Number Neighbors Read online

  How was I supposed to resist the temptation to do exactly that?

  Those were three very, very good questions indeed.

  This was an unprecedented situation. It wasn’t like I wasn’t used to working under pressure—this job wasn’t all puppy belly rubs and fluffy kittens. It did have a dark, stressful side, and I’d long learned to manage my stress levels and expectations, but I didn’t think knowing how to keep my cool during an emergency operation on a Great Dane would help me here.

  If I knew Hannah was my number neighbor and sexting buddy, she knew it, too.

  She knew she’d been texting me, and she knew that before I did.

  Was she losing her mind like I was? I wouldn’t say I knew her particularly well, not enough to comment on her state of mind at the very least, but I hoped she was.

  If she wasn’t, I needed to know how the hell she was doing it.

  I had to bring it up.

  How the fuck could I not? How the fuck could I look her in the eye and not tell her that I knew exactly how she wanted to be fucked?

  Quite easily, in theory.

  In actuality—it wasn’t going to happen.

  There was no way I was going to leave Hannah’s house tonight without telling her I knew that she wanted to be put on her knees and fucked to within an inch of her life while her ass was gripped and her hair was pulled.

  That she wanted to pull a guy right out of the shower and suck his cock.

  I rubbed my hand down my face. I needed to get those thoughts out of my head, and fast. There was no way I’d be able to focus today if I didn’t stop thinking.

  I shrugged off any thoughts of her and headed to the back room where all our overnight animals were just starting to wake up. I wasn’t surprised at all to see Lucifer wide awake and pawing at the front of the crate, meowing his little head off. I paused at him for a moment, let him sniff my hand, then poked one of my fingers through the bars to scratch the side of his face.

  When he was suitably attended to—although still meowing for food—I moved along the line, giving everyone a look over. There were more cats than dogs today, and I stopped to see Luna, the silver Maine Coon who’d been spayed yesterday afternoon. She purred the moment she saw me, and a quick glance at the wound showed it was healing nicely and she could go home today. Mila, the dark-nosed Rag Doll kitten in the crate next to her was in the same situation, although she was a lot more miserable in her cone than Luna was.

  Blue, Mila’s brother, was next to her, but not because he’d had his balls snipped—nope, he’d eaten a piece of dry pasta that I hoped he would pass this morning so he could leave with his sister.

  After seeing Delilah, a terrier mix who’d gotten in a fight with a bulldog in the dog park, I checked in on Bruno, a Great Dane puppy who’d also eaten something he had no business eating.

  Animals.

  Anyone would think their owners never, ever fed them. Especially if they heard Lucifer’s caterwauling right now—and I knew he’d been fed, because I’d done it myself the moment we got here.

  I shook my head and asked the tech not to feed the greedy little bugger, assuring her he’d already eaten an adequate amount of food, then walked through to reception. There, I updated Joy on everything and asked her to make the necessary calls after nine a.m.

  With her agreement, I returned to my exam room and stared at my phone, sitting where I’d left it on the table.

  If I was going to stop thinking about Hannah, I was going to need to spend every second of this shift with the animals.

  I pocketed my phone and went right to the back where the animals were—including a still-meowing Lucifer.

  ***

  “In you get.” I put the carrier with Lucifer in on the front seat of my car and strapped it in place, then put his medicine down in the center console. You never knew when you needed to do an emergency stop, and this little critter was a noisy little bastard as it was.

  I didn’t need him screeching and the box going flying into my windscreen if an arsehole pulled out on me.

  With him secure—but still meowing, of course—I got in the driver’s side and started the engine. My brain was going a million miles an hour, whirring like mad. It was like a tornado going through my mind, obliterating all thoughts that weren’t of Hannah and what the bloody hell I was going to do now.

  I had to tell her I knew. She had to know that I knew, regardless. If she’d saved my number the way I had hers, it would have come up immediately when she’d called.

  Fuck, if I’d known…

  Would I have given her my number? I didn’t know. This was such a fucking weird situation, one that I never imagined I’d be in, so I didn’t really have an answer for it.

  A part of me thought I would. That no matter what, I would have eventually given my neighbor my number. Even if it was only for matters of neighborly issues.

  That’s what I was going to tell myself.

  I hadn’t quite imagined she’d ever get it like this.

  I also wanted to know what the odds were that our numbers would be the same, with the final digit one number removed?

  I’d put my life savings on it being less than one in a billion.

  Think about it: all the phone numbers in the United States, and two neighbors having almost identical phone numbers?

  Oy.

  Ignoring Lucifer’s mewling—I could swear that kitten was a Victorian schoolteacher in a previous life—I hit my indicator to show that I was turning right and made the turn before the lights changed.

  I drove the rest of the way back home, doing the best I could to not fucking think about Hannah and what was to come.

  I wasn’t very good at it, that was for sure.

  I pulled into my driveway and parked up. Hannah’s drive was clear, so she wasn’t home yet. I was a little surprised by that since she said she finished earlier than me, but she’d probably run to the store.

  Maybe to buy a cat carrier, because God only knew she was the most unprepared cat owner ever.

  Sorry, a not-a-cat-owner.

  That’s what she was calling herself, at least.

  I’d be damned if this kitten ended up with anyone other than her.

  I scooped Lucifer’s medicine out of the center console, then grabbed the box with the cat in it. I carried both into the house and set the carrier down by the front door.

  Hopefully Hannah wouldn’t be too long, because I didn’t really want this little terror running all over my house. I only had a limited amount of litter and food here that I kept in the basement for emergencies, and this little guy had proven that he could eat for England.

  I put the medicine down on the counter and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, then leaned back against the kitchen island to drink it. I was tired, and all the muscles in my shoulders were in knots.

  I wanted to go to bed, but I had to get this over and done with.

  I also didn’t want to have Lucifer trying to climb my bedroom wall again at two-thirty a.m.

  Thankfully, I’d already planned to redecorate before he decided to help me.

  I finished the water and crushed the bottle, looking up just as Hannah’s car crawled past my window.

  Awesome.

  I grabbed hold of the medicine and the cat box and, after waiting a minute, headed out just as she was getting out of her car. Her long, dark hair was pulled into a ponytail on top of her head, and it swished around her face as she straightened out.

  “Stupid hair!” she muttered, batting at her hair. She looked over the top of her car and met my eyes, freezing as she did so.

  Red crept up her cheeks, and she took a step back from the car. “Um. Hi. Hey, Isaac.”

  I bit back a laugh at her awkwardness. “Hey. Good day?”

  “Not—not bad.”

  “I have your cat.” I held up the box. “And his medicine.”

  “Oh. Sure.” She locked her car and walked around it. “Put it on the porch and I’ll take him in.”

>   “Or I can just take him in for you.”

  “No, no, it’s fine. I can—I can manage.”

  “Hannah, don’t you think we need to talk?”

  She cleared her throat and with a sigh, said, “Honestly, I can’t think of anything I want to do less right now.”

  My lips twitched. “So you’re just going to ignore all this?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “We’re not ignoring it.”

  “I said I was going to ignore it. You’re free to address it, but it’ll be a terribly boring, one-sided conversation.”

  “Bloody hell, woman. I don’t remember you being this argumentative over text.”

  “Well, then you can text me instead.”

  “So you can ignore that, too?”

  “Yes.” She pulled two grocery bags out of the trunk and slammed it down, then met my eyes with her eyebrows raised. “I thought I’d made that perfectly clear already.”

  “Hannah.”

  “If you don’t stop saying my name in that damn accent of yours, I’m going to come over there and beat you with my baguette.”

  I paused, frowning slightly. “How the hell else am I supposed to say your name?”

  “Not at all?”

  “You texted me first.”

  She pursed her lips as she approached the house. “I’ll be back for Lucifer in a moment.”

  “You’re being unreasonable.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Do you know what unreasonable means?”

  “Are you patronizing me?” She put the bags down outside the door and turned with her hands on her hips.

  “No, I’m just seeing how long I can keep you talking after you said you were going to ignore me.”

  Once again, her lips pursed, and she hit me with a dark look. “I’m not talking to you anymore.” With that, she turned, gathering her bags, and stormed into her house.

  I picked up the cat box and followed her inside. I could wait for an invitation, but since she wasn’t talking to me, I highly doubted that one would be forthcoming.

  Sometimes, you had to take matters into your own hands.

  I took Lucifer inside, shutting the front door behind me. He mewled inside the carrier, but I didn’t let him out because I didn’t know what rules Hannah had in place.

  Besides, I think me being in her house would piss her off enough right now.

  I followed her in the kitchen where she was just turning around. She froze when she saw me, her mouth opening as if she was about to say something. She snapped it shut quickly and dropped her gaze toward the cat box.

  “I thought I’d bring him in for you.” I set the box down on the floor and put the medicine bag on the kitchen island. “The anti-inflammatory is the one in the little bottle—put two drops on his food once a day. The sachet is the decongestant; use a pinch of it on his food once a day again. I recommend not to use them together in the same meal, so one at breakfast and one at lunch. It doesn’t really matter which way around.”

  She looked at the bag then at me. Her throat bobbed when she swallowed, and she whispered, “How much do I owe you?”

  I shook my head, pushing the bag closer to her. “Nothing. You’re doing a good thing taking him in. I paid for it.”

  Hannah folded her arms across her chest and looked around the room. At anywhere other than where I was standing—or that was how it felt.

  “You can thank me, you know, but I won’t take it personally if you don’t.”

  She sighed. “Thank you. I really appreciate it. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “There. See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” I grinned, then knelt down and opened the cat box, letting Lucifer out.

  “It wasn’t, but we’re still not talking about the texts.” She bent down and gave Lucifer some love before she stood back up and dove her hand into one of the grocery bags. “I mean it, Isaac. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  I took a page out of her book and sighed, putting my hands in my pockets. “I get that, I do. But we can’t just ignore the fact that it happened. We either need to draw a line so we can move forward, whichever way that is.”

  She put a packet of spiral pasta on the island and looked at me with one eyebrow quirked. “What do you mean by that? I assumed we’d agree to never talk about it again.”

  “You aren’t curious at all?”

  “Curious about what?”

  “How much ice you need to make a bucket of margaritas?” I drawled, smirking when she shot me a dark look. “What do you think I’m talking about?”

  “Wow. You weren’t this much of an ass in the texts.”

  “Well, I didn’t have time. Apparently, I was too busy texting you about slapping your ass.”

  Her cheeks flushed again. “Can we not?” She practically dug her head in the grocery bag and pulled out a bag of cat biscuits.

  At the sound of the biscuits rattling, Lucifer’s head perked up and a loud, pleading meow interrupted the conversation.

  Hannah peered down at him. “I highly doubt you’re hungry, mister.”

  “Actually, he probably is. Either that, or he’s been unnecessarily harassing my vet techs all day for extra food. He’s a little flirt.”

  She side-eyed me as she grabbed a stainless-steel bowl. “He’s obviously spent a lot of time with you today, then.”

  I laughed, finally pulling my hands out of my pockets. “Nope. He’s been in the back charming my vet techs, like I said.”

  “You said ‘unnecessarily harassing.’” She put the bowl down and moved before Lucifer could use her foot as a chair. “That is not the same as charming.”

  “You don’t have much experience with cats, do you?”

  “What on Earth does that have to do with this? On no universe are charming and harassment even remotely the same.”

  I sighed. “You have a lot to learn about cats.”

  “I don’t need to learn anything about cats. He’s not my kitten.”

  “Ah. Do you regularly feed other people’s kittens?”

  She gripped the edge of the island. “You’re annoying me, and I think you should leave now.”

  “And do what? Text you tonight?”

  “You cannot seriously think we’re going to pick that nonsense back up.”

  I said nothing.

  “Wait—no. You’re insane.” She pointed a packet of spaghetti at me. “Totally insane, Isaac. I didn’t even want to do it in the first place. I was blackmailed into it.”

  “Every good sexting story starts with a little blackmail.”

  “I have no idea if you’re joking about that or not.”

  I shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  “You’re infuriating,” she replied, putting jars and cans in the cupboard behind her. “We’re not doing that anymore. I never would have done it if I had any idea you were on the other end.”

  “Why? Because now I know all your dirty little fantasies?”

  CHAPTER SIX – HANNAH

  Help Me, Jesus

  “You don’t know all my dirty little fantasies,” I replied nonchalantly.

  What? That was the truth. And thank God he didn’t know—that was the last thing I needed.

  Like this conversation wasn’t awkward enough. Despite my best efforts, I’d been kind of…coerced into this little chat. I wasn’t happy about it, and I wasn’t sure my cheeks would ever stop burning from the embarrassment of this whole situation.

  I was starting to question whether this was even real or not.

  It was the set up to a cheesy romcom movie, not real life.

  I sighed and glanced down at Lucifer. Clearly, this conversation was going to happen, so I pulled out one of the stools at the island and sat down.

  “Well, talk,” I said, meeting his eyes. “Say what you want to say.”

  Isaac smirked and leaned against the counter, eyes on me. “I think I’ve been pretty clear to this point, to be honest. Aren’t you curious about it?”
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  “About what?”

  “Are you being this dense on purpose?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Look,” he said, pushing off and coming over to the island. He flattened his large, tanned hands on the island countertop and leaned forward, his green gaze pinning me in place. “You know exactly what I mean. Aren’t you curious about the texts? If they were to be real?”

  My eyebrows shot up so fast they almost went into orbit. “If it were to be real? Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it since you realized who you’d been texting.”

  Ugh. It was all I’d thought about.

  “All right, then. I won’t.”

  “Hannah.” He blew out a breath. “If you’re not attracted to me, just say. Then this whole conversation goes away.”

  That was the easy option. I could stop it right now.

  In fact, I opened my mouth with every intention of doing just that.

  “Have you ever met anyone who isn’t attracted to you?” was what actually came out of my mouth.

  His lips pulled to one side. “Yes. There’s a large number of gay women and straight men who don’t find me attractive in the slightest.”

  “You’re a real smartass, aren’t you?”

  “Takes one to know one.”

  “Don’t be so childish,” I huffed, getting up and picking up Lucifer’s bowl now that he was done eating. “You can joke all you like, but you’re the one who demanded this conversation.”

  He rolled his eyes, but I got the feeling it was more for show than anything else. “I didn’t demand anything. You can’t seriously think we’re going to ignore this.”

  “Again, I said I would ignore it.”

  “You’re a lot of work, Hannah.”

  “So are you, Isaac.”

  “Don’t say my name.”

  “Why? I can assure you it’s not nearly as distracting as when you say my name.”

  He quirked one eyebrow. “You like it when I say your name?”

  Danger. Danger. Danger.

  “I didn’t say that. I said it was distracting,” I said quickly. “Stop twisting my words!”

  “I’m not doing anything of the kind.”