TWO
Stone
“Shit.” I grunted, twisting the mailbox key in the damn impossibly small lock. I knocked one knuckle on the little metal door, hoping for a miracle to shake the key into the right position to open it. I’d been having a helluva time with it all week. I’d have to put a call in to the super about getting it fixed. I didn’t have time for this shit. I worked long enough hours as it was.
“Son of a bi—”
“Just wiggle it,” an amused voice chimed over my shoulder. “Here, let me.”
Long, dark chocolate waves fell over one shoulder. High cheekbones and a beautiful heart-shaped face peered up at me. And then my eyes landed on her lips. Soft, plump lips that looked a little bit swollen, but not in that Hollywood overdone way. Nothing about her was overdone, she was all-natural and fucking gorgeous. I sucked in a quick breath, feeling a heat split deep in my stomach and radiate down through my balls.
Her little hand took the key from mine, jiggling it quickly, then like magic, the door popped open and revealed my mail—a sales flyer and a credit card offer.
“All that for junk mail.” My lips curved up as her eyes landed on mine for the first time.
The deepest shade of green I’d ever seen peered up at me.
Fuck, who was this girl?
“I’m Stone. And you are?” I leaned a little closer, craving another whiff of her scent.
“Oh…” She paused, her eyes narrowing quickly. “You’re the new neighbor!”
The irritation in her words was more amusing than anything. She was a livewire.
“You could call me that. I prefer Stone, though.” I crossed my arms, leaning against the wall as my lips turned up at one corner.
She arched one eyebrow, shoving her own key in the lock, jiggling like she’d refined it to an art form, shoving her own stack of mail into the crook of her arm then slamming the little tin door, grumbling more to herself than me. “What kind of name is Stone anyway?”
I laughed. She was adorable, sexy as hell, and had a fire under her ass. And I liked asses. “Family name,” I answered.
Her eyes nailed mine, narrowing into a dirty look. “Well, Stone, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”
“Oh?” I smiled, even more interested.
“Yeah.” She paused, eyes darting down to my dirty, scuffed work boots, taking in the dust caked into my jeans, definitely lingering an extra-long moment when her eyes trailed up my torso.
I was a good-looking guy, I knew that, no cockiness about it. The thing was, I didn’t have to work out. I worked hard and long in a job I loved doing physical labor. Fuck treadmills and weights. I shoveled, lifted, hauled cords of wood. I loved every second of it, but it wasn’t until now that I wondered if this little firecracker in her cute little parrot scrubs was judging me.
“So what’s on your mind, little bird?” She pursed her lips, clearly irritated with me. “Looks like you had a bad day. Wanna wind down with a drink with me?”
“What?!” She seethed. “No. No I don’t. And I didn’t have a bad day, I had a bad night, actually. Your…our walls are…”
Christ, she looked beautiful when she squirmed. “Thin?”
“Yes!” Her eyes shot up to mine. “Exactly. And I have to be to work early in the morning, so maybe if we could just be a little more aware of that…”
“Sure thing.” I took another step closer, coming within inches of the soft, sweet curve of her neck. “Just as soon as you stop having wet dreams in the middle of the night. You wake me up with your moans. It’s sexy as hell. So fucking sexy I can’t get back to sleep after, and I have to fuck my hand to get you off my mind. I have to say, it was a bit hard conjuring a visual but now that the real deal is standing in front of me...”
I moved closer, fingers itching to touch, kiss, bruise, and claim every inch of her.
Her mouth rounded in an O, her eyes larger than the tires on my truck.
“Close your mouth, little bird. I’m a dirty man with an even dirtier mind.” I tipped her chin up, pressing the seam of her dark red lips together. “It’s going to be hard for me to get those lips out of my head tonight.”
“You’re…you’ve got to be…” She shook her head, finally giving up on putting words to exactly what I was.
“Not the last time you’ll be at a loss of words around me.” I moved an inch closer to her ear, making sure my breath washed across her skin. “I’ll take it as a compliment from you.”
I winked, then passed her, pushing through the heavy doors and heading up the stairs to my apartment. I didn’t even look back for her reaction.
Let her think on that one for a while.