Chapter One

Nathan

I should've let the girl find another fucking place to live. The thought plays over in my head as I check my watch for the umpteenth time.

When the nineteen-year-old girl called me up, desperate for a place to live, every instinct I've got screamed to say ‘no.' Yet here I am, leaning against the railings of the empty townhouse attached to mine, waiting like a lost fucking puppy for a girl nearly twenty years my junior to finally pull in.

If there's one thing in this goddamn world I hate, it's tardiness. Call it yet another leftover impact from the Marines if you want, but nothing gets my blood boiling like having to wait.

And wait I have. For a thirty full minutes.

She hasn't even moved in yet and I already regret this shit.

I'm grumbling to myself, fifteen additional minutes later, and just about to write her off completely when a silver, beat-down Camry pulls onto the gravel road. It's a car I've never seen before and considering Cherrywood Village has a population that doesn't fully clear a thousand, I have no doubts this must be my newest tenant. Rising to my full height, I set my water bottle on the railing as I make my way down the small set of steps. When she gets close enough to see me, I lift a hand to wave and let her know where to turn in.

The car pulls into the spot in front of me and the townhouse and I appraise the thing. It's death on wheels and how the hell it's still running is beyond me. It sputters to a stop and the engine dies with a careening moan. The door creaks open and a blonde head appears as a body climbs out of the rusted death trap.

It's when I get my first glimpse of Sadie Prescott that I know I'm absolutely fucked.

The first thing I notice is her hair—long, wavy, and blonde, it catches the light creating a glowing halo around a beautiful heart-shaped face. She's petite, probably coming to my elbow if that. Despite her stature, she walks as if she's carrying a lot more than just her body around. She closes her door behind her, slamming it with force, and as she walks up to me I feel like I'm watching the fucking sun take shape in front of me. She's gorgeous, ethereal really, with bright green eyes and freckles covering her face like paint splatters and the cutest button nose and…

…I'm staring at her like a damn fool.

"Mr. Matthews?" she says, giving me a kind smile.

Her eyes crinkle as her face pulls into a smile and my gaze fixes on the glint in her forest gaze that I almost forget she asked me a question.

Clearing my throat, I gruff out, "Nathan, please, but yeah, that would be me. I take it you're Sadie?"

"Yep," she confirms brightly, her smile growing into a brilliant thing that overtakes her entire face. The breath catches in my throat and my chest feels tight.

God, I have no damn clue what's wrong with me. I haven't lost my head around a woman like this since—well, I've never lost it like this. I've felt lust. I've felt attraction and even fascination. I mean I've traveled the world, I've seen plenty of beautiful women. But this girl…this angel is more than I seem to be able to handle.

"Oh!" she exclaims, her mouth pulling into an adorable ‘O' as she holds up a finger. "I almost forgot. Just give me one sec."

As soon as the words leave her mouth, she jogs back over to her car. I follow close behind, pulled forward as if by an invisible string. I watch as she grasps the car door and wrenches it open. She bends over and my eyes fall to her shapely ass as it wiggles slightly while she looks for whatever it is she's after. I suck in a sharp breath as the sight goes straight to the length between my legs.

Dear god, Nathan. Get your shit together. The last thing I need is for this girl to see me sporting a hard-on while showing her, her new home. There's a power imbalance here—I'm her landlord, I'm older, and the last thing I want is to make her uncomfortable. I'm not that kind of guy. Hell, I've been accused of being a lot of things in my life, but never that.

"Aha!" She straightens up and my eyes snap up from her ass just in time for her to spin around to face me, a white envelope in her hands. "Here you go. First and last as promised."

Blinking slowly, I'm so mesmerized by the bright smile on her face that it takes me a second to reach out to take the envelope from her. "Uh, thanks."

"For sure," she says, the smile never leaving her lips. "Really, I should be thanking you. I was having trouble finding a place, so finding this townhouse was a godsend."

"Well, I do what I can." It's a stupid response, but I'm struggling to regulate myself at the moment, so I'll take the win of at least responding coherently.

"I know it's definitely a risk renting to me. I'm young and I have no rental history," she grimaces before she continues, "but I just want to assure you that you won't regret it. I'm not a partier and I really don't do much of anything interesting, so I'll be a quiet, easy-to-handle tenant."

"I'm counting on that," I respond before I gesture to her car. "Would you like to see the townhouse?"

Her eyes slide from me to the building, a slight look of surprise on her perfect face as if she forgot what we were here for. "It looks even nicer than the pictures."

I turn and take in the townhouse. Hers is in a duo with mine and like the other twenty or so duos in the complex I inherited as property from my grandfather, ours is a bit old, but in great shape. Sporting a classic brick exterior with steep roofs and white trim, I put in a good deal of work through the year keeping everything looking good.

"Thanks, I try to keep them in nice condition." She turns her head to look at me and our eyes meet. It's electric, the feeling of being enwrapped in her attention. It's a feeling I could easily grow addicted to and one that I know I need to avoid.

"You do a really good job." She cocks her head and that sunshine hair falls over her shoulders. "Do you take care of everything by yourself?"

I give a slight nod. "I'm the landlord, maintenance, property manager, and more all in one. I inherited this place from my grandfather. He always ran it alone and for now so do I."

"That's a lot of work. To keep everything looking so nice and do it all by yourself is awesome." Her lips turn up. "You must be a true jack of all trades, huh?"

I return the smile, the feeling of grinning a bit uncomfortable on lips that aren't used to it. "You could say that. Come. I'll show you the inside."

Waving a hand forward, I politely allow her to walk ahead of me. It turns out to be a mistake because it's all I can do to keep my dick in my pants as I watch that shapely ass sway from side to side with every step. No one has a right to be this fucking enticing.

Be the good guy, I think to myself forcefully as I pull my gaze away and continue forward, my eyes now trained firmly on the back of her head.

"It's the one on the right," I tell her as we reach the set of steps shared between us.

She walks up to the door and then steps aside for me to unlock it. When I walk up to the knob, I'm almost knocked out by the smell of her. Floral and seductive, it's all I can do to keep myself from inhaling deeply and trying to hoard the scent to myself. I don't though, thank god. Instead, I pull a single key on a small ring out of my pocket and shimmy it in the door. When the wood panel swings open, I gesture her forward and we walk in. As I close the door behind me, I immediately start my sales pitch on the place.

"So, it's a one bedroom one bath. Those are on the first floor." I gesture toward the carpeted stairs to the left of the entryway. "The dining room, living room, and kitchen are all on this first floor."

As we move further inside, I continue talking, pointing out this feature or that. But the whole time, I'm watching her carefully, gauging her reaction. It's the first time she's seen the townhouse in person since we did all our dealings over the phone and via email. I don't know why, but I desperately want her to like the place. I take in our surroundings, trying to see through new eyes.

The townhouse is small, but I think it's more than enough for one person. It's clean and well-kept. I repainted the place after the last tenants moved out. They'd had kids so I'd had to replace a bit of hardware as well. The one good thing they'd done was leave behind most of their furniture. From what I could see from her car, keeping that furniture in here was the right move. Sadie didn't seem to have brought much besides clothes and herself.

When we finally walk the length of the place and find our way back to the entryway, a beat of silence passes between us before Sadie gushes, "I love it!"

"Really?"

"Yes, and I'm so glad it came with furniture." I don't mention that it doesn't. I don't mention that I'm already thinking about getting her a new mattress or that I'm looking at this place and wondering if it's even good enough for her. I want it to be good enough for her. I want everything to be good enough for her and the feeling is ridiculous. I just met the girl and I'm already wondering how I can bend over backward to keep that infectious fucking smile on that pretty little face.

God help me.

After staring at one another for a beat too long, I clear my throat and ask, "Is there anything I can carry inside for you?"

"I didn't really bring all that much," she admits sheepishly. "I think I can manage it on my own."

"It's not a problem at all," I insist, already leading her back to her car.

"Okay," she says, as she follows behind me. "I supposed I appreciate the help."

She pulls open her back door and I walk around to grab the things out. All that's sitting there is a suitcase, a duffle bag, and two black trash bags.

"This all you got?" I ask, trying to keep my tone casual as I swing the duffel bag over my shoulder and pull out the suitcase. "Anything in the trunk?"

"Um, no this is it," she answers with a shrug like it's no big deal. "I didn't have much to bring. Pretty much everything I had back home belonged to my parents. My clothes were basically the only thing I owned."

"Leave them," I order, stopping her as she reaches for the two trash bags. "I'll get them."

"Are you sure? I can carry—"

"Leave them." It's a command and she follows it instantly. I try to pretend that the immediate obedience doesn't do things to me as I wrap my hands around both trash bag straps and begin to lug all of her things into the house.

"I was worried there was too much furniture in there for you," I mutter. "Now I'm wondering if I don't have anything else in storage that you can have."

"As long as there's a bed, I'll be okay," she offers back, her face turning bright red. "Getting my own furniture is the first thing I'm going to do after I get my first paycheck."

"You got a job lined up already?" I ask, leading her up the stairs to her side of the duplex. I'm already wondering if I can find her one if she says no. I know Jolie needs extra help at the daycare downtown…

"I do," she tells me from over my shoulder, the smile evident in her voice as we push our way back into the townhouse. Realizing that I want more information, she adds, "I'll be a receptionist at the doctor's office."

"That won't be too boring for you?" I ask her as I lead her up the stairs to her bedroom, her belongings still in my arms.

"Oh no, not at all." I place all of her things on the bed and turn back to look at her. "I've always wanted to go into the medical field, so I figure this would be a good way to get familiar with the way doctor's offices work while I save up money for school."

"What do you want to be?"

"A pediatric nurse," she replies automatically before she flushes and adds, "If I can make it through the classes. I was never very good in school." I don't like the way she undermines her own goals.

"You will be one if that's what you want." I scan my eyes over her. "Don't doubt yourself. Doubt is the first step in failure." They are words that my first sergeant told me and I've never forgotten, but I've never repeated them to anyone before her.

She glances away shyly. "Thank you and thank you for carrying in my stuff."

"Got everything you need?" I ask, my voice gruff.

She nods, offering me another one of those small smiles. "Yeah, I think so."

We stand there for a long moment, staring at each other, long enough that I start to feel a little out of place. I've never been one for small talk, and I'm sure that she's ready for me to finally leave so she can get to the excitement of living on her own. I don't want to hover, but something about leaving her here alone doesn't sit right with me. She looks so damn young, so out of place herself. Something about her makes me feel…protective. No, that's not quite right. Possessive . I don't want to let her out of my sight. My brain and my body are conspiring against me and have staked some claim to this girl who is a complete stranger to me.

That won't fucking do. Not at all.

"Well," I say, shifting awkwardly, "if you need anything, just let me know. I'm right next door."

She nods again. "I appreciate that."

Her eyes have taken on a dark edge, something akin to panic. Or maybe I'm imagining that as an excuse to keep myself around her. She's not my business. I keep reminding myself of that as I turn to leave. She's just a tenant, and I'm just her landlord. That's all this is.

That's all it can be.

But even as I tell myself that, I know it's a lie.