The Girl in the Comfortable Quiet (8 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Three
weeks later

Neil
lies back on our bed, grabs his hair with his fingers and groans.

“Goddamn it, Chrissie. Why does it start every
morning at 7 a.m.? I’ve got Kaley asleep. I’ve got my woman in my bed sort of
liking me today, and it starts up. The fucking construction zone. I can’t even
hear my own thoughts in my head. Fuck, I leave tomorrow. Is one day too much to
ask?”

I crinkle my nose at the
my woman
comment.
“Jesse is renovating his house. It won’t last forever.”

Neil lifts a brow. “Jesse, huh?”

I flush. “Jeez, Neil, if you start being jealous
now I’m definitely not going to be
sort of liking
you today. I already
told you, Jesse and I are friends. That I met him when I was in high school,
and that’s why he drops in all the time.”

Neil groans again. “It’s been two months,
Chrissie. It’s going to be another four months until I’m home again. I’m in
pain here.”

I curl into him and pout. “You weren’t going to
get any anyway. I can’t. It says so over there in that stack of papers. No sex.”

Those green eyes fix on me in a sweet blend of
tenderness and agony. “We can fuck without fucking. I’ll take anything you’re
willing to do.”

I beat back my laughter. “For a guy who writes
such beautiful lyrics you say an incredible amount of jerk things. If that was
supposed to get me in the mood it didn’t help you.”

Neil grins, rolling into me, surrounding me with
his limbs and starts kissing me. “Is this helping?” He moves his hand to
lightly brush his fingertips across my breasts. “Is this helping?” Through my
nightgown, he gently takes a nipple in his mouth and heats it with his breath.
“Or maybe this is helping?”

I feel my sex start to pulse. My body ignores my
mind. The tingling and anxiousness grows. Damn.

I ease back in Neil’s arms. “Two months, huh?”

He kisses my neck. “Two months. Twenty-one days.
Eleven hours.”

I smile. That was sort of sweet. “You’ve been
keeping track?”

He pushes his pelvis into my stomach so I can
feel his erection. “No, he keeps track for me. He’s saying ‘save me, Chrissie.’”

I laugh. Then groan. “I can’t, Neil.” I peek at
him, a little frustrated myself now. “Would a kiss get you there?”

His mouth comes back to mine. In between deep
tongue thrusts and hungry lips, he whispers, “A kiss might do it. He’s so
fucking hard. He’d come if you breathed on him.”

Breathed on him? I’m feeling a little aroused,
but not that aroused. Nope, not doing that.

Into his mouth, I say, “I’m not breathing on him
today. Second jerk thing: asking a woman who’s just had a baby for a blowjob.
Keep it up and you’re going to strike out, Neil.”

He slyly moves my hand to his groan, deepening
our kiss. “I’ll take fingers. One touch and I think it’s going to be over.”

I stroke him once lightly with my hand, and he
moans and swells, his hips moving, wanting it faster. “Don’t stop.”

I run my index finger down one side, around the
head, and play at that little spot he loves. I pull my hand back from his
erection and he drags his mouth from mine. “Make love to me, Chrissie. Don’t
torture me.”

His features are passion-taut, his eyes intense.
I take him in my hand again and he is awash in the bliss of me touching him. I
kiss him on the jaw. His breathing increases. I nip at his earlobe. He twitches
in my hand. I run my tongue down the side of his neck and I’m suddenly anxious
to figure out how to get us both there.

A boom so loud it makes the house shudder and
sounds like it’s in the room with us startles us both. Kaley starts to cry from
the bassinette.

Neil pulls away from me, sitting up. “Fuck,
that’s it.”

I climb out of bed and reach for the baby. “What
are you going to do?”

He jerks his pants over his still nicely firm
cock. He shoves his feet into his flip-flops. “I’m just going to ask him to
stop, Chrissie. One day. Just to stop.”

I put Kaley to my breast to try to calm her. “Be
nice.”

Neil runs a hand through his hair, rolling his
eyes. “I will be nice.”

“He’s a reporter,” I remind him pointedly.

He mouths the words
a reporter
as he
shakes his head. “Crap, it’s bad enough that he’s an incredibly rude neighbor
and somehow you like him. But why the hell do I have to have a fucking reporter
living above me? Shit, Chrissie, why did he have to move here?”

He leaves the room in a huff of frustration.

I lie back in the bed, curling Kaley into me,
stroking her while she nurses. “Daddy is kind of cute when he’s pissed off and
horny.”

We’re on the other breast and Neil is still not
back. I frown. What the heck is going on up there? I check the clock. It’s been
over half an hour. Oh fuck, Neil, you better not be making a big deal out of
everything. I’m pretty sure Jesse is harmless, that he wouldn’t ever violate
the neighbor relationship and put anything that he witnessed here on the record.
He’s such a nice guy. I hope Neil isn’t being a shit about things.

I brush Kaley’s soft hair. Asleep. Maybe I can
get her back in her cradle without waking her. God, Neil manages everything
with Kaley so much better than I do. He’s a natural with the baby, and I’m
still clumsy and never sure if I’m doing anything right. It’s probably because
he has three younger sisters. He just knows what to do.

Crap, I wish he wasn’t leaving tomorrow and I
wasn’t going to fly solo so soon. I ease off the bed and carefully ease her
from my arms. I wait. Nothing.

I let out a breath. “Thank you, Kaley Stanton,
for being a team player this morning.”

I check myself in the mirror, run a brush through
my hair since it’s pretty awful, do a study of my no longer flat stomach, make
a face at my reflection, and then climb back into bed.

Finally, I hear Neil making his way back down the
hall. I turn onto my side, lying in the sexiest pose I can manage. I hope he’s
still in the mood to play after the construction discussion, though I’m not
exactly sure how much playing I’ll be able to do. Neil is easy to get off. I’m
surprised how strong the tingling in my sex was this morning. But wanting to be
touched there? Not yet. I sigh. We’ll figure it out.

Neil enters the room. I smile at him. “Did you
talk to Jesse?”

He closes the door. “Yep. No noise the rest of
the day. And starting tomorrow not until after 10 a.m.”

He turns and his expression is oddly serious.

My eyes widen.

“Have you told me everything, Chrissie?”

Oh shit. My body rapidly chills and then covers
in heat. “Told you everything about what?” I’m surprised that my voice sounds
calm when I’m anything but calm.

Neil stares down at me. “Him. You. The mountain.”
He plants his arms on either side of me. His face is close to mine. Did Jesse
see Alan here and mention it to Neil? Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. I should have
gone out to talk to Jesse myself. Every muscle in my body tenses in a jolt.
“Seems like a remarkable coincidence Jesse Harris moving in up there. A
good-looking single guy you used to know. Remarkable coincidence and
convenient.”

I stare, not sure I heard him correctly.

Neil smiles in that
I’m giving you shit
way.

Oh, thank God. I fall back on my pillow,
laughing, half in relief and half in amusement. “Oh, I can’t put one past you,
Neil. How’d you figure it out? About Jesse and me?”

He starts to laugh, kissing my stomach and
pausing to peek at me with those gorgeous green eyes twinkling. “God, you
should have seen your face. Why were you so worried, sweetheart? I’ve been gone
too long if you’ve forgotten that giving you shit is one of my favorite things.
I’ve missed it.” He laughs again. “Why were you so worried?”

I battle to not let surface on my face how that
one hits me. “Because you were being a jerk and I don’t want to deal with
jealous Neil today. Besides, Jesse Harris doesn’t have a chance with me.”

Those lush eyes soften lovingly. “Do I have a
chance with you?” He kisses my neck, turning his body into me so I can feel his
erection through his sweatpants. “I’m still ready to fuck without fucking.”

His mouth takes mine in a deep, leisurely kiss,
full lips and dancing tongue. I feel his fingers lightly tease the side of my
breast. Yep, I’m tingling in my sex again.

He kisses my neck. I stroke him through his
clothes. Neil groans, easing back on the bed and kissing me as he takes me with
him. We are heated and totally back into each other.

“I’m so fucking hard, Chrissie. You better still
be in the mood to be nice to me.”

Laughing, I trail kisses along his jaw while my
hand frees his erection from his pants. I start stroking him slowly up and down
at first, then faster and faster. And the faster I do it the hotter my body
gets.

His hand caresses my breast gently, and every so
often the callused tip of a finger brushes my nipple. I start to throb even
more strongly in my sex. My body heats rapidly. It’s like the nerves in my
breasts are supercharged, some weird quirk of breastfeeding. I feel his touch
and I grow even more impatient and pulsing
there
.

I pull back from his kiss, panting heavily. “God,
I wish we could make love.”

“We are making love, baby.” Neil groans, his hips
thrusting up, pushing his cock into my hand so I will stroke him faster. “I
love you, Chrissie.”

His hand snakes around my neck, pulling my face
down to him and his tongue plunges deeply into my mouth, fucking me with his
kiss. In, out, slow, fast, deep and in rhythm with our searching bodies. He
takes my nipple into his mouth, sucking hard, and I come apart instantly as he
spills into my hand.

~~~

When
I wake both Neil and Kaley are gone from the bedroom. She must have started
crying again—
jeez, she cries a lot—
and he must have gone off with her so
she wouldn’t wake me. I smile. He’s so sweet at times. Nope, Neil is sweet all
the time. I can already tell he’s going to be a terrific father.

I pull on a pair of leggings and an oversized
t-shirt and shove my feet into my slippers. I wander down the hallway, looking
for my little family.

I find Neil on the couch in the living room, back
against the armrest, feet on the seat cushions, legs bent with Kaley propped
there facing him. I hang back in the doorway and watch. He’s nodding and
quietly talking to her. Not a sound comes out of her. She loves his voice.

His face turns toward me, smiling. “She’s pretty
cool. I think we should keep her.”

Laughing, I cross the room and sink down on the
coffee table close to them. “I’m glad. I don’t think she came with a return
policy.”

He lifts her up to his face and gives her a kiss
before settling her on his chest. His eyes are intense, wonderfully so, when he
looks at me. “I love you both so much. More than I think you know, Chrissie.”

Instantly I’m misty-eyed and mushy. “I wish you
weren’t leaving tomorrow.”

He makes a pout. “Me, too. You going to be all
right up here alone until I’m home again?”

I nod. “Missing you, but we’ll be fine.”

He sighs, leaning his head back. “Fuck, I don’t
want to be on the road another eight months. Especially now that Kaley’s here.
I want you to film everything. Send it to me. I don’t want to miss anything.”

Getting the words out is suddenly hard. “I will.”

“Don’t forget, Chrissie. Film everything.”

“I won’t forget.”

He smiles, and for some reason, I’m feeling it
again. The guilt. The indecisiveness over whether I should tell Neil. The
impulse to do it now while he’s here, rather than risk having him find out on
the road and trying to work it out over the phone. We never argue well on the
phone.

Fuck, he’s going to find out. It’s better to know
what it’s going to mean to us while he’s here.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” I start
in an obviously apprehensive way. Damn.

Neil looks at me. His eyes sharpen. “You don’t
have to tell me anything, Chrissie,” he orders, anxiously. “Don’t. Not today.
Whatever it is, I don’t want to hear it and you don’t need to say it.”

Shit, what does he mean by that? I study his face
and tense posture. Oh no, he doesn’t think I’m about to go there, does he?
Crap.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” I say in a rush.
“I should have told you when you got here. And I want to tell you before you
leave on the road. Alan stopped by the house last month.”

“Oh fuck, Chrissie.”

He shoots up, settles Kaley into her baby hammock
and swivels around to sit facing me.

He rakes an agitated hand through his hair. I
wait as he takes several gulps of air as if to steady himself. His eyes lock on
mine, blazing. “What did you do? What did you tell him? What did you talk
about?”