Neighbors With Benefits: Chapter 43

Dante’s chest heaved as he remained inside of me. A bead of sweat ran down his temple, and I reached out and thumbed it away before it could disappear into his beard.

“That,” I said, “makes up for the way you stood me up last night.”

“Stood you up?” he grunted. “I made you come.”

“Like I said, I wanted more.” I clenched my inner muscles around his cock. “I wanted this.”

He rumbled with laughter. “Me too. Worth the wait.” He leaned in and kissed me, but only for a moment. We were both still out of breath.

“Now what?” I asked.

Slowly, he pulled out of me. I felt so empty, so hollow without him. “Now we both go back to work.”

I slid off the desk. “How am I supposed to go back to work after being fucked like that?” I demanded.

“I’m asking myself the same thing,” he said with a wink. “Got a paper towel I can borrow? Don’t want to make a mess on my suit.”

Realizing what he needed it for, I pulled a handful of napkins out of the desk drawer and handed them to him. “You clean up nicely, by the way. Your clothes, I mean.”

“Work,” he replied simply, turning away to privately clean himself up before balling the napkins up and tossing them in the trash.

I discretely pulled up my panties. “The polo you were wearing the other day was nice, but you’re even sharper in a button-down.”

“We have clients in the office today,” he said while rolling up the sleeves. “Have to cover up the tattoos when they’re around.”

“You should work here,” I teased. “We don’t care about visible tattoos unless they’re, like, on your face.”

Dante grinned over at me and zipped himself up. “Tempting, if it means doing this for lunch every day.” He gave me a quick kiss. “Got to run. See you in the greenhouse later.”

And then he left like nothing had happened. When he was gone, Brandi poked her head into my office. “Who was that?”

“My neighbor,” I said. “He’s helping me repair my greenhouse.” I hoped that was vague enough. It was the truth, after all.

“You live next to him?” Brandi bit her lip. “Any chance he’s single?”

“I’m fairly certain he’s involved with someone,” I said carefully, “but I’ll let you know if that changes.”

As soon as she was gone, I turned back to my desk—and did a double-take. The entire desk had moved a foot toward the wall. I could see the circles on the floor where it had been.

Before Dante and I had moved it.

Hopefully Brandi didn’t notice, I thought while pushing it back into place. When I sat back down, I checked my phone.

Cat: Okay, that was SUPER FREAKING HOT. The way he walked in there and demanded I leave? You could drown a toddler in my panties right now. I hope you two are having fun.

Me: He just left. And yes, it was amazing 🙂

Cat: THAT’S MY GIRL YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

Cat: I’m so glad you’re embracing your inner slutskateer. I wish men would storm into my office and fuck me up against the wall.

Me: We did it on my desk, actually.

Cat: Stop it. I’m already at maximum moisture. I need a Gatorade.

I was on cloud nine for the rest of the afternoon. One of my neighbors had visited me at work and fucked me in my office. In all my wildest fantasies, I never would have expected something like that to happen.

There was a late delivery I had to stick around for, so by the time I got home, Dante’s motorcycle was already parked in his driveway. As I got out of my car, he emerged from his front door carrying a potted plant under one arm.

“Why hello there,” I said.

“You’re home late, so I started without you.” He walked around the fence to my side of the property, handing me a folded piece of paper without slowing. “For you.”

“What’s this?”

He didn’t answer, so I unfolded the paper and began reading.

APPLICATION FOR PLANT ASYLUM

Requested Location: Jazzland Greenhouse

List of Applicants:

1. Cereus Hildmannianus

2. Ponytail Palm

3. Blushing Philodendron

4. Neogregelia Bromeliad

“What the hell is this?” I asked.

“The form you requested,” he called over his shoulder.

I hurried into the back yard after him. “You actually made a plant asylum request?”

“You told me to.”

“I was joking.”

“I’m not. I care about these plants. I don’t want there to be a misunderstanding.”

I followed him into the greenhouse and held up the paper. “This is notarized!”

“We have a notary at work. I borrowed her stamp.”

He said it all so matter-of-factly, like it wasn’t a joke. But that only made me laugh harder. “I can’t believe it. Dante has a sense of humor.”

He placed the potted plant on the floor of the greenhouse. “Don’t ruin it. Get changed and help me haul all the fertilizer over here. It’s stacked up in our driveway.”

“So serious,” I teased.

He gave me a playful glare. At least, I assumed it was playful.

I changed out of my work clothes and got to work hauling materials over to the greenhouse. While I did that, Dante used an electric saw to cut boards for the raised flowerbeds that would fill most of the space inside. Occasionally, he asked me to hand him a tool or a piece of wood.

It was kind of nice working together on a project without chatting. We didn’t talk at all, but it wasn’t awkward. At one point, Dante turned the radio on to the Phillies game while we worked.

Eventually, he unplugged the saw and stretched his arms over his head. “That’s a good stopping point. I’m gonna grab a shower at my place. You should take one, too.”

“Oh?” I asked innocently. “Why would I need to shower?”

“Because,” he said with a glimmer in his eye, “I want you as clean as possible for what I intend to do to you.”

“What do you want to do to me?” I asked.

He stepped closer, arm brushing against mine while he removed his work gloves. “I want to make you dirty all over again.”

He leaned in close like he was going to kiss me, and I held my breath. But then he smiled and began walking away.

“I’ll be back over in ten minutes,” he promised.

“Wait,” I said. “Do you want to talk about all of this first? Like, what this is?”

“Not really.”

“What about Aiden and Bash? Have you told them that we’ve hooked up?

“Not yet,” he said. “Why don’t we tell them together?”

“Before you fuck my brains out?” I asked. “Or after?”

His grin turned evil. “I was thinking during.”