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Of course, I had one hell of an Uber charge to pay to get a ride back home since the guys all left in the hummer after the club closed. Two hundred dollars later, I was home and had to go and pick up Ava, and get back to real life.
“Daddy,” Ava says, shaking the arm I’m using to holding up my head up.
I lift my head and open my eyes, forcing them to focus on her. “Up from your nap already?”
She nods. “You said we can have ice cream.” She gives me that sweet smile of hers.
I chuckle. “I did, didn’t I?”
She crosses her arms over her chest and nods.
“Alright. Get your shoes on and we’ll go get some ice cream, but this better not ruin your dinner.”
She giggles as she runs to get her shoes.
I rub the sleep from my eyes as I push myself to stand. I grab my phone, wallet, and keys and head for the front door. I was so dead this morning that I didn’t even bother parking the truck in the garage, instead leaving it in the drive so I didn’t have to fuck with getting it out later. Ava meets me at the front door and I open it, letting her out. I twist the lock on the knob before pulling it closed.
The sun is still bright in the sky as it’s only about two o’clock. It makes the pain in my head a little worse but I do everything I can to ignore it and head toward the truck. I follow Ava around to the passenger side. I open the doors and help her to climb up into the backseat.
“Emery! You forgot your house key,” my next door neighbor yells from behind me. Normally, I’d ignore it, but what are the chances of hearing the name Emery two days in a row?
Curious, I turn and look over my shoulder. Sure enough, the woman I met in the city last night, the woman I hooked up with, is at the house next door.
I turn away from Ava and walk toward my neighbor’s house. Emery looks up, her dark eyes meeting mine. They suddenly widen and her brows lift as her facial expressions morph, seemingly mirroring the thoughts racing through my head, so I assume she’s thinking along the same lines as me.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, stopping short to keep several feet of space between us.
She wets her lips nervously. “This is my friend Anna’s house, the one I moved in with. See?” She holds up the key my neighbor just gave her.
“You…live here?” I point at the house.
“You live there?” She points at my house.
For a split second, I feel excitement flow through me. With her next door, we can have a repeat of last night and maybe numerous repeats. That line of thinking is quickly squashed as I realize that my one night stand with a stranger that was supposed to be easy to walk away from has now been replaced with someone I’m likely to see every single day. Now, those ties feel like shackles that can’t be unlocked.
“Small world.” She shrugs, offering me that breathtaking smile.
Shaking my head, I turn to walk away, feeling the need to put some space between us.
7
EMERY
I’m speechless. I watch him turn and walk away from me back to his truck. He quickly buckles in a little girl—she’s adorable with long blonde hair and his blue eyes. She couldn’t be any older than four or five. After buckling her in, he closes the doors on the truck before making his way around to the driver’s side. His blue eyes move back to me briefly and I can see his brows pull together and a frown form as he pulls open the driver’s side door. Taking his seat, he starts the truck and backs down the drive without so much as a small wave or glance back in my direction.
What the hell?
Is that even the same guy I met last night? Last night he was polite, sweet. He opened up to me and told me about his past. He wanted me to be comfortable with him, assuring me that we didn’t have to do anything I didn’t want to do. He was very giving in bed. He wasn’t all about himself. In fact, he made me come undone again and again before he ever let himself get off once. Now, he’s acting like a total asshole. How can a person turn a one-eighty so fast?
Shaking my head, I walk to my car. I try to keep him out of my thoughts as I drive to the nearest Walmart which is a few towns over. With it being Sunday, I figure I’ll take the day to buy myself some groceries for the house, not wanting to eat all of Anna’s food. I also need some necessities that I have been putting off purchasing for a while so I didn’t have to worry about packing and moving as much stuff. I even decide to pick up a lunchbox so that I can take my lunch to work instead of having to spend money every day.
I’m in the store for a couple of hours and with my mind occupied, I can easily forget about the night before and Lincoln but the minute I walk out of the store, my thoughts drift right back to him. Apparently, I was right last night when I assumed he’d be cold. He only turned on the charm to get me to leave with him and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Now I’m angry with myself. I should have stuck with my initial feelings and avoided him. I shouldn’t have given him the chance to change my mind. None of this should’ve happened.
I mean, last night was great. I really did feel a deep connection between the two of us and I enjoyed myself. He was sure of himself and his ability to make me feel amazing. I will be able to dream about those kisses for the rest of my life. I will always remember the way it felt having him between my legs, playing my body like I was an instrument and he was some musical genius. Just remembering, the way he moved inside of me has the butterflies in my stomach coming alive. Remembering how he touched me, kissed me, makes me squeeze my thighs together to hold back the flood of need that washes through me.
Lincoln may be amazing in bed. And he may be my next door neighbor. But he and I, we’ll never be together in that way again. Not now that I’ve seen how he really is, I’m sure it won’t be that hard to avoid him.
I make the drive home and Anna helps me to get all of my purchases into the house. She even helps me to put away my groceries.
