Текст книги "Next-Door Incubus"

Автор книги: Emilia Rose

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Next-Door Incubus

BECOMING LUST BOOK 1

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EMILIA ROSE

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Copyright © 2020 by Emilia Rose

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. For permission requests, write to the author at emiliarosewriting@gmail.com with the subject line: Attention: Permissions Coordinator.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Front Cover Image: Covers By Christian

Beta Readers: Abby Gibson, Kayla Lutz, Madi Lozada, Diana Klikova, Lauren Greenwell, MaKenzie Blank, Erin Krakow, Amber Mattingly

Emilia Rose

emiliarosewriting@gmail.com

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Contents

Author’s Note

1. Dani

2. Dani

3. Dani

4. Dani

5. Dani

6. Dani

7. Dani

8. Dani

9. Dani

10. Dani

11. Dani

12. Dani

13. Dani

14. Dani

15. Dani

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18. Dani

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31. Dani

32. Dani

33. Dani

34. Dani

35. Dani

36. Dani

37. Dani

38. Dani

39. Dani

40. Dani

41. Dani

42. Dani

43. Dani

44. Dani

Also by Emilia Rose

About the Author

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Author’s Note

This book was originally written and released under my other pen name, Destiny Diess. I have since moved it over to my Emilia Rose brand; however, it is the same book. So if you’ve read it prior to the name change, everything is the complete same :D

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CHAPTER 1

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Dani

I swayed my hips from side to side, humming to music as it played through my AirPods. Mom’s necklace, a small rose-gold pendant in the shape of a v, glided across my chest and swung to the beat.

The morning sun flooded into my room through my sheer white curtains, and rays of light shined almost too conveniently on the pile of dirty clothes littered on my floor from last night. I stepped out of my shorts and tossed them into the hamper along with the rest of my clothes, then walked down the hall to the laundry room, eyes closed in utter bliss.

My housemate Maria was out with her friends today which meant that I had the whole apartment to myself. What was better than being able to walk around half-naked, stuff my face without being judged, and hold a concert for one in the living room on a Sunday morning? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

“Dani!”

My eyes snapped open. Maria, two of her friends, and three insanely attractive guys sat on our leather couches in the living room. The girls were clinging on to two of the guys, their fingers curling around the guys’ biceps, heads resting in the crooks of their necks. When they saw me, everyone stared with wide, shocked eyes. Except one.

He stared at me with a smirk on his lips and sin in his eyes. Brown tousled hair, a gray Henley shirt that hugged his shoulders, and the scent of cinnamon and apples, he looked too perfect to be real.

Over the hum of my music, I heard the girls explode in a fit of laughter. The basket of clothes slipped out of my sweaty palms and tumbled onto the floor. All of my underwear, my latex mini skirt that I wore for Trevon last night, and my dignity laid at their feet. I swallowed hard and pulled down the bottom of my shirt, trying to cover myself.

I quickly backed into the hallway, and once I was out of sight, I sprinted into my room, slammed my door, and leaned my back against it.

Oh, my God.

Maria said she’d be out today. For the whole damn day. Why was she back here with… with whoever they were?!

I pulled out my earbuds, drew Mom’s necklace between my fingers, and rested my head against the door. Although ridged at the top, the broken piece of the pendant felt cold and smooth against my thumb.

Breathe, Dani. I’m sure none of them saw anything anyway.

My gaze drifted down to my bare legs and black lacy panties. “Damn-it.”

Someone banged on my door. “Dani, it’s me. Open up!” Maria said. I tugged on some shorts, opened the door, and narrowed my eyes at Maria. She handed me my now-full laundry basket, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Her dirty-blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun. “Well, that was a very impressive introduction to our new neighbors.”

“Neighbors? Those guys are our neighbors?!”

Great, I’ve embarrassed myself in front of men I would see almost every day. Unless… I didn’t leave my apartment or room ever again. I could become a hermit and live my days in my room, curled up in my plush white sheets with a vanilla candle flickering deep into the night from my bedside table. Never have to be horrifically embarrassed ever again. Never have to face that man with the tempting green eyes.

“Dani! Hello?” Maria waved a hand in front of my face. “Are you even listening to me?”

No, I’m trying to get myself out of this mess.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed my wrist. “Since you’re all dressed now, let’s go introduce you to them!” She turned on her heel and started toward the door.

“Maria, are you crazy?” I dug my heels into the hardwood. “I’m not going to go see them. Not after that!”

“Well, you were the one who decided not to wear pants when we had company.”

“You told me you would be out all day!”

“Yeah, well, there was a slight change of plans as soon as we saw how hot they were. But, that’s besides the point! Come on”—she continued to drag me—“there’s one that I think you’ll like!”

“No, no, no, no, no, no…” I tried peeling her hand off of me, yet she continued down the hall. “Maria! Stop! I don’t want to mee—”

“Hey guys! This is my roommate, Dani.”

The guys gave me a half-smile, then turned back to Maria’s friends who were desperately vying for their attention, eyes glazed over in a haze, breasts pressed against their chests—not something I’d expect from women who had been going to church religiously since I’d known them. I fingered my necklace, not daring to look over at him.

But, when his sweet scent drifted over to me, I couldn’t stop myself from looking up. He sat on the loveseat by himself, his arms—covered with black tattoos—stretched across the backrest. Inch by inch, his gaze traveled up my body. The seconds passed so slowly. I shifted. And, when his dark gaze pierced through mine, a sudden rush of pleasure coursed throughout my body.

He stood and stepped closer to me. “Dani…” His name rolled off his lips effortlessly. “I’m Eros.”

I stuck out my hand for him to shake, wanting to keep a distance between us. Something was screaming at me to stay away. To run. Now. But, when he grabbed my hand, I froze.

Instead of shaking it, he brought it to his lips. They were soft and lingered for more than a moment. He was more gentleman-like than I ever expected.

After taking a deep breath, he gazed down at me with dark—black—eyes, and I gasped. “You had quite the entrance there,” he said, his scent becoming overwhelming. My cheeks flushed, and I looked down. Great, Dani, just great. He grazed his finger against the bottom of my chin and lifted it until my eyes were gazing into his. “Don’t be embarrassed.” He leaned over slightly, his lips grazing against my ear. “I should be the one embarrassed.”

Cinnamon. That’s all I smelt.

“What do you mean?” I asked, tingled running down my arms. My breath caught in the back of my throat, and Mom’s necklace chilled my skin as soon as Eros dropped his hand and brushed his knuckles against it.

He stared at the pendant with soft eyes, as if it was a relic that had been lost for centuries, as if it was the only thing that ever mattered. But, then, he looked at me. “It’s not every day I find a woman like you.” And I felt like I was the only one that ever mattered.

He took me in so steadily, gaze shifting from eye to eye, drifting down my face, thumb brushing against my cheek. And I stood there, staring back, unable to speak, unable to think, unable to get myself to push him away.

“It’s not every day a woman in her underwear runs away from me.” He stepped back and blessed me a smirk that would destroy me if I wasn’t careful. “And it’s not every day that I want to follow that woman back into her bedroom and take her right then and there.”

My eyes widened and nervously darted around the room to see if anyone else had heard what he just said to me. Maria had her arm around one of the men, her head falling into the crook of his neck, eyes closed, looking like she was in Heaven. The other three girls weren’t better off. Even Maria’s shyest friend—Hallie—was resting her cheek against one of their shoulders, eyes cloudy and distant.

I parted my lips and pressed them back together. My head felt foggy, like I was in a daze, in a trance, in something, because who in their right mind would say something like that to someone that they just met. And his eyes flashing black? Those couldn’t be real. But what if they were? What if I wasn’t imagining it?

I needed to get away, yet I couldn’t peel my eyes off of him. I wanted to feel his nose running up the side of my neck, his teeth dipping into my flesh, his hands pinning mine against my leather headboard, refusing to let me go. I pushed my knees together.

Sinful words from a sinful man that made me think sinful thoughts. Mom always told me that the devil disguised himself as our deepest desire.

When I looked back at Eros, he chuckled. I tugged on Mom’s pendant. “I… uh…”

“You want me,” he said. But his lips didn’t move, not even a little.

Okay, I was definitely just hearing things. God, I was really going crazy.

He brushed his fingers against my hip and stepped closer. Black specs reappeared in his eyes. His breath warmed my neck. Cinnamon. “Tell me you want me, Dani, and I’ll enact all those fantasies running through that dirty little mind of yours. Every. Last. One of them,” he murmured.

My tongue ran over my bottom lip. “… erm…”

The tips of his fingers snuck under the hem of my shirt and grazed against my stomach. I let out a shaky breath, not being able to distinguish the real from the fake. “I… uh… gotta go.”

Without hesitating, I stepped away from him, staggered back, and sprinted into my room.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Every time I closed my eyes, I could feel his fingertips gliding against my skin, burning into my flesh. They were tormenting me already in places he hadn’t even touched yet.

I cocooned myself in my plush pink throw blanket, trying to put as much space between Eros and me as possible. If this was how I felt after five minutes of meeting him, how would I feel seeing him every single day? How would I feel when Maria brought them over again?

There was only one thing that I could do now.

Let Project Hermit begin.

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CHAPTER 2

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Dani

“Can you just open the door?” Trevon asked through the phone. “I left my key to your place back at home.” I gnawed on the inside of my cheek and walked to my bedroom door, hand on the handle, heart thrashing against my ribcage. “Hello?” he said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Hi… I… uh…” I pressed my ear to my cold door, listening to the light hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen. No talking. No shuffling. Maybe they weren’t here. “Give me a second.”

After peeking my head out and gazing down the empty hallway, I tiptoed to the kitchen. Shadows from the cabinets loomed over me in the darkness, but at least it wasn’t Eros’s shadow.

I stood on my toes and checked through the peephole. In the brightly lit hallway, Trevon had his hands stuffed in his pockets and his eyes shielded by the navy baseball cap I had given him for his birthday last year. But still I waited. I didn’t need this to be some sort of prank and have Eros appearing out of nowhere.

When Trevon looked straight at the peephole with the most heavenly brown eyes I had ever seen, I pulled open the door, wrapped my hand around his wrist, and yanked him inside.

“What the fu-” He stumbled forward.

I slammed the door. “Sorry,” I said, standing on my toes and kissing him.

“Is everything okay, babe?” He tilted his head to the side slightly, like he did when he was thinking, and eyed me. The bitter scent of beer sickened me. I licked my lips nervously, nodded my head, and pulled him into my room.

Another door Eros would have to get through to get to me.

Trevon tossed his hat onto my dresser. “You haven’t returned any of my calls or texts since yesterday morning.”

“I’ve just been busy with my psych internship and… um, stuff…” Like trying to hide from Eros. Maria had brought him over all day yesterday and even for breakfast this morning, and I couldn’t handle it anymore. If I saw him one more time, I was going to—

Trevon threw his shirt onto the end of my bed and crawled under the comforter, the light from the candle flickered against his brown and brawny abdomen. “I know when you’re lying.”

The wind whistled, blowing the curtains away from the window and brushing against the side of my bed. Outside, the city night was unusually quiet.

I parted my lips to speak, then closed them. What was I going to say? That an undeniably sexy man moved in next-door and he just so happened to have the hots for me. No. No way I’d do that to Trevon. He had known me since I was five, helped me through Mom’s death, was one of the only constant people in my life that I cherished. “I… I just haven’t been getting much sleep lately.”

It wasn’t a lie. For the past few nights, I’d been tossing and turning. Last night was the worst; my mind kept replaying the interaction I had with Eros. Over and over. The thought—his promise—wouldn’t leave me alone. And, it was getting too damn frustrating.

Light from my candles glimmered off of my black headboard. Trevon leaned against it, crossing one leg over the other. He grabbed my hand, pulling it away from my necklace. “If you keep doing that, you’re going to break it again.” He pulled me down next to him.

Like I had done nearly every night for the past five years, I curled into him, resting my head on his bare chest. He laced his fingers into my hair and scratched lightly. I sighed and drew my finger across the only tattoo he had on his body—a tabono symbol—that he got on his chest after winning his first college wrestling match.

“So, when were you going to tell me you got new neighbors?”

“I, uh…” Don’t stutter, Dani. It’ll make you seem like you’re hiding something. “… didn’t think you’d care. They seem annoying.”

“You met them?”

“Just once. Maria brought them over,” I said, brushing my finger across my hand where Eros had kissed, the skin burning lightly. “How’d you know about them?”

“I met one of them out in the hall,” he said. God, if he met Eros… “Ian? Or Evan? Nah, that’s it, it was Eros. Seems pretty chill.”

Oh, my Lord. I licked my lips and sat up, intertwining my fingers with his. “What did he say?”

“Nothing. I told him that you were my girlfriend though.” He trailed his hand alongside my forearm, sending goosebumps up it, and smiled. “Just so he won’t get the urge to hit on you.”

If he only knew that Eros had already made it perfectly clear that he wanted me.

Trevon brushed his lips against my cheek, toying with the ends of my shirt. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he still tried though, you’re hot as hell.”

I pushed him away playfully and blew out the candle. Okay, good, he didn’t know anything, and it would stay that way because nothing would happen between us. Nothing.

When Trevon wrapped an arm around my waist and his breath evened out, I listened to the soft sound of his snoring. I tried to fall asleep, but light was now blaring under my door. And, even with Trevon’s arms wrapped tightly around me and his breath fanning my neck, I felt unbelievably cold.

Lips brushed against my collarbone, setting it ablaze. “Oh, Dani,” Eros murmured against my skin. The room smelled of cinnamon and vanilla—a striking scent. His fingers grazed down the center of my chest and over my breast. “Your skin is so soft… tender….”

A breathy moan escaped my lips, and I sunk into my plush sheets. He dipped his fingers between my legs and gently rubbed my red lacy underwear. “… imagine what I could do to it…”

Moonlight filed through the sheer curtains, illuminating his sharp features. He slipped his fingers inside of me and smirked against my neck. I gripped his shoulders, digging my nails into him. “Eros,” I breathed, throwing my head back.

His lips—quickly, hungrily, brutally—traveled down my chest and stomach, up the insides of my thighs, hovered between my panties and teased me with their heat. In one swoop, he clenched my panties in his hand and ripped them off of me, leaving me bare.

He gazed up at me, eyes completely black. So big and bold, so absolutely terrifying yet so damn sexy.

“Is this what you want, Dani?” he mumbled against my aching core. Slowly, he drew his fingers down the insides of my thighs.

Images of him pressing his lips onto me, holding my legs apart until I was trembling around him, of pleasure pumping through my body flooded my mind.

He wrapped his hands around my thighs, pulling me closer to him, and pushed his lips against my clit. His fingers moved in small torturous circles inside of me. I gripped his wrists, trying to pull him away. It already was too damn much to handle. He gripped my wrist with his other hand and pinned it to the side of my body, holding me in place. I clenched myself around him, my core tightening, and moaned. He slowed down his pace.

He gazed back up at me with those big black eyes. “Beg for it.”

My lips parted, but no words came out. The pressure. Oh, God, the pressure.

“Beg,” he demanded.

“Please.”

“More.”

“Please, Eros… please.”

His tongue moved faster, his fingers thrusting quickly. I dug my nails into the blanket underneath me and moaned out.

My mind was foggy. My body numb. Wave after wave of pleasure rolled through me. Eros sat back up, resting my legs on his shoulders. “I could do this all night,” he said. I widened my eyes, staring down at him, my senses finally returning. He smirked. “I told you that I would enact your fantasies, Dani. You just had to tell me that you wanted it.”

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CHAPTER 3

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Dani

I sat up in my bed with sweat rolling down my back.

What the hell.

My curtains swayed, cinnamon lingering faintly in the air. I scanned the room. Trevon’s baseball cap was still lying on my dresser. Mom’s necklace was still resting around my neck peacefully. There was no sign of Eros.

I rested my head against the headboard and closed my eyes. Of course, he wasn’t here. It was just a dream, Dani, just a dream.

A damn sex dream.

About the hot guy next door.

While I was sleeping next to my boyfriend.

Oh, God. I was going to Hell for this, wasn’t I? I’d burn in the pits of lava and get eaten alive by flesh-eating demons and—

“Babe?” Trevon groaned. He rubbed a hand across his face and slowly opened his eyes. The faint scent of alcohol still lingered on his breath. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine.” No, it wasn’t.

After chuckling lightly, he rolled over onto his side and wrapped an arm around my waist. “Good, now come lie back down. We still got a few hours—” He stopped suddenly and rubbed my waist, fingers slipping lower than I wanted them. “Damn, babe, sleeping with no underwear on? If you want to fuck, you just have to ask. Don’t need to be teasing me and shit.”

I swallowed hard and pushed a hand under the blankets. No underwear? Why wasn’t I wearing any underwear? Maybe I slipped them off while I was sleeping. It was hot last night, deathly hot, scorching hot.

Trevon nuzzled his head into my neck. “Come on, let’s have some fun. You already got me excited.”

“I’m… uh… not in the mood,” I said. I scurried out of the bed and rushed toward my bedroom door. “I’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

Dull light flooded in from the living room window, illuminating the apartment. I glanced down the hall and into the foyer. Empty. Maria’s door was closed, like usual. Nothing was out of place.

When I reached the bathroom, I leaned over the counter and gazed at myself in the mirror. The dream felt so real, so damn real. But I couldn’t understand why I was dreaming of Eros. I had a perfectly good man—no, a great man. One that cradled me every time I woke up from a nightmare about the night of Mom’s death. One that took me on breakfast dates to Ollie’s every Saturday morning. One that I had loved for five whole years.

And, here I was, dreaming about my undeniably sexy neighbor.

I turned on the sink, the soothing sound of water calming me slightly, and splashed some on my face. In the mirror, I watched beads of water run down the sides of my cheek, the dark purple circles under my eyes.

You will not think of Eros, again.

You will not think of Eros, again.

You will not—

eyes widened. There were red fingerprints on my hips, four on each side. I rubbed my fingers against them, trying to make them go away but only making them redder. I swallowed hard—thinking the worst—then shook my head.

Damn, what was I even thinking anymore? These fingerprints were probably just from Trevon holding me. Why was I so paranoid all of a sudden? Next, I’ll be thinking Eros was actually in my room last night.

But that would be ridiculous.

Sorry, babe. Work called. I would have woken you up, but you looked too peaceful to bother. I’m taking you out tonight. Be ready at 5. Love, Trevon.

I grasped Trevon’s note in my hand, smiled, and walked into Dr. Uriel’s office. After getting back to bed last night, I actually had a good sleep and woke up five minutes before my alarm feeling well rested.

“Morning, Dani,” Dr. Uriel said from her royal blue sofa. She handed me a file and a cup of tea. “This is my 9:30 client. She had an absent father and is struggling with feelings toward a new lov—” Her dark brown brows furrowed together. “Are you okay?” she asked suddenly as I took a seat across from her. “You’re quiet this morning. Anything you want to talk about?”

She crossed one leg over the other and leaned forward, the way she did when listening to all of her clients’ problems. I shifted in my seat. If I knew anything from the last five months of interning under Dr. Uriel, it was not to tell her anything that I didn’t want her to pester me about.

I made that mistake once when I told her that I still had nightmares about the piercing red eyes of Mom’s killer. She was hung up over it for weeks, telling me that I should talk to someone—meaning her—because suppressed feelings were nobody’s friend.

“I’m fi—”

“And don’t tell me you’re fine either. You know I see right through that,” she said.

If I closed my eyes and imagined hard enough, I could hear Mom in her voice. When she sat me on her knee at five years old and asked me what happened in pre-school one day, when she waited so patiently for me to tell her that the boy I liked was pushing another girl on the swings, when she gazed down at me with her pretty light blue eyes—so light that they looked like they were glowing—and said that it was okay not to be fine.

Instead of reminiscing, I gazed out the window and sighed.

From Dr. Uriel’s office, I had a whole view of the city. The morning sun gleaming off of the river next to us, hundreds of people brushing past each other on the sidewalks, red and blue buses picking up riders. I leaned against the back of the couch. “I just haven’t been getting much sleep. A few guys moved in next door and they were over all day Sunday.”

“Tell me about these new guys,” Dr. Uriel said, clasping her hands together. “Are they loud?”

I moved Mom’s pendant between my fingers, listening to it glide against the chain. Dr. Uriel eyed it. “No,” I said.

“Are they over a lot?”

“Yes.”

“What are their names?”

“Javier and Zane,” I said. She sipped her tea, waiting for me to continue. “And Eros.”

She paused for a long moment, gazing out of the glass windows. “Eros,” she said softly. “Is he the reason that you’re not sleeping?”

Damn. Was it that obvious?

When I didn’t say anything, she frowned. “Dani, I will tell you what I tell all of my clients. Whatever you’re feeling toward him—”

“I feel nothing toward him.”

She raised a sharp brow, and I pressed my lips together. “What you feel toward him is nothing compared to your relationship with Trevon, right?”

I closed my eyes when Eros’s black one flashed in my mind and nodded. “I know.”

Leaning toward me, she readjusted her black blazer and placed a hand on my knee. “Those feelings—those lustful feelings—are nothing compared to feelings of absolute love. They will pass, and so will he.”

I drew my finger across my knee. She was right. Lust was nothing compared to love. But love never made me feel like this before.

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