Girl Next Door - The Complete Series (35 page)

By the end of the week, I was back on my own side of the duplex. Troy wasn’t happy about it, but he hadn’t pushed too hard. There had been no more incidents or phone calls. He seemed to understand that I wanted my own space. It helped me feel more in control. Plus I mentioned that, with the thin walls, he could hear me if I was in trouble.

After our sexfest on Tuesday morning, Troy helped me finish the last of the cleanup in my bedroom. It hadn’t taken very long. When almost everything had to be thrown away, it was pretty easy to clean. We were done by lunch time.

Though I wouldn’t be getting an insurance check for the damages for a couple of weeks, I couldn’t be without a bed. Troy took me to the IKEA in Frisco. I found a bed that I liked and a mattress that was probably a million times better than my old one. I also upgraded to a king size bed. Even if things didn’t work out with Troy, I intended to keep putting myself out there to meet someone. And, if that didn’t work out, I was getting a big fucking dog. It could sleep on the other side of the bed if I didn’t have a man.

Troy teased me about being the quickest female shopping partner he’d ever had. I didn’t bother to tell him that I only liked to take my time shopping for fun stuff like clothes, shoes, or lingerie. There were some things a man should find out for himself. I liked my house to look nice, but I wasn’t obsessive. I had fun decorating when I first moved in, but I wasn’t as meticulous with my home as I was my appearance. A home should be cozy and feel good, not look as though you couldn’t drink red wine on the sofa or eat cookies in bed.

After our shopping trip, he took me out to lunch at a fantastic Greek restaurant near the mall in Frisco. The souvlaki was amazing and served with potatoes cooked in olive oil, lemon juice, and oregano. We drank glasses of dry red wine and followed the meal with strong Greek coffee and baklava.

I found out that Troy had a brother and a sister, both younger. When I told him that I was one of five, his eyes grew huge.

“There are five of you?” he asked. “What was it like growing up in your house?”

I laughed. “Pure insanity. But we had a lot of fun. I want to have a big family. Maybe not five kids but at least three or four.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back. You weren’t supposed to tell men that shit after only a week of dating. You didn’t bring up how many kids you wanted until you were talking marriage. I don’t know what it was about Troy that made me say things I shouldn’t.

Troy didn’t seem to take any notice of this. Instead, he just said, “I think three is a good number. Four might even work. I think kids need siblings. It teaches them to stick up for themselves.”

I had to laugh again. “That is absolutely true. With the five of us, we didn’t fight that often, but when we did, watch out!”

Troy laughed with me. “Well, my brother and sister and I all fought like three cats with their tails tied together.”

I leaned forward and put my chin in my hand. “Is that worse than usual sibling fights?”

“Oh yeah. Much worse. I’m sure we drove my mother nuts until I moved out of the house. I’m not sure what happened after that, but Clay and Breeann seemed to get along much better when I left.”

I found myself telling Troy about Cat and Nat. I always felt that to love me, a man had to love my friends. Now, Troy might not have been in love with me, but he would have to put up with my friends from time to time for as long as we were together.

I told him how Nat and Aidan met and got together. He said that wasn’t the first time a man told a woman what she wanted to hear in order to get in her pants when I told him how Nat had only wanted a friend with benefits and Aidan had other ideas.

He outright laughed when I told him about how Patrick and Cat got together because of Nat’s meddling.

“I think I’m going to like your friends.”

It seemed I had managed to find the third man in Dallas who found all that sass and snark attractive. The first two were married to my two besties.

My mattress and bed were delivered on Friday afternoon, so Friday night was my first night back on my side of the duplex. Troy was on a case and worked late Thursday and Friday. I was just settling into my new, extremely comfy bed, with its silky smooth sheets, when Troy called.

“Hey, I just finished up. Mind if I come over in a little while?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said. “I was just going to bed.”

“Ah, a bed sounds fantastic right now. It’s been a long couple of days.”

I knew that was true because Troy had gotten up before me and come home late the past two nights.

“Did you close the case?” I asked.

He chuckled. “You could say that. We found who we need. SWAT will need to serve the warrants, but we did all the investigating.” I heard him yawn. “I’ll be there in ten, okay?”

“Sounds good,” I said. “Don’t fall asleep behind the wheel.”

“I won’t. Don’t get out of bed. I’ll let myself in.”

“Okay. Do you remember where the key is hidden in the back?” I asked.

“Yes, Amy. I’m the one who told you the best place to hide it, remember?”

I smiled. “Okay. See you in a little while.”

We hung up, and I snuggled down into the bed. I hadn’t mentioned that I was wearing nothing but my panties. There were definitely some things a man should discover for himself. Bad shopping habits and half-naked women were only two of them.

I was beginning to drift off when I heard the key in the back door. I opened my eyes and watched as Troy opened the French doors to my bedroom.

“Hey,” I murmured.

“Hey, baby,” Troy replied. He leaned down and kissed my lightly with cold lips. The temperature must have dropped a lot. “I’m gonna take a shower.”

“Okay.”

I turned over so I could watch him strip off his clothes before he headed into my bathroom. A few seconds later I heard the shower come on. I seriously thought about going to sleep while I was waiting for him, but the shower shut off less than five minutes later.

Not long after that, Troy came into the bedroom, naked except for a medallion that he always wore. It had been a gift from his mother when he graduated the academy and had the words “To Protect and Serve” engraved on the gold disc and the date of his graduation on the back.

I rolled into him when he climbed into bed. Troy wrapped both arms around me, and I enjoyed the sensation of my skin sliding against his.

“What in the hell?” he said.

I knew immediately what he meant. “I love how my new sheets feel against my skin. I decided to sleep in nothing but undies so I could enjoy them.”

Suddenly, Troy rolled over, pulling me on top of his body. “I’ve decided I’m not too tired to fuck you after all.”

I giggled as his hands started roaming my body. “Then why am I on top?”

“Because I’m too tired to do all the work.”

I wasn’t going to complain because Troy was creative and insatiable. I’d already experienced new things with him, and we had only been lovers for three days. I wondered how long it would take before he didn’t surprise me when it came to sex. Maybe years.

I froze when I realized the direction my thoughts were headed. I was thinking of my relationship with Troy in terms of years. In fact, after our conversation at lunch on Tuesday, I couldn’t think about my future children without imagining three kids with his dark hair and eyes and my nose.

Holy shit, I was falling in love with him. I was falling in love with a guy who lived next door to me and would almost definitely break my heart.

My epiphany was interrupted when Troy’s mouth closed over one of my nipples. He sucked gently at first, then more insistently, before he caught the tip with his teeth and tugged. Fire shot from my breast to my pelvis, causing me to gasp.

All thoughts of the idiocy of falling in love with a man like Troy disappeared. The only thing I could focus on was the feeling of his mouth on my breast and his hands on skin. Though we had tried new things, there was something I hadn’t done that I wanted to do.

I moved down his body, my mouth trailing across his neck, his chest, that sexy V of muscle on his lower abdominals. I took his dick in my hand and rolled my tongue around the tip. I looked up to find Troy staring down his body at me, his eyes hot as he watched me use my mouth on him.

I broke eye contact and sucked him into my mouth. He groaned as I stroked him with my hand in time with the movement of my lips. When I added a slight twist to my wrist with each stroke, his hips moved. I was pretty sure that meant that he liked it. Just as I was really getting into it, Troy reached down and pulled me back up on top of him.

“Condom, now,” he commanded.

“But…”

“Now,” he barked.

I reached over and opened my night table and pulled out a strip of condoms.

“Put it on me,” he said.

I ripped the package open and rolled the latex down his cock. My hands were shaking because I was so turned on by the power I got from giving him pleasure and this suddenly bossy turn.

Once I had the condom in place, I settled over him and lined up our bodies. I lowered myself down until my ass touched his thighs. Then I began to move, circling my hips a little with each thrust. It was when I leaned back slightly that I felt him rub against that place deep inside me that made each movement feel even more intense.

Troy’s thumb pressed against my clit and circled in time with my movements. I couldn’t maintain my rhythm as the orgasm suddenly overtook me. His thumb stopped its movement and his hands grasped my hips, roughly moving me up and down.

That had to be the fastest I’d ever achieved orgasm. I collapsed on top of Troy, breathing heavily.

“Sorry that was so quick, baby. You got me too worked up,” he muttered, stroking a hand through my hair and down my back.

“It was perfect for me,” I said. And it had been. There was nothing wrong with a quickie from time to time, and that quickie had kicked ass.

“Let me up, babe, and I’ll go clean up.”

I rolled off Troy, too tired to even drag the sheet over my naked body. He went into the bathroom to dispose of the condom and came back with a damp washcloth for me. It was a sweet thing to do. I took the cloth and cleaned up halfheartedly. He held out a hand for it when I was done, but I managed to haul myself out of the bed.

“No, I got it.” I didn’t say it out loud, but I needed to pee. We just weren’t at that point in our relationship where I felt comfortable just putting it out there.

I went into the restroom, tossed the washcloth into the hamper, and took care of business. When I came out, Troy was stretched out in the bed. I grabbed my panties off the floor and pulled them on. He threw back the comforter for me and I crawled into bed, settling into his side, just like I had every night since Monday.

I rested my cheek against his chest and sighed. This felt incredible. It also felt insane. I needed to call in the big guns. Nat and Cat would know what to do. I would call them tomorrow. Tonight I would just enjoy being held by the man I was falling in love with. I would worry about the rest tomorrow.

“I’m calling an emergency girl meeting.”

It was the morning after I realized I was being a complete idiot and falling in love with a guy I’d known for all of a
week
. During my drive from the high school to the middle school, I called Cat. Since I accompanied choirs at both the middle school and the high school, I ended up driving to three different schools during the day. I made the most of my drive time and called one of my besties.

“Oh shit. What happened?” she asked.

I rubbed my hand over my forehead. “It’s too complicated to explain over the phone and without an alcoholic beverage in my hand. Are you free tonight?”

“Sweetie, if you have a problem, I can be free. I’ll call Nat and find out what she’s doing for the night. I’ll text you with a time. Are you cool with going to Nat’s house? Now that she’s in the last trimester, Aidan doesn’t like for her to drive a lot. Poor man is convinced that she’ll go into labor in her car and give birth to their baby on the side of the highway.”

I grinned. Aidan was an awesome guy, but he was super protective of his wife and unborn child. And by super protective I meant almost obsessive about taking good care of her. He had tried to get her to quit her job when she hit the sixth month of her pregnancy. Nat had only laughed. When he pushed, she threatened to neuter him. He decided to ‘compromise’ and told her to he would let her work part time. She told him that she would make sure he got out of the insane asylum in time for his daughter’s birth because she loved him. Even if he was a chauvinistic asshole.