Blaze: (Naughty Neighbors 1) Read Online Free

bed—she’d come home with a real flashlight and found the purple one only minorly mangled from his short life as a dog chew toy.
    Ew. Ew. Ew. That was just about the grossest thing ever. Even grosser than the time Max had piped toothpaste on the toilet seat of their Jack-and-Jill bathroom growing up. Even grosser than being stuck, bodily, by sweat, to the glider she’d found junk shopping and reupholstered herself, thankyouverymuch . If that project hadn’t been a total pain in the butt, she’d consider recovering it after sullying it this afternoon.
    Maybe she shouldn’t have taken the mangled purple one straight out to the alley trash. What if a band of wild possums overturned the trash bin, scattering the trash bags and the purple one in the alley, and all the neighbors who hadn’t heard Grant’s raining cocks comment last night saw it? What if Grant thought he’d lost a rare nineteenth-century doubloon by accident and went to go through the trash to save the precious artifact? What if—
    She couldn’t go check on it now. No, she’d have to wait until after dark. She couldn’t risk him seeing her. Gah! She hated sneaking around like a thief even though she was in her own backyard. By unspoken agreement, Grant had custody of the deck and backyard and she had full rights to the pretty wraparound porch and its gliders and the hammock on the east side of the house. And that seemed the sensible plan, since he had Bess and Laurie loved the porch. But now it was ridiculous.
    “It’s ridiculous for you to be this miserable.”
    His voice nearly turned her out of the glider. At least spilling her iced tea everywhere cooled her off. Marginally.
    “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.” He was poking his head out of his living room window, and the blast of AC that wafted out almost made her cry. “When did you say the repair guys were coming out again?”
    “Monday.”
    He swore and then slammed his window. Laurie didn’t know if she missed his voice or the cool air that had trickled out more.
    Oh, the air. Definitely the air.
    Grant moseyed out to the porch, a travel mug of coffee in one hand. In that moment, she became aware of the wet spots on her shorts and tank top. Her nipples in tight points beneath the built-in shelf bra.
    And from the direction of his gaze, so did he.
    She refused to shift and hide—how could she without leaving altogether?
    So women sweat. Deal with it! She wasn’t going to hide what was a natural reaction to heat and humidity.
    He leaned one hip against the porch railing, drawing her attention to his basketball shorts and his massive quadriceps. Yeah, how do you like that leering now?
    What she’d give to test those with her teeth as she meandered her way up—
    “Stay with me.”
    She felt that weird cartoon brrzup of a record player screeching to a halt, actually felt that in her body. And when he repeated his request, she hoped she imagined the way his voice got a little gravelly and another interesting bulge appeared under those shorts.
    “I couldn’t possibly impose…”
    He waved his coffee mug, and though it smelled divine and she needed the caffeine jolt after a sleepless night, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to make a hot cup.
    “Take it out of next month’s rent if you’re that fussy about it. I can’t bear to be sitting in my office, cool and well rested, knowing you must be miserable.”
    “It’s not that bad, Grant. There are millions of people all over the world who live without air conditioning.”
    She watched his stomach leap a little when he let loose with a guttural laugh. Why did he have to be so hot? Why couldn’t Max have recommended his elderly administrative assistant to rent the lower unit? Not this paragon of manly pulchritude.
    “Yeah, well, there’s nuns and priests who are celibate and you don’t see the rest of the world following suit.”
    It was an interesting argument in light of last night, but she wasn’t going there. With