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The Boy Next Door--Excerpt :)

The last thing Darcy Phillips wants after the end of a disastrous relationship is to get involved with another man. Being free and unattached was the plan until her old pal Thomas “Mac” MacAllister strolls back into her life.

Mac has always loved Darcy but the timing was always wrong. Now, she’s home and unattached. And after a night of wine and conversation, things turn hot fast. But Darcy isn’t ready for more than the physical and she definitely doesn’t want anyone knowing what the two of them are up to. Especially her mother.

It isn’t long, though, before Mac wants more. Much more. Yet Darcy isn’t sure she’s willing to risk their long-time relationship for something as dangerous as love. But Mac is a man who knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to go after it.

Using their incendiary passion as a starting point, Mac sets out to win the girl of his dreams and show her that everything she wants…is right next door.

EXCERPT:
Her gaze followed the man as he crossed the yard to the shed and opened the door. He reached in and pulled out…the hose? What on earth did he want with a hose? She continued to watch his back as he attached the hose to the faucet on the outer wall of the small building. She wasn’t sure what to do. Calling nine-one-one was out of the question. What the heck would she say? Yes, officer, there’s a strange man outside watering my mother’s roses, could you come pick him up?

Her mother hadn’t said anything about hiring someone to take care of the yard. Curiosity caused her to hold her breath for a moment until he turned toward her. It escaped in a whoosh when she saw his face. For crying out loud, it was Mac! Thomas MacAllister, the boy next door. With a shake of her head, Darcy leaned back against the sofa.

They were only a year apart in age and their parents were best friends. Every trip, every summer vacation for years had included the two families. In fact, Mac’s parents were planning most of the shindig for her parents’ anniversary. She’d had tea with his mother just an hour earlier to go over flower arrangements.

A small chuckle slipped between her lips. Both mothers had not so secretly hoped Darcy and Mac would get together. A notion both kids had strived to relieve them of. They were friends, best friends in fact, though they’d lost touch in recent years. They knew they could turn to each other for anything, anything but romance. It was like an unspoken rule. And Darcy hadn’t wanted to ruin their friendship by trying to make it more. Their mothers, and fathers for that matter, had ignored their protests and persisted in setting the two up time and time again. Most of Mac and Darcy’s teen years had been spent parading boyfriends and girlfriends under parents’ noses, in hopes the hints and suggestions would stop. They hadn’t.

At least since her engagement to Richard, it had slacked off for a while. Unfortunately, they’d probably pick up where they left off when news of the break up surfaced. She was thirty years old, for crying out loud. She didn’t need her mother and surrogate aunt matchmaking for her.

Not that Mac wasn’t attractive. He was a hunk in high school. And still is, she thought as she gave him the once over. His dark hair was long enough to curl along the collar of his black T-shirt.
Broad shoulders stretched the cotton deliciously as he untangled the hose. Her gaze slid down past his narrow waist and hips to his tight bum encased in faded blue jeans. Yes, siree, he was a hottie.

He turned on the water and began dousing her mother’s roses and other assorted blooms. Darcy licked her lips and shifted in an effort to alleviate the tension building between her legs.

God, it’d been a long time since she’d had sex. Life was busy, she’d told herself, and it was normal to lose interest when you got older. Of course, her so-called lover had been getting it elsewhere. Yet she felt anything but uninterested as her longtime friend finished his task and returned to the shed to pull out the lawn mower.

She mentally shook herself. Mac was a friend, pure and simple, even if her thoughts about him weren’t always platonic. Getting involved with him in any other way was a surefire way to mess up the one real, consistent friendship she’d had. Mac had a way of getting her to step back and experience something else besides her obsession, her art.

Darcy leaned further back into the cushions and allowed her eyes to drift shut. Putting extra effort into it, she pushed Thomas MacAllister out of her mind and tried to rest, quite unsuccessfully. Thoughts raced—her upcoming interview, the unavoidable explanations she would have to give her parents about Richard, arranging for the shipment of her things. Finally, her thoughts slowed. She drifted happily between sleep and wakefulness until the sound of the terrace door opening made her sit up with a start. It was him.

Mac grinned as he reached behind him to slide the door closed. “Hey, you.”

“Hey back.” She returned the grin. “How’re you?”

“Great. Mom said you were back in town. Just had to see for myself.”

Darcy raised her arms in a small shrug and swung her feet to the floor. “Well, there ya go. You’ve seen me.”

Mac chuckled and walked around the coffee table. Lowering himself to the sofa next to her, he commented, “You’ve been a stranger around here lately.”

“I’ve been busy.” Don’t you sound defensive? Get a grip.

“I’m sure you have. Which is why I’m wondering what you’re doing here a week early and without el creepo.”

He never had liked her fiancé. “His name is Richard.”

“Yeah, whatever. So what gives? Where is he?” He ran a finger up her bare arm, from wrist to just under the sleeve. She shivered as heat zipped through her body, burrowed in her belly.

Whoa, what was that?

“Not here.”

Grasping her left hand, he stared pointedly at her bare ring finger.

“We split up.” She pulled her hand back. “Happy?”

“As a matter of fact…” He trailed off and leaned over to capture her lips with his.

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The Boy Next Door—Available Now
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/the-boy-next-door

Jessica Jarman
http://www.jessicajarman.com