Semua Bab The Boy Next Door : Bab 1 - Bab 10

Maya’s hands were still shaking when she shoved the key into the lock of 14B.The apartment smelled like fresh paint and someone else’s life. Boxes sat in uneven stacks against the living-room wall. The only furniture she owned was a mattress on the floor and the cheap coffee maker she’d bought that morning. She dropped her last duffel bag, kicked the door shut with her heel, and finally let out the breath she’d been holding since she crossed the city limits.Home.Or whatever was left of it.She walked straight to the sliding glass door and yanked the curtains open. Afternoon light flooded the small balcony. Across the narrow strip of grass that separated the two buildings, the neighboring balcony was already occupied.Noah Carter stood there in nothing but black sweatpants hanging low on his hips, a half-empty water bottle in one hand, the other braced on the railing. Sweat still gleamed on his chest and the deep cut of his abs. His dark hair was damp and pushed back like he’d just

Maya woke up already wet.It was pathetic. She had come hard on her own balcony the night before with Noah’s voice in her ear, and still her body woke up aching for more. She dragged herself into the shower and turned the water as cold as it would go. It didn’t help. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the way his arm had flexed while he stroked himself, the low broken sound he made when he finished.She dressed in the least inviting clothes she owned—an old oversized T-shirt and black bike shorts—and forced herself to unpack. Boxes. Labels. Anything that didn’t involve thinking about the man six feet of grass away who had promised he was coming over.By noon she had made it through three boxes and half a pot of coffee. Her phone stayed silent. She told herself that was a good thing.At 12:17 the knock came.Not the polite kind. Three firm, confident raps that said he already knew she was going to open the door.Maya stood in the middle of the living room for a full five seconds, h

****Maya spent the entire next day telling herself she would lock the door.She unpacked the last of the boxes. She answered three client emails. She went for a run that did nothing to burn off the restless energy under her skin. By the time the sun started dropping, her resolve was already thinning.At 9:30 she showered, pulled on an old sleep shirt that barely covered the tops of her thighs, and left the door unlocked.Noah showed up at 9:51.He didn’t knock. He stepped inside, closed the door, and just looked at her for a long second like he was memorizing the sight. Then he crossed the room, slid both hands into her hair, and kissed her like he’d been thinking about it since he left the night before.Maya melted into it even as she hated how easy it was.When they finally broke apart, Noah rested his forehead against hers. “You left it unlocked again.”“Don’t read into it.”“I’m reading into it.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “You hungry? I brought food.”She blinked. “What?

****Maya lasted two days.Two days of leaving the door locked. Two days of ignoring the way her chest tightened every time she heard movement on the neighboring balcony. Two days of sleeping badly and working worse.On the third night she unlocked it again without letting herself think too hard about why.She told herself it didn’t mean she was taking it back. It just meant she was done pretending the quiet didn’t feel worse.Noah didn’t show up that night.Or the next.By the fifth day the silence had started to feel like punishment. Maya caught herself standing at the sliding door more than once, staring at his empty balcony like an idiot. She hated it. She hated how much she noticed his absence.On the sixth night, just after eleven, the door opened.Noah stepped inside and closed it quietly behind him. He didn’t speak at first. He just looked at her—really looked—like he was checking for damage.Maya stood in the middle of the living room in an old T-shirt and underwear, arms cro

****Maya was still in Noah’s T-shirt when the knocking started.Not his usual quiet entry. Sharp, impatient, familiar.She froze in the middle of the living room, coffee mug halfway to her mouth. Noah had left less than an hour ago after another slow morning that had ended with her coming on his tongue and him grinning like he’d won something. His shirt still smelled like him. Her hair was a mess. The mattress was a wreck.The knocking came again, harder.“Maya Elena Reyes, I know you’re in there. Open the door.”Her younger sister.Maya’s stomach dropped. She set the mug down, glanced at the state of the apartment—Noah’s hoodie still draped over a chair, two coffee cups on the counter, the unmistakable look of someone who hadn’t been sleeping alone—and knew there was no hiding it.She opened the door anyway.Sofia stood in the hallway with a tote bag on one shoulder and a knowing smirk already forming. She was twenty-two, sharp-eyed, and had never once missed a detail in her life. H