Naughty Neighbor - By Janet Evanovich Page 0,50
might have changed his mind. He hadn’t called as he’d promised, and neither had she. She’d been afraid the conversation might not go exactly right, and she’d chicken out. Now she wished she’d at least phoned from the airport and warned him.
She pushed the panic away and parked in the circular drive. She straightened her suit and marched up to the front door.
Pete answered on the second knock. He was wearing shorts and a gray T-shirt with cough syrup spilled down the front. “Oh no,” he said. “Not you.”
The panic came back in a hot wave that hit her square in the chest. “I should have called.”
He sneezed. “Stand back. I’m contaminated. I thing I’b god the flu.” He sneezed again and wiped his nose with the bottom of his T-shirt. “Sorry,” he said, “I’b run oud of tissues.”
“Is anyone taking care of you? You have a housekeeper?”
“Jus’ me and Spike.”
Louisa smiled. He needed her. The Hollywood Husband was out of tissues. No one was making him chicken soup or custard. No one was listening to him complain about how lousy he felt. “Why didn’t you call?”
“I’b been sick!” he wailed.
She looked around. This house was much more spacious than his Washington apartment. The furniture was southwestern. The floor was wide pine, and the aroma of flowers and baked grass drifted through the open patio door.
He sniffed, and she gave him some tissues from her purse. “Stay right here,” she said. “I’ll get you some toilet paper.”
“Don’t have any,” he said sadly. “Blew my nose in it all.”
“Okay, how about napkins.”
“None.”
“Paper towels?”
“All gone.” He flopped in a chair. “I’b a failure, Lou. I’b no gud ad being sick.”
“How much of that syrup have you had?”
“Nod enough. I ran oud, so I switched to brandy.”
“Oh boy.”
“And I’be been lonely, Lou. I’b missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.”
“Did you come to marry me?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“I’b glad,” he said. “I’b waited a long time for you. Years and years.” His eyes dropped closed, and he sighed. “I lub you.”
Two weeks later she was still thinking about marriage. She was thinking that it might not be so bad. Tom Hanks hadn’t called with a barbecue invitation, and she hadn’t met any women named Bambi. Not that it mattered, she told herself, because she was the new Lou, and she could handle whatever.
She was sitting on the front porch with Spike, and she was waiting for Pete to come home from the day’s shoot.
“No different from working at AT&T or General Dynamics,” Louisa said to Spike. “He goes out in the morning, and he comes home in the evening, just like any other man.”
A limo cruised by the gate house and began the climb to the top of the hill. It stopped in front of Louisa, and Pete got out, holding his laptop and the latest version of the script. He closed the door, and the limo took off down the hill. “Well, another day at the salt mines,” Pete said.
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t exactly like any other man, Louisa conceded.
He set the computer on the porch and pulled Louisa to her feet, kissing her fiercely, needing to make up for the time away from her. Immediately, he was hard and hungry, almost out of control. He stripped her shirt over her head, tugged at the closure on her bra.
Louisa gasped. “Good Lord, not on the front lawn!”
He hooked his thumb into the elastic waistband of her shorts and peeled them over her hips.
She reached for the shorts, but he’d been too quick. They were on the ground. She turned for the privacy of the house and found he was blocking her way. He kissed her again, pulling her tight against him.
“This is crazy,” she said, barely able to form the words, barely able to think for the sensations his mouth was causing. “Suppose someone’s in the woods? Or walking along the hilltop?”
His smile was dark and feral. “Then they’re going to get one hell of a free show. Would you like to be watched?”
“Well, actually…no.”
“Suppose you were the person in the woods, and you happened upon two people in the throes of passion. Would you close your eyes? Or would you enjoy the show?”
She had to think longer about that, and while she was thinking Pete cleverly found the perfect spot. “Have you decided yet?” he asked her.
Her voice was thick when she answered. “What was the question?”
He laughed and kissed her…slowly. Everywhere. She begged for release, and he gave it to her.