Page 2 of An Unexpected Home

Stepping up onto the porch, she was just bending down to check the mat when the porch light came on and the front door opened.

Straightening with the assumption that it was Carly, Leah came face-to-face – or chest as it were – with a man. A very chiseled man.

“Stop right there,” his deep voice bellowed.

When she finally looked up at his face, she got a distinct feeling that he didn’t know she was supposed to be there.

“Who are you and what are you doing on my property?”

A couple of years ago, she wouldn’t have hesitated to bust his balls or maybe do other things with his balls. Not that she knew that many things to do with balls. But ever since the court case, she’d lost her mojo, both in everyday life and sexually. So doing anything with his balls was not in the cards at this moment.

“Isn’t this twenty-seven Shadow Lane?” she asked quietly.

His brow furrowed. “It is. Who are you?” He seemed to let his guard down, but only a little.

“I’m Leah and I’m going to be living here with Carly and Melanie.”

He stared at her for a beat before saying, “Wait right here,” and then shutting the door in her face.

“What the hell?” she said out loud. He just shut the damn door in her face. She’d just driven nine frickin’ hours to have the door slammed in her face. And yeah, technically he didn't slam the door, but that was not the point.

Without even thinking she pounded her fist on the door. “Hey!” she shouted. The door flew open and there was a chiseled chest with a phone to his ear.

“She’s right here, hold on.” He handed her the phone that had previously been pressed to his ear.

When she just stared at it he said, “It’s Carly.”

Taking the phone from him she turned so she didn’t have to face him. “Hello.”

“Leah,” she heard Carly’s voice. “I’m so sorry that I forgot to mention to my cousin Brandon that you’d be coming. He volunteered to come by and stay with my dog since Melanie and I stayed at the studio to work all night.”

“It’s fine,” Leah said. So chiseled chest had a name and he was Carly’s cousin.

“Ignore his attitude,” Carly said. “He’s angry by nature.”

She turned back to face him, the phone still to her ear. He appeared to be more relaxed. “I don’t plan on having a deep conversation with him. I just drove all night to get here and all I want to do is fall into bed.”

“He’ll point you in the right direction and I will see you tomorrow.”

They said their goodnights and Leah held out the phone for Carly’s cousin without saying anything.

“I’m sorry for thinking you were trespassing,” Brandon said. “I had no idea you were coming.”

She shrugged. “I’m sure I would have done the same thing.” She was getting more tired by the second and her body felt like it was going to give out very soon.

“Why don’t I show you to your room,” he said and stood aside for her to enter the house.

It was dark inside and she couldn’t really make out what the room looked like. They were both silent as she followed him through what she assumed was the living room and then up the stairs.

“This is your room,” he said and pointed to a door on the left. She started to walk in and then her ingrained manners got the better of her.

“Thank you. I’m sure it was strange for you to find a random person on the porch at three in the morning.”

His lips curved into a sly smile and for the second time that night, she felt off-balance. “It wasn’t so bad. Good night, Leah.”

She wanted to watch him walk away but her head was swimming from exhaustion and heat. And not the kind of heat you get from Ohio in April. The kind that stems from a half-naked man smiling at you.

Maybe moving to Cedarville hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.

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