AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Neighbors?
We’ve never had neighbors. Like my dad always said, the Ellington sisters need their space. I didn’t know what that meant back then but as I’ve grown, I’ve come to understand that three extremely passionate women can be…frightening, if you’re not prepared.
I was even a little nervous two years back when Juni showed up with a man in the back of our truck, tied up, a kitchen apron rolled up and shoved into his mouth. She explained that he cut her off thenflipped her the bird in town after church. I understood why she’d brought him back; he needed to apologize kindly and learn his lesson.Ifyou don’t touch fire, you don’t learn,Juni is always humming. The next day she told us as soon as she sat him down and talked some sense into him, he apologized. He even walked back three miles into town to get home, because he wanted to clear his head for his newly learned perspective, she said.
“Someone had to own it. It didn’t just belong to Earth, Dolly. Of course it was eventually going to be sold,” Ivy says, stepping closer to me as the driver’s door on the truck opens. Parked with his bumper toward the house, I can’t see anything but rich sienna cowboy boots hit the ground as the door slams closed, rattling the trunk.
The paint brush topples from my hand, skidding down my white linen dress. Myfavoritedress forever stained by a Cannes-Henry umber and ochre. Yet I’m on my feet and slowly drifting toward the man who is coming around the front of the truck.
His hair is longish on top, wavy like maybe his dad had curly hair or something or maybe he runs his fingers through it a ton. He’smassive. He’s got to be over six feet something, and his shoulders are hulking. Wearing a black t-shirt, his chest muscles ripple through the loved fabric. And Christ almighty, he is wearing the hell out of those blue jeans. Worn and dirty around the thighs and knees, the jeans tell the story of a very hard-working man. And his body confirms this. My eyes finally make it to his face.
“Oh my god…” I breathe quietly, Ivy now at my side.
Because I’m not looking at her, I onlyfeelIvy’s sharp eyes against my profile.
And I’m not looking at him. I’mstaringat him.
Discreetly, I inhale through my nose, trying desperately to steal his scent. Does he smell like he’s been working allday? Or like aftershave and beer? Bedsheets and whispered desires? I don’t know.
But I am going to find out.
I need to know his smell. I need to memorize his taste. I want to see him stripped bare of clothes and carve it into my brain forever. I want to hear his private noises and have them to replay in my mind forever. I want to drape myself at his feet to absorb whatever he has to give. I hope it’s everything.
“It’s been less than thirty seconds, bitch,” Ivy hisses, her sarcastic tone fused with fear. “Do not look at that man like that. He’s massive. He’s, like,three times your size. And… he’s, like…old, anyway.”
Just then, Juni turns around. “Ivy, Dahlia, come meet our new neighbor, Hudson Gray.”
“Ourneighbor,” Ivy says without moving her lips, keeping her voice private. We loop arms and walk toward him, and I ignore her warning.
I don’t care if he’s older, if he’s our neighbor, or thathe’s three times my size..
I don’t care that I’ve only known of his existence for thirty fucking seconds or not.It irritates me that she would mention that because love and passion care nothing about trivial things liketime.
Everyone knows, time is just a construct.
I mentally push Ivy aside as electricity scorches through my veins, searing my soul, awakening every limp and lifeless synapse, nerve ending, and pleasure receptor in my brain and body. I’m warm and wet beneath my cotton panties, and I know without a doubt,without a question at all…
I am in love with this man.
Andhe is mine.
“Hi, Ivy,” he greets, slipping his hand into hers after Juni nods her way. Jealousy spikes inside me when they touch, my cheeks simmering and my ears burning. After too long, his hand finally slides into mine. Our gazes collide in silence, and he graces me with his focus.
My stomach flips and my lips tingle. A vision flashes before me, one of me reaching up to press my mouth to his then licking along his lips after taking a leisurely, hot kiss.God, I want to suck on his bottom lip and trace his teeth with my tongue.I want his spit in my mouth, sliding down my throat..
“Hi, Dahlia.” He smiles, andI am a new woman. I have a new, overwhelming ache coming from deep inside me. Deeper than with Henry. This thing I feel, it’s bone-deep. Like he is the missing piece of my soul, returning to make me complete.
“That’s a pretty name,” he says, smiling at me as the sun breaks free from the oak overhead, illuminating him.My handsome Hudson.
“Everyone calls me Dolly,” I tell him as he takes his hand away. His eyes fall to the smear of paint on my white dress. He twists to see where I abandoned my canvas and supplies.
“I love paintings,” he comments, smiling down at me. God, this man is a tower. A towering wall of a man. “You’re the artist?”
I nod reluctantly.
“That’s incredible. I love that,” he says.
Smiling, I reply, “Thanks.”
