Neighbors With Benefits

39 - Jazz

39

Jazz

I stayed to watch the game. I didn’t know the rules, but I didn’t really care. My eyes were focused on Dante, even when he didn’t have the ball. He glided around the field with the physical presence of a battle ax. Always near the plays, lingering with quiet danger.

And then he struck. Throwing himself into a tackle, knocking the ball loose, picking it up and sprinting. He struck out with his free hand, stiff-arming opponents like a football running back. I was mesmerized.

After half an hour, I decided I’d seen enough. I made my exit while the players were on the far end of the field so Dante wouldn’t see me leave.

I thought about it all night. The way he looked in those tiny rugby shorts, the muscles in his thighs bulging with strength as he lunged and leaped and battled. I typically liked my men to be clean-cut. I had never really been attracted to grungy men who got dirty.

But holy crap, there was something so exhilarating about watching Dante move around the field. The only way I could have been more turned on is if I had visited an actual sex club.

“Damnit,” I muttered to myself.

When I got home, I stripped down to the lingerie and texted my two out-of-town lovers.

Me : I’m bored at home, wishing you guys were here for game night. Fair warning: the next message I send will include a semi-scandalous photograph.

Me : [photo attached]

Bash : Damnit. I’m still stuck at work. We’re deep into negotiations and trying to lock it down before we all break until morning, but I can tell it’s not going to happen.

Me : That’s extremely sad for you, which in turn is sad for me.

Aiden : GOD DAMNIT.

Me : What?

Aiden : I’m also stuck working late. And I really hate my job. Your text makes me want to quit.

Me : Don’t do that!

Aiden : Hear me out: if I quit my job and hop on a flight, I can be in that bedroom peeling off that lingerie with my teeth by breakfast.

Me : That’s VERY tempting. But you would regret it later. And besides, I can’t wait until tomorrow. I want both of you now.

Bash : Agreed on all counts. At the very least, I wish I were back in my hotel room so we could have some long-distance fun.

Me : I can wait up maybe?

Bash : As much as I want you to, I probably won’t be home before midnight.

Me : I will have lost my lady-wood by then.

Aiden : Maybe tomorrow night?

Bash : Yeah! Tomorrow night I should be free. Emphasis on should.

Me : It’s a date :-)

I tossed my phone aside. I didn’t want to have fun via Facetime. I wanted both of them here, right now, in the flesh. What was the point of having two lovers if they were gone at the same time?

I heard the familiar rumble of a motorcycle. I closed my eyes and pictured Dante pulling up his driveway and turning off his bike. I imagined him standing there for a few seconds, straddling the bike while he removed his helmet and gloves. He was probably still sweaty from the game underneath his protective bike clothes. I could still feel his intense gaze when he realized I was wearing lingerie to the game.

Aiden and Bash were out of town. But Dante was here.

Work was busy the next day, which helped take my mind off things. When I got home, Dante was already in my back yard measuring glass with his tape.

“Got started without me?” I asked.

“Only the prep work,” he replied. His dark hair hung down over his eyes, but he didn’t look up. “Get changed and join me. You look good in that pencil skirt, but it won’t help you on a ladder.”

The compliment made me smile as I went inside and changed. I selected my clothes carefully, choosing Lululemon leggings and a tight-fitting top that were functional for the work, but still accentuated all of my best features.

I did all of this unconsciously, but I realized what was happening as I joined him outside. “So is that how this works?” I said, with just a hint of annoyance. “You treat women like crap at first, so that they swoon over you when you do compliment them?”

Dante stared at me for three seconds. “I treat everyone like crap until they give me a reason not to. Grab that glass and follow me.”

He carried an A-frame ladder into the greenhouse while I followed with the pane of glass. The interior was mostly empty, with a few beds that were overrun with wild plants and weeds. Dante had also moved a workbench inside for cutting the boards that would later be used to make the individual flower beds, but there were two small potted plants on the workbench.

“Already moving stuff in, I see?” I asked.

“Squirrels keep getting at those on my porch. I’m hoping they’ll be safer in here.”

“As soon as we fix the hole in the roof,” I said. “But I’ll have you know that you need to fill out a request for plant asylum before moving anything else in.”

“Plant asylum?” he asked.

I nodded. “Your plants are refugees. It’s important that they have the proper paperwork.”

“Noted.” Dante positioned the ladder over in the corner, then gazed up at the hole in the ceiling.

“That pane is going there,” he said pointing straight up. “I’ll need you to hold it into place while I tighten down the brackets.”

I gazed up at the ceiling. “You want me to climb way up there?”

“It’s eleven feet,” Dante said mildly. “You’ll be fine. Unless you’re afraid of heights.”

“Nope. I’m fine.”

“I’ll climb up this side, you climb up the other,” he instructed.

“Are two people supposed to be on the same ladder at the same time?” I asked.

“It’s fine,” he replied while continuing climbing. “Our weight will balance each other out.”

“Are you sure? Because there’s a safety diagram on the side of the ladder that specifically shows the opposite.”

“I’m not much of a rule follower,” he said. “Didn’t take you to be one, either.”

When he was at the top of the ladder, I handed him the pane of glass. Then I climbed up the other side of the ladder, meeting him at the top rung. We were just inches apart, but the pane of glass separated us like a prom chaperone.

“You steady?” he asked.

I tested my footing on the rung. “Think so.”

“Hold it like this.”

He raised the pane of glass up into position. When I planted my palms on it, he removed his hands. I was holding it up by myself. It wasn’t hard now that he had already brought it up.

“Just like that,” he breathed while pulling a small bracket and screws from his pocket.

Both arms raised high above him, Dante screwed the bracket into place. Even with the task at hand requiring most of my focus, it was impossible to ignore his physical presence. There was his body heat again, making me all warm. Or my brain imagining it. Either way, I felt my skin flush with heat while he installed the first bracket.

“One down, three to go,” he said. “You good?”

“Yep,” I said.

The second bracket went up quickly, along with the third. But as he installed the final bracket, I felt my arms begin to waver with the effort of holding up the pane of glass.

“Don’t let go yet!” he hissed as I lessened my grip. “I still need to fully tighten the screws at the end.”

“My arms are tired,” I admitted.

“Just a little longer,” he rumbled, arm twisting as he worked on the final piece. “Just. A. Little. Longer.”

My arms were beginning to shake. That, in turn, made the ladder shake.

“Dante,” I warned.

“Almost there,” he gritted out, sweat beading his temple as he concentrated.

The shaking became too much, and the ladder heaved too far in one direction. I let go of the pane and tried to adjust my weight, but I overcorrected too far in the other direction.

We were tilting, turning, falling.

“Shit,” Dante cursed.

“Oh no!”

I cried out in alarm as the ladder fell to the ground. I was weightless for a brief, terrifying instant. But somehow, Dante had jumped off the ladder first, landing deftly on the ground.

And he had just enough time to reach out and catch me.