouse heads and she’s angry. Real angry. She tells me we’re neighbors and to please f*ck my night’s conquest a little quieter. As quickly as she came, she’s gone. No way in hell I can get it up now, so I send the woman home. But all night I think about my obsession. And knowing she lives next to me, without even having contact with her, it makes me calmer and lighter. It’s like the seven months without her were forgotten and I knew I had to do something to keep her around.”

He kisses me softly once, twice. Then, “Now, after all that bullshit, I know a few things.” He kisses me again, his tongue traces my lips. “I know she tastes like cherries and smells like vanilla. That I can trust her and I do. We’re friends because we understand each other. She told me once we’re the same kind. We just get each other. She’s the first person I’ve met who doesn’t want to change me or force me to open up. She just lets me be. And that’s what I need.”