Page 13 of The Cocky Neighbor

I cleared my throat to dislodge that uncomfortable thought. Thousands of men in Corio City were jealous of me or of the men I'd slept with. Jealousy wasn't a new emotion to me, but it somehow felt sweeter coming from the man in front of me.

I took a step toward him. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a voice was telling me that this was a bad idea, but I pushed the logical side away and followed my heart for once. He looked startled, taking a step back for each step that I took forward until his back was to the door, and I had him boxed in. I loved having my men the same height as me since it made kissing a lot easier, and Eric was definitely the perfect height for that.

We stared at each other for a few seconds more. The air between us seemed to sizzle with the tension that had been brewing in the room as well as the worked up lust that had only grown despite my attempts to avoid the man. His breaths came out in puffs, as his eyes flickered between my eyes and lips as if he couldn't decide where to look.

"Tell me no," I said. Half of me hoped that he would bring rationality into this very stupid idea, but the other part prayed that he didn't speak up. I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that he didn't make a single sound. Instead, he wrapped his hands around my neck and pulled me forward to crash our lips together.

Someone moaned at contact—either him or me, I didn't know. All I could focus on was tasting more of the man that had gotten under my skin. He opened his mouth, and I went on full attack, trying to find all of his sensitive spots. He tasted of life, much like the person himself. So full of vitality and uninhibited emotion that I wanted more. I wanted to bask in his brilliance that was so unlike the reserved dullness that I'd grown up with.

Perhaps that was where it had gone all wrong. I'd gotten too greedy and flown too close to the sun.

ELEVEN

ERIC

When Liam stalked toward me with his eyes filled with hunger forme, I couldn't find the rationality to say no. There were a million reasons why this was a bad idea. He was so fucking cocky, thinking that everything had to go his way. Every time he spoke, he seemed to have the ability to flare up my anger. And probably most importantly, he was my boss.

As the manager of this hotel, it wouldnotbe a good idea to kiss my boss. In fact, he wasn't just my boss, but his family freaking owned this hotel and probably half of Corio City.

This was a terrible, terrible idea. Probably the worst idea I'd had in all my twenty-seven years of life, and I'd had some shitty ones in college. So why did it feel sorightwhen our lips touched?

I opened my mouth, wanting to get more of him. I didn't have to wait long before his tongue went on the offensive. As if he had a map to all my pleasure spots, he quickly worked me until I was hard, needy, and whimpering into his mouth. My legs felt weak, and if I were the swooning kind of man, I might have collapsed into his embrace by how good the kiss felt.

Of course, I'd kept my composure and gave back just as good as he gave, wanting to work him up just as much as he was working me up. I was rewarded when he pressed his lower body closer to mine. His hard cock seemedveryhappy to rub against me, even if it was through our layers of clothes.

His hands held my hips still as he ground even closer to me. He had me completely under his control, and it felt glorious. I wanted more of this, more ofhim. But there was still an inkling in the back of my mind that this was wrong, and that only served to increase the pleasure from the whole experience. He wasn't supposed to want me, but he still did. And hell if that wasn't a good feeling.

My hand slipped under his blazer and swept across the maroon silk top he wore today. The clothes were still in my way, but at least I was able to feel his warmth through the thin shirt. It was at the tip of my mind to forget everything and tear off all his clothes, but before I could make those thoughts a reality, a knock at my door had me shooting backward and banging the back of my head in the process.

"Fuck," I groaned as I rubbed the sore spot from where I hit the door.

"Eric? Is everything okay? Why can't I open the door?" Alfred's voice sounded from the other side.

Because our boss had pushed my entire body against it.

Of course, there was no way I could tell him that. No one could know what had happened in this room. And now with the clarity the outsider brought, the foolishness of our actions came rushing forward. My erection instantly fell soft as my heart hardened.

How could I give in to the attraction? I wasn't a horny, college student anymore. I should have controlled myself.

I pushed aside all the feelings that had shot up before and glared at Liam. This was entirely his fault. He was too fucking seductive that I'd fallen for his charms. He shot back a sly smile and swept his hand through my hair before straightening the collar of my dress shirt.

Sighing, my expression toward him softened. Yes, it would be so much simpler if I could push all the blame on him, but that wouldn't be fair to either of us. We would need to have a longer discussion about this later, but for now, we needed to figure out a way out of this room without Alfred figuring out that I had my tongue down our boss's throat.

"It was a pleasure speaking with you, Mr. Wells. We can finish our meeting later," Liam said. He brought his forefinger to his lips to signal for me to stay quiet and shot me a wink.

The alluring action had me pausing for a second before I snapped out of it. Clearing my throat, I replied, "Yes, of course. We havemuchto talk about next time."

Liam chuckled and motioned for me to move. I obliged and got out of the way so that he could open the door. Alfred was standing on the other side with a curious expression. He had his hand raised as if he was about to knock again.

"Oh, Mr. Wright, I didn't know you had a meeting with Eric today," he said as he glanced between the two of us. I shifted under his gaze, terrified of what he could deduce from those sharp eyes of his. Alfred was always good at noticing the tiny details. That was why we'd worked so well together. I focused on keeping the hotel running while he made sure that all the smaller tasks weren't ignored.

"It was very last minute. Eric had something he needed to show me, isn't that right, Mr. Wells?" Liam glanced at me with a smug grin that had me wanting to punch it away.

This wasnotthe time to be joking.

"Yes, I did. Since show and tell is over, you can leave now," I said, almost spitting out the words. All my malice earned me was another chuckle from him.

"We'll have to do this again sometime," he said, giving me a heated glance that had me darting my eyes away from him.

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