More Than Neighborly Read online

  As much as she wanted to cringe at the thought of being near Austin, she felt greatly relieved. Bounding from the sofa, she picked up the flashlight and went to answer the door. As soon as she unlocked it and turned the knob, the wind blew it open with a force that shocked her. With Austin’s help, she managed to close it again.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, worriedly. “I saw the light from your house and it scared me. I thought there might be a fire.”

  “No…no. I lit some candles in the den,” she explained, trying to reassure him. “I’m fine, Austin. Really.”

  His hair was soaking wet and sticking to his face and neck. He looked disheveled and gorgeous in the small glow from the flashlight, which did nothing to help her mood.

  “You’re freezing. Take your jacket and shoes off and I’ll get you a towel. There are some blankets in the den.”

  As he made his way into the room, she walked down the hallway to the bathroom. Even though it was unnerving being around him, she was grateful for the company.

  “Here you go,” she said, handing him the bath towel.

  As he dried the rain from his hair and face, her heart skipped a beat as she watched him. His jeans, dampened from the rain, clung to his body in a way that made her pulse quicken and her body ache. Swallowing hard, she sat back down on the sofa and gazed out the window so as not to stare at him.

  “I haven’t seen a storm this bad in a long time,” she said, trying to ease her discomfort. They had gotten everything out in the open. It was done. Still, she hoped they could remain friends, so she was determined not to start another argument.

  Austin took a blanket and sat down in the chair across from her.

  “I haven’t either. There’s going to be a lot to clean up after this. The whole street is a mess.” He was looking at her now, with the same intensity that made her stumble over her words. It was unsettling, to say the least. “Hopefully they’ll start working on the electricity first thing in the morning if the storms move out.”

  She wasn’t sure what to say. Everything she thought of sounded clichéd and she didn’t want to sound like a fool. He was starting to unravel her again.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” she confessed. “I used to stay with Mrs. Lorna during weather like this so I didn’t realize how eerie this place can get with the power out.” She felt silly admitting it, but it was an honest comment.

  “She told me that too,” he said, grinning.

  “I’m starting to wonder if there’s anything she hasn’t told you about me,” she remarked, laughing. “I think she’s just trying to play matchmaker or something.”

  He propped his arm on the side of the chair and smiled at her. His gaze was playful and yet serious too. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”

  Here we go again.

  Every conversation with him had an annoying tendency to lead back to the same one she kept trying to avoid.

  “Austin, I don’t want to…”

  He held up his hand to stop her from continuing.

  “No fighting. No arguing,” he said, sounding defeated. “Kristen, just give me one reason why you think you shouldn’t fall in love with me. Give me that, and I’ll never bring this up again. I promise you.”

  The definite sound in his voice did nothing to soothe her. From the beginning, she had hoped he would eventually lose interest and give up the pursuit, but now…somewhere inside it began to hurt once she realized it was happening.

  There was nothing she could say. She had known from the beginning that she could very easily fall in love with him, even though she had vowed not to. His gaze was steady as he waited for her reply, yet when she tried to speak nothing would come out.

  “Eleven years ago,” he said, “I was engaged to a woman who ended up leaving me for my best friend. I don’t tell many people that, and the only reason I’m telling you is because I need you to realize that it is possible to move forward and find love again. Even after someone has hurt you so badly you feel as if you’ll never get over it.”

  Now she really didn’t know what to say.

  “Is that why you’ve never married? Because of her?”

  He smiled uncomfortably; his thoughts must have reverted back to a time that obviously pained him very much. “No. I’ve always wanted to get married and I still do. She may have broken my heart, but I never once let her steal my hope of something better to come. You shouldn’t let Randy keep interfering with what you know in your heart you deserve.”

  Wrapping the blanket tighter around her body, she huddled on the sofa and tried to keep her teeth from chattering. The storm continued on outside but the lightning and thunder had ceased. Now all that remained was the wind and rain, which was starting to make her drowsy with its steady tapping against the roof and windows.

  “Come here,” Austin said softly.

  Kristen sat up straight, her eyes growing wide. “No, I…”

  He held up his hand again and shook his head. “I’m not trying to make a move on you, Kristen. I’m just trying to keep us both from freezing to death. That’s all.”

  If she hadn’t been so cold, she probably would have argued with him, but her whole body shivered. Holding on to her blanket, she walked over to him and curled up on his lap. Putting his blanket around them both, he held her close as she nestled her head in the curve of his neck for warmth. She had missed this. As his body heat melded with hers, she began to relax. Her nerves started to unwind and her eyelids grew heavy.

  “Austin…” she said, yawning, “why should I fall in love with you?”

  As he lightly brushed several stray tendrils of hair from her face, she drew closer to a needful rest that she hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

  “Because I can be the man to you that he never was, and I can be the lover and friend you want. We both long for the same things, Kristen,” he whispered. “I need you and I believe somewhere deep inside…you need me too.”

  She smiled wearily and sighed before finally succumbing to sleep. Resting his head against hers, Austin closed his eyes and drifted with her.

  * * * * *

  A loud crash frightened Kristen awake, causing Austin to tighten his grip on her. Scanning the room quickly, she glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost two o’clock in the morning. They hadn’t slept very long. Now another storm was moving through, bringing more howling wind and rain with it. She heard the rumble of thunder a short distance away.

  “It’s okay. It’s just another storm,” he said, turning to look at her.

  She wanted to reply, but all she could do was stare longingly at him as he held her close.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.

  She couldn’t think of anything to say. Curled in his embrace, all she could think about was the way his strong arms had held her while she slept, and the warmth of his body against hers. It felt so good being close to him again. It was something she needed at the moment.

  “Kristen…”

  She placed a finger against his lips to hush him. She was tired of talking. All she wanted was this feeling of being held in his embrace. Her body overflowed with heat, making every nerve come alive, and all she could think about was how she didn’t want it to end.

  Before she could talk herself out of it, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, gently at first. She felt his hold tighten around her as her heart began to pound. Pulling away from him for a moment, she looked at him while softly tracing his lips with her fingertips. His breathing had quickened and the look in his eyes conveyed a need that she understood all too well.

  Placing a hand behind her head, he pulled her to him and kissed her, his mouth taking on an incessant craving that equally matched hers in so many ways. Her lips parted as his tongue sought hers in a frenzy that left her gasping for each breath. Wrapping her arms around him, she dug her fingernails into his shoulder as she held him close, starving for his warmth.

  She felt his muscles tighten, and she whimpered as his coc
k pressed against her buttocks. He was so hard. She pulled him closer, crushing her lips against his. She couldn’t breathe. She didn’t want to breathe ever again if it meant releasing him.

  Her body felt as though it were on fire. Throwing the blankets to the floor, she turned in his lap and straddled his hips. She moaned as his hands slid over her buttocks, as he gripped them in his hands and pulled her roughly down onto his cock, which now strained against his jeans. They moved together with an eagerness that tried to devour them whole.

  A sudden, loud clap of thunder shook the house, and she gasped, pulling away from him. He was breathing hard, his eyes glazed over, and his lips tender and swollen.

  “Kristen… Oh God, Kristen, I want you so much, but…I didn’t bring anything with me…I didn’t know…” he said, the desperation evident in his voice.

  Pressing a finger to his lips to quiet him, she slid off of his lap and raced upstairs with a flashlight in hand. Fumbling through her dresser drawer, she grabbed a couple of condoms and bounded back down the stairs. Her body ached and was steadily getting worse with every passing second.

  Once downstairs, she stopped in front of him and took off her shirt before crawling onto his lap again. Her breasts were bare, the nipples taut, and her skin felt hot. His hands trembling, he caressed her shoulders and her throat. She moaned again as she leaned her head back, enjoying the feel of his rough and calloused hands against her skin.

  Lightly he grazed her nipples with his palms as she shivered. Upward went his hands, coming to wind their way through her hair. Wrapping his hands around it, he kept her head pulled back as she moved against him. When Austin sucked a hardened nipple into his mouth, she inhaled sharply as her body stiffened. His tongue…his lips…they were so hot.

  He pulled at her nipple savagely with his lips and teeth, a wonderful mixed sensation of pleasure and pain that made her bite her lower lip and whimper. As he moved to the other nipple and began tormenting it the same way, she leaned back and rested her hands on his legs. Moving her hips in a frantic pace, she cursed the clothing that separated them.

  Her heartbeat pulsed against his lips as he left an agonizing trail up and over her throat before finding her mouth and once more coaxing her lips open with his tongue. Letting go of her hair, he wrapped his arms around her waist tightly.

  She felt herself being lifted briefly before coming to rest on her back on the carpet. Breaking their kiss, he placed his hands on her hips, and she panted in anticipation as he gripped her pajama bottoms and pulled them off. He looked down at her, his breathing ragged, his face flushed with desire. Curling his fingers around the sides of her panties, he began removing them slowly as if unwrapping her. Her skin burned as the blood rushed through her veins like liquid fire.

  After tossing her panties to the side, he settled between her legs and slid his hands over her breasts, down her stomach and over her hips, coming to rest on her thighs. She was shaking again, the need to be fulfilled threatening to take her over in ways she couldn’t describe.

  The room spun as his fingers left a path across her inner thighs. She was so wet…ready and willing to give him anything he asked for. He brushed a thumb over her clit, taking her by surprise and making her sigh softly.

  Slowly he stroked her as she moved her hips beneath him. Her fingernails dug into the carpet and she lost herself completely in the feelings he was creating with every stroke, every touch.

  “Tell me what you want, Kristen,” he whispered. As he lay down on the floor between her legs, he removed his hand and pressed his lips to her clit, so gently that it made her frantic.

  She couldn’t breathe, much less say anything.

  “Tell me,” he whispered again, touching the tip of his tongue against her. She began to shake, the need so unbearable she felt like crying.

  “Austin…please. It’s too much. Oh God…please, Austin…” she pleaded, her voice hoarse as the tears pooled in the corners of her eyes.

  With that, he closed his mouth around her, his tongue hard and unforgiving. Her back arched as she cried out his name, the feeling so intense it almost swallowed her completely. She started grinding her body against his tongue. Harder. Faster.

  Her moans became growls as he gripped her thighs with his hands, thrusting his tongue deep inside her again and again as she moved faster. He lapped at her hungrily, never ceasing in his merciless attempt to bring her higher than he’d ever brought her before.

  “Austin…Austin…yes…” she begged, so enraptured with what he was doing that she could barely hear his moans over the storm raging outside.

  She inhaled sharply as he pushed two fingers inside her. She jutted her hips toward him, almost raising her back completely off the floor. She wanted…needed…to get closer…closer. Her fingers throbbed as she continued clawing…clawing her way toward a release.

  Shoving his fingers deeper and faster inside her, flattening his tongue against her clit and stroking…on and on he continued until she felt herself moving nearer to the edge that kept beckoning her.

  “Austin… Austin…” she cried out, her voice hoarse and pleading.

  Removing his fingers, he clamped on to her with his mouth and sucked. Hard. Her muscles convulsed and her back arched again as her orgasm took over. Everything rushed to the surface, spilling over into screams that shook her to her core.

  Never once did he let go, flicking his tongue against her as wave after wave consumed her. As the last shock raced through her, every muscle in her body felt fatigued. She was weak, unable to move. As soon as he let her go, she sank into the carpet, gasping and quivering.

  Crawling over her body, he hovered above her, his gaze was transfixed as he leaned toward her and kissed her. She tasted her juices on his mouth as she traced his lips with her tongue, causing him to moan once more before pressing his lips firmly against hers and forcing his tongue inside her waiting mouth.

  The need to feel him inside her again made her tremble in agony. Leaning back on his heels, he removed his shirt and tossed it to the side before coming to rest between her legs again. Reaching down between them, she unfastened his jeans, and slipped her hand inside to firmly grasp his cock. His head jerked back as he gasped.

  Fierily she stroked him, stopping every so often to graze her fingertips in a lingering trail across the massive crown as his body shook. She watched as his eyes glazed over.

  “Kristen…Kristen…I need to feel you. Please, sweetheart,” he begged.

  She needed him too. She needed to feel him inside her at this moment more than she needed the air in her lungs.

  “I need you too.”

  Rising on his knees, he continued undressing, throwing the rest of his clothes to the side. Before leaning over her again, he unwrapped one of the condoms and slid it onto his cock. Reaching between them, she took him in her hand.

  “Look at me, Kristen.”

  Gazing into his eyes, she braced herself beneath him, her body motionless as he pushed inside.

  “Austin…oh…” she moaned, her eyelids fluttering rapidly.

  “Look at me,” he whispered again, his voice tender but stern.

  Opening her eyes, she held on to him, her fingernails digging into his hips as he impaled himself fully inside her. He felt so good. Oh…so good. He began to move, pulling almost all of the way out before driving himself deep inside of her again and again. Pressing her feet into the carpet, she raised her hips off the floor each time he thrust forward. Oh God…she had missed him so much.

  As the lightning illuminated the room and the thunder crashed against the roof, they moved together at a restless and feral pace. She latched on to him, her fingernails raking his back.

  “Austin…Austin…Yes!” she called out to him.

  Her stomach muscles tightened and the room spun in a way that left her clinging to him desperately. Pressing her feet into the carpet one last time, she raised her hips a few inches off the floor, holding her body still as he thrust deeper…harder. Sliding his hands u
nder her, he held on to her shoulders, pulling her against him roughly each time he pushed inside of her.

  “Kristen… Kristen…”

  For several minutes she held on to the back of his neck with both hands, feeling herself getting nearer, and the enormity of it caused her to gnash her teeth together as an anguished growl forced its way past her lips. Her body became taut as she started to pant.

  “I’ve got you, Kristen…just let it go,” he whispered against her lips, steadily thrusting inside her again and again.

  Her eyes widened as she felt it take over.

  “Austin…yes…yes!” she screamed, her body shuddering, the pleasurable currents making her gasp for air.

  She clung to him, her breathing shallow and her heart pounding. Seconds later, he came with one final thrust, pressing her down hard onto the carpet, his body convulsing as she clutched him tighter.

  They held each other, slowly rocking their bodies together, neither one able to speak. Her whole body felt relaxed, complete, at peace. Collapsing on the floor beside her, Austin gathered her in his arms and held her close to his chest. She breathed deeply, the sound of the rainfall comforting her almost as much as being held in his strong and capable arms.

  “Don’t fall asleep,” he said.

  Laughing softly, she touched her fingertips to his lips and smiled.

  “I don’t plan on it.”

  * * * * *

  Austin had been right about the storms creating chaos in the small suburb. There were tree branches scattered everywhere in her yard and the neighbors’ yards. Several of them had tried to clean up bright and early that morning, but the drizzling rain eventually drove them back inside their homes. Power company vehicles lined the street as workers began the arduous task of restoring their electricity.

  There was little she could do until the power was fixed so she relaxed on the sofa to wait. The soreness between her legs made her wince, but the heady mixture of pleasure and pain also made her smile as she recalled the previous hours spent in Austin’s arms. He had left early that morning for work after promising to come by as soon as he got home that afternoon.