The Boy Next Door: A Standalone Small Town Romance (Soulmates Series Book 3) (19 page)

Chapter 36: Connor

I unlocked the door and pushed it open so Laney could go inside
first.

Sarge came rollicking up to her a second later. I swear I kept
thinking I had him housetrained when she wasn’t around, but every time he saw
Laney, he tried to climb her.

It was as frustrating as it was endearing.

“Can I get you a glass of something?” I asked, locking the door
and noticing Neo stretched out halfway up the stairs.

She turned around and slung her arms over me. “That was the best
birthday dinner of my life,” she said, kissing me. “I can’t believe you took me
somewhere so fancy.”

“It was the only place I could find around here that could make you
a dirty martini.”

“I suppose I have been going on about craving them for a few
weeks.”

“I’ll learn to make them,” I said, hoisting her up.

She wrapped her legs around my waist.

“Then you can have them to your heart’s content.”

She hugged me as I walked to the kitchen. “That would be a lot
of martinis.”

I set her down on the butcher block. “You have one more birthday
surprise.”

She flashed her eyebrows. “I hope it’s your dick.”

“I misspoke there,” I said, taking off my sports jacket and laying
it on the counter. “You have two more birthday surprises.”

She cocked her head and twirled a finger around the buttons of
my shirt. “Besides the one that’s not a surprise anymore?”

I nodded. “Correct.”

“I told you I didn’t want anything.”

“Well, you talk so much I have to tune some stuff out so I guess
I didn’t hear you.”

She pushed my chest and wobbled slightly on the counter. “Lucky
me.”

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“I’m never ready for anything when it comes to you,” she said,
kicking off her shoes. “But you haven’t let me down yet.”

“Come on,” I said, taking her hand and helping her down from the
counter.

Her dress slid up her thighs as she hopped to the ground, and
she smoothed it over her hips before following me.

“Right this way,” I said, heading down the hall.

“Is it a pony?”

“I hate to disappoint you, but after seeing how much you
struggled with cleaning Neo’s ears, I’m not sure you’re ready for a pony.”

“Party pooper,” she mumbled. “Is it a pink convertible?”

I looked over my shoulder. “Since when do you want a
convertible?”

“Since I got a hot boyfriend that I like to show off.”

I smiled. “I’ll look into it.”

“Is it a swimming pool?”

“What do you need a swimming pool for when we live so close to
the lake?”

“First of all, they’re totally different things,” she said. “And
second of all, I already told you I don’t need anything so how should I know
what to guess?”

I stopped outside the door to my dad’s study.

She twisted her face. “Is it one of those globes you put pins in
when you visit places?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Are you done?”

She nodded.

“Close your eyes.”

She groaned.

“And no peeking.”

She squinted at me.

“I can still see your eyes, Laney.”

“Fine,” she said, squeezing them shut.

“How many fingers?” I asked, holding some up.

“I don’t know. My eyes are closed.”

“Just checking,” I said, pushing the door open. Then I took her
hand. “Keep them closed until I say.”

“I’m freaking out, Connor.”

“Freak out with your eyes closed,” I said, coaxing her a few
more steps.

“Can I open them yet?”

I laid a hand on her lower back. “I’ll give you a countdown.”

She pursed her lips.

“Ninety nine, ninety eight-”

“Don’t be a smartass.”

“Three, two, one.”

Her eyes popped open and her lips fell apart.

I watched as her eyes bounced around the room.

It was filled with canvases and paints and her easel from
Helly’s shed. There was a special mat on the floor so she could make a mess if
she wanted, and I’d pushed my dad’s desk against the wall and converted into a
place where she could store all her brushes and supplies.

“Oh my god,” she whispered, raising her fingers to her lips.

“What do you think?”

“Is this-?”

I stepped up beside her. “It’s your very own studio.”

“What if you need to do some work?”

“I’m fine at the kitchen table,” I said. “Besides, this room has
the best light.”

She shook her head. “I’m in shock.”

“Good shock?”

She nodded, walked up to the easel, and ran her palm along the
wood. “This is my old easel.”

“It is,” I said. “But all the paints and brushes are new and-”

“I can’t believe you went to all this trouble.”

“It was a pleasure.”

“Aren’t you worried I’ll never find a job if I have a bitchin’
studio to hang out in?”

I shook my head. “No, and I know how hard you’ve been trying to
find a job-”

She looked over her shoulder at me. “You do?”

“Of course I do. It’s a small town.”

She dragged a bare foot across the mat beneath her. “I do have
to find something though.”

“You will,” I said. “But you shouldn’t just take anything.”

“I would-”

“I know,” I said, hooking my thumbs in my pockets. “I figured
that out when Timo called for a character reference.”

Her face dropped. “What did you say?”

“I told him not to hire you.”

Her eyes grew wide. “You didn’t.”

“I did,” I said. “I’d rather you were painting than bartending,
and I know that’s what you’d rather be doing, too.”

“You can’t do that.”

“I already did,” I said. “But I’ve also thought a lot about what
you said about me going too easy on you, and I think you’re right.”

She tilted her head at me.

“Which is why I made a deal with the manager at Mimi’s Café and
Mason’s flower shop that you’d have three paintings done for each of them
before the end of September.”

She craned her neck forward. “What?”

“If they sell, they sell, and if they don’t, someone’s bound to
see them in one of those places and commission something.”

“What if I say no?”

“Let’s not play that game,” I said. “I know you’re up for the
challenge.”

She pursued her lips and nodded. “You know, I think I am.”

I smiled. “How’s that for pressure?”

“So you’re really serious?”

“Of course, I’m serious,” I said, stepping up to her and sliding
my hands around her waist. “The happiest I’ve ever seen you was that summer you
painted until you had blisters.”

“That’s not true,” she said, hooking her hands around my neck
and leaning against me.

“Sure it is.”

She shook her head. “No. I’m happier now.”

I dropped my forehead against hers. “Me too.”

“Thanks,” she whispered, her warm breath on my lips.

“You’re welcome, babe. Happy Birthday.”

“You know what would make my birthday even better?” she asked,
unbuttoning my shirt buttons.

“What?”

“If you were in a better mood.”

“What?” I craned my neck back. “I’m in a fine mood.”

She shook her head and dropped her hands to my belt. “I’m not
convinced. You seem tense.”

I went stiff all over as she lowered my zipper. “Now that you
mention it, I have been under a lot of pressure lately.”

She pushed my pants down.

“And by lately, I mean ever since I saw you put on the panties you’re
wearing under that dress.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said, giving me a kiss. “Besides,
my new studio needs christening.”

Chapter 37: Laney

I kept my eyes on his as I started stroking him, tearing them away
just long enough to find a chair.

I smiled to myself when I saw the one behind him. It was the
cozy one from my room in Helly’s house that I’d found at a yard sale when we
were fifteen.

I fell in love with how dated it was and how cocooned I used to
feel when I sat in it, as if the curved shape of the tall back could kept my thoughts
from spilling out over the sides.

It was the chair I would’ve put in here if he’d asked me, and I
loved that he knew me so well.

But it didn’t look very big when he sat his bare ass down on it,
his broad shoulders as wide as the back of the chair.

“Fuck, Laney,” he said, grimacing as I stroked him and dropped
to my knees. “I didn’t know you needed a muse, too.”

I smiled and flicked the tip of his head with my tongue. “I am
going to make you come so hard,” I said, pulling my little blue dress off over
my head and keeping my eyes on him as I undid my bra. “And you can paint me
wherever you want,” I said, stroking him again. “The back of my throat. My
chest. My ass.”

He leaned back in the chair and gripped the armrests until his
knuckles went white.

Then I sank my mouth down on him.

After only a few bobs, my jaw felt sore from being opened so
wide- just like it used to when I’d suck him off under his Major League
bedspread.

I moaned and he swore, sliding his hips forward as he swelled in
my mouth.

When I needed a break, I kept stroking him and licked his balls,
sucking them into my mouth like grapes and moaning until he pushed his head
back against the chair.

Then I took him deep in my throat again, sliding up and down his
solid shaft as the blood pumping through him coursed against the thin skin of
my wet lips.

A moment later, he grabbed a fistful of my hair, pulling it so tight
my scalp tingled. “Faster,” he said, spreading his hand over the back of my
head.

I was sucking him so hard it scared me, but I couldn’t stop. I
wanted his release inside me so bad, and it turned me on that his hand was keeping
me from coming up for air.

“Yeah,” he said, growling as his hips rocked.

I tried to go faster, tried to go so fast he’d feel like he was
fucking my mouth.

And in the end, he did- with one final thrust that stuffed my
throat right before I felt his orgasm burst through him and into me.

I drank him greedily then, milking him down my throat as if I
craved his seed more than my next breath.

When I’d swallowed every last drop, I looked up and wiped the
corner of my mouth on the back of my hand.

He reached forward and grabbed my arm. “Get up.”

I rose to my feet, but I was so turned on from sucking him I
couldn’t see straight.

“Turn around.”

I did as he said and felt his hands on my hips a moment later,
pulling my panties down until they fell to the floor. Then he pulled me back
and probed my slit with his dick.

I slid down on it as soon as it touched me.

He reached forward and lifted my legs over the arms of the
chair. Then he moved one hand to my clit and the other to my breasts, slouching
down so I had no choice but to lie back on him and let him have his way with
me.

My limbs were lifeless as he fucked my core, and as he rubbed my
clit into a buzzing frenzy, I dug my head back against his shoulder and felt my
body clench around him.

“God that feels good,” I said as he brought me to the brink.

My clit was throbbing under the pressure of his fingers, and he groped
my breasts with such force that my nipples became so hard they ached.

“Come for me, Laney,” he said, massaging my g-spot with his
dick.

I closed my eyes and felt the heat in my body pool where he was
stretching me open and circling my clit. “I’m going to come,” I whispered into
his neck.

I arched my back and shook a moment later, my orgasm crashing
through me like a flood.

He slowed the movement of his hips, riding out the pulsing waves
that radiated from my center as he loosened his grip on my breasts.

“That was amazing.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Even better than the fantasy I had about
having you on the table at the restaurant.”

I turned my head to look at him. “Is that what you were thinking
about when you stopped listening to my rant about global warming?”

“You ranted about global warming?”

I pretended to elbow him in the ribs. “Very funny.”

“It was actually a pretty intense fantasy. I was going to secure
your hands by forking your bracelets to the table. Then I was going to titty
fuck you before the dessert course-”

“Jesus.”

“And come on your chest- maybe even your dessert, if you were up
for it.”

I laughed. “How about outside this house, I’m the painter in the
family?”

“I can’t control my thoughts, Laney.”

I stood up and turned around so I could straddle him and see his
face. “It doesn’t sound like you were trying very hard.”

“You started it.”

I furrowed my brow. “How?”

“When I saw you spray perfume between your tits when we were
getting ready to go out.”

“You weren’t supposed to see that.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Did I mention your tits were out?”

“Still.”

“Well, I refuse to unsee it. It was the most interesting thing
I’ve seen all week.”

“Consider it a gift then.”

“Oh I do.”

I rolled my eyes.

He pushed some hair out of my face. “I can’t wait to see what
beautiful things you make in this room.”

“I’m really excited,” I said, looking over my shoulder at my
officially christened studio.

“I picked up on that,” he said. “Despite the subtle way you said
it.”

One side of my mouth curled into a smile.

“So birthday girl, what do you want to do with the rest of your
big day?”

“Hmm.” I cocked my head. “Is drinking until we have the energy
to do that again an option?”

“I suppose it will have to do since I’m all out of surprises.”

“I don’t believe it.” I trailed my fingertips down his chest.
“You? Out of surprises?”

“Crazier things have happened.”

“True,” I said. “But all the craziest things happen when I’m
with you… so I have to believe the best is yet to come.”

“You think things could actually get better than this?” he
asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, smiling. “All I know is that, for the
first time in my life, I can’t wait to stick around and find out.”