Page 38 of The Cocky Neighbor

"What do you mean by that? If he doesn't want to date, he doesn't want to date. Isn't it pretty straightforward?" Lucas said, and Noah smacked him on the arm. "Ow! What was that for!"

"For being so insensitive," Noah snapped. "Your brother is obviously struggling here, so we should hear him out."

I smiled at their interaction. My brother had the whole dominant alpha thing going for him and tended to do whatever he wanted. I was glad he had someone like Noah to rein him in.

"He says it's only sex, but then spent the entire weekend at my place, and we did a whole lot more than just have sex," I said, and Lucas wrinkled his nose. Good. Hopefully now he'd understand how uncomfortable it was for me to see my brother and childhood friend acting so intimately together.

"We cooked, watched TV, cuddled, and talked a lot. It was like an extended date, and I could see myself doing it again with him a thousand times over," I said as I leaned my elbows on my thighs and hung my head.

"That sounds like a date to me. Are you sure he's as against dating you as you think?" Noah asked. I nodded, but I didn't really know. We didn't talk too deeply into it. I was afraid if I asked, he'd reconsider having any kind of relationship with me even if it was just sex friends.

"Maybe he has something against relationships? Maybe he's afraid? Letting someone into your heart is scary, after all. You run the risk of getting hurt, and it's a million times worse when it's the person you love hurting you," Noah said with a sad smile. Lucas grabbed his hand and placed a soft kiss on the back of it.

I knew neither of them blamed the other for what happened in the past, but that didn't erase the hurt that they'd experienced. They gazed in each other's eyes, and I could see something passing as they looked at each other. Love? Tenderness?

Whatever it was, it was beautiful, and I had to wonder if I'd ever get to have that with someone. It sucked that thesomeoneI wanted that with didn't seem to want me.

Noah snapped out of it seconds later and let out an awkward cough. "Sorry. Anyway, as I was saying, you should talk to him. Find out why he's adamant that you two keep things strictly physical."

"How would I even bring that up? I'd just scare him away."

I could feel the tension in his body when Eric and I were in his office Friday morning. The way that he kept reminding me that only sex was on the table, that we were fuck buddies and nothing else, it showed how uncomfortable the thought of being in a relationship made him.

"You could drop little hints? Probe him and see how he reacts?" Lucas chimed in, finally giving useful advice.

"Yeah, you could slowly lean him into it. See how he takes the hints before you sit him down and talk about it," Noah said, taking my hand and squeezing it. "Just be patient with him, Liam. If you think you two might have something real there, then nurture it and fight for it."

I looked at him and smiled. "You bet your ass I will."

"Hey! His ass is mine," Lucas teased as he pulled Noah closer and plopped a kiss into his hair. Noah looked exasperated but happy.

I knew coming here for advice was the smart move. Noah was good at helping me come up with a game plan. My brother helped too, I guessed, even if he was a huge pain in my ass while doing so.

I stayed for another hour catching up with them and chatting. Despite Lucas's complaints about me disturbing their night, he looked almost disappointed when I left. He gave me a hug and told me to come over for dinner more often. I agreed before thanking them and saying my goodbyes.

My thoughts were all over the place when I’d went to Noah’s seeking advice, and now I returned knowing exactly what I wanted and had plans for getting the man that seemed so right for me.

He might say no in the end and break off all contact with me, but at least I knew that I tried to fight for the spark that I felt between us. This might be a fruitless attempt, but I wasn't one to give up easily.

TWENTY-FIVE

ERIC

Ava had returned from her break Monday morning, so I was mostly in contact with her instead of Liam. It was probably for the best, considering my mind was still whirling from the weekend, but that didn't stop me from feeling disappointment when lunchtime came around and there was still no sign of Liam.

I hadn't meant to stay over at his place for that long, the entire weekend passed and it was Sunday night before I knew it. What was worse was that I even had half a mind to continue staying at his place, but I forced myself to leave before we went down that rabbit hole.

I meant it when I told Liam that I didn't want anything besides sex.Relationships only caused problems, and I didn't have room in my life for that. However, being with him was soeasy, almost too easy. It felt nice to be in his presence, and I didn't know I could have so much fun staying indoors with someone.

It was all confusing, to say the least. I didn't want what I had with Liam to end. The sex was phenomenal, and I really liked him as a person, but that was even more reason for me to be careful. I was toeing the line between fuck buddies and somethingmore, and we both agreed that was off the table. Right?

That didn't stop the burst of happiness that spread through me when I found Liam in my office when I came back from lunch. He pulled me into the room, had me pinned to the wall, and attacked my lips before I could even say anything.

It was so fucking hot that all other thoughts were pushed to the back of my mind. Liam took control, pulled out our dicks, and took us in his hands until he was swallowing my moans of pleasure.

He left soon after, but not before handing me a paper bag of cookies. I was confused by the random gift, but I wasn't going to say no to sweets, so I accepted it.

I didn't hear from him for the rest of the day, not that I was waiting or anything. The next day as I did my routine checks on the hotel rooms, I ran into Liam in the corridor of one of the floors. We chatted for a bit about business, with Liam looking around the hall the entire time.

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