New Year's Next Door (Romance on the Go Book 0) Read online

  “Coaching? Training? Consulting?” He respected how she’d refrained from digging for more details. To know which team, or even what sport he was devoted to. “It was my whole life. My passion. I can’t not be involved with it anymore.”

  “If there’s a will, there’s a way,” she quipped.

  “Damn straight.”

  Polly tried to shift into a more comfortable position for her nap, but gave up and slunk off the couch. Free to move, he shifted Ava’s slender legs to cover one of his. “You comfortable?”

  Ava teased the corner of her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Kind of.”

  Meaning…?

  She released her arms from behind her head and shrugged. The teasing crinkle of a smile had him wishing to know what she was implying. Because he couldn’t be the only one in the room suffocating from the electric energy that zinged between them.

  Polly nudged her wet nose at his elbow, interrupting his hope that she might be open to something more … naked.

  “Does she want to go out?” Ava asked.

  He groaned. “I don’t know when she doesn’t.” Pushing to sit up, he stilled when Ava beat him to it. She stood and headed for the sliding door.

  “I can let her out.”

  “Why? Because I’m an invalid?” He wished he could take back his retort, so ingrained in snapping at help when he’d been unable to stand on one leg. She didn’t deserve it.

  She paused, her hip right at his head. Looking down at him, she deadpanned. “Never said that.”

  “I just don’t want your—”

  “Pity?” she asked, with an expression of utter boredom like her adolescent students might give her.

  Is she ever not so damn observant? He lowered his stare from her deadpan face and took in her slim body. Down her graceful neck, over her breasts, past the nipples he could nearly see through the faded shirt, along her stomach, all the way to the profile of her curvy ass.

  “I wanted to check out the hot tub while I’m over there. Been ages since I’ve been in one.” She sashayed away to the sliding door.

  Following her exit from the den, he nearly fell off the couch, twisting around so as not to break his line of vision.

  As soon as she maneuvered the latch for the pane of glass, he rose to his feet, snagged his water bottle, and went to join her at the entrance to the patio.

  Walking slowly in a perimeter of his hot tub, Ava faintly nodded her head. Approval? He wouldn’t argue. Steaming clear water rippled gently, the wisps of humidity curling in the air like ghostly fingers beckoning them to enter.

  Between sips of water, he asked, “Wanna get wet?”

  She snort-laughed, almost like a bark. “Pun intended?”

  He couldn’t help but crack up at her laughter.

  “God, you’ve got lame jokes.”

  “Who said I was joking?” He crossed his arms and leaned against the closed door.

  Filtered brightness reflected in her blue orbs, the underwater lighting casting a sharper gleam to her beautiful gaze. “Oh,” she said on the end note of a giggle.

  The transition from her uninhibited mirth to shocked realization was adorable. “The hot tub,” he clarified when her blush spread. “Want to get in?”

  “I, ah, don’t have a bathing suit,” she pointed out.

  “Hmm.”

  Stepping closer to the rim of the basin, she glanced at him. Her hot pink-painted fingernails slipped under the hem of her threadbare shirt, dancing back and forth as though she debated yanking the garment off.

  “What the hell,” she said and moved her fingers to the waistband of her shorts. “Why not end the year with a bang?”

  Oscar the Grouch crumpled to the cement patio and he choked on the last drink he took.

  Shaking a finger at him, she lifted one side of her lips in a knowing smile. “Ah, ha… You’re not the only one who’s making off with the lousy double entendre lines.”

  Wiping the spilled water from his mouth, he felt his heart race and his dick stir even more. Speechless, he watched her, scared to emit a sound in case it might break the spell and snap him out of this dream.

  Magenta panties made a speedy trip down her bare legs, puddling at her feet.

  Blinking rapidly, he confirmed her strip tease wasn’t a figment of his imagination. And it seemed modesty was not bait in her tackle box for this night.

  He licked his lips, still having a hard time believing she was somehow reading his mind and acting out his impromptu fantasy.

  She pivoted to show him the bottom curves of her butt cheeks, so much of her still covered by the t-shirt. Glancing over her shoulder at him with one raised brow, she winked. Then she tugged the shirt off in one fluid sweep.

  With her tattooed back to him, she stepped into the water. She slowly lowered to the misting water, the bare skin of her ass disappearing until she hid her body under the surface.

  Brown curls cascaded to the tiled floor as she snuggled her head into the foam pillows. Turning to show him the profile of her face, she asked, “You coming?”

  He let out a rough chuckle. Well, he’d started it with his stupid attempt at ridiculous naughty talk. Not caring if he ripped threads, he practically tore off his clothes. Unlike her, he let her take an eyeful of all his body had to offer, every naked inch.

  As he put one foot in the hot tub, aiming for a seat two away from her, he waited for her to acknowledge him, and his nudity.

  “Holy shit.” She coughed out a noise and let her jaw hang open. “I mean, uh, wow.”

  “Is it too hot in here?” he asked.

  She closed her eyes and laughed lightly. “You do know you’re cheesy, right?”

  “Who me?”

  Chapter Five

  Ava cast her gaze around the hot tub and then up at the night sky, still reeling from the blunt showcase of the most impressive, and, uh, substantial cock she’d ever seen. A couple fireworks blasted in the distance. “Now this is the way to ring in the New Year. And it’s probably the most adventurous thing I’ve done in a long time—skinny dipping in a tub of boiling water with an extremely well-hung and fine-looking…” She frowned.

  Well, what is he, exactly? “You never said. What position do you play?”

  “I’m up for any position you like,” he said.

  “Oh my God…” She splashed water at him. “You’re such a goof. A sleazy Austin Powers.”

  He only laughed harder and splashed back at her.

  “I meant what position you play.” She was surprised she hadn’t asked inside. Then again, she’d been distracted with their limbs touching and his hands eliciting tingles to rocket up from her toes.

  “Pitcher.”

  “Okay. Baseball.” She rifled through her sketchy mental catalog of sports names and tried to remember the closest Minor League team. “For the Tortugas?”

  He shook his head, making his black hair shift, and cast some droplets of water at her.

  “Oh…”

  “Tampa Bay Rays.”

  Oh, wow. Her jaw fell slack for the second time in moments. “Major league.” Letting that detail sink in, she blew out a single laugh. “So not only are you big”—she tipped her head down toward where he was sitting—“You’re a big name.”

  I bet skinny-dipping isn’t the most adventurous thing he’s done this year. His stardom didn’t make her feel small, though, because her first impressions of him remained the same. Sexy. Ripped. Generous. Laid-back. Animal-lover. Horrible jokes.

  “I…” He moved to the seat next to her. “Sorry. I should have been upfront and told you. I don’t like to rush to share that with people.”

  “Your dick, or your identity?”

  He released something crossed between a groan and a reluctant laugh as he let his head fall back to the pillow. Meeting her eyes again, he said, “Both. Neither. I don’t sleep around. And I prefer not to broadcast who I am.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “It was always tough for me, surrendering my privacy,
my normalcy. I was already thirty when the Rays signed me on, so I already experienced a real life before being thrust into fame.”

  Ava nodded. “I get it. Well, I don’t, really, but I respect that. Actually, one of my second cousins was nominated for an Oscar last year. That’s a more remote degree of fame, where you’re um, much…closer. To. Me.” She glanced down at the bubbling water, reminding herself just how near she was to him. Nearly pressed against all those muscles and strength. She shot her attention back to his face.

  “You’re not weirded out? Or intimidated?” he asked.

  “By being close to your big cock, or your big name?”

  Okay, seriously. Stop thinking about his damn penis.

  She dodged his splash of water just in time.

  “I’m sleazy? You’re just as bad,” he teased.

  Bad? Do you want me to be bad—Ava bit her lip, trying to tamp down on her grin. He was too much fun, and so easy to volley pathetic dirty talk with. Caleb had yet to show alarm at her bluntness and sarcastic humor, in fact, he seemed to have those traits in common with her.

  “I didn’t want you to get all fangirly. I see you’re as down to earth as a woman can get. And it’s not the end of the world to tell you who I am. But it’s rare for people to know and treat me as just me. A person. A guy. Not some celebrity on a pedestal. And I appreciate that—you. You’ve given me a chance to hang out and simply let go of that stress. I haven’t had candid companionship for too long.”

  “I’m more a football girl—if I’m any kind of sporty. Honestly, I thought you were just my hunk of a neighbor.” Talking was great, and all, but dammit, how the hell did he expect her to just chill—in a hot tub? With no clothes. No distractions. It’d been almost a year since she’d enjoyed an orgasm, over a year since she’d obtained one from something that didn’t operate on batteries.

  Never one to wait for what she desired, and always a gal who feared nothing, she twisted to face him more, her knee pushing against his thigh.

  More... I need you to touch me… Please read my mind or something so I don’t feel like I’m preying on you. A thrill seared her as he placed his hand on her knee. Baby steps of touches, but each one racketed up her desire.

  Okay, he really isn’t telepathic, right? Realizing he simply was on the same page as her, she grew hungrier for them to get to the next one.

  “I still am just your neighbor.” His hand smoothed up higher on her leg, his fingers clutching her to ease her closer to his lap. “Now I’ll always just be me.”

  She knocked her shoulder to his, staying in the lean, to slide their arms against each other. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  His smile was gentle. “It’ll take some getting used to.”

  “Well, like you said. New start in the new year.”

  He nodded and glanced at the sky. “What time do you think it is?” Focused on his profile, his lightly stubbled face inches from hers, she licked her lips.

  Lone fireworks had been blasting on and off, but no clusters of booms and lights that would signify a celebration.

  “Gotta be getting close,” she said. Peering past him, she searched the darkness of the backyard. “I’ll need to find Polly. I bet she’ll give me a decent kiss at midnight.”

  Fishing much? Now who’s lame? Or pathetic.

  “How about I give it a shot?” he asked.

  “Hmm. No harm in trying.” Shivers prickled her skin despite the hot water. Flirting wasn’t the sharpest tool in her repertoire. But with him, he made it fun, exciting, and challenging.

  He leaned in too slowly, finally pressing his lips against hers. At the first touch of his hot skin, she melted past the simmer she’d been coasting at. With just enough pressure to hint at his urgency and an equal amount of tenderness, perhaps an indication he was holding himself back, he ended his kiss with a light brush over her lips.

  His hot breaths fanned her face. He ducked lower, as though to peer into her eyes. Warm, whiskey-brown eyes held a question as she licked her lips.

  “Hmm.” She pursed her lips. “Not … bad…”

  His brows dipped down. “Huh?”

  Oh, this is going to be fun. As much as he could be a goofball, he really needed to lighten up. Or maybe he wants this just as much as I do and doesn’t realize I’m joking. “I mean, it could be better.”

  “How about this?”

  She didn’t have a chance to reply as he slid one hand around the back of her head. His digits threaded through her frizzed waves. Caressing her jaw, he pulled her near again. Barely able to bite back the moan in her throat, she sighed into his second take as he opened her mouth with his hot tongue. As quickly as he’d kissed her, he pulled back again.

  I’m going to evaporate.

  She cleared her throat, striving for the most neutral expression possible. “Um…”

  He started to smile.

  “Better…” She shrugged. “But … eh.” Tilting her hand, she gave him an iffy gesture.

  “What?” He cupped her face with his calloused hands and slammed his mouth to hers. This time there was no hesitation in diving his tongue into her mouth, demanding she reciprocate. Falling into his embrace, she shot her hands out to anchor herself closer. As she let out a muffled whimper-grunt of need, she ran her palms up his taut pecs, over the bunches of muscle at his shoulders. Draping her knee over his leg, she tried her damnedest to shift closer to him, to climb on top of him. Anything for more of the exquisite friction of his rougher, harder body against hers beneath the water.

  Before she could straddle him properly, he jerked his face away, held her head too far from where she wanted to be. Wh-at? No!

  “Better?” he asked.

  Better? Was there a word to trump “best”? His kisses were as addicting as though he’d branded her soul and as wicked as if he’d poured lighter fluid on her libido.

  Panting, she gulped in a rush of air. He had to know she’d been teasing, right? “Um…” Hell, I don’t have that good of a poker face. “Um. Yeah, but not … perfect.” Just fucking kiss me again.

  Stroking her jawline with his thumbs, he smirked. “No? Then let’s cut the crap with this little game and you show me.”

  “Finally.” She flung her leg over his lap and wasted not a second to crush her lips to his. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she made no room for the bubbly water between them. Pecs to breasts, pussy to erection, they couldn’t have a more intimate connection than if he was inside her. Which couldn’t happen fast enough.

  Guttural groans rumbling from his mouth notched her arousal to the stratosphere. Fisting his hair in one hand, she clung to him, her biceps tucking him to her. Smashing her breasts to his torso, she reveled in the teasing torture of his chest hair against her nipples. Their tongues danced in a slow, insistent rhythm as she ground her bare hips to his. Every inch of slick skin came alive—warmed by the hot tub, then deliciously inflamed by his contact.

  If she’d thought he was big from her initial earlier glance at him in his half-mast state, she knew how large he was as she gyrated against his shaft.

  “Fuck, baby,” he whispered into the seal of their lips.

  He’d probably groaned it like an expletive, rather than a command. “Please,” she murmured, not at all ashamed by asking—begging—for what she wanted. Nestling closer, she sucked his earlobe into her mouth and teased with her teeth.

  His body stiffened as though he’d gasped. A snort followed. “Ava, I’m at your mercy.” His fingers dug into the globes of her ass, clamping her closer to his erection.

  His offer for her take charge was all she needed to lose her raveling reins on patience. Ignoring the faint nagging voices in her head that suggested she was behaving rashly, having sex before at least a couple dates, she grinned as she took his mouth in a hungry kiss.

  Lifting her waist in the water, she moved to put his cock at her entrance.

  “Hold on,” he said.

  “Oh, I’ll hold on all right,” she whisper
ed.

  His chest bumped hers as he laughed, reaching backward for his shorts on the patio. “I meant wait a sec. I’m pretty sure I’ve got a condom in my wallet.”

  Ye-ah. That’s why I can’t pull off the sex goddess act.

  He ripped the foil package once he’d grabbed it and then darted his hands under the surface to guide it on.

  “And now,” he murmured, seeming to try for an Elvis Presley aura, “hold on for a ride, baby.”

  Clamping her lips shut didn’t contain the burst of her laughs. He joined in the mirth, but as soon as he lined himself up to enter her, the energy crackled right back to urgent sexual tension.

  Between the water and her juices, she was more than ready for him, but she still needed to sink down on him slowly, stretched beyond her limits.

  “Oh, my—” She inhaled sharply. “God.”

  “Take it easy, gorgeous.” His hands stilled her hips and he spread slow open-mouth kisses from under her jaw to her collarbone. “We’ve got all night.”

  Hugging her tighter to him, he twisted them in the water. Covering her, she reclined into the seat. He encouraged her to wrap one leg around his ass. She complied and the sting of cooler air on her exposed wet skin distracted her from the pleasurable pain of his width. But only for a second before he resumed filling her, sizzling all rational thought from her mind.

  Caleb’s thrusts were slower, agonizingly so, but more controlled, and little by little, deeper. His powerful body rocked her back to the firm seat of the tub. Water sloshed out to the patio like waves crash on the shore. He lacked her desperate hurried pace and steadily sheathed himself to the hilt.

  “You’re killing me,” he said with his lips at her temple.

  A giggle would have escaped if she could spare the breath. Nice to know—she gasped as he shifted his angle, scorching her inside-out—I’m not the only—he sucked her into a fierce kiss—impatient one.

  “You’re so goddamn tight,” he whispered in a graveled tone.

  Arching his back to put a gap between them, he pumped harder and faster. When his hand gripped her breast, squeezing roughly, she welcomed the goosebumps that spiked on the back of her neck. Spasming, she relinquished the coiled grip of chasing an orgasm and cried out as she finally came.