And Then It Happened: An Unexpected Romance (2 page)

“Now you’re spying on me? How bored are you?”

I ignored his distraction technique. “That can’t make you happy, Adrian. At some point, you’ll want someone to love you, but who’ll want you when you’re such a dick?”

I saw the muscle in his jaw flex as he watched me and I knew I struck a chord.

“I bet it gets lonely in this place all by yourself,” I added smugly.

“I’m never alone,” he responded quickly. Too quickly.

“I know that,” I said because I did know. I heard him having sex on an almost nightly basis. “But I bet you wish you had someone to come home to. And I don’t mean those bimbos always walking through your door.”

Adrian pushed himself away from the wall and gestured toward the doorway. “Thanks for the therapy session. How much do I owe you, Janette?”

I sauntered past him with a knowing glare. “Nailed it, didn’t I?”

“Not at all, Judy.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re just as terrible a liar as I am,” I said as I made my way down his hallway.

“At least I’m better looking,” he quipped, following me down the stairs.

“You might be, but I have something you don’t.”

“And what’s that?” He opened the door for me and I stood in the doorway feeling superior for the first time since moving in.

“I’m actually loveable. Something must be really wrong with you to keep driving those women away.”

“Right. Whatever makes you feel better,” he said. And if I hadn’t been so consumed by my obvious victory, I would have seen that the twinkle in his eye wasn’t there. But I was, so I turned around with flare and strode, well, more like limped, to my door with my head held high.

For the first time in a long time
, I felt like I was the best. Like I could do anything and no one could stop me.

***

I woke up the next morning, unsure of what to do with myself. I had no job, which meant I really had no reason to get out of bed when the doorbell rang. In fact, I huddled under my comforter for a full ten minutes after the rude awakening before rubbing my eyes and glancing at the clock.

It was almost noon. Holy crap. I hadn’t slept in this late since I was thirteen and stayed up all night at a slumber party. But living next to Adrian was somewhat similar to an ongoing party. Between the loud music and the constant screaming, I felt like I was living next to a frat house. 

Speaking of which, I hadn’t heard his music blasting last night, which was a relief. I also didn’t hear him banging it up with some loud, extremely vocal woman who screamed things like ‘spank me harder’ or ‘harder, harder, HARDER’ or some other phrase with ‘hard’ in it. I couldn’t help but wonder if the women he slept with were clones of one another. None of them ever said anything remotely fascinating during sex. They just screamed and moaned and (I imagined) writhed about. But last night there was none of that. No wonder I felt so rested.

Perhaps my ‘therapy’ session with
him was life changing and he’d given up sex forever.

I snorted at the absurdity of it as I trudged down the stairs and opened my door, squinting as the sun invaded my line of sight. That was the problem with Southern California. It was always so damn sunny. Seasons couldn’t catch a break out here. They might as well just give up and retire. 

I glanced around, annoyed that someone had actually taken the time to doorbell ditch me when I saw a small package lying on my doorstep.

Reaching down
, I grabbed it, immediately scanning for a return address. There wasn’t one. Shrugging, I strode inside and ripped into the package, not even bothering to consider that it may contain something like a bomb or Anthrax. What I found was much worse.

Thought this could help you loosen up
a small piece of paper with unfamiliar handwriting scrawled onto it declared.

I didn’t need to be a handwriting expert to immediately know it was from Adrian. My cheeks flushed crimson as I glanced at the bright pink vibrator lying in the box.

It looked expensive and my beliefs were confirmed when I gave into temptation and looked it up online a few minutes later. He’d spent over a hundred dollars on this damn thing and I didn’t even know how to use it. Not that I wasn’t curious. I’d just been too embarrassed to actually purchase one. But now I had one and I was both infuriated at Adrian for thinking I even needed one and excited to see if it actually worked.

Because being without sex for such a long time made a girl kind of desperate.

So desperate that
I decided to contemplate actually keeping the gift from my obnoxious neighbor and even worse considered having an orgasm with a robot.

***

I ended up placing the vibrator on my bedside table and it glared at me the entire evening, until I finally put my book down and picked it up. I pushed the up and down arrows situated at the base of the vibrator and nearly toppled over at how strong the vibrations were. That couldn’t be comfortable, I thought as it vibrated in my palm.

Can’t be any worse than Craig.

“Shut up,” I muttered to myself as I pressed the other arrows. I noticed there were different vibration settings, ranging from what I’d assume would be equivalent to a quickie to what I would correlate with a slow evening of making love. Not that I would really know. I’d had sex, but I’d never been pushed up against a wall and fucked. And I’d definitely never been made love to. The times I’d had sex had been boring and calculated. The low point was when I’d fallen asleep while my ex-boyfriend Craig was wiggling between my legs. That was when I realized the two of us weren’t okay. A week later, I found him with someone else. And even though that had been terribly painful, I couldn’t blame him. The sex had been pretty terrible.

I played around with the vibrator’s settings for a while, marveling over how complex such a small device could be, before giving it a go. I mean I couldn’t just ignore it.

So I let it rumble around inside of me for a few minutes, feeling ridiculous with my legs spread wide and my hands clutching at it in a desperate attempt to keep it from disappearing inside of me. I wasn’t impressed, even when I accidentally pressed a button, changing it from slow and steady to quick and thrusting. It was then that I realized I obviously hadn’t missed much by having calculated sex. Because if this is how a quickie felt, I hadn’t missed out.

With a grimace
, I pulled the vibrator out and tossed it onto my bed. It wiggled around wildly before I tackled it and turned it off. Then I hid it under my pillow while I tried to figure out what I was going to do with the damnable device.

Who buys stuff like this? Who buys stuff like this for their neighbor? Who buys stuff like this for their neighbor whose name they don’t even know?

As I lay there, I grew more and more frustrated. My hopes had been dashed and it was all
his
fault. If he hadn’t bought me the stupid thing, I’d never have been disappointed. I’d just go on my merry way, ignorant as could be. But
noooo
. He always ruined everything.

Throwing on a sweater, I marched over to Adrian’s door and rapped on it loudly. A few moments later, Adrian opened the door wearing nothing but a bath towel. Did the guy not own shirts? Or clothes, for that matter?

“I don’t want this. It’s disgusting,” I said shoving the box in his arms before he could even open his mouth.

He held it loosely, patting it against his palm like he was holding a library book. “Well, you need it. You probably just didn’t use it correctly.”

“I did too…” I began before realizing my mistake.

His eyebrows rose in amusement. “So you did try it? How did you like the different settings?
It got great reviews…”

“Just take it back. I don’t want it,” I demanded,
my cheeks turning crimson. I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid to actually admit I’d used it.

He shifted the box into his right hand and stared at me. “I think you do want it, but like I said, you didn’t use it right. I’m thinking you just stuck it up in there…”

I huffed my disgust. “You’re awful.”

“You need some lubrication or something. I bet you’re pretty dry down there.”

“Stop talking about my…just stop talking about it,” I said even though he was spot on.

“Maybe you should watch a porn or something…might help you get ready…”

“I’m not watching porn and I’m not sticking that thing up in me again.”

“Sure,” he said, his tone implying he didn’t believe me, “but since you already tried it, you might as well keep it. It was expensive and I can’t return it now.”

He held the box out to me and added, “If you don’t take it, I’m just going to throw it away.”

Snatching it from his hand, I shot him a glare. “Fine…but only because I don’t like wasting perfectly functional things. And next time
, just don’t buy me things. I don’t want them.”

“I think once you get the hang of it, you’ll really like it. I think it’ll make you more approachable…”

“Ugh, you’re awful…just…you know, just…suck my dick, Adrian,” I shouted as I turned to stride away, repeating what he so often told me, and flushed when I saw a woman jogging by with a toddler in a stroller. Hopefully she hadn’t heard me yell that or Adrian’s chuckled response.

“Gladly!”

***

That evening I pulled out my laptop and decided to give it another go. Adrian was a total prick, but he’d nailed the problem on its head. I hadn’t gotten worked up enough to really enjoy the vibrator. So I typed in porn for women in the Internet search box and found a few different videos that should have titillated me, but just ended up making me feel sad. How many of those women didn’t have a choice when it came to their profession? How many of them wanted out of the industry?

Instead of inserting my gift in it proper place, I t
hrew it in the drawer of my bed stand and researched human trafficking until I fell asleep

Chapter Two

I pointlessly rearranged my paints and sighed heavily. I had an idea of what I wanted to do for my next series of paintings, but I had no one to model for me. It was my fault. I wasn’t social enough and a little too awkward for my own good. My friends consisted of Sadie, who moved to Northern California a year ago and my aforementioned ex-boyfriend, Craig, who I spoke to on a weekly basis. Other than that I was almost a hermit. Almost.

Except I lived in a house n
ext to the most social person I’d ever met, who would be perfect for my paintings, but who I could never ask. Painting someone nude really made things personal, and I wasn’t sure I wanted things to get personal with Adrian.

Even though he was an ass, whenever I touched him it felt electric. And just being near him made the air in the room slowly seep out until I was left breathless. I was attracted to him in a big way and I doubted I could sit in a room while he was spread out naked. I couldn’t imagine what that would do to me. I’d probably expire on the spot.

I grabbed my paintbrushes and set them gingerly on the table. Just thinking about him posing nude with all his male parts lying out for me to see made my hands shake. I hated that he had such power over me. Especially when he was such a dick most of the time.

Most of the time was key because a few times he’d been incredibly thoughtful, which is why I hadn’t gone homicidal on his ass. But that almost made it worse because it gave me hope. Hope that underneath it all he was worthy of me.

And hope was the worst enemy of all.

Three Months Ago:

“Stupid piece of garbage chair,” I muttered as I half carried half dragged an old Victorian chair toward my house from the back of my car. I had picked it up off the side of the road and somehow managed to jimmy it into my trunk using bungee cords and a bunch of twine. Thankfully I hadn’t killed anyone on my way home. I wouldn’t have survived in prison.

“Can I help you with that?”

I glanced over at the unfamiliar voice and blinked in confusion. Standing before me was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. So gorgeous in fact that I ended up just staring at him, gaping mouth and all, like a fish in a bowl of water.

“You okay?” he asked, his head tilting as he watched me. I felt a bead of sweat drip down the end of my nose and I wiped it away with my shoulder.

“Yep,” I replied as a beautiful blonde haired woman approached the sex-god and wrapped her willowy frame around his.

“Adrian
, we need to go or we’ll be late,” she said huskily.

“Late to what?” I asked, barging in on their conversation like I was their best friend. The woman obviously didn’t appreciate my interruption because she glowered at me, sinking her talons into Adrian’s chest as she did so.

“It can wait, Sabine,” Adrian said as he approached me. “Let me get that for you…”

I just stood there as he waited for something. Why was he staring at me like that?

“Your name?” he asked and I giggled nervously.

“Jane.”

“Jane. You’re my new neighbor?”

“Yes, your new neighbor.”

He shot me a large smile and I seriously wet my pants.

“Adrian Thatcher,” he replied with a chuckle.

And then he picked up the chair like it was nothing but a pillow and brought it into my house.

And I shamelessly stared at his butt the entire time.

***

I strode through my favorite lingerie store, grabbing every sexy little thing I saw as I walked toward the dressing rooms. Not many people knew this, but I loved sexy lingerie. I might normally wear jeans and t-shirts, but underneath it all I was pretty slutty. I loved lace, loved how it made me feel, and loved how it felt against my skin. And don’t get me started on garter belts and corsets. I owned at least a drawer full. It was my secret fetish and I couldn’t get enough of it. Craig hadn’t appreciated it though, so I wore the lingerie mostly for me and also on the off chance that I would run into a sexy stranger who wanted to have sex in a Starbucks. I couldn’t be
caught wearing high-waist Hanes if that happened, now could I?

So twice a year, I bought myself a few new lingerie pieces. Once on Christmas and again on my birthday. Today was my birthday and because I was turning twenty-six, four years closer to the dreaded thirty, I found myself
at my favorite lingerie store in downtown Fullerton. It was my happy place and no one could ruin it. Even if I couldn’t really afford all this stuff at the moment.

“Janice,” a familiar voice said and I immediately amended my statement. Adrian was definitely the one person who could ruin it.

I turned around and plastered a fake smile on my face. “Adrian, why are you here? Following me again?”

“You wish,” he replied, as he
trailed me into the dressing room. He stood in the doorway so I couldn’t even have my privacy. I hadn’t seen him since I’d tried to give him back the vibrator a week ago and now he was suddenly everywhere.

And he looked really good in a black v-neck t-shirt and dark blue jeans. Way too good to be prowling around in a lingerie store.
This couldn’t end well.

“Why are you in here?” I asked, frustrated at how close he was, but more so at how my body reacted to him.

“The question is why are you here? I didn’t know you wore this kind of stuff,” he said, his eyes traveling to the stack of lingerie heaped on the bench. “I would have guessed Wal-Mart underwear…”

“Well, I guess you don’t
know much about me,” I replied. “Now get out.”

“No way. Not until I see this stuff on you,” he replied. “This is way too intriguing.”

“Hell no. There is no way I’m showing you…”

“You’re such a tease. Now get in there and show me something you’re unsure about and I’ll tell you what I think. And don’t worry, I’ll give you my honest opinion.”

“I don’t doubt it,” I muttered before shoving at his chest. “Now leave before I get someone to remove you from the store.”

“Valerie wouldn’t do that,” he began and I knew I’d lost. He obviously knew the girl who worked here, had most likely slept with her, and there was no way I was going to get her to kick him out. If anything
, I’d be watching them screw on the underwear table.

Which is incredibly unsanitary…the bodily fluids…

“Have you slept with every girl in this town?” I asked, annoyed, pushing the squalid thoughts from my mind.

“Not every girl,” he said with a slant of his head.

I rolled my eyes. “Not going to happen. Ever.”

Ignoring my comment, Adrian pushed his way into my dressing room and took a seat on the end of the bench that wasn’t covered in lingerie.

When I crossed my arms over my chest, he merely leaned back against the wall like he was settling in for an evening of football. Damn. I’d just have to come back another day, but I didn’t want to do that. This was my day and Adrian was ruining it.

You like that he’s here. Admit it. Admit it. Admit…

“Fine,” I muttered, “but get out.”

“Only if you promise to show me what you try on.”

“Fine,” I nearly yelled before grabbing his arm and tugging him up. He went easily and I slammed the dressing room door on his face.

I began to put on a sexy little nightie that I’d been eyeing all month. It was longer and much more modest than my normal lingerie so I didn’t feel like a total slut showing it to him. And I had a feeling that if I denied him this he would be so persistent he’d never leave me alone again. And then he’d torment me for the rest of my
life.

As I pulled it over my head I heard him ask, “So why are you here? Special date tonight?’

“It’s my birthday, actually.”

“So big plans then?”

“No,” I sighed, as I adjusted the lace in the mirror before opening the door a crack and peeking out.

“Okay, here’s one. And don’t you dare laugh or I will never ever speak to you again.”

Adrian pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and stood before the slightly opened door.

“Promise,” he said and when I didn’t come waltzing out he added, “Well, open it up, or are you going to cower in there all afternoon.”

I debated with myself one last time about the sanity of doing so before opening up the door and standing before him in my salmon colored nightie. His eyes roamed over my figure and I willed myself not to blush. I didn’t want him to know I was bothered by this, that I cared what he thought about me.

You want him, that’s why.

“So are you going to make yourself useful or what? What do you think?” I finally asked when he continued to say nothing.

He shrugged. “I think lingerie is nice, but to be honest men don’t really care for the stuff. They’d rather just have a woman naked. Less stuff in the way…”

“God, you’re such an ass,” I said, taking a step back and trying to close the door on him.

He intervened, however, barreling into the room before I could lock it.

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it. It looks good. I’m just telling you…”

“Well, I didn’t ask for that little useless nugget of advice and I didn’t ask for you to be here right now. So get out,” I demanded, feeling like his pervious comment was a direct slight about me, that he hadn’t liked what he saw.

Adrian didn’t comply. Instead he bent over my huge pile of underwear and began to shuffle through it. He pulled out a bright red, lacy see-through corset with a black garter belt and a matching thong.

“This is much better. Try this on,” he said and I yanked it from his hand.

“Of course you’d like this one.”

He held up his hands. “You’re the one who picked it out. If I’d known you were into this kinky shit, I’d have started watching you through your window a long time ago.”

My eyes widened as my jaw dropped. “Are you saying you’ve seen me through my window…naked?”

He shrugged like it was no big deal. “Sometimes when I get home late from work I notice you walking around in your bra and panties.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because then you’d stop.”

I glared at him and he gave me a lopsided smile as he lowered himself onto the bench seat once more.

“Go ahead and try it on and I’m not standing outside this time. I’ve already seen you naked…”

“You said my bra and panties…”

“And a few times your tits were hanging out there for all to see.”

I slapped a hand over my face. “Get out,” I said sternly, pointing toward the door.

Adrian shook his head like he was disappointed in me before standing up and walking out the door.

“And don’t wait around. I’m not showing you another outfit.”

“I was bored anyway,” he said as I slammed the door on his retreating figure.

I heaved in frustrated anger as I threw the outfit he’d picked out onto the floor. I stared at it, hoping it would burst into flames. It was tragic really because it really was beautiful.

I spent another thirty minutes going through the rest of my pile, picking out two beautiful lingerie pieces before making my way to the cash register.

I gingerly set them on the counter as a beautiful red-haired woman with gorgeous green eyes glared at me.

“You know Adrian?” she asked, a jealous gleam in her eyes.

I glanced down at her nametag. Yep. Valerie. Figures.

“He’s my neighbor,” I replied, trying to meet her gaze, but unable to do so. I had a feeling she was trying to wither me up by shooting laser beams out of her eyes.

“He likes you,” she said after a few awkward moments.

“I promise you, he doesn’t.”

“He does.”

My eyes snapped up and I shook my head. “He doesn’t even know my name. So he doesn’t.”

This seemed to appease her because she started to ring up my two items in silence. I exhaled in relief. I didn’t know how much longer I could have stood there averting my eyes. Valerie was like an Irish voodoo princess muttering spells under her breath. If my hair started falling out, I knew whom to blame.

Adrian really did have the worst taste in women.

***

Later that evening, I stepped out of the bathtub and pulled on my robe. Luckily my hair was still in tact and I hadn’t broken out in boils. But my parents, as expected, had forgotten it was my birthday. Not that I was really hurt by
this. Ever since they had divorced, neither remembered the daughter they’d created together. My dad was too busy having children with his thirty-year-old wife and my mother was off traveling South America with her new boyfriend.

So as usual, I planned an evening alone where I pampered myself and drank an expensive bottle of wine. It was my happy place, a time to collect my thoughts and watch Netflix in peace.

I made it through half a bottle of wine and an episode of Downtown Abbey when my doorbell rang.