Page 17 of New Neighbor

Last call went out, and the girl Benji had been dancing with wished him a good night.

“You don’t have to go,” Benji murmured, holding her hand.

“I do,” she said with a smile. “Thanks for the dances, Barry. I had a fun night.”

Barry? She didn’t even get my name right. He grinned and let her hand go. “Thanks.”

She kissed his cheek and wound through the crowd to find her friends. He waited until he was sure she was with them and then turned to see a quartet surrounding Mac. When he walked up, Mac caught his stare.

“You ready?” Mac asked him.

All four women groaned in disgust at the same time.

“Sorry, ladies,” Mac said. “I’ve got to go home.”

“I can come with you,” a gorgeous redhead said, her voice sultry.

No one had ever talked to Benji with a sultry voice. But then, these women were way out of his league. Just like the man they were after.

“You ladies made tonight fun. I appreciate it,” Mac said. “Maybe we’ll run into one another again some night.”

He gave them all quick hugs before extricating himself and urging Benji outside. They grabbed a waiting cab, and Benji gave the driver directions. He leaned back and looked at Mac in the dark.

“I figured you’d end up taking one of those girls home tonight,” Benji said. “And leaving me to fend for myself. Which you could have, if that’s what you wanted. I mean… I could’ve made it home just fine.”

“Nah,” Mac said, shaking his head. “None of them stirred any excitement.”

“Oh,” Benji said. “It seemed like you were having a good time. And… oh my god they weregorgeous.”

“I was having a good time,” Mac said, slapping Benji’s knee. His hand remained… and Benji could feel the heat of it seeping into him. “But it was a guys’ night, remember? I wasn’t out on the prowl. We were just having some fun. Bros before… well, you know.”

Benji smiled to himself, hearing that Mac wouldn’t finish the comment. All night, the guy had treated all the women surrounding him with respect. There’d been no groping, at least not from Mac—as far as Benji had been able to see. It just added another check mark into Mr. Perfect’s win column. Mac wasn’t like most other men.

And that intrigued him all the more.

Mac removed his hand, and Benji missed the weight of it… the heat of it… the tendrils of electricity arcing through his body from that spot. The skin throbbed and tingled there, a ghost of the touch still lingering on him.

“I bet you rack them up when you are on the prowl. Women were throwing themselves at you all night. If you’d turned on the charm—watch out.”

A streetlight cast illumination as they passed it. He could see the smile Mac wore. Benji caught the profile of it and knew had he been looking full on, that smile would’ve devastated him.

“I get by,” Mac said before turning to face him. “What about you? You a lady-killer? I saw you dancing with a few lovely ladies tonight.”

“I think you saw firsthand just how little I kill the ladies,” Benji said before looking out the window. “I’m not a big muscle-bound jerk, so I don’t get much attention.”

“You calling me a big muscle-bound jerk?”

“No!” Benji said, his head whipping to face Mac. “No, I didn’t mean you.”

“Good to know.”

After the taxi stopped before their building, Mac paid the cabbie as Benji shuffled around with his wallet. “You didn’t have to pay again.”

“It’s all good,” Mac said.

They got out, and Benji swayed a little… and thankfully Mac was close enough to grab him.

“Thanks… I didn’t realize I’d had quite that much. But it’s catching up with me.”

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