A puppy stands on the bed. He's got floppy little button ears and a squished-in face and eyes that are way too big for his head that makes him look like a messed up googly-eyed doll. It's cute as hell, especially when the little curly tail starts wagging so hard it shakes the whole back side of the dog. In fact, with his tail is wagging so hard he can barely stand up as he comes to the end of the bed to greet me.
I pick the tiny bundle of fur and puppy kisses up and check the name tag hanging from his neck as a thought catches in my head. Sure enough, the name on his tag is Jack. Things start making a lot more sense. The baby gate she had up when she opened the door to me hours before but I didn't spot a crib when I went through the place. The toy box in her office but no baby bottles or feeding paraphernalia in the kitchen. My neighbor isn't a young mother! She's a young pet owner!
Other things click into place for me. I looked through her medical history. She passed on the pap smear part of her annual check-up because she reported she was a virgin. That was six months ago. It was one of the reasons I was over here trying to find out if my neighbor was really who she said she was.
The woman in bed stirs some but settles back down hugging up around her stuffed animal which I do believe is...a stuffed pug. She sleeps with a stuffed animal...and clearly a real one too. One of her legs is out from under the sheet, the light gleaming off the smooth skin. I give Jack's head a little scratch as he tries to climb closer to me.
Her nightdress has inched up to just over her hip leaving the tiny strap of her panties showing and it causes my fingers to itch. I place the little bundle of fur back down on the bed close to the sleeping woman before I tell him sternly to stay and make my way to the door. I slip out and leave the house. I have to leave. I can't stay in the same room with the woman knowing what I know now and seeing all of the exposed skin that looks too soft to touch.
Thinking about all the questions that now have answers keeps me up for the rest of the night. I finally make my mind up about what to do by the time the comes up again. I'm getting things ready for another visit when there's a knock on my door. I check the cameras and find my neighbor standing on the other side.
I open the door and see the troubled look on her face. "What's wrong?" Did someone find out what I planned to do? Are they going to try to use her to get to me?
"Um, I...I think I might have been rude yesterday and I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" Her words have me back peddling to find out what this woman could have to be sorry about. She nods her head when I repeat her words again giving me no clue as to what it might be. "About what?"
"I was writing." She seems like she might be about to confess something really awful to me so I actively listen to the next things she has to say. "And sometimes when I write I don't always know what’s happening around me...or who is...happening around me." She ends the last part with a questioning voice raise like she might not be sure of what she is trying to say either.
"What I'm saying is...I think I was rude to you. I slammed the door in your face and I just wanted to say I'm really sorry. I mean you could have been coming to my door to ask for...bandages or something and here I go just being totally rude and not even asking you what brought you to my door."
"No, you ask me what I call an ass hole when I'm trying to get frisky with it."
Her cheeks flush a hot pink. Never really knew I liked hot pink but on her, it looks fucking cute as hell.
"Oh shit. I am so sorry."
I can't help the smile that starts to stretch across my face. "If that is the worst thing I get asked for the day I figure I'm having a pretty good day."
She gives me a bright smile that could light up the night and we stand looking at one another for a long second. Then she finally remembers why she's at my door. "Was everything alright? You didn't need bandages did you?"
"No. I was actually coming to tell you...," now it's my turn to squirm around and act all bashful, "I was an ass to you the other evening and I...was going to apologize for being so...,"
"Curt." She supplies the word for me before she gives me another smile. "You don't have to apologize for that. I should have given you peace instead of bothering you."
"You were only trying to be kind. I guess... I'm not used to people being kind to me."
"In the military?"
I feel my smile melt off my face at her words.
"Sorry. I just assumed that was what you meant. Well, um, don't worry about being...curt. I'll let you get back to...whatever."
She gives me another smile before she backs up nearly falling off my porch before she starts to pay attention to the stairs and then she's gone.
5
____________
Erza
For the next week, I see very little of my little neighbor. And have found out more and more about her. Hell, I've even read a few of her books. And don't get me started on the nights. I wired her house - for surveillance purposes - in one night. I have cameras set up all over her house, maybe more in her house than in mine. I don't need to go to her house every night and stand over her while I pet Jack. I don't need to snoop in her bathroom to make sure there aren't things in it like birth control or condoms.
I don't need to...but I do.
In fact, my mind drifts back to last night. I did my usual B and E but this time she had kicked the covers fully off, leaving her in just the thin nightgown she prefers to sleep in. She's got thirty of them it seems and they kill me. The damn things barely cover her and are so thin I can see through them. But last night...last night, she had twisted and rolled so much that her breasts were close to popping free. So close that when I came closer I could just make out the edge of one of her areolas - the creamy brown color reminded me of melted caramel and made my fucking mouth water.
And it crinkles as I look down at it. It's almost like her fucking body knows I'm in the room. I stood over her for a good five minutes fighting myself. Fighting the urge to slide into the bed with her and take what I want. She's not on birth control so when I take the sweet fruit she's harbored between her thighs for years it's going to be game on...Breeding Season!