Love Thy Neighbor (4 page)

“What just happened?” Nikki screeched, her fingers still clutching his forearm. Despite her fear, she couldn’t get over how good and strong he felt.

“I think we’re stalled. Happens sometimes. Usually it kicks in after a moment or two.”

Nikki reluctantly let go of his arm and wiped more sweat off her brow, sneaking a quick sniff of her pits.
Please dear God, don’t let me stink.
But then again, so what if she did? It wasn’t like she cared about what Dallas thought of her. Did she?

“This usually does the trick.” Dallas checked the gate and pushed the third-floor button again, but to no avail. “You’re not claustrophobic, are you?” he asked.

“Not that I know of.”

“Well, that’s good. This could take a while. Sooner or later someone downstairs will figure out we’re in here, but the last time this happened, I was stuck for over an hour.”

“An
hour
?”

He smiled, and suddenly being stuck looking at him for an hour didn’t seem nearly long enough.

“Might as well get comfortable,” he said. He set the sheet of cardboard down on the floor and took a seat, patting the spot next to him for Nikki to join him. “So, neighbor, tell me some more about your interior design work.”

“You don’t really want to hear about it, do you?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to hear about it.”

She sat down beside him and crisscrossed her legs. “Well, I’m sort of starting over again. See, I had my own interior design firm. With a partner. Lange & Norris. We were doing really well, too, until a few months ago when she developed a case of sticky fingers and decided to help herself to our clients’ money.”

“Can’t imagine that’s good for business.” He cocked his head to the side and gave her a look that almost made her forget what they were talking about.

“My partner left town and left me with a nightmare. I had to file bankruptcy. It was a disaster. And now I’m starting over again. Opening up my own firm. Norris Interiors. Or at least trying to.”

“Is that why you moved here?”

Nikki’s stomach twisted into a knot. “No, I moved here because right after my business folded, my fiancé told me he didn’t want to marry me anymore. I couldn’t really go on living with him after that, could I?”

“Ouch.” Dallas turned his exquisite face toward her. “You’ve been through the wringer, haven’t you?”

“I’m hanging in there,” she said, trying to sound upbeat. “And you know what Frank says—That’s life.
Each time I find myself flat on my face…
”

“
You get back up and get back in the race
.
” He smiled.

“Ah, Sinatra,” she sighed.

“You’re a fan, I gather?”

“You, too?” she asked.

“Who doesn’t like Frank?” He smiled.

Nikki smiled back, but still felt sad.
Who doesn’t like Frank? Matthew. That’s who.
He hated her taste in music. She liked the symphony and torch songs. She was a real sucker for the standards, whereas Matthew liked rap and techno music that made the walls vibrate. She could count on one hand all the concerts they’d ever gone to because they could never agree on a band.

“Seriously though,” he said. “I’m sorry you’ve had to go through all that. How long were you with the fiancé?”

“Five years.” She wiped away their musical differences while her mind did a mini retrospective of their relationship. How they’d met at a friend’s dinner party and he’d offered to walk her home. He’d called her the next day, asking how soon he could take her out. He was smitten. So was she. They’d never even had to discuss whether or not they were going to be exclusive. It was just assumed. They were falling for each other at exactly the same time, in exactly the same way.

“So what happened with this guy, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Nikki pressed her lips together and shook her head. “He got bored.”

“Bored? With you?”

“Yep, well, turns out I’m boring.” She tried to laugh, but it came out sounding like a desperate gasp for air.

“Nah, no way. Not buying it. You don’t seem the least bit boring to me,” said the gorgeous man looking into her eyes. For a moment, she wanted to believe him.

“Well, that’s what he told me,” she said, bringing her knees up to her chest and circling them in her arms.

“Sounds like rubbish to me. Surely he gave you more of an explanation than that.”

She shook her head. “He’s not a big talker. Never has been. He’s the kind of guy who keeps everything bottled up inside him and then one day, he snapped. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone over it in my mind, trying to figure out what went wrong. Maybe he thought I sucked in bed.” She blushed, realizing she was over-sharing with her new neighbor. But it wasn’t like she was trying to hit on him. He was so out of her league, and she wanted him to know that she knew that. In a strange way it made her feel more comfortable around him to be self-deprecating so she pressed on. “Matthew—that’s his name. Well, anyway, a few months before he told me he was bored. With me and—”

“Wait a minute.” Dallas dipped his strong chin. “Sounds to me like this guy really did a number on you. Did you ever stop to think that maybe the problem wasn’t you? Maybe he was the one who was boring?”

She stretched her legs out straight in front of her. “No. Matthew’s not boring. I think he just lost interest in me. In us. A few months before he told me it was over, he started acting funny. I thought it was because of pressures with work. He’d just made partner at his law firm. Or else maybe he was nervous about the wedding even though it was still five months away. But in the end, it turns out he was just plain bored. I guess I didn’t turn him on anymore. Maybe he wasn’t attracted to me.”

“Then he’s blind. You’re a beautiful woman.”

“You don’t have to say that.”

“I know I don’t have to.”

She tucked the compliment away to think about later. “He said he didn’t think he could sustain what we had for a lifetime.
Sustain
—he actually said that to me.” Her eyes welled up.
Do not cry in front of this man. Just shut up
. Nikki scolded herself but it did no good. “I was sucker punched. Never saw it coming…” She kept on talking. She supposed she was still in that phase of a breakup where she needed to talk. God knows Jenna was sick of hearing about it, and Dallas seemed genuinely interested. “I still don’t understand how he could turn his feelings off like that. How do men do that?”

“You’re asking me?” Dallas placed his large hand over his perfect pecs, fingers splayed. He even had great hands.

“Well, you’re a man.” That was an understatement. Not only was he a man, he was the most handsome, sexy man on the planet. She figured that if anyone could give her insight into the male psyche, it would be Dallas.

He turned his full lips in a downward frown. “Guilty as charged. All I can tell you is that men are dogs.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.” She tried to smile. “But if that’s so, then tell me why I want him back so much.”

“Nah, you don’t really want this guy back. Do you?”

“God, yes.” The words came out like a reflex. She didn’t even have to think about it. “But do you want to know why I really want him back? Because this is all wrong. We’re supposed to be together. He doesn’t realize it yet, but he made a mistake. He’ll never find anyone as good for him as I was. I was loyal and supportive and loving…” She counted her list off on her fingers. “And I don’t get how he could walk away from everything we had.”

“Well, if you ask me,” Dallas said, “Matthew was a fool to let you go.”

She turned toward him, wondering if she’d heard him correctly. Their eyes locked in place for a minute, and she took that opportunity to admire her neighbor. It wasn’t every day you got this close to someone with his kind of looks. His complexion was flawless, his jaw square and strong, and his eyelashes were longer than most women’s. He was mesmerizing.

She blinked, forcing herself to stop staring. Her cheeks heated, and she wanted to fan herself.
I hope I wasn’t drooling. Now wouldn’t that just top off this day from hell.
“So, ah, what about you?”

“You mean in terms of women?”

“Well, yeah.”

“I believe in traveling light.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means that I’m not in the market to be tied down.”

Nikki bit down on her lip. “Why is it you men always think women are out to
get
you?”

“Because that’s usually what happens. You meet someone and before you know it they’re hung up on getting married and starting a family.”

“But isn’t that whole idea? Isn’t that what everyone wants? I mean eventually?”

“No, not necessarily. Not me, anyway.”

“Then what’s the point? Don’t you ever get lonely?”

“I don’t have time to be lonely. How’d we get on this topic, anyway?” He stood up and pushed a few buttons on the panel. Nothing happened.

“What do you do?” she asked, changing the subject, playing dumb, pretending that she and Jenna hadn’t stayed up half the night Googling everything there was to know about her neighbor.

“I’m a photographer.”

“Oh, really?” She feigned surprise. “That’s interesting.”

“Not really. Could be a lot more interesting.”

“How so?”

“Lately I’ve been shooting a lot of fashion stuff—magazine spreads, some covers—that sort of thing. As a designer you’ll appreciate this—I’ve done some shoots for
Architectural Digest
.”

“I love
Architectural Digest.
I’d do anything to have my work showcased in there.”

“I’m friends with one of the editors. I’ll put in a good word for you if you’d like.”

Nikki almost gasped and covered it up with a laugh.
He’s freakin’ friends with an editor at Architectural Digest.
“Yeah, well, you better let me get my business back up and running before you do that.”

He smiled. “Deal.”

“And you don’t love doing that type of photography?”

“I’m pretty much bloody well over it.”

“Well, I gotta tell you, all that sounds really interesting to me.”

“It’s just not where my heart is.”

“What do you want to do instead?”

He came back and sat down beside her. “I used to be a photojournalist back in England. That’s where I’m from originally. Manchester, actually.”

“Do you get back to England often?”

He shrugged. “No, nothing to really go back there for.”

“No parents?”

He squinted and his lips curved downward. “I haven’t spoken to my father since I was eighteen, and my mother, well, she died about a year ago.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. We weren’t close.” He ran a hand through his hair. “So anyway,” he said, changing the subject back to their original topic, “I covered a lot of news events, environmental issues. The whole fashion thing sort of fell in my lap. The money’s insane. You get sucked in and then you’re stuck with the golden handcuffs.”

“Can’t you do a little of both? Keep shooting fashion but still do more photojournalism?”

His eyes lit up. “Actually, that’s sort of the plan. I have a chance to go to Antarctica on a shooting expedition with a group of photojournalists. A few of my buddies and I want to do some repeat photography of the glaciers. ”

“What’s repeat photography?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to get technical on you.” He smiled and the corners of his eyes crinkled up. “Repeat photography is where you capture changes in the landscape. So we’ll study photographs of the glaciers taken maybe fifty or seventy-five years ago and we’ll take the exact same shot from the exact same vantage point. That way we can compare the photographs and document the changes. We want to capture the retreat of the glaciers.”

“That sounds amazing.”

“Yeah, well.” He ran a hand through his wavy dark hair. “It’ll be amazing if I can get my fashion shooting wrapped up in time to make the trip. I’ve committed to a series of covers and back-to-back spreads for a fashion magazine. But to me the glaciers would be sexier to shoot than a bunch of models.”

“Then you have to go,” she said emphatically. “You have to find a way to do it. You have to follow your passion. Otherwise you’ll always regret it.”

He looked at her, a burning intensity in his eyes. “I couldn’t agree with you more. If you don’t follow your passion, what else is there?”

She swallowed hard. The man oozed sex. And if she weren’t still so hung up on Matthew, she would have reached over and kissed him whether he wanted her to or not. She pictured herself stroking his gorgeous, chiseled face, running her fingers through his thick brown hair. It was her dream all over again.

“Well,” he said, pulling his iPhone from his back pocket, breaking the spell of the moment, “it doesn’t appear as though anyone’s going to send for us anytime soon. And naturally I can’t get a signal on my mobile. Can you?”

“I don’t have my phone with me.”

He glanced around the elevator, his eyes settling on the ceiling. “Tell you what—if I hoist you up there, do you think you can fit through that trapdoor? We might be close enough to the next floor that you can crawl out and go get help.”

She eyed the ceiling, thinking
there’s no way in hell my ass is going to fit through that opening
. “I don’t—”

“I think it’s worth a try. What do you say?”

She bit her lip. “I guess.”

He stood up and held out his hands to her, helping her to her feet. When they touched, an electrical current rushed through her. He was inches away from her as he placed his strong hands along her waist, shooting more currents through her body. He let out a grunt as he lifted her up.

Her tank top came untucked from her running shorts, exposing her belly, and she wanted to yank it back into place to cover herself. The heat of his firm hands was on her naked skin as he raised her up higher and higher.

“Can you reach the trapdoor?”

“Almost.” She couldn’t believe that a man—even a man as tall and strong as Dallas—was able to effortlessly lift her up.

As he hoisted her up higher, she nearly gasped when his hands moved up her torso. She couldn’t believe it—he was getting her wet.