Valentine Next Door (7 page)

But she had him right now. She still had tonight. And she planned to experience as much of it as she could. To squirrel it away for the lonely future before her to be pulled out and used whenever the night became too quiet and cold.

She kissed him back, taking the caress from soft and sweet to blistering in seconds. She twirled her arms around him, pulling him close until their bodies were entwined. She lifted her legs higher on his hips, reaching between them to find his cock. Wrapping her fingers around him, she slid her grip up and down his length three times, his flesh hard as stone. She positioned his cock at her entrance and pressed down as she lifted her hips off the counter.

They moaned together, his thick cock filling her. Her inner muscles massaged him until he gasped. He gripped her hips, plunging deep. Tingles of sensation rocketed from the bottom of her feet all the way to the top of her head.

“God, baby, you feel so good,” he whispered as she moved with him, thrusting up to meet his hips.

She gripped his ass, stabbing her nails into the hard muscles, holding him tightly while she still could. Tomorrow she’d have to let him go. Tomorrow they’d have to go their separate ways, toward their separate goals.

She threw her head back as he picked up his pace, drilling into her so deeply her entire body vibrated. He took advantage of the position, sucking on her throat and licking the column of her neck.

“You’re amazing,” Jeremy mumbled against her skin. He gazed into her eyes with such wonder.

Her heart skipped a beat.

“I could do this the rest of my life and never have enough of you.”

If only that was possible.
The honesty within his eyes almost undid her. He meant it. Truly. No one else had ever looked at her that way, not even Leo. But it couldn’t be. They were both in different places in their lives. They needed different things. And if she tried to force him to conform, she’d only hurt him more in the end.

She couldn’t do that to Jeremy. She cared about him too much to hurt him like that.

Her orgasm stole over her so quickly it surprised her. The pleasure overtook her, stealing all oxygen from her lungs and robbing her of any rational thought. Her pussy clenched around him, holding onto him. She was desperate to feel close to him for one more minute.

Jeremy plunged into her once more, before spilling inside her. His cock jerked along her sensitive inner tissues, bringing tears to her eyes. She leaned her head against his shoulder to hide her sobs.

If only I was ten years younger, I could have this every day.

But she could never change her age just like Jeremy couldn’t change his. There was no point in wishing it. She wrapped her arms around him, memorizing his smell, his touch, and the feel of him, while she still could. She tightened her grip a fraction, loath to release him. He placed a kiss on her head, curling her into his arms.

The obvious truth hit her like a brick against the temple. Another tear leaked from her eye as she lost the fight to her sadness. There was no question in her mind. Her heart would always be his. No matter where he went next.

Chapter Five

Jeremy paced his mother’s kitchen as much as he could with his plaster-encased leg. “I don’t know what happened,” he sputtered into the phone, not caring that he’d screamed into his best friend’s ear. He didn’t care about much anymore. It had been a week since he’d heard from Miranda and he was going out of his mind.

He’d had the most amazing night of his life, except for having to leave at four in the morning to be back in his bed before his mother came in to give him his morning pain pill. He would have liked to have stayed the night to wake up with Miranda in his arms, to make her breakfast, to help her get dressed. His cock throbbed with the idea, and the million others he’d concocted of Miranda since leaving her bed. But she’d been so insistent about his parents not finding him missing. Not wanting to worry them, he’d given in.

He thought she’d had an amazing night too. He’d done everything he could to show her how special, cherished and beautiful she was. All the different emotions he’d felt for her for ten years. He’d thought she’d felt them too. Especially the last time on the kitchen counter when she’d looked up at him with those misty eyes. But if she had, why the hell hadn’t she returned any of his calls? Why hadn’t she come back over to see him or asked him to stop by? Being so close and unable to be with her made him want to jump out of his skin.

Isn’t it doing the same to her?

“We seemed to have such a great time. I thought she did too.”

Brett sighed into the phone. This kind of conversation was not his specialty. “I don’t know, dude. Some girls are just like that. Hot one minute, cold the next. There’s no way to understand it.”

Jeremy shook his head. It couldn’t be that simple. There had to be more to this. Miranda wasn’t one of those flighty girls who changed their minds all the time. She wouldn’t have let him into her bed if she didn’t want him there. So what had changed?

His mind flashed back to that night in the kitchen, the sad look in her eyes when he’d returned after fetching a condom. The image haunted him, floating in his subconscious, tugging at him to remember, to understand. There’d been some other emotion there, something besides simply missing him like she’d said, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

“Buddy, you got to give this one up. The girl clearly doesn’t want to see you.”

Jeremy clenched his hands into fists, slamming them into his sides, not caring that he’d whacked the cellphone, held tightly in his right hand, against his cast. A pain reverberated up his leg.

He put the phone back to his ear. “She’s not a girl. She’s a woman.”

The most amazing, beautiful, fantastic woman he’d ever met.

“Sorry.” Brett did sound regretful, but Jeremy doubted it was for calling Miranda a girl. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Jeremy blew out an exasperated breath. “I know, dude.” It wasn’t Brett’s fault he hadn’t slept more than three hours for the last six nights. He’d had some killer fantasies of Miranda before, but now that he’d seen her, touched and tasted her, the fantasies were a thousand times more intense. They kept him up long into the night, tempting him, torturing him.

“I can’t give her up.” He couldn’t just walk away from her. Not even if that’s what she wanted. “I love her,” he released with a croak.

“I know, dude. But you have to let her go. You called, you’ve left messages. There’s nothing more you can do.”

There had to be something else. There had to be something he could say to convince her. He couldn’t live the rest of his life without her. He grabbed the edge of the counter, intending to turn back and pace the kitchen again, needing the support to balance while he pivoted on his injured leg.

As he reached out, his hand knocked against a stack of mail piled on the counter. Three envelopes tumbled to the floor, unearthing several letters buried in the heap. Two more slid off the pile to the side of the heap. He grabbed the two across the granite countertop, intending to put the letters back in order when he noticed Miranda’s address standing out among the mound. Her name called to him like a neon sign.

It must have been misdelivered. It happened often. As a teen, he’d loved it when one of the Valentines’ letters had shown up at his house. It gave him the opportunity to go over and hand-deliver it to Miranda. Sometimes she’d even offer him a drink or snack as a thank you.

But now, his stomach dropped. Her name stabbed him in the gut. He wanted nothing more than to take the letter next door and see the woman who had occupied his mind every second since he’d slipped out of her house with her sweat still on his skin. But after three unreturned phone calls and a dozen texts without a single reply, would she really want to see him? Did she regret their night together?

He pulled the thick envelope from the stack, unable to keep himself away from it. Just holding the paper in his hands made him feel closer to her. The other mail fell away, revealing the return address on the note. His stomach sank to his knees at the small formal type in the top left corner.

“Dude, do you want me to come up this weekend?” Brett’s voice echoed in his ears. “We could get a beer like we planned last week.”

Before Jeremy had canceled in hopes of spending more time with Miranda.

But Jeremy couldn’t respond. His throat dry, his focus too directed at the thick paper in his hand to respond to his best friend.

“
Ddduuudddeeee
, are you there?” Brett’s voice rose an octave. “Jer, what’s going on?” he screamed to get his attention.

“It all makes sense now,” Jeremy whispered, speaking to himself instead of Brett.

“What?” Panic leaked into Brett’s voice.

Jeremy ignored him. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered now except finding Miranda and forcing her to explain. He’d sit outside her door for a week if that’s what it took. She was going to talk to him. She was going to explain this letter. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.

* * * *

Miranda trudged up her front steps. Every muscle in her body was sore. The headache she’d been trying to keep at bay with far too many aspirins had broken free of its medicated haze. Everything felt harder, more difficult than it had a few days ago—before Jeremy. Even walking to her door took more effort. She had to force herself not to turn toward his house or search his bedroom window to see if he was lying in bed trying to rest and repair from his injury. To see if he was thinking about her half as much as she thought of him.

Why does life have to be so unfair?

All she wanted was love and family. Was that really so much to ask for? Instead, she’d settled for a man who had lacked passion but held every other ingredient for the family she craved. He’d had a nice job, stable income and would have made a great father. But the family she’d longed for had never come.

Now she’d found a man with more passion then she knew how to process. Jeremy could make everything else disappear. But he couldn’t offer her more than his passion. He was young and wild. He wasn’t ready to settle down. He couldn’t offer her the life she craved.

Why couldn’t everything come in one package? Why did she have to choose?

“You’re home late.” A voice reached out to her from her porch chairs.

She jumped. Caught up in her own thoughts, Miranda hadn’t noticed anything around her. Good thing she lived in a safe neighborhood.

She turned toward the voice. She didn’t have to see him to know who sat on her porch, but still the sight of Jeremy stole her breath. He leaned back in the loveseat, his arm resting over the teak back, making his chest look big and broad. The urge to throw herself into the seat beside him and curl up against that chest was almost impossible to deny. There was nothing she’d wanted more since he’d walked out of her home. If only things could be different.

But his tight expression struck her to the core. His face was haggard. Dark circles lay beneath his eyes. He must not have been sleeping any better than she had. His fierce gaze and locked jaw affected her the most. Not only did he look angry, he looked hurt. She’d never meant to cause him any pain. But it had been the best thing for him. For them.

“Jeremy, what are you doing here?”

He propped his cast across the seat next to him. A layer of scruff grew along his square jawline. She guessed he hadn’t shaved in days, maybe a week. She wanted to hate it but the change made him appear sexier, a little dangerous. His tousled hair and the hard gleam in his eyes enhanced the expression. An ache started between her legs, her sex dripping with need. She clenched her thighs together.

She wanted him so badly. Even now, she wanted to run across the porch and straddle him right here. She didn’t care who saw them, not even his parents right next door. Nothing mattered besides being back in his arms. But his hard glare told her in no uncertain terms to stay back.

“Is this why you won’t take my calls?” He lifted a thick envelope, showing off the label on the package—Greater Valley Cryobank.

Oh, God. The letter from the sperm bank had been delivered to his house. Of all the mail to be mistakenly delivered, it had to be
that
envelope. She could only imagine what he thought of her after seeing it. Did he think she’d been gearing up to this all along? That she’d been bidding her time to use him for a possible baby daddy?

In fact, the opposite was true. Her night with Jeremy had been sudden, unexpected and life-changing. Without their time together, she never would have had the courage to move forward in her life.

He deserved to know that. He deserved to know the truth.

She opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it. She looked around. Down the street, Mrs Slater swept off her stoop. In the road, Corey, Michael and Shea played street hockey on Rollerblades, all within earshot. She didn’t need to broadcast her relationship with Jeremy to the whole neighborhood. Though Jeremy was well over the age of consent, she didn’t want to be labeled the neighborhood cougar. She’d never get invited to another Fourth of July potluck for fear she’d be hitting on all the young available sons on the block. She couldn’t allow that. She’d really miss Mr Newman’s German potato salad.

“Let’s talk inside.” She motioned toward the door as she slid her key into the lock then turned it quickly. Focused on breathing, she crossed the threshold, the solid warm presence of him following her like an ominous ghost. How could she explain all of this? How could she make him understand?

She turned around, looking at him, praying for divine intervention. But none came. All she received was the thump of the door closing. They were now completely alone.

Inside the living room, Jeremy just stood there. Staring at her. Waiting for her to speak. The silence stretched between them, almost impossible to bear. This side of Jeremy she’d never seen before, the angry side, the demanding side. Her body vibrated with the need to brighten his mood, to uproot this dark anger that seemed to have taken residence within him. It was an unusual feeling, one she’d never experienced before.