Alien Admirer (Alien Next Door) (2 page)

Way to betray Rob’s memory.
You cannot do that again.
Why had she imagined her neighbor while doing it? Of all the men to fantasize about…. Every time she encountered Adam again, she’d remember that fantasy, yearn for her fantasies to become real. And he came around often.

But
as eye candy, he is so worth the awkwardness.
She turned on her side and curled up to the body pillow, more content than she’d been in a long time.

Chapter Two

Adam thumbed the button on his key fob, waited for the garage door to open, then started up the Harley his father had passed down to him. Revving the engine, he wished he didn’t live in the loft above his parents’ garage.

I
t wasn’t the first time. Then he wouldn’t have had to witness Sera leaving on her date. To make matters worse, she hadn’t asked him to watch her kids while she went out, having his sister, Angela, come over instead. A double kick to the nuts. Sure, he wanted Sera to be happy, but with
him
, not some other man looking to prey on a lonely widow and didn’t care about Melody and Zach. Or so he told himself. Though the thought didn’t make her rejection sting any less.

Riding into the night, he headed
toward Asterdale. By the time he’d reached the bar, none of his hurt ebbed, instead festering into a pool of anger. He needed an outlet, a release. After parking his bike, he strolled across the gravel parking lot. Once inside, he checked out the selection of females through the thick stench of stale smoke, alcohol and cheap perfume. Nothing about the women, not the halter tops, miniskirts and spandex, caked-on makeup, or the cloud of hairspray above their heads held any appeal for him. Because they weren’t Sera.

He slid onto a stool at the end of the bar,
hoping to drink thoughts of her away. A thin film of stickiness coated the log-milled, cherry tree bar top. Such a beautiful piece, neglected for far too long.

“What can I get for ya?” the bartender asked.

“Whatever you have on tap.” The safest bet. He placed his cash on the bar, careful not to touch the surface.

Within a minute, he had a frosted mug full of beer in front of him and a woman to his left, her tits
brushing against his arm.

“Hello, Adam. Long time, no see.”

Her alcohol-laced breath left his stomach rolling. He recognized her from high school, but her name eluded him. He didn’t want to remember, anyway. “Hey.”

S
he cupped his balls through his pants, and he groaned. He’d rather cut his testicles off than fuck her, but his cock had other ideas.

“Wanna buy me a drink? I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”

He surveyed her. Not Sera. Not even close.

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to come here.
The chick had already drunk too much, her face slightly green through a layer of blush. Getting puked on held no appeal.

“I’m not interested.” He
removed her hand. “And you can tell all of your friends the same thing. I want to be left alone.”

Grumbling the entire way, the woman returned to the table of
intoxicated females. He took a mouthful of beer. Horrible. Never had he tasted such a bitter brew. He shoved the mug aside, and slipped off the stool.
This was a mistake.

He needed to suck up the heartache and
get over his neighbor, look for someone closer to his age.
But not at this place.

Without
a backward glance, he left the bar and headed home.

***

Far too soon.
Sera never should have started dating again. Her stomach had twisted and churned all day, but she shrugged it off as nerves. Until her date arrived, that is. He kissed her cheek in greeting, and a cold chill traveled down her spine. She wanted to hurl every time he touched her after that.

A
wave of relief swept over her when he dropped her off.
Date over. Never to happen again. Or at least not anytime soon.
With Melody and Zach still up when she arrived home, she’d paid Angela, then tucked them into bed. All alone once more, she sat on the porch, again wishing for company. The disastrous evening proved she wasn’t ready to date.

What’s wrong with me?

She gazed next door at the loft above the garage.
Adam.
Why did her pulse race whenever she thought of him?

She didn’t feel
uncomfortable around him, not until she decided to go to dinner with Peter, a man she’d met at the grocery store. Then guilt ate at her. She feared asking Adam to watch her kids while she went out on a date.
But why would he want to?
What young man wanted to be strapped down, babysitting on a Friday night, when most went out drinking and picking up girls? Their own age.

Her chance to live that life had come and gone. She had
little ones, and they always came first. Her libido had to wait until they’d grown up and left the house. By then she’d be an old maid—and long out of the dating world—too dried up and bitter to want to hunt for a boyfriend. She slumped deeper into the wicker chair.
Life sucks.

The deep
, throaty rumble of a motorcycle caught her attention.
Adam coming home. Probably with some young floozy on the back of his Harley.
The back of her throat ached at the thought, and she stood.
I don’t need to see that.
Her fantasy, the one thing left that brought a smile to her face at the end of the day, would end if she watched him escort another woman into his home.

She didn’t
escape fast enough. Adam pulled into their shared driveway before she grabbed the door handle. At the sight of the empty spot behind him, she breathed a sigh of relief. In her dreams he wouldn’t leave her for another woman.

He wa
ved, and she waved back, filled with a sudden giddiness.
Geez, what is it about him that makes me feel like a teen again?

Without another glance, he disappeared into the garage.
She remained on the porch, staring like a fool.
These fantasies have to stop.
He had no reason to give her a second thought, at least not in the way she hoped.

Time to go inside and purge him from
her mind.
Plenty of celebrities her own age to take Adam’s place and ravage her in bed.

She pulled open the
screen door.

“
Sera?”

Every muscle tensed.
She circled slowly, expecting him to disappear if she turned too fast.

Standing at the bottom of her porch,
he clutched the railing, one foot on the first step. “How was your date?” His eyes were hard, far different from the gaze he’d given her when holding her in his arms the day she’d gone skinny-dipping. But her love life wasn’t any of his business.

She threw up her arms.
Who am I kidding?
“It was horrible.”

He
climbed the steps, his proximity sending a tingle through her. Would she ever get over the sensations she experienced around him?

“Do you want to talk about it?”

No!
She flinched, crossing her arms. Not a topic she ever wanted to discuss with him. “I’d rather just forget about it. Why don’t you tell me about yours?”

He chuckled,
sliding past her to sit on her steel glider, his hands behind his head. A bold move for a stranger. Yet, he wasn’t. They lived next door to each other, and she trusted him with her family.

“I wasn’t on a date.” He
turned away from her. “I went to the bar to try and drink away the sight of you with another man.”

She gripped
the outside ledge of the window, trying to wrap her head around his mumbled words. “You didn’t drive under the influence, did you?”

He
raised his eyebrows. “Of all the things I said, that’s what you picked up on?”

“No, I just want to make sure it’s not the alcohol talking. Because if you are
intoxicated, I’m going inside and pretend you didn’t say that the sight of me with another man bothered you.” Though, his words were already embedded in her memory.

“I can assure you I’m not drunk.
Didn’t even finish my first beer. It wouldn’t have helped anyway. I can’t get you out of my mind.”

She shook,
running her hands down her arms.
This has to be a joke.
She wasn’t a cougar, didn’t go after younger men.

“You don’t want me. I’m an old widow with two kids.
” What young man looked for a girlfriend with wrinkles around her eyes, flabby arms, and stretch marks? “I’ll tie you down.”

He rose,
stretching out his perfect, muscled body, and drew closer. “I adore Melody and Zach, just as I adore you. I may only be twenty-seven, but I know what I want. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”

He
traced his fingers along the side of her face, leaving her lightheaded. How did he have this effect on her when her date had given her the creeps?

“I’m looking for a long-term relationship with the right woman. That is, if she wants me.”

God, yes.
She wanted him more than anything. But she needed more than a fling. Her children already told her almost every day she should marry Adam.

She spun away, needing some space to think.
What would Rob think about being replaced by a younger man?

What is it going to take to convince her I want her?
On the ride home, he’d persuaded himself to give up on Sera. Until he’d seen her on the porch. He had to seize what might be his lone opportunity.

“Why do you have such a problem accepting that I’m attracted to you?”

She faced him again, her cheeks glowing with color. “I don’t have a problem with that. In fact, I’m flattered. I have a problem with how much I’m attracted to you, how even on my date, I couldn’t get you out of my head.”

It was all
the invitation he needed. Closing the space between them, he held her, pressing his lips to hers. Sera moaned, her body tight against his. She didn’t push him away, instead wrapping her arms around him, running her foot up and down the back of his calf.

He
clutched her thighs, pulling her up to straddle his waist. Every moan encouraged him to keep going. He wanted more.

“Inside,” she said in a breathless whisper. “Take me into the house.”

All right!
Grasping and fumbling with the handle, he managed to open the door without letting her go. Focused on her in his arms, he shuffled around blindly until his knees met her couch. He laid Sera on the cushion, but she clung to him.

“No, my bedroom. And be sure to close the door.”

Her room?
Holy shit!
Before that moment, he’d expected several days of trying to win her over before she invited him to her room, if she ever even acknowledged his feelings.

He carried
her up the butcher block wood steps, to the bedroom he’d helped build. While he’d helped build every part of the house, the master bedroom remained the one room he hadn’t entered since Sera moved in.

Sacred, just like her body.

Setting her on the bed, he took in her pleasant, feminine scent, vanilla with a hint of peach.

Absolutely delicious. He
shed his boots and jacket, unsure how much more to take off. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself, nor give her the chance to stop him from going any further.

He slid onto the bed, between her legs.
Counting backward from ten, he tried to calm his raging hormones and the urge to fuck her right away. He growled, hiking up her sundress to stroke the soft skin of her thighs. “I’ve waited a long time to do this.”

“Well, hurry up already.” She lifted her hips,
slipping her black silk bikinis off.

He shivered in anticipation
. How had a night that started out so terribly turn into this? Finally, everything he’d ever dreamed of.

Following the trail of her panties, he licked her leg from knee to toe
, and repeated the process on the other side. She tasted as exquisite as she smelled. “Fuck, Sera, you have no idea what you do to me.”

She
sat up and kneeled in front of him, hand on his groin. “If the bulge in your pants is any indication, I think I do.”

As she unbuckled his belt and jeans, he
grunted. If she wanted to take control, all the better.
Sit back and enjoy the ride.
So long as she didn’t change her mind…that would kill him.

Sera
pulled his jeans and boxer briefs down to his knees then palmed his balls, with a touch so gentle, so warm. He ached in anticipation.

“Raise your arms.”
She grabbed the hem of his T-shirt, lifting it over his head, then grazed her fingers down his chest to pause at his abs. Tracing each muscle, she stared at his stomach as if confirming it was real. “You know, I’ve viewed six-packs in pictures, but not in real life. I thought they were just Photoshopped onto the models.”

He chuckled,
stroking her arm. “I assure you, it’s all real.” Though the muscles hadn’t gotten that way on their own. He used the gym equipment in his loft at least once a day. No short cuts. None with Sera, either.