Play Me (5 page)

“Jake,” she
scolded my neighbor, who was still just standing there, slightly
leaning against the door. He took a sip from the glass he was
holding. Yep, whisky. “I am so sorry,” Lucy said again.
“We both had a long day and were unwinding and sometimes we
don’t realize how loud we’re being.” She looked up
at her boyfriend. “Right, Jake?”

But Jake was looking at
me, in a way that seemed really inappropriate considering his
girlfriend was standing right there. But from what I knew about
him—the rudeness, the drinking, even his lack of appreciation
for classical music—he didn’t seem like the kind of
person who cared much about how he came across.

He took another drink
from his glass, this time finishing off the amber liquid completely.

“Sorry if we woke
you,” he finally said. His eyes hadn’t left my face and I
felt warm, as if I was the one who had been drinking.

“Would you like
some brownies?” Lucy asked, seeming completely oblivious to her
boyfriend’s wandering gaze.

I finally pulled my own
gaze away from his. “Brownies?” These two were very
strange. “You’re making brownies at three a.m.?”

“Best time for
them, in my opinion,” Lucy said with a wink. “Here! You
can be our judge.”

“Judge?” I
repeated, sounding a bit like a robot.

“You’ll be
perfect,” Lucy said putting her hands on my shoulders and
leading me into the apartment, where two trays of brownies were
cooling on the counter. Next to them was a T-shirt with a chocolate
stain on it. Well, at least that explained Jake’s
shirtlessness.

I had never thought of
myself as much of a sweets fan, but my mouth was definitely beginning
to water at the smell of chocolate. Or maybe it was from the
absolutely perfect chest just a few inches to my right, as Jake came
around the counter to stand next to me. I did my best to avoid
looking at him, but no matter, I was pretty sure the image of his
tattooed, well-muscled chest lightly dusted with dark hair would be
forever burned into my memory.

“Here.”
Lucy put together a plate, with one brownie square from each pan.
“Tell us which one you think is better. And be honest.”

“I really don’t
think I’m the best person to judge,” I told her weakly,
but couldn’t resist taking a bite of the first one.

Oh wow. It practically
melted in my mouth and I could taste a tiny bit of salt, and was that
caramel? Whatever it was, it was amazing.

“Good?”
Lucy asked.

“Mmhmm,” I
managed, before lifting the second one to my lips.

OH. MY. GOD.

I practically fainted
as chocolate overwhelmed my senses.

This is better than
sex, I thought.

“Then you haven’t
been doing it right,” a low voice said.

Oh my God, had I just
said that out loud?

From the look on Jake’s
face, it was pretty clear I had. Immediately I put down the plate.

“I have to go.”
I could feel my cheeks burning.

“Wait.”
Lucy grabbed my arm, kindly not making mention of my weird outburst.
“You didn’t tell us which one you liked best!”

“Uh.” I had
already forgotten which one had been the mind-blowingly delicious one
so I just pointed to one of the brownies on the plate. “That
one.”

“Ha!” Lucy
pumped her fist in the air. “I knew it.”

Jake didn’t say
anything, his eyes burning into mine.

“Okay,” I
muttered. “Goodnight.”

“Are you sure?”
Lucy asked. “We feel so bad about waking you.” She
elbowed Jake again. “Don’t we, Jake?”

“Terrible,”
he said, now looking down into his empty glass, reminding me that I
was lusting over a guy that clearly enjoyed imbibing way too much.
Not my type at all. Even if he didn’t have a girlfriend, which
he obviously did.

My internal temperature
returning to normal, I lifted my chin and gave him a frosty glare.

“Just keep the
noise down,” I said, making my tone as icy as possible. “Some
of us have things they need to do before ten a.m.” And with
that I turned on my heel and, keeping my robe tight around my body,
headed back to my room.

Jake

Dakota closed the door
and immediately turned on me.

“Was that Ella?”
she demanded.

“Yep,” I
said, feeling way drunker than I should have. Was it the whisky or
was it the sight of Ella, up close and personal wrapped completely in
black satin? Well, not completely, I thought, thinking of how tightly
the satin had pulled over her ass when she departed in a huff. And it
was short enough to leave a long, long expanse of leg for me to check
out. All that smooth creamy skin . . .

My mind had already
begun to construct a new fantasy, one that involved pressing Ella
against my front door, my hands making short work of that slippery
robe of hers, lifting her up until those perfect legs were wrapped
around my hips, my dick pressing eagerly against her as I sucked her
nipples until they were hard in my mouth.

Immediately I went to
the bar for another drink. Even her ice queen act hadn’t cooled
down the red hot desire I felt looking at her, that dark hair mussed,
her big eyes round and her cheeks just a little flushed. If Dakota
hadn’t been there, I don’t know if I would have been able
to keep myself from saying some very inappropriate and naughty things
to her in an attempt to get her to let me do even more inappropriate
and naughty things to her.

What was wrong with me?
She was my neighbor and she had a boyfriend. Ella was off limits in
so many ways. And she was aggravating as fuck! I had to keep
reminding myself of that. She might be gorgeous, but she was a major
pain in the ass. And I did not need that right now.

“Dude,”
Dakota said, slapping me in the shoulder and pulling me out of my
thoughts.

“What?” I
had refilled my glass and was sipping the whisky, hoping to drink my
horniness away.

“First of all,
you need to apologize to her at some point tomorrow.”

“Why?” I
grabbed a clean shirt out of my dresser and pulled it on. I hadn’t
missed the way her eyes had widened when she saw me, which had given
my ego a little bit of a boost. Something that had been welcomed
after tonight’s bullshit customers. But it didn’t change
anything. “You were the one being loud,” I told Dakota.

Her eyes narrowed. “You
will go apologize to her tomorrow,” she told me. “Your
neighbors have been ridiculously understanding of our occasional loud
late nights. The last thing you want is to upset the newest tenant.”

I sighed. Yes, I would
go and apologize to Ella tomorrow for being loud. I glanced over at
the brownies cooling on the counter. A box of my baking usually did
the trick and clearly my “better-than-sex” brownies got
her motor going. Like my mom had always said, “No one can yell
at you if you give them something tasty to chew.” It was advice
that had served me well.

I looked back at Dakota
who was doing her own taste test. Then I remembered what she had
said.

“You said first
of all.” I leaned on the counter. “Was there something
else you wanted to say?”

“Just that you’re
an idiot,” she told me.

“I’m
pretty sure that’s not news to you.” I shrugged.

“Yeah, but this
time you better be careful.” She took another batch of brownies
out of the oven.

“What are you
talking about?”

Dakota glanced up and
smiled. “You’re in trouble, my friend. Big, big trouble.”

The next morning, I
woke up to the sound of classical music playing. I groaned, my
frustration starting up again, but then I glanced at my phone to
discover that it was almost one p.m. Shit, I thought, getting out of
bed. I never slept this late. Even though I had a few hours before I
had to be at the restaurant, there were new recipes I had wanted to
work on, not to mention the laundry I probably should be doing as
well. I glanced over at my brownie-batter-stained shirt and
remembered everything that had happened last night.

“Fuck,” I
muttered to myself as the music floated up through the floorboards.
Dakota was right. Again. I needed to make things right with Ella. The
last thing I needed was trouble in the building. My head ached and I
winced at how lecherous I must have seemed last night, leaning
silently against the door, my shirt off, while Ella just wanted to
get some sleep. I really had been a jerk. What was with me lately? I
was an adult man with self-control, not a horny teen popping a boner
at his first glimpse of naked female flesh. Was I just that hard up
for sex? Or was it something else? Either way, I needed to get it
under control. Letting my fantasies run wild every time I saw Ella
was going to seriously derail my day, and I did not have time for
that. Not when so much was about to happen.

And I needed to take a
break from alcohol for a while. Getting drunk two nights in a row was
not my usual style, but the stress of the new position had been
getting to me. I looked over at my bar and silently promised myself
to back off on the drinking. There were other, healthier ways to deal
with my frustrations. I thought back to Ella’s little satin
robe, but immediately vetoed that natural stress-reliever. Boyfriend,
remember? I told myself. Neighbor, remember? Pain in the ass,
remember?

I took some Advil and
drank a big glass of water. I felt better, but I needed a shower and
shave. After that I might be presentable enough to make my apology.

Freshly showered, a box
of neatly cut brownies under my arm, I went downstairs and was
surprised to find a kid sitting on the floor in front of Ella’s
door. He looked about eleven and was wearing a baseball cap, a
backpack at his feet.

“Hi,” he
said, standing when I approached.

“Hey.” I
didn’t know what to do. “Uh, is Ella home?” She
obviously was, since I could hear music coming from the other side of
the door. Not the same piece from the day before—this one
seemed a little simpler, actually. But she really seemed to be
struggling with it.

“Yeah,” the
kid said. “I’m early,” he told me.

“Early for what?”
I asked.

“My lessons,”
he informed me.

Well that explained it.
I leaned over him and knocked on the door. The playing didn’t
stop but I heard footsteps coming my way.

“Jeremiah!”
Ella exclaimed, opening the door and addressing the kid, totally
ignoring me. Not that I really blamed her. She was wearing her usual
black, shapeless clothes—how
do
you solve a problem like
Maria? But my dick didn’t seem to think there was a problem at
all. Down boy, I thought.

“You didn’t
tell me you were here,” Ella was saying to the kid.

“Mom had to drop
me off early,” Jeremiah told her, pulling on the lip of his
baseball cap. “I didn’t know if I should knock at your
new place.”

“Of course you
should knock.” Ella frowned. “I can’t have you
sitting in the hallway by yourself.” She glanced back into the
apartment, where her other student was still playing, and I could
tell what she was thinking. With the piano in there, there wasn’t
much room for one person, let alone two additional students. One was
probably pushing it already.

I cleared my throat.
“He can hang out in my apartment,” I offered.

Ella looked up at me,
acknowledging me for the first time. “I don’t think
that’s a good idea.” Her voice had the same icy tone from
last night.

“I don’t
mind,” I told her.

“That’s not
the point,” she said, but Jeremiah had spotted the box in my
hand.

“What’s
that?” he asked.

Good job, kid, I
thought, as I knelt down in front of him. “These are my
world-famous brownies.” I opened the box and watched his eyes
widen. “I was going to give them to your piano teacher.”

“I don’t
like brownies,” Ella said primly.

I ignored her. She was
clearly lying. I had seen the way her eyes had rolled back in her
head when she tasted them last night. The way to a girl’s
panties was always through her sweet tooth, and Ella had a major one,
even if she refused to admit it. And I was pretty interested in
seeing her panties close up.

“Do you want a
brownie?” I asked Jeremiah.

He nodded fervently.

“You know . . . ”
I put my finger on my chin as if I was thinking. “I could give
you this box of brownies, but that wouldn’t be very fair to the
student who’s still practicing. I don’t know if there is
enough for everyone.”

Jeremiah looked
crestfallen but gave an understanding nod.

“However.”
I stood up. “I could make another batch so there would be
enough for everyone. If you were willing to help me.”

“Really?”
Jeremiah asked.

“Really,” I
told him. “That’s what I do. I’m a chef.”

“You’re a
chef?” Ella interrupted.

“Yeah.” I
glanced over at her—she looked completely surprised. “What
did you think I did?” What other jobs kept people out until
late hours? Did she think I managed a strip club or something? Then
something clicked in my head. Oh god, that’s why she didn’t
want me to watch Jeremiah. She thought I was just some partying
douchebag. “I’m the head chef at Grassfed,” I told
her. “You can Google me.”

“Can I please
help him make brownies?” Jeremiah, my new best friend, asked,
clutching the box of brownies to his chest like they were made of
gold.

Ella looked conflicted,
glancing back into the apartment and then back at Jeremiah.

“Would it help if
I left my apartment door open?” I asked.

“Please?”
Jeremiah begged.

Ella sighed. “Okay,”
she said to her student, who let out a cheer. “In fifteen
minutes I’ll come and get you.” She looked up at me.
“Door open,” she ordered.

“Of course,”
I said and passed the box of brownies to her. “Those are for
your current student. I knelt down and picked up the backpack from
the floor. “Come on, Jeremiah,” I told my new, small
buddy. “Let’s go make you some brownies.”