The One Night Stand Next Door Read online

  Again, I shook my head. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m not really looking for a relationship right now.”

  “Ah, but that’s when you find them.”

  “When you find what?” Kai rejoined us and handed me a Tequila Sunrise.

  “Love,” Vincent said. “I was just telling Ivy how I thought you’d make a nice couple.”

  Oh, God.

  Here we go.

  “You know what? I agree with you.” Kai winked at Vincent. “But she won’t go out with me.”

  I snorted. “You’ve never asked!”

  “Fine. Will you go out with me?”

  “Wait, what?”

  He turned to Vincent. “You heard that, didn’t you? That was as good as no.”

  Vincent nodded. “I did, boy, I did.”

  “Oh, my God,” I muttered. “You’re both crazy. And I know crazy. My family are the poster kids for crazy.”

  “She’s still saying no.” Kai tutted.

  “I am not saying no!”

  “So are you saying yes?”

  My cheeks burned. “Shut up. You’re only doing it because Vincent’s here. Besides, we had dinner earlier.”

  Vincent tapped my knee. “You told me that was nothing.”

  “It was nothing!”

  “Then it doesn’t count.”

  I wasn’t going to argue with these men anymore. Instead, I sipped my drink as Kai took a seat on the other side of Vincent. There was no doubt these two were going to go on and on about something that was completely ridiculous all night long.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out.

  TORI: Did you bang him yet?

  I rolled my eyes so hard they went into orbit.

  ME: I need new friends.

  TORI: Is that a yes?

  ME: It’s a no.

  ME: And I’m not going to. Stop obsessing about my nonexistent sex life.

  TORI: I can’t until it becomes existent. Girl, you go any longer before you get laid, and you’re gonna need an archaeologist to help you out.

  ME: I’M NOT SLEEPING WITH MY NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR!!!!

  TORI: Oh, no. Has the tomb already closed? A big old rock rolled over there a la Jesus?

  ME: I’m gonna roll a big old rock on your head if you don’t shut up.

  There was no talking to her. Really.

  Why was I surrounded by people who didn’t listen to me? Sure, if you asked them, they’d said I was the problem. Maybe I was. Maybe I was too stubborn, but who the hell needed an archaeologist to help get them laid?

  I guess it depended on whether he was hot or not.

  “Ivy.”

  I jerked up at the sound of my name and shoved my phone in my pocket, ignoring the new message that came through. “What?”

  “Kai wants to know if you can have a sleepover after your date.” Vincent’s eyes twinkled.

  “I’m not talking to you anymore.” With a shake of my head, I got up and left them laughing together like the worst team ever.

  ***

  “Help me.” Kai grabbed me and slipped behind me, holding onto my upper arms.

  I almost stumbled over as the force of his tall, muscular body wobbled my more than a little tipsy, much smaller one. “What? Are we under attack?”

  “From aliens? No.”

  “Why do I need to protect you? FYI, I’d be no good if the aliens came, either.”

  “Amanda. Help me.”

  “I am not going to make out with you just to make her go away.”

  “I wasn’t suggesting it, but now you have…”

  “Kai!” I shrugged him off me, wiggling out of his grasp. “Stop it!”

  He sighed, slumping against the makeshift bar.

  “Didn’t Isabella send her home?”

  “Yes, but it looks like she took a thirty-minute nap, popped some paracetamol, drank some water, and came back for more.”

  Wow. Props to her. I hadn’t drunk half as much as she had, and I was seriously nearing my limit.

  But then again, I was a lightweight. Tori always said it made me a cheap date.

  Like I said, good. It meant I had an excuse to order the more expensive wine.

  “Ivy. Hello.” Kai waved his hand in front of my face. “Are you away with the aliens?”

  “You. Shush. I was thinking.”

  “About me?”

  “In your dreams.” I snorted. “What were you saying?”

  “I was saying that I really need you to let Amanda down for me. You know, nice and easy. Girls do that, don’t they?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Do what?”

  “In bars. Lie for your friends.”

  “Yes, but I usually tell annoying guys that she’s a lesbian. Do you want me to tell Amanda that you’re gay?”

  He paused for a moment. “I have nothing against gay people, but—”

  “That usually means you do.”

  “My brother is gay.”

  “Okay, you win that round.”

  He bit back a laugh. “But I think my highly conservative, Bible-belt-living, Jesus-loving grandfather would roll over in his grave if another one of us came out.”

  “Are you saying you’re in the closet?”

  “Are you? You’re the one who won’t sleep with me.”

  “So that makes me a lesbian?” I rolled my eyes. “I would sleep with you, Kai, but exactly that. Sleep.”

  “Can I grope you in your sleep?”

  “If you’d like a trip to the ER with a broken nose and an explanation about why you’re there.”

  He touched his nose. “No. I need my ruggedly handsome good looks to catcall women from the top of scaffolding.”

  “Do you do that?”

  “No, but it’s fun watching my friends when they do.” He shrugged. “I prefer to woo my women.”

  “Oh, shit. Is that what you’ve been doing for the last few hours?”

  “It usually goes better than this,” he admitted.

  I grimaced. “Sorry. You weren’t exactly clear.”

  He finished his drink and motioned for one for both of us. It was ten-thirty and the party was still going. It looked much prettier now than earlier, with fairy lights strung up around the rooftop, threading through the tall fencing that was stopping over-zealous old people from falling off the edge. The tables and chairs that had been set up each had a light in the middle of the table, and the makeshift bar we were standing at was similarly lit up, with both the bar surface and the top part shining bright with twinkling lights.

  All it did was show me one shameless fact: I was getting out-partied by pensioners.

  Again, I was a lightweight.

  “I asked you out. How much clearer can I be?” He put my new drink in front of me and waited for me to finish sucking the last of my cocktail out of the glass through the straw. “I’m not sure how else I can tell you I’m attracted to you.”

  “Okay, now I know that’s the tequila talking.”

  “Is it?” He raised his eyebrows as he switched out my empty glass for the full one.

  “Yes, because you’re trying to get me drunk.” I picked up the new glass pointedly.

  “Is it working?”

  I slapped his arm. “Shut up. If you’re so attracted to me, why has it taken you eight months to tell me? Oh, wait, because it’s the tequila.”

  “That, and I was hoping you’d actually make out with me to put Amanda off.”

  “See? It’s all about something else.”

  He rubbed his hand down his face. “That came out wrong.”

  I put my straw between my lips and sipped, giving him the kind of look that told him he was correct. It had.

  Very, very wrong.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Maybe it is the tequila,” Kai said, raising his glass. “But all it’s doing is giving me the balls to tell you I want you.”

  I was loath to believe him. Maybe it was my own lack of self-confidence in the dating department, considering I didn’t really have such
a department, or maybe it was my gut telling me this was a very, very bad decision.

  Wait, what decision? I hadn’t made one yet. I hadn’t even entertained one. I didn’t know what I was supposed to make a decision about.

  Lord, my brain was running away from me.

  “Shots!” came the shout from elsewhere on the roof.

  Before I could do a thing, Kai grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the long table that had been set up purely for this reason.

  How the hell were these oldies still drinking? And why was I still drinking? I’d only intended to be here for an hour.

  God, I was going to regret this tomorrow.

  Kai sat me down in a chair and took the seat next to me. Two shots were lined up in front of me, complete with the requisite lime wedges and saltshaker.

  I was wincing already.

  Vincent took the seat to my left, and Isabella Valentino and fifty-five-year-old Mavis Barr took the empty ones to the right of Kai.

  “One, two, no breaks!” My upstairs neighbor, Eddie Price, held out his hands like he was the girls in the Fast and Furious movies about to start a drag race.

  Thank God he wasn’t wearing a mini skirt, that’s all I could say.

  “Lick your hand! Shake the salt! Drink the tequila! Suck the lime!” Eddie barked. “Lick, salt, tequila, lime! Lick! Shake! Drink! Suck! You know the rules!”

  Great. Now I was drinking to the dictatorship of a pensioner.

  “Sounds like a good night to me,” Kai muttered.

  I kicked him under the table.

  “And go!”

  I did as I was told—licked the back of my hand, shook salt to lick, downed the tequila, and sucked on the lime. No sooner had I dropped the wedge then Eddie was barking at us to start the second one.

  I wasn’t even sure I’d swallowed the tequila.

  Still, I did it.

  Lick. Salt. Lick. Tequila. Lime.

  I was one mouthful of tequila away from throwing up over the table.

  Wincing, I waved my hands that I was done and pushed back my chair, getting away from the crazies before I was coerced into even more shots. Kai followed me back to the bar, laughing, and we perched again on our stools and grabbed our drinks.

  “I can’t believe you made me do that,” I muttered, motioning for some water. I was handed a small plastic cup and downed it before sliding the cup back. “Straight tequila is the worst!”

  He chuckled, leaning against the bar. “You haven’t done one all night. If I didn’t, Vincent would have, and you know the next round is without the lime.”

  “I still don’t understand how these old people can party so long and so hard,” I replied. “I swear to God, I’m almost done. I literally cannot drink anymore after this.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Really? Are you that much of a lightweight?”

  “Yep. I just can’t take much more. Those shots might have finished me off.”

  He downed the rest of his drink and motioned for another. “I need to catch up.”

  I stared at him. “You’re not still on this ‘have a date’ kick, are you?”

  “No. I’ve given up on that. I thought I might charm you into bed instead.” He took the bottle of beer he was handed and downed a third of it. “Any chance of that?”

  I kicked him.

  “I was joking.” He laughed, putting the beer down. “You’ve made yourself perfectly clear, Ivy. You aren’t interested. I’m genuinely enjoying hanging out with you, but it seems unfair if you’re more drunk than I am.”

  I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t entirely sure I trusted him—mostly because I knew that it wasn’t that I wasn’t interested.

  Oh, I was in.

  I was very interested in Kai Connors—what was under his shirt, in his pants, what it felt like to have his hands grip my ass.

  There was absolutely no denying that.

  I was also exceptionally pragmatic, and if I had to say that sleeping with my neighbor was a bad idea one more time, I was going to cut out my own tongue.

  “Look,” I said, leaning forward. “It’s not that I don’t find you hot. I do. You are.”

  “That’s the tequila talking,” he teased.

  “It absolutely is,” I agreed, grinning. “But you’re my neighbor.”

  “And?”

  “I don’t want to have to look you in the eye a week after having to fake an orgasm?”

  “I love the fact you think you’ll have to fake one.”

  I snorted. “Do you know how common it is for a woman to orgasm from intercourse alone?”

  “This is exciting,” Amanda half-slurred, joining the conversation. She slipped her arm around Kai’s shoulders. “I do, Kai. With me, it’s every time,” she said in a stage whisper.

  AKA, not a whisper at all.

  I finished the last mouthful of my tequila and put my glass on the bar. Ignoring his wide-eyed stare at me, I said sarcastically, “I think I’ll leave you to it.”

  “Ivy—”

  “Yes, do. Run along.” Amanda wiggled her fingers at me and took my seat the second I stood up.

  Would she jump in my grave as quick?

  Only if she fell in, drunk.

  Welp, that was bitchy, Ivy.

  I pushed the roof door open and let myself into the brightly lit stairwell. It was like a fucking funfair in here, and I was delighted to find that I was actually sober enough to make my way down the stairs without tripping or stumbling.

  Only just.

  Score one for flat boots.

  It was a bit more difficult getting my key into the slot on my apartment door, but I managed it after a good thirty seconds of scrambling. After letting myself in, I let the door close behind me and let out a long breath.

  I didn’t know if I was mad at myself for not telling Kai to come back to my place or amused that I’d left him on the roof with Amanda.

  I opened the fridge and stared into it. Against my better judgment, I pulled out the bottle of wine, noting there was barely enough left for half a glass. At this point, that wasn’t going to make a massive difference, so I kicked off my boots and grabbed a clean glass to pour it into.

  I sipped it and sighed. It was far more palatable to me than the tequila I’d been drinking all night, and I leaned against the kitchen island so I could check my phone. There were a thousand texts from Tori I had no intention of opening right now, so I put it down on the island, screen down, so I wasn’t tempted.

  What a night.

  At the next party, I was going to be busy. Even if I wasn’t. I’d go sit in a McDonald’s for six hours if it meant getting out of it.

  I took a deep mouthful of wine. Three knocks rocked my front door, and I paused.

  If this was Kai, I was going to kick him in the balls.

  “Who is it?” I called.

  “It’s me,” Kai’s muffled voice came through the door.

  “Sorry, I don’t know who ‘me’ is!”

  “Ivy!”

  “Nope. Goodnight, Me.”

  He banged again. “Ivy, open the damn door.”

  “That’s a negative!” I sipped my wine.

  “Ivy!”

  “Yes, that is my name. Good boy.”

  He wiggled the handle and the door swung open. Kai stared at me flatly for a moment before he said, “If you’re trying to keep someone out, maybe you should lock the door.”

  I tilted my glass in his direction. “A very valid point. Alternatively, you could not just barge into an apartment when the person who lives there has told you to go away.”

  “Also a very valid point.”

  Apparently, not valid enough for him to leave, because he just shut the door behind him.

  “I’m surprised you got away from the maenad.” I put my glass down.

  “The what?”

  I waved a hand dismissively. “Never mind. I’ve been binging True Blood.”

  “That vampire show? I think my sister likes that.”

  “Yep. I tell y
ou this, I’m not into biting, but I would let Eric Northman eat me for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Probably a midnight snack, too.”

  Kai’s lips curved to one side. “A midnight snack would be most fitting if he’s a vampire.”

  I clapped my hands over my mouth. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

  “I know. That’s why I made a point to respond.”

  “Ugh. What do you want?”

  “You.”

  “Kai, we’ve been over this.”

  “No. You’ve just had a one-sided conversation in which you tell me all the reasons us having sex would be a bad idea, but you haven’t let me raise a counter argument.”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “This isn’t a courtroom.”

  “You’re right. If it were, I would have already won by now.”

  “You are extremely arrogant and cocky.”

  “Cocky, yes. Arrogant? Not yet. I haven’t started my argument.”

  “Fine. You have thirty seconds to convince me why having sex with you—my next-door neighbor—would be a good idea. Bearing in mind I do not have one-night stands and I never have.”

  He stalked across the room with a mischievous glint in his eye. I was too close to the island but before I could move, he was on me, gripping the edges of the counter, leaving me with no chance of escape.

  I swallowed, ignoring the way my heart thumped against my ribs.

  Kai dipped his head. The tip of his nose brushed against mine, and his exhale fluttered across my parted lips. “Thirty seconds?” he murmured in his deep voice.

  “Thirty seconds,” I confirmed, trying not to let him know his closeness was affecting me as much as it was.

  “Hmm.” The noise rumbled in his chest, and my stomach clenched in response.

  He barely moved. He stayed exactly where he was, hands holding tightly to the counter, feet either side of mine, toned body just millimeters from my own decidedly less toned one.

  Face right in front of mine.

  I was buzzing. My blood was thundering around my body courtesy of my rapid heartbeat, and it felt as though a thousand needy electric currents were darting all over my skin, leaving goosebumps trailing in their wake.

  Yet still, all there was, was Kai’s lips hovering over mine, and the tickling sensation of every single exhale teasing me.