Social Neighbor (The Social Series Book 1) (27 page)

“Oh my gosh. That looks terribly painful! What happened?”

“A cabby ran me over,” Graham spoke up, his eyes still burning holes in me through narrow slits.

“My god, those cab drivers can be lunatics! You have to watch out. Honestly, it’s not even safe to share the road with them. Or the sidewalk, for that matter! So awful,” she mumbled, shaking her head.

“So, what’s new, mom?”

“Not a lot. I went to the movies with Joan yesterday, then we went to get manicures,” she said, holding one hand up in front of the camera.”

“Oh. I love your color. I was thinking of painting mine Beguiling Blue or Ravishing Ruby. What do you think?” I peered over the top of my cell phone, shooting eye-daggers at Graham.

“Go with the blue. Blues look great on you. Makes your eyes stand out.”

“Beguiling Blue it is.”

“How’s work?”

“I lost my job but like I said, Graham hired me to help him, so I’ll be okay for now.”

“I don’t have a lot. You know that, but I can try to help as much as I can.”

“I know, mom. Thank you.”

“And if you need more help than I can manage, you should really ask your dad.” She’d said it in that tone that moms get. The one where they aren’t quite chiding but it isn’t exactly indifferent either.

“I will,” I lied. “I hate to cut our chat short, but I have some errands to run for my new boss and I have some…work to get done.”

“Well, okay. Chat again soon?”

“Of course!” Graham barked from his seat. “She can chat all she likes while she’s
on the clock
.” It took every bit of composure I had not to glare at him.

“Oh good. Thank you!” mom called out, cupping her hands around her mouth.

“Love you, mom.”

“Love you too, Flor. Bye.”

“Bye.” I swiped my screen, ending the video chat and began tossing my things into my bag. “Mr. Stone, I will be going home to shower and get changed, then I have errands to run. Is that okay with you?”

“So I’m just your employer now? Because I could have sworn that last night when my cock—”

I grabbed the nearest thing to me, which happened to be a couch pillow, and hurled it at his head. “Well, that won’t happen again. Sorry for the misunderstanding.” I snagged my bag, with things hanging out of it, and left his apartment. The moment I’d left I wondered if his fever had come back. The nurse said to stay with him until the fever was resolved. Damn him for getting under my skin! I didn’t want to leave him alone but I needed to. I needed a minute to breathe and think without him muddling my thoughts with his presence and his voice and his scent and his intense stare.

Who did he think he was? He’d had sex with me. Twice, and then turned frigid the moment it was all over. His sudden change in mood left me dizzy and wondering what I’d said. What did I do wrong? What had led him from tender kisses and sweet nothings to clipped words and tense body language? I was disappointed, and nothing had ever been as unpalatable in my mouth as the taste of disappointment after amazing sex with a man whom, in spite of myself, I truly liked.

Was he feeling as though I were acting as his keeper? His handler? I wasn’t trying to encroach on his single status by playing the part of the nagging girlfriend or wife, but he was in pain and he needed to eat so he could take his antibiotic. I was only trying to help the man that I was quickly developing feelings for and he practically bit my head off. It left me feeling exposed, used, unwanted, and every single one of those feelings doused my libido in ice cold water.

My head was spinning and I couldn’t make sense of the change in his mood. Then this morning he’d looked at me with such…admiration? Of course, my account of things was questionable given how groggy I was when my mom had called.

One thing was certain, he didn’t like the fact that I had labeled him “boss” but he could just eat it. He made me feel like shit last night. He confused me. He deserved my low blow. The only good news to my very tangled web was that his stupid list held the answer to one problem. He needed me available to him. I needed space thanks to his bullshit last night.

I scanned the list and found the solution on the ninth line.

Walkie Talkies. A childhood must.

I let myself into my apartment and headed right for the shower. The quicker I washed off the giant mistake that the night before was, the quicker I could get on with things. There was no way I was going to repeat my mistakes. I lathered myself up, rinsed and did it again, ignoring the little stab of disappointment that I couldn’t smell him on me anymore.

It took me all of ten minutes to find what I needed in the toy store. I slid the walkie talkies across the counter and grabbed a pack of batteries on a small rack near the cashier. Once I paid, I hooked the shopping bag on my arm and leisurely strolled back to my building wracking my brain trying to figure out what had caused his mood to switch so abruptly and what I was going to do from here on out.

I felt as though I was caught up in a whirlpool or the Bermuda triangle! This thing with Graham, whatever it was, felt very complicated. Labeling it seemed impossible. Was he my neighbor? My boss? My friend? My lover? My beta reader? I needed to broach the subject with him.

I sighed and looked at my shoes as I walked. The late May sun beat down on my shoulders and I knew that pretty soon, leisurely walks would be ruined by stifling heat and humidity.

“Flor! Flor!” I heard someone calling my name and I whirled to face Liza and my father as they stepped out of my dad’s car. His driver shut their door behind them, then rounded the car and slid back into the driver’s seat. “Oh, darling, why are you walking in this heat?” Liza fanned her face dramatically then leaned in for her signature hug and air kiss. Her Chanel perfume swirled around me.

“It’s not too bad.” I shrugged. “Hi, dad.” I nodded at him.

“Flor.” It would seem as though Goliath and my dad were on the same page because they were both giving me the cold shoulder. I told myself that I didn’t care about either one of them behaving that way, but I knew it was a lie I was trying to convince myself of.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, can’t you two just get over it and try to get along? For me?” she pouted. I smiled at her, truly feeling guilty that she was always in the middle of these awkward encounters. It
had
to get old.

“Sorry, Liza.”

“Oh, it’s okay darling.” She rubbed her hand lightly against my shoulder. “Listen, I was hoping we could chat about the birthday party a bit. You’re coming, aren’t you?”

Liza knew how to put a person on the spot. What was worse was that she made it difficult to say no. She was always so nice. Eccentric, but nice.

“Uh,” I hesitated. She had her brows raised, her blue eyes pleading. “Yep. Yeah, I’m going to be there.”

Dammit!

I glanced to my father and noted that something like relief glimmered in his gray eyes. I ignored that small warm feeling that began to fill my heart. I wasn’t glad that I had pleased him. I didn’t care that much. No. That wasn’t it. I swallowed hard and ignored all thoughts of being a little girl eager to see her father proud of her.

“Will you bring anyone? Can Mathew make it? It’s being catered so we need a final head count soon, darling.”

“Oh, right, um, so me plus three.”

“Really?” she whispered and bumped shoulders with me.

“Yeah, Matt has a new boyfriend and I may bring my neighbor. He’s a friend.”

Liza smiled that slow, knowing grin. My dad’s eyes squinted a little on the edge, making the crow’s feet bracketing his eyes deepen.

Don’t act like you care.

The last thing I wanted or needed was for my father to pull that dad move and demand to meet my new “friend.” He had no right and I was no little girl. I was twenty-six years old and free to see, or
not see,
whomever I pleased. Though, if I did introduce Graham and my father, I thought they would get along famously. I hoped they would, anyway.

I decided not to think on that. It was putting the cart before the horse and as it were, Graham was my boss. I’d said as much just this morning. He didn’t seem thrilled with his designated title and that was fine by me. I wasn’t thrilled with how he’d acted after two rounds of the best sex I’d ever had.

Perhaps it wasn’t good for him.

“Well, don’t forget that it’s a formal party. Black tie. So we need to do some dress shopping soon! Are you free this week?”

“Uh, yeah. I guess I am.”

“Okay, I’ll give you a call and we can plan. We can make a day of it! On us, of course.” She clasped her hands in front of her and smiled excitedly.

Oh, joy.

“Sounds great, Liza. Thank you.”

“Anything for you, darling. Anything at all. Okay, we’re off to get some shopping done. Have a fabulous Saturday, darling.” Liza batted her lashes at me. I smiled nicely and nodded in return.

She hugged me, her Chanel perfume enveloping me once again. My dad stepped forward and hugged me lightly, his same familiar scent filled my nose. “See you at the party.”

“Plus three,” he muttered.

“Yes. Plus three,” I mumbled as I turned away from them and began down the sidewalk again, wondering what in the hell I just agreed to and if Graham would even consent to accompany me. Did I even want him there? A tiny part of me—okay, a fair sized part of me—definitely wanted him with me. Even though he’d upset me last night, I still wanted him. I still craved to see that twinkle and even that soft side of him, the side that spoke of Tommy and who he was.

I’d invite him and if all else failed, I could say that Graham wasn’t feeling well and that’s why he couldn’t make it. Matt and Cal could come with me for sure. I knew I’d need my own support team if I were going to successfully endure my dad’s birthday party.

Graham

A Seamless Fit

“N
o. Those won’t work. We need the big ones,” I muttered as we looked over the marshmallow section at the super market.

“These?” Con said, holding up a bag of large marshmallows.

“Yep. Those. Two bags.”

Conrad tossed the bags of marshmallows in the basket fixed to the front of my motorized shopping scooter. “What else?”

I pulled the list from my pocket and scanned it once more. “Chocolate bars, graham crackers, rubber bands, and the shoes.”

“No one ever accused you of being boring,” Conrad muttered dryly.

We went to three stores and my leg was throbbing but I had exactly what I needed. I was still grumbling over Flor writing me off as her new employer this morning. I deserved it though. I should not have snapped at her last night and I still felt bad for it. I didn’t know how to make it right, but I had to try and helping her check off some things on The Stone Kid Experience was the least I could do. I hoped it would at least distract her.

“So explain this to me one more time.”

“Flor is trying to write children’s books. She says she isn’t connecting with the books, but I think connecting with the books means connecting with the readers first. So,” I took a long pull of my bottled water as we waited at the stop light, “…I made this list of kid shit for her to do. She didn’t have much of a childhood so we are recreating it.”

“You and your lists,” Con whispered. The light turned green and we continued to make our way toward Tommy’s building. “I wish I could relive my childhood,” Con sighed almost dreamily.

“Me too.” I nodded, knowing exactly how he felt. Those days were the best. The time of our lives, really. We just didn’t know it. I’d give anything to go back in time and spend a day with Tommy, getting into trouble, even if it meant waking up the next day and being back in my thirties with a daily battle to wage and a woman who was going to be the death of me. A day with Tommy would be worth it.

“Why didn’t she have a childhood?”

“Her little sister died and her dad wasn’t in the picture. I don’t know much beyond that.” I lied, and I did it because speaking the truth made it truer somehow and fuck I wished that Flor’s truth wasn’t the truth at all. “Anyway, I made this list of classic kid shit. Mischief and first experiences. I gave it to her and we are marking things off as we go. I made my own list, too.”