The Troublemaker Next Door (8 page)

“Yeah. Roll it down.”

“You’re so thick, Flynn. Sexy.” She played with him, way too enthusiastically for his peace of mind. She cupped his balls, touching them with a hesitance that hinted at her unfamiliarity with a man’s body. The way she took pains to be gentle with him, when he needed a harder touch, thrilled him. Oh yeah.
The
naughty
schoolgirl, and I
’
m her teacher.

He watched her roll down the rubber until it rested above his balls. Constraining as hell, and he prayed he’d still be able to feel her heat when he pushed inside her.

“Now lie back.” She did, and he crouched between her thighs. “Remember what I said about wanting to eat you?”

Her eyes turned molten. “I don’t, I mean, I never…”

“Had a guy go down on you?” His cock bobbed, as if shocked as well.

“Ben wasn’t into that. And for all I know I’m not, er, tasty.”

“You haven’t been with a lot of guys, have you?”

“I’m not a slut.” Her brows drew close and her mouth firmed into a line.

“Never said you were. I like you. I want to make you feel good, not bad. I just want to know if I’m going to do something you don’t like.” Honestly, he didn’t care if she didn’t want this. Flynn knew how to use his mouth. He’d guaran-damn-tee she came all over him.

“Oh. Sorry.” She reached up to touch his chest, and her hands trailed fire around his nipples. “If you have to know, one time, when I was still a virgin, I had a guy want to do that to me. But it wasn’t that good. Frankly, it was embarrassing. He didn’t know what he was doing, I didn’t know how to tell him to fix it, and we never spoke after that.”

“Well, Maddie, I think it’s been a few years since high school.”

“Thanks for saying I look old.” Her humor touched him. He didn’t usually talk this much when raring to fuck, but he’d never felt so at ease and horny at the same time with a woman. The whole thing made little sense, but his cock didn’t seem to care.

“You’re hot, and you know it. I just want you to lie back and enjoy. Trust me, you’ll like the way I do it. And if you want me to adjust, just tell me. I’m real good with constructive criticism.”

Her short laugh turned into a moan the minute his lips closed over her clit. So sweet. Her heady taste exploded on his tongue. Innocent and tempting, her essence made him hungry for more. He licked and stroked, paying strict attention to her reactions. She liked it when he ran his hands over her thighs, when he played with her pussy, penetrating with his finger in short, choppy thrusts. She especially liked it when he sucked hard, tickling her bud with his never-tiring tongue.

Her groans and pleas for more fell like music to his ears, notes of need, high and strong, and he wanted badly to give her what she desired.

“Flynn.” She ran her hands over his hair and ground into his face.

He fucking loved it. Playing, teasing, he inched his pinkie near her asshole, wondering if she’d ever been fucked there. He wasn’t into it himself. The preparation, the mess, the problem of making it right for his partner. But he’d done it to please others. There were other things they could do, however, that could excite without all the fuss.

“Flynn, I’m going to come.” She released his hair to clutch the sheets beside the bed. “That’s so good. Oh, Flynn.”

He rimmed her ass with his pinkie and barely pushed it in when he nipped her clit and sucked hard, grinding his tongue over the bundle of nerves.

She screamed his name as she flew apart, and in seconds he covered her, nudged her thighs wider and shoved himself inside.

So tight, she clamped down on him like a vise as he rode through her orgasm. A fucking storm of pleasure he couldn’t believe as he drove inside her.

“Maddie. Yes, baby. Hold me. Oh fuck.” He couldn’t stop himself from plunging deeper, harder, and then the tingle grew from his balls, up his spine, and obliterated all thought. He swore and shoved one last time, jetting hard inside the condom, the spasms almost painful as he emptied himself while inside her.

The condom muted the sensation, but he could feel enough to blow his entire mind. He wanted to do it all over again, but this time he wanted to shoot in her pussy, to pull out and watch his semen spill from her body. Totally insane, because Flynn didn’t do bareback and never had. But Maddie…

“Baby, you okay?” he asked when he could stop shaking. He withdrew and pulled the condom off. Then he grabbed a tissue from a box on the table, wrapped up the rubber, and tossed it to the floor.

“Oh my God.” Maddie continued to breathe hard, her gaze unblinking as she stared up at the ceiling. “What the hell did you do to me?”

“It was good though, right?” He started to worry maybe he’d misread the signs when she rolled over onto him and kissed him so hard he saw stars.

“Good? Try great. Incredible. Amazing. You earned yourself a big ego for what you just did. You are the man. Not any man. But
the
man. Flynn.” She moaned his name, and he felt ten feet tall. “My body is still tingling. Holy shit.”

The swear sounded right coming off her lips. No innocent girl, but a sensual woman who didn’t hide how she felt. Again, he wondered just what he’d done to deserve her, then decided not to question a good thing. Except his thoughts immediately jumped to their next encounter. If they’d even have one. The thought of not being with her like this again depressed him, so he refused to consider this a one-night stand.

“Oh man. I’m supposed to be bringing home window cleaner.” She pouted, and he laughingly rolled her onto her back.

He lay on his side next to her, propped up on his elbow, and explored her breasts. “I didn’t give these enough attention. Have I told you how incredible you are?”

Her cheeks turned that pretty pink again. “I believe you said I was hot.”

“Yeah, but there’s hot, and there’s eternal hard-on hot. Your tits, ah, breasts, are the best I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“I wonder if I can use you as a reference in my new career.” She snickered. “Incredible tits, and she designs too.”

“Hell, I’d hire you. I don’t know many guys who wouldn’t.” He couldn’t take his eyes from her body. “Do you work out or something? I swear I could bounce a quarter off your stomach.”

“Are you trying for another round? I’m flabby.” She pinched her stomach, but he saw nothing but the stretch of fit skin. “And my ass is starting to get bigger.”

“Bigger is better. Trust me.” He rubbed a hand over her hip. When he caressed her ribs, he saw her eyes light up. “Oh, you like this.”

“I do. Stop that.” She squirmed. “I don’t think I can come again. Twice in one night is a record.”

He shook his head. “You have been seriously underappreciated, Maddie. I tell you what. I’ll show you what you’ve been missing if you promise we’ll do this again after tonight.” Before she could protest, he stopped her. “I know. No commitment. No boyfriend/girlfriend label. Look, I’m not in the market for a girlfriend either. Brody and I have been gearing up to maybe hire on some guys to work for us, we’re getting that busy. I don’t have time for a relationship, like you. And if Mike finds out we did this, he’ll kick my ass.”

“Scared of your brother?” She tangled her fingers with his, brushing their hands over her soft skin.

The sight of them joined made him feel funny, and he shrugged it off. “Hell yeah. Have you seen the size of his neck? The boy is like a farmer turned pro wrestler. He’s friggin’ huge.”

“Well, I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“Exactly. I’m not a kiss-and-tell kind of guy. You don’t know me well enough to know that. Or that I don’t cheat on girlfriends, not that you are, but I’m just saying. If we do this again, which I hope we will, it’ll be just us, ah…”

“Fucking?”

“Man, I love that mouth.” He leaned over to kiss her again. His cock twitched, and he wondered what the hell had been in that wine. He should have been more than tired by now. Instead, he wanted to bend her over and start again.

Maddie pushed him onto his back and rose over him, speculation on her face. “So you’re saying you want to keep fucking but keep it quiet? A little something on the side, and we let no one know? My roommates aren’t stupid. They’re going to be a little suspicious I didn’t come home right away.”

“Good point.” He had a hard time taking his eyes off her breasts. But when he saw her brow raised in question, he concentrated on what the hell she was saying. “I’ll go with whatever you want. But whatever happens between us has to stay between us. I don’t want you pissed at me and taking it out on Mike. Same goes for me yelling at Vanessa because you make me crazy.”

“Actually, you can yell at Vanessa all you want.” She ran her fingertips over his chest. “I get your point. I’d like us to be friends at least. I mean, Ben and I were friends before we dated. We broke up and nothing. Not even a ‘how are you.’”

“I don’t want that for us. Not that there is an
us
, if you know what I mean,” he amended, not sure why the thought of them together pleased him so much. “But you have to know, I want to do this again. And again. And maybe again after that.”

She smiled. “Good to know. Me too. But I don’t want to, um, it would probably be best if we kept this casual between us.”

“Right.”

“But you have a point. If we’re kind of together, it would make me feel better, safer, if it was just you and me. No other women. Not that we’re dating or anything.”

Was she trying to convince him or herself? Interesting thought.

She continued, “A man is the last thing I need right now. No offense; I’m not talking about you.”

“None taken.” He shifted beneath her, letting her feel his cock against her thigh.

Her eyes widened. “Does that thing ever go down?”

“Not around you, apparently.” He caressed her breasts. “So we should probably get you that window cleaner, hmm?”

“Well, yeah. But they don’t need it right away, do they?”

He brought her lips down to meet his. The kiss this time felt sweet, easy. Familiar yet fraught with a tenderness he didn’t understand. “They should wait.”

“Vanessa is a tyrant.” She kissed him back. For all she talked about casual sex, nothing in her expression seemed light. Soft, sensual, affectionate. Maddie Gardner didn’t make sense, and he wanted like hell to figure her out. So that they could have sex without complications, not for any other reason. He’d barely turned thirty-one. He wasn’t ready for kids and the white picket fence yet.

“Your cousin reminds me of my brothers.”

Her lips trailed over his mouth to his neck and ear. “Are they mean to you, cupcake? I bet I could handle them.” She whispered the naughty things she’d do, shocking and arousing him that she could be so wicked.

His semi-hard cock grew to epic proportions. He let her play before reminding her just how much she’d been missing out on in life.

In the end, they agreed to pretend to some hot and heavy petting for her roommates, but she’d divulge nothing more. Maddie didn’t need scrutiny on her love life—
sex
life, she corrected. She had enough to worry about without anxiety over what her roommates might think.

She arrived home four hours later. As expected, the flicker of a television lit up the darkness of the living room. Abby and Vanessa were no doubt waiting up for her. The hour hadn’t yet reached eleven, so she wasn’t too late.

Armed with a bottle of Windex, she snuck into the clean and tidy house, so boneless she wanted to melt into a pile of satisfied goo. Flynn McCauley had touched her in places she hadn’t known existed. And the things he’d done to her with that mouth defied belief.

She tiptoed past the living room, through the darkened hall, and put the cleaner on the kitchen counter. Moonlight through the window showed it to be spotless. Poor Abby, at home all alone with Vanessa, her rubber gloves, and Mr. Clean.

The lights snapped on and she shrieked and turned to face Vanessa and Abby.

“So, Skankerella sneaks home.” Vanessa crossed her arms over her chest.

“Vanessa.” Abby quirked a smile. “Although I like Skankerella. Mind if I use that in my next book?”

“Feel free.”

Both friends scrutinized her from top to bottom. Maddie didn’t mind. She looked the same as she had before she’d left, minus her panties. She’d refused to put the wet things back on, but Flynn promised to get them back to her. Discreetly.

“Man, they did it. I knew it.” Abby held out her hand, and Vanessa started to reach for her pocket.

“Hey! I didn’t do anything.” She didn’t want to fib to her best friends, but this thing between her and Flynn confused her. It meant something more than she’d expected, and she needed time, and privacy, to know what the hell had actually happened between them.

Vanessa huffed. “Four hours to get glass cleaner? Please credit us with some intelligence.”

“Okay, so there might have been some kissing and touching involved. But we’re taking it slow.” The truth, if watered down some. “Neither of us wants a relationship, and Mike threatened to hang Flynn by his toes if he bothers any of us. I guess our neighbor is afraid if Flynn breaks my heart, I’ll blame Mike and make his life miserable.”

“A fair assessment. Makes you wonder how many other hearts Flynn’s broken that Mike would warn him.” Vanessa frowned. “Take it slow with the heartthrob. He’s handsome, available, and not what you need right now.”

“Thanks,
Mom
,” she grumbled at her cousin.

“Well, one of us has to keep our legs closed and our minds sharp.”

Abby sputtered with laughter. “That would be you, for sure.”

“Don’t even pretend it wouldn’t be you.” Vanessa snorted. “The woman who writes about it every day but never does anything with that imagination? The last time you got lucky you found a penny heads up on the sidewalk. And that was what? Last month?”

Abby sneered. “Yeah? Well if you didn’t walk around with an icicle up your ass, you wouldn’t be such a cold, frigid bitch.”

Maddie stared from Abby to Vanessa in shock. “Guys?”

Abby’s smile returned. “Did you like that?”

“Oh yeah. Frigid bitch worked. But you might want to hold onto the sarcasm longer. It takes practice, but it works for me.”

“You two make my head hurt. I’m going to bed. I have a lot on my plate this week.” Maddie shook her head and left them behind, her thoughts on other things. Namely, her new business.

And Flynn.

***

Abby waited until Maddie climbed the stairs. Once she heard the door shut, she held her palm out. “Twenty. I told you.”

Vanessa frowned but put a crisp bill face-up on Abby’s palm. “She said she didn’t do anything.”

“Please. I know Maddie better than she knows herself. She totally danced the mambo with snake man. Flynn was practically drooling when they left. Trust me, I know when a man’s interested.”

Vanessa chuckled.

“What?”

“Abby, you’re blind when it comes to men. Oh sure, when you’re observing your roommates or planning out your next novel, you see all kinds of things. But you never see them coming your way, do you?”

Not liking the direction of this conversation, she asked Vanessa the question weighing heavily on her mind. “Do you think Maddie and Flynn will work?”

Vanessa pursed her lips in thought. “I don’t know. From everything I saw today, he comes from a decent family with core values. He’s handsome, intelligent, and financially responsible—I think. I’ll know more after I’ve done some research on his personal finances.”

“Are you serious?”

“Look. Flynn might not know it, but when he decided to take up with Maddie, he got himself two self-appointed guardians.” Vanessa glared at her. “Or am I wrong, and you don’t care if he uses my cousin—
our
roommate—and smashes her heart into tiny pieces?”

Abby scowled. “Of course I care.” She thought about what Vanessa had said. “Do I even want to know how you’ll get that information about Flynn’s finances?”

“I’ll work it out of Cameron.”

“Their brother, Cameron?”

Vanessa nodded. “He’s the saner one in the family. A financial whiz, or so I hear. I’ll con him into giving up some deets about Flynn. Don’t worry. You keep up the eavesdropping on poker nights. Maybe we’ll find something we can use. And try to work info out of the kid. They normally break pretty easily.”

“Vanessa!”

She laughed. “I’m kidding. Colin’s a cute little boy. But seriously, he would be a great source of information. You should offer to babysit someday, then pepper the crap out of him. But you have to be subtle, or he’ll go home telling dear old dad you’re asking questions about Flynn.”

“So why don’t you do the babysitting thing?” Abby didn’t want to remember the last time she’d been around children. Her sisters, flying mashed potatoes, nieces and nephews who refused to listen to reason, orange juice in her purse…

“I’m going to be working the brother for information. He’s the baby of the family. It’ll be easy.”

Abby frowned. “He’s older than you are, and I know because Beth ran through the family history with me. I think he’s nearing thirty. He’s no pushover, Vanessa. And he’s not stupid.”

Vanessa waved her away. “Yeah, yeah. Now I’m going to get some rest because I have to go in to work tomorrow. Without me, that project is dead in the water. God, the curse of the competent.” She sighed and twisted her straight hair into a bun. “Don’t forget. We need info. So get that kid over here and work him.”

Abby watched her walk away and let out a deep breath. Vanessa had her heart in the right place, but manipulating a five-year-old for answers didn’t seem kosher to Abby. Walking back down the hall, she turned off the television and entered the office. She sat in front of her computer, too tired to do any work, and turned to her bookshelves.

Ten titles, all written by Abigail D. Chatterly.
My
hard
work
is
paying
off. Finally.
Yet the excitement she normally felt when looking at her accomplishments refused to come. The barbecue this afternoon had been fun, and a bit of a letdown. The McCauleys were wonderful people. Everyone, from little Colin to his grandfather James, had been more than sweet. If she could discount the strange looks Brody had given her, she’d have said the day had been a success.

It still weirded her out that she looked so much like Mike’s dead wife, Lea. But if it didn’t bother him, she didn’t know why his friend would be so troubled.
Give
him
a
break, Abby. He
’
s the only one who never saw you before. Probably just a shock to his system.
But of all the men who’d been at the party, he was the one she wanted most to notice her. She’d heard him and his buddies on and off for weeks, unable to place a face to his name.

But holy Hannah, Brody Singer had awakened the woman inside her, and now that stupid woman refused to go back to sleep.

Disgruntled, she tried to banish the tall, golden Brody from her mind. Like Vanessa, she’d seen the chemistry between Flynn and Maddie brewing all day. She’d also seen Flynn’s reaction to meeting Maddie last week, when the poor man had stared so hard she feared his eyes would pop out of their sockets.

And why shouldn’t he? Unlike Abby, Maddie had height, a figure most women envied—hell,
she
did—and red hair, amber eyes, model good looks, and a pleasant personality. Mostly. Then again, most men didn’t care about pleasant. They wanted hot, sexy, passionate—all characteristics Maddie possessed.

The best thing that could have happened to her, besides losing that stifling job with snotty people, was breaking up with Ben. “Boring Ben,” as Abby had secretly nicknamed him. Maddie seemed to attach herself to guys who didn’t challenge her. Abby had a feeling Maddie feared becoming her mother, loving the wrong man and facing the consequences.

Abby felt for her. She did. Her own family loved her. With the exception of one annoying older sister, they supported her and had helped her through school so she didn’t have to take major loans. She’d never wanted for much. And when she’d met Kevin, she’d thought she’d found heaven on earth.

Not wanting to travel down that dark road again, she forced the memory aside and turned on the computer. Her heroes and heroines lived their own happily-ever-afters. If she had anything to do with it, Maddie would as well. Abby just needed time to figure out if Flynn would be a hero or a villain, a main love interest or a secondary character. Because unlike Maddie’s other boyfriends, Flynn didn’t seem the type to accept Maddie’s distance. He had too much going for him to succumb to an emotionally withdrawn lover, not with a family like his.

The McCauleys were loud. Protective. Loyal. Loving. She’d seen it in his parents and brothers, in the way they all cared for Colin and treated their guests with respect and affection. Abby couldn’t have written Maddie a better hero. Now to make sure Flynn wasn’t a scoundrel in disguise.

***

Maddie continued to badger herself not to pick up the phone on Sunday. Hadn’t she told Flynn they were casual? She’d see him when she saw him. Mike lived right next door. It was inevitable they’d bump into each other soon enough. And she’d had enough sex last night to last her several months.

It
’
s the quality of the orgasms. Not the quantity, Maddie.
Though three in one night had broken every record in the Madison Gardner Hall of Fame. She’d never taken the concept of multiple orgasms seriously. But after experiencing Flynn, she knew anything was possible. He’d turned her inside out with his hands, his tongue, his giant cock. She’d never been one concerned about size, but the way he’d used it and how he’d felt inside her… Flynn definitely knew how to please a woman.

And therein lay the problem. He must have had a lot of experience to know how to bring someone he barely knew to orgasm so quickly. Despite her long stretch of celibacy, Flynn had played her body like his own personal instrument. Just thinking about him revved her engines again. To her bemusement, she didn’t like the thought of him with another woman. Jealousy, strong and sure, curled in her breast, and she wanted to slap herself for being so cliché.

Christ, I barely know him. It
’
s not like I claimed him as mine or anything. And his past is just that, his past.
So why had she felt such relief when he’d agreed to no other people in their personal lives while they dallied with each other?

She called herself an idiot and buckled down to iron out the details of her pitch to Linda Donnigan. Yesterday had been a blessing in disguise. Not only was Flynn’s Aunt Linda a realtor, she was a businesswoman who didn’t mince words and who had Robin’s and Kim’s respect. A brief message to her friends had convinced Maddie a meeting with Linda would not only benefit her but might benefit them as well.

With their excited support behind her, she needed to be totally sure of herself. Selling the product would be easy so long as she believed in it; she had to believe in herself.

She never would have guessed that might be a problem, but Fred Hampton’s machinations nagged at her confidence. What if she hadn’t been hired based on her ability, but because he’d planned to sleep with her one day? What if her designs and ideas had never been very good, but he’d helped her limp along because he had ulterior motives?

The negative thinking continued to abrade her nerves, until she wanted to throw the whole project out the window.

A knock at her bedroom door interrupted her pity party. “What?” she yelled.

Vanessa opened the door. “Here you go, Your Highness.” She tossed Maddie her cell phone.

“Oh. Where was it?”

“On the counter, Captain Clueless. Wait, what’s that, you ask? No, my day has
not
gone well. Jed Rawlins is a horse’s ass
and
stupid. He wasted my morning with questions he should already have known the answers to. When I told him that, he had the audacity to ask about
you
. As if I’d set up my own flesh and blood with someone like him.”

Vanessa tied her hair up in a ponytail, her agitation apparent in the brisk motion of her hands. “I’m going out for a run before the rain comes down. Don’t thank me for the phone or anything.” She slammed the door shut and stomped down the stairs.

Chuckling, Maddie looked at the phone and scrolled through her unread messages. “And she calls
me
‘Your Highness.’ Too funny.” Maddie really felt for the people who had to work with her cousin. The woman had a high intelligence and a low threshold for foolish questions and stupid people. Hell, she barely tolerated Maddie, and they were cousins.

Robin had sent her a few notes. One message from a friend from Hampton’s Designs expressed regret that she’d left without saying good-bye. Maddie made a note to call her back. She wasn’t a bad person, probably one of the best young designers still there. Another text—a reminder from Vanessa to purchase paper towels, which she’d sent yesterday while at the barbecue.