The Men Next Door

Ch 9 - Campbell

Luca's kiss had my entire body feeling warmer than the hot tub ever could.

There was no surprise there. He was gorgeous, and the way his mouth moved against mine was hot and heavy and passionate, just like I imagined it would be. Better than I imagined it would be. I couldn't stop my fingers from tangling in the back of his hair, and I didn't even think to protest when his hand slipped from my lower back to my bikini-covered bottom.

But of course, taking things farther wasn't as simple as dragging him back downstairs — or to the lounge chairs on the other side of the rooftop, even — because Luca wasn't the only man I'd kissed that week. My time with Brooks was lingering in the back of my mind like the ghost of a crime that someone else was serving time for, and I didn't know how far I could go before my guilty conscience turned herself in.

They were best friends. Had they talked about this? Did they know they were both attracted to me? Did they care?

Did I care?

I felt like I should, but the truth was, I was absolutely drunk off the lust. Luca's touch was making my head spin, and the only thoughts I could latch onto were that we were both single and there was nothing wrong with wanting more. 20-somethings hooked up with each other all damn time, and I deserved to act my age for once, and he wasn't anything like...

No, not going there.

I was going to be bold. Shameless. Totally in the moment.

So when we broke apart to catch our breath and Luca asked if I wanted to join him in the shower, I said yes. Really said yes. It wasn't some shy, tentative, 'what the hell am I doing' gesture — it was giddy and gleeful and so, so ready for whatever was coming next.

Which apparently was getting hauled downstairs like a sack of potatoes.

With nothing but a mischievous grin as a warning, my neighbor bent down, wrapped his arms around my thighs, and threw me over his shoulder. He kept me secure with one hand and grabbed our bag of dry clothes in the other before I even had time to process what he'd done.

"Luca!" I scolded through my giggles. "Put me down!"

He laughed right along with me. "Not a chance, Bella."

I playfully grumbled, then took my chance to grab his ass, which was right in front of my hands from that angle. He jumped in surprise.

"Feisty, aren't we?" he asked as he stepped out of the stairwell and rounded the corner to his apartment.

I sent up a silent prayer that Brooks wouldn't see us in the hallway.

Luckily, we made it through the door unscathed, and Luca carried me all the way to the bathroom before he finally put me back on solid ground. He mindlessly tested the temperature of the shower on his fingertips, then dropped his trunks and stepped into the steamy rainfall with the kind of reckless confidence I could only dream of.

Water droplets gathered on his tousled hair as he held out his hand to help me in, and I slid the glass door closed behind me with my bikini still on. I wasn't quite as daring as he was to strip down immediately, but he wasn't shy at all as I stole not-so-subtle glances at his naked body. And he shouldn't have been, either — all that time he spent at the gym had clearly paid off.

"How about we untie this?" he asked carefully, pulling me close to his chest and hovering a hand over the tie at the nape of my neck.

I nodded, hugging him a little tighter against me, and he made easy work of the knot.

My top stayed pinned between our bodies as I reached behind me to undo the second bow, but when the loose strings brushed across my hips, I took a step backward. The wet fabric fell to the floor with a plop, and a shiver ran through my body as the cool air touched my bare skin.