Page 89 of Crave Thy Neighbor

“So good.” That doubt creeps back into her eyes. “Are you sure you want to? I really don’t mind taking one after you…”

I sigh. “I’m sure, Maya. It really fucks me up though that he made you feel like you weren’t worth his time. That makes me real pissed off at him.”

“Don’t be,” she says. “He wasn’t an awful husband.”

I scoff. “He sure as shit sounds like it. I got a glimpse of how a man should love a woman, and that’s not the way you do it at all.”

She tips her head, so many questions swirling in her eyes.

I don’t usually talk about my mom leaving, but something has me wanting to spill all my secrets to her.

“My mom bailed the year I turned five. Told my dad she’d fallen in love with someone else, packed her shit, and left. My dad…he was devastated.”

A light bulb goes off for her. “Ah. Hence your hesitation with relationships.”

I nod, pushing past the lump in my throat. “Even though she left him high and dry, up until he died, he was still madly in love with her.That’show you love a woman.”

Tears well in her eyes, and I hope she doesn’t start crying because I don’t know what I’d do if she did.

She blinks them back, then huffs out a breath. “I’m sorry, Nolan.”

I shrug. “Is what it is.”

“Yeah, but—”

I silence her, pressing my lips to hers, and she melts into my touch as I kiss her senseless.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to…” she says, coming up for air, rubbing her nose against mine.

“I don’t want to talk about that shit. I have better things in mind.” Pulling away, I throw the blanket off and slip out of the bed. I hold my hand out to her. “Come on. Let’s get wet and wild.”

She smirks. “You’re really lame sometimes, you know that?”

“All part of my charm, baby.”

She screws her face up, sliding her hand into mine and letting me haul her up. “No. I don’t like that one.”

“Huh?”

“The endearment. I like Juliet better.”

“Duly noted.” I smack her ass. “Now get in there and start the water. I’ll be right there.”

She sashays into the bathroom, and I hear the water hit the shower floor.

By the time I join her, she’s already under the stream of hot water. I’ve never been jealous of water before, but watching it roll over her skin…I am.

“Is that my shampoo?” She nods toward the bottle in my hand as I step into the shower.

“Yep. Now scoot over and stop hogging all the hot water.”

She rolls her eyes and moves over no more than an inch, her back to me. Tipping her head back, she lets the water wash over her as I flip open the bottle of shampoo and squirt a healthy amount onto my hands.

She jumps when my fingers find her head, then relaxes into my touch as I lather up the shampoo, letting a few soft moans escape her lips.

I wash her hair once, then again for good measure, and I know she’s loving every second of it.

Just like I know there’s no way she misses my cock brushing against her ass.

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