Chapter 4
Reese
Have you ever had that dream? The one where you're up at the front of class to give a presentation that you're completely unprepared for and the entire room is sitting there, waiting for you to get on with it. But when you look down, you realize that you're naked. Completely naked.
Usually, at that point in the dream, you bolt upright in bed, chest heaving, sweat on your brow and realize that—thank god—it was just a dream.
Well, as I stand here at the back door, blinking impishly into the chiseled face of the strikingly handsome man standing shirtless in front of me, I realize to my horror that there is no waking up. This is no dream. This is my reality. There's a little boy on my porch staring up at me through the stretched-out leg holes of my super-sized red granny panties.
I'm going to need years of therapy to recover from this traumatic event.
The tall, tan sculpture of male perfection snatches the underwear off of the child's head and scolds him sternly. "Brenton Montgomery—what is wrong with you?!"
"But, daddy—I’m Spiderman!" Innocent puppy dog eyes blink in his father’s direction.
"But, nothing. You know better than to do something like this!” He’s fuming. Face red. Nostrils twitching. “...And Spiderman doesn’t wear a cape!" The stranger’s broad chest heaves as he turns his attention to me. He looks as mortified as I feel. "I am so, so sorry," he tells me with an earnest expression, his iridescent blue irises glimmering despite the heavy bags beneath them. "He just...he..." The man’s deep voice trails off and his eyes flutter shut as he shoves a frustrated hand through his hair.
My eyes fall to the panties still clenched in the fingers of his other hand. But I'm in too much shock to speak. Instead, my gaze explores the rock hard body on display in front of me. And my armpits go damp.
He's hot. Really hot.
My anti-perspirant isn't strong enough to combat this level of man-heat.
Dark blond hair with the slightest wave to it. Sharp, brooding eyes in the most intriguing shade of blue. Defined cheekbones and a jawline I want to trace with my fingertips.
And the lips...the full, succulent, juicy lips, like harvest-fresh fruit at the end of summer.
My eyes move down his stubbly chin and his bobbing Adam's apple to his wide, rounded deltoids. His pecs are tight and swollen with the bulging muscles beneath. His abs are stacked like bricks one on top of the other—
I feel an elbow nudge me in the ribs. "It's no problem at all," I hear Nova say over my left shoulder. "Right, Theresa? Tell him that it's no problem at all." She gives me a hard stare.
"Right," I say, snapping my attention back to his face. My knees go weak when my eyes collide with his. So hot…
Sophia takes her position on my right side. "This is Reese," she tells the gorgeous stranger as she gives me a little push in his direction. “She lives here. Alone.” The suggestive tenor of her voice is anything but subtle.
His stoic eyes take a jaunt down my body and my skin heats with self-consciousness. "Reese. Charlie's sister." He shakes his head as if he's just now remembering, and the interest I just saw in his expression fades away. I must have imagined it. "Yeah, he told me that you live next door. I’m sorry—in all the chaos of the past few days, I forgot." He stretches his huge fingers out to me. When his palm slides against mine, my chest tightens and my whole arm tingles as we shake hands. "I'm Leo." He pulls back way too fast. A mournful sigh slips from my mouth.
"I'm Brenton," a tiny voice interjects and my attention goes to the adorable little boy. Now that he’s no longer wearing my god-awful panties like a ski mask, I see a head of unruly brown hair that could probably use a trim and playful black eyes that hint at the thousands of types of mischief he could get into if given five minutes unsupervised.
"Hi Brenton," I say, leaning down a little closer. "It's nice to meet you."
He grins at me as he shakes my outstretched hand. "You’re pretty!"
I’m blushing like an idiot because now I’m even more aware of his father’s eyes on me. "Thank you," I say quietly.
Leo puts a hand on his son's shoulder, guiding him toward the stairs. "Sorry for interrupting your evening, ladies. We'd better get going."
"Wait!" I call out as they're about to head down the stairs.
My friends gaze expectantly at me just as Leo and Brenton glance back with curious expressions.
Shit…
"C-can I have my panties back, please?"
Leo blinks a few times, looking the slightest bit confused. Like he had already forgotten all about the damn panties. And now, I’ve reminded him of their miserable existence. Good going, Reese.
I make a clumsy attempt to backtrack. “Or you could keep them…if you want.” He frowns deeply at my magnanimous offer. Okay—I may have just made this situation even more awkward by condoning my new neighbor’s presumed panty fetish. Still the words keep coming. “But you don’t exactly seem like the type of man who’d need panties like those…Or any other type of panties, for that matter.” My hand flies out in front of me as I dig my hole deeper. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it, if you’re into that sort of thing. Because different people are into different kinds of things and that’s okay because I’m a liberal. I totally am.”
I literally have to bite down on my bottom lip to keep quiet.
This is who I become when I get nervous. A red-faced idiot with no bottle cork to keep my thought streams from spilling out of my mouth. Saying things I should never, ever under any circumstances say outside of the barb-wired, electric-fenced, maximum-security confines of my mind.
Did I mention that I’m no good with guys?
Sophia gasps in pure horror and her eyes bulge out of her face. Nova flings her arms up in the air and merps in exasperation as she stomps back over to the kitchen table. "For crying out loud, Theresa Hartley!"
Leo looks down absentmindedly at the scrap of red fabric in his hand and then passes it off to me, tilting his head ever so slightly with that sexy, stoic expression. "This isn't exactly how I thought I'd meet my new neighbor,” he mutters in that deep baritone. “I'm sorry again."
I ball up the panties tightly in my fist as if that will make them disappear. Sophia pulls me into the house. She offers Leo a tight smile and slides the door shut before I open my mouth again to further humiliate myself.
Thank god for small favors. You can always count on those.