you’ve been texting with about the penguins. And I do most of the building and remodeling around here.” He tugged her a little closer. “I’ve been the one emailing you questions about that house for weeks.”
She winced. “Yeah. Um. Sorry about that.”
“While, on the other hand, you gave me very detailed information for the penguins.”
She lifted a shoulder. “I care a lot more where the penguins are living than where I will be.”
“Clearly. But now that you’re here, we can finish your house.”
Her eyes widened again, and she stared at him. “We’re going to be neighbors.”
He let his grin grow slowly as he stroked his hands up and down her arm slower. “Yup.”
She tipped her head back and groaned.
But it wasn’t one of the hot oh-my-God-yes groans she’d been giving him last night. This was more of an oh-crap groan.
“You’re clearly not as excited about that as I am,” he said dryly.
Her head came up and she met his eyes. Now there was no roaming over his half naked body. She shook her head. “It just feels complicated to live next door to the guy I’m hooking up with once a month.”
He was confused. “We’re hooking up once a month?”
“That was what I was going to propose anyway. Friends with benefits, you know? After last night I thought that could be kind of fun.”
“That would be fun. Very, very fun,” he said. “But why only once a month? I’m up for that kind of fun way more often.”
“Sure. But then it turns into more like dating or a relationship or something rather than just getting together for hot sex.”
“And I take it the relationship and dating thing is something you’re trying to avoid?”
“Very much so. And living next door to you means that we’ll see each other occasionally and since you’ll be saving me from alligators on a regular basis, we could potentially turn into actual friends. And that makes the hooking up even more complicated.”
Having the sun up hadn’t made him feel any less attracted to, slightly confused by, surprised by, and definitely amused by this woman. “But friends with benefits has friends right in the title.”
This all sounded good to him. Having a neighbor he could get naked with whenever the urge struck, who didn’t want anything else from him, sounded pretty damned great.
“I’m just really not interested in a relationship,” Jill went on. “I’m not good at them. And I don’t really have time for them. And I don’t put the effort into them, which ends up bothering the other person after a while. Which is understandable. I’m not blaming anyone. I just really like to have everything laid out and everyone on the same page. And I like sex. It would be really perfect to be able to have amazing sex, but only when it’s convenient.”
Zeke gave a soft snort. Convenient hot sex. It really did sound pretty amazing.
“I don’t see why we can’t have that. Hell, being neighbors makes the whole thing even more convenient, right?” he asked.
“It couldn’t be an all-night thing like last night. I don’t have time for that very often.”
“If you just want to walk through my door, only wearing a robe and nothing underneath to save time, and bend over the back of my sofa, I’m not gonna kick you out, cher,” he told her. He was half-teasing. But only half.
She finally gave him a hint of a smile. “I can just show up on your front porch anytime I need an orgasm that I don’t want to do myself?”
Something about the way she said that—whether it was the word orgasm or the mischievous little twinkle in her eye or how damned easy she was making it all sound—made heat clench in Zeke’s gut. He reached up and cupped the side of her head.
He brought her in close and put his mouth against hers. “Any fucking time.”
Then he kissed her.
He hadn’t expected to see her again. He’d thought she was passing through. When he’d awakened alone in bed, her stuff had still been in the motel room indicating she was only out temporarily. He’d been disappointed, yes, but he’d also gotten out of the room quick. They had a hot one-night stand. That had been pretty clear. So he’d gotten out before they had to have any kind of awkward morning after. But he’d known he was going to be thinking about her for a very long time to come.
Now she was not only here on his front porch, but