I didn't see Jake the rest of the weekend. What I did do, however, was clean my house, take my kid to the park, and do a little bit of Christmas shopping. In other words, I did normal mom stuff. I tried not to think too much about my next door neighbor, which was impossible to do. It was easy not to see him, though, because he seemed to be gone the whole weekend.

First thing, Monday morning, still pissed about Carlos and his legal papers, I called my attorney and made an appointment to see her at the earliest appointment I could get, which was in a week. Great. One more week to stew in my juices. After that, I spent the morning and early afternoon writing, and I liked most of what I wrote. I especially liked the kisses between my characters, I have no idea why. I finished writing for the day when it was time to pick up Rob from school. He came home, did his homework, and we ate dinner and cleaned up. After dinner, at about eight o'clock, there was a knock at my door.

Would it be a hunk or a process server? I was seriously hoping for the former. The latter never needed to come again.

When I opened the door, it was Jake, a little rumpled in his suit, his tie undone slightly, his hair roguish. He looked like one tired businessman.

"Hey," he said, those sapphire eyes looking down at me.

"Hi," I replied, surprised to see him. "Are you just finishing up work?"

"Yeah," he said. "I worked all weekend too. I wanted to bring you this, one of my clients makes it." And he handed me a jar of salsa, a very good local brand.

"Thank you," I said, touched by his gesture, feeling warm. He had thought of me. "I love this brand, it's delicious."

"I'm glad you like it, I know it's great," he responded. He looked at me and then he looked behind him at his door. "Well, I don't want to keep you. It was a long day."

Who took care of this guy? It didn't seem like he had anyone looking out for him. "Did you get dinner?" I asked.

"I picked up something at work," he said. "The usual thing that I do. There's takeout next door."

"No, no, no," I responded. "You need to start eating good food, home cooked, you know."

He smiled. "It's hard when I work so late all the time. I loved your tamales, Lucy."

"You should try my chili relleno casserole. It's a recipe from the Dairy Council of America, but it's the shit."

"MOM!" yelled Rob.

"Sorry, mijo," I called back.

"Don't swear Mom," he called back.

I ignored him and looked at Jake. "You want to meet my son?" I asked. It was funny. I didn't feel weird introducing Jake to my son or introducing my son to Jake. We were neighbors. He was bound to find out that I had a son. I had never kept it from people I dated, but it definitely was a damper on relationships and it was also often a test if the guy could handle me.

Love me, love my son. That's the way it worked.

Jake nodded. I let out a breath. So far, he passed. "Sure. Can I come in?" I stepped back and let Jake come in my home for the first time, his elegant, but athletic frame dominating the front area.

"Roberto, come here and meet Mister Jake, our new neighbor."

Rob came skidding up in his socks and slid right in front of Jake. Rob was skinny, with bony knees and gangling arms, not yet grown into himself. His hair was short and spiky and he had cheeks meant to pinch and dark brown eyes like his father. "Whoa," was his response, when he looked up to how tall Jake was.

"How do you do?" asked Jake formally, extending his hand with a smile.

"Uh, fine," said Rob, shaking his hand limply. Then he looked at me, panicking as to what to do next.

I laughed. "Okay, enough torture. Go back to the television." Rob slid off in his socks and Jake looked at me.

"You have a good-looking kid, and he's very polite too."

Now the way to melt the heart of a mama is to compliment her kid.

But "thanks" was all that I managed in response.

"I had better get in," he said, "I'm beat. See you tomorrow?"

I nodded. "I hope so. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he said, and looking around to see if Rob was watching, he bent over and kissed me, not slowly, not quickly, but enough to matter. Then he kissed my nose, smiled, and opened my door and left.

What was I going to do with my neighbor?

The following evening, after Rob went to bed, I sat outside on my porch, looking at the pool and drinking a Skinny Girl margarita. It was dark out and there was a slight chill in the air - December in California. When I was almost done with my drink, the sliding glass door for Jake's unit opened and he came out, holding a bottle of 805 beer and wearing a tight dark gray t-shirt and black track pants, barefoot. I was pleased to note that even his feet were attractive.

"Hey neighbor," I called out.

"Lucy," he responded, and walked over to me. He looked at my drink. "Cheers," he said, and leaned over the little wall that separated our patios and clinked his beer glass with my margarita glass. "How was your day?"

"I got a lot of work done."

"Me too," he said. "But now I need to unwind. You go in the pool, right?" I nodded, a little embarrassed, thinking of how I met him in my bikini. "How is the water?"

"It's great. They heat it so you can swim all year long. You should try it."

He looked at me. "Only if you come in with me."

Okay.

"Now?"

"Sure," he answered. "That is, if you want. It's just a nice night and we should take advantage of the amenities. And the fact that we live in Santa Barbara."

I nodded. "Okay," I answered. "I'll get on my bathing suit and meet you down there in five minutes."

"Deal."

I went back inside, set my glass on the kitchen counter, and checked on Rob, who was fast asleep. I changed into my white bikini with red hearts all over it, piled my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head, grabbed a towel and the key to the pool, and walked down to the pool in the middle of the complex. The units around it were mostly closed up, some with lights on, some without. It was a quiet night.

Jake was already standing by the pool, wearing his t-shirt and dark blue swim trunks that went down to his knees.

Then he reached behind his head and pulled at the neck of his t-shirt, taking it off.

Oh my.

My neighbor looked stunningly handsome in his business suits, but out of one? Now that was really something to talk about. He was fit, with a muscular chest and a flat stomach. He didn't so much look like a bodybuilder, as a guy who simply kept in good shape. His skin was light in color, not as tan as mine, but he wasn't so pale that he looked sickly; rather, he was the picture of health and his skin looked like it felt soft and smooth and I wanted to touch it, everywhere. His chest had a little bit of hair on it, not much, and he also had a little bit of hair below his belly button, extending into the low waistband of his swim trunks. His torso was that classic inverted triangle, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Defined, toned, and steely arms, and smooth, broad, pectoral muscles rounded out the view.

Yummy.

All I wanted to do was nestle myself into his arms and bury myself in his chest.

Instead, I set my towel on a chaise lounge, took off my heeled sandals, and dipped a toe into the pool, which registered as a comfortable, warm temperature.

Then I turned around, away from him, and walked to the shallow end, feeling his eyes on my ass the whole time. I smiled to myself. If you got it, flaunt it. I wiggled in, and dog paddled over to where he stood on the side of the pool.

"Are you going to come?" I asked.

"Yeah," he muttered and he dove into the pool next to me, splashing me and making me squeal, surfacing at the other end of the pool. Then he took off underwater, and came right next to me, under the surface, pulling me down by my ankles.

"Jake! No! I don't want to get wet!" I protested, wiggling around. He breached the surface like a mer-god in the middle of my squeals and grabbed me by my waist. He was so much bigger than me, but having him so close, wet and muscular? Hot damn.

"You are in the pool," he laughed. "You are going to get wet."

"My hair!"

"It's beautiful."

"But I don't want to get it wet."

"Okay," he relented, taking pity on me, and he pulled me in close to him and kissed me, our bodies wet and close together, those muscles holding me tight. With only a thin layer of clothing separating us, I could feel him on my belly and I could tell that he was starting to get hard.

More yummy.

He broke apart. "You are so fucking beautiful, Lucy. I don't know what comes over me. I can't keep my hands off of you."

"You don't have to," I gasped.

He smiled and held me up in the water by my waist. I wrapped my legs around him, feeling his hardness against me, reveling in it, and he groaned. "You share custody of Rob?" he asked.

"Yeah, every other weekend his dad gets him."

"Okay, then I'm looking forward to this weekend."

"Me too."

"I can't wait to take you out."

I couldn't wait for that, but I also couldn't wait for him to take me in.