6. Being Neighborly

CHAPTER 6

BEING NEIGHBORLY

MISTY

It's Friday night, and I'm bored at Dad's house, when I get an invitation to happy hour with Anastasia and some of her work friends. I'd thought I'd go, and was about to text back that I'd meet her at the bar, if not for her next text.

Anastasia: I have someone I'd like to introduce you to from the accounting department. He's new and really cute and will be having drinks with us.

Ugh. No thanks.

Misty: Can't. I just remembered I'm supposed to take Nana shopping tonight.

Anastasia: You'd use Nana as your excuse for getting out of drinks with me?

Misty: No, really. I do have plans with her.

I don't.

Anastasia: Fine. I'll let you off the hook tonight. But guess what? Things have escalated with Connor. And by that I mean we've exchanged sexy photos and sexted all week, and he's asked me out for drinks after the game.

Misty: Holy shit.

What the hell is she thinking sexting him like that? I've never sexted. Never wanted to. Well, okay, during my long-distance relationship with Gregor, we may have sent sexy photos and gotten each other quite worked up, but never actually to the point of coming together on the phone.

Probably because the entire time he was in Calgary without me, he was shacking up with Marie. She apparently had no clue I existed either, at least not until I showed up on his doorstep one day, deciding to move to Calgary because I couldn't live without him any longer.

The biggest mistake and regret of my life.

Anastasia: So that means you're coming out with me to meet him when he's in town. Just in case he turns out to be a catfish.

Misty: Or ends up being the biggest asshole ever.

Anastasia: I think your ex has the corner on that nickname.

Misty: Then Connor would be asshole number two. We'll just keep labeling them as we meet them.

Anastasia: LOL. Go on. Have fun with Nana. Give her a hug for me.

An hour later, I call and convince Nana to come out shopping and to dinner. After turning down my friend, the thought of sitting home alone bugs me suddenly. Besides, Dad has his girlfriend, Amberlynn, visiting tonight. Maybe moving in with him was a mistake when I retuned to L.A.

Seeing them snuggling side by side on the couch and settling in for a movie isn't something I care to watch. Mostly because I don't have someone to do that with. She's nice, but just turned thirty, only a handful of years older than me. More importantly, she's lasted longer than anyone else my dad has ever dated and they seem happy.

While I wouldn't say we're besties, Amberlynn is actually the first person who helped me see Gregor has a narcissistic personality, given she's a therapist building her practice in L.A. One night when I reached out to Dad from Calgary, despondent and unsure of what to do with my life after Gregor and I finally split, he put Amberlynn on the phone and I must have talked with her for two hours. If not for that, it might have taken longer for me to come to my senses and come home.

Our friendly bond doesn't make it any easier to sit with her and Dad for a night, eyeing how touchy they are with each other. His hand on her thigh. His forehead kisses. I don't actually remember much of my mom and dad together, but I know it wasn't like this. He was often away playing hockey. Mom was in her own little world, isolating us from everyone she knew as she dealt with her mental health. Thankfully, she often dropped me off with Nana.

Dad wasn't always father of the year, and I wouldn't say I was ever a daddy's girl, except I know he loves me and wants the best for me. But I think he always wished I was a boy, someone he could coach in hockey and be proud of ushering along in his footsteps.

Just to make him happy, I played girls' hockey for many years, saying that I'd like to make it to the Olympics team one day. Over hockey, he and I could bond. But when the teen years hit, I started to get my period along with having horrible teenage girl acne, anxiety, and mean girl problems. I quit hockey because it wasn't "cool" among my clique, and Dad passed me off to Nana like he didn't know what to do with me anymore.

Thank God for her. Yes. An evening away from Dad's would do me some good right now.

* * *

I arrive early and help Nana get dressed up for our night out together. I even apply to her cheeks some old rouge she's had sitting on her dresser vanity forever. With a fresh coat of bright lipstick, too, and a smart, summery pants suit in a pastel blue color, she's ready.

Looking at her in the mirror, it's like I can see myself when I'm as old as her someday. I get my looks after her and Dad's side of the family, although her reddish locks have given way to a pretty silver over the years. Her freckles have faded and are hardly noticeable. She's still pretty as ever, always taking good care of herself.

"Ready for some fun?" I ask.

"Always. Let's do it," she responds, with a gleam in her eyes.

I link arms with her and stroll down the hallway to the elevator as we leave. "Look at us. Some rare beauties heading for a night on the town together."

She laughs, carrying herself more upright, stepping lighter on her feet. I should take her out more often. I hate getting the guilts over how I spend my time when I know I should be here for her more and more as she ages.

When I go to push the down arrow, the elevator doors open—and it's The Ass Man himself standing there, his big frame taking up most of the small elevator space.

I gasp. Wow.

His grin instantly grows, as does Nana's; I'm the only one gaping at him. First impression? Well, the second, since I already got a good impression of his backside. That'll never leave my thoughts for as long as I live.

He's strikingly handsome with a natural smile, like he's the adorable boy next door you've always had a crush on.

It's hard to keep my composure, though, when he's wearing gray sweats and a sleeveless t-shirt. If I thought his back muscles were impressive, his pecs are giving me pause, flexing under my gaze. His bicep bulges like a two-ton boulder as he lifts some huge duffel bag over his shoulders with ease. It looks heavy. For all we know, it could be filled with a dead body. I mean gorgeous or not, what do we really know about this man other than how he loves Nana's cookies?

"Edith, good to see you." He greets, then he nods at me, his smile a little unsure, like he knows he needs to win me over yet but without a clue as to how.

"Misty is taking me out for a girls' night. No boys allowed." Nana wags a finger like a golden retriever puppy's tail when they're excited.

He holds the elevator doors open as we pass him to enter. "Don't let me stop you, then."

His scent hits me, nothing too strong, but a clean fresh soap smell. Thank God. I can ignore that then, because I don't need anything like a strong, manly after shave luring me in.

I press the button for the lobby, but he still stands there. He stares at my face as if trying to memorize it. I stare back, only because he's blocking the door from closing. But yes, I do get a glimpse of pale blue eyes hidden behind his glasses. His hair parts to the side, in a sort of old-fashioned hairstyle way, the locks thick and straight and laying perfectly in place. I fight the urge to reach up and mess it all with my fingers. In fact, the urge is strong to get closer to him and do it.

But that's all. I'd simply make a mess of him, then I'd leave; I wouldn't have to get tangled up with him in any way. Just make a satisfyingly friendly mess and leave my heart intact.

"Oh, I guess this is the first time you two have met face to face," Nana giggles.

"Right. Nice to meet you properly, Misty." With a sly smile and maybe a little blush in his cheeks, he holds out his hand to shake mine.

"Sure. You, too." I give in and slip my hand into his, thinking this will be nothing but a brief moment of just being neighborly, for Nana's sake. Just a typical greeting. One weak shake from me, that's all this requires.

Big mistake. An earthquake powers through me at his touch. I have to blink back how incredulous his palm is pressing to mine. His warm, huge paw folds over my hand like he's making a promise to protect me forever.

Dammit, I need to stop reading the latest shifter novel Anastasia loaned to me. I admit to staying up way too late last night in bed, glued to the pages. Apparently I'm still in a book hangover and the touch of him sends my imagination racing into book boyfriend Lala Land.

He's just Nana's neighbor. Let it go.

Let. Go. Of. His. Hand.

I finally slip out of his grasp and take a huge step back. He still stares at me.

"Sebastian, the elevator doors would work so much better if you weren't standing in from of them." Nana takes his attention away from me at last.

With a quick shake of his head, as if he's coming out of a daze, he says, "Good point. Have a great time, ladies." He does an about face. And there's his awesome ass again, almost as good as naked, covered in sweats this time. My eyes bounce from one globe of his to another as he walks away, as if I'm under his spell, until the doors completely close us in, breaking the view.

"Isn't Sebastian the sweetest young man?" Nana starts, dancing her eyebrows up and down. "Definitely not unpleasant to gaze upon, dear?"

"Oh, no, Nana. I know what you're up to. Please don't."

"Don't what? I simply want you to meet a nice guy. And he definitely qualifies as nice."

"Please don't push me to start dating again, Nana. I get enough of that from Anastasia."

"Who said anything about dating? Just be friends with him."

She has a point. But I don't feel like starting our evening off with an argument, so I let her have the last word.

Besides, looking back, I've never had a guy as a friend who didn't become a lover, then a boyfriend. And I've never dated a nice guy. Dark and broody assholes, typically, yes. But never someone without a bad bone in his body.

Then again, maybe that's part of my trouble. I go for the bad guys, never giving the nice guys a chance.