Page 7 of The Cocky Neighbor

I chuckled, and Ariel shot me a raised brow, but I didn't reply. 2A had been the unit my brother rented a few months back to win back his childhood sweetheart and my childhood friend. We hadn't disclosed our relationship to others, so it made sense that Ariel wasn't aware of this fact. "Unlived-in" was basically spot on. It didn't take long for Lucas to win back Noah's heart, which made sense since Noah had never moved on in the first place.

Their love was one that wouldn't be broken by time, and I'd been jealous of it for most of my life. I'd wanted a love like that for my own, someone who had loved me for me and not my family name. And along the way, I'd mistaken the desire to obtain that love for romantic affection for Noah. I wanted him to become mine and had even gone so far as to help him hide away from my brother.

I'd eventually come to my senses and realized I'd only thought of Noah as a dear brother. Brother-in-law would be the more accurate title now since they'd gotten engaged not too long after getting back together. However,I stilled blamed myself for being part of the reason they were apart, for keeping Noah from Lucas which had eventually led him down that dangerous spiral. It didn't matter that Noah had asked me to keep it a secret or the fact that Lucas hadn't blamed me for myinvolvementin the entire situation, this guilt was one that I would have to live with. It was the very same reason why I vowed to complete my task at Roslyn Hotel to perfection as a small way to make it up to him.

"It's nothing. Let's get the rental ad up. I'm sure we'll have the place filled very quickly."

"Will do," he said with a mock salute.

I left him to his work and turned to the elevators. The doors opened just as I stepped up and Caleb walked out.

"Liam, hey! I was just looking for you, but no one answered your door so I figured you were out. I was going to give you a text, but didn’t want to disturb you if you were working, so thought it would be best just to return to the bakery and try again later. But I guess it must be fate for us to bump into each other here right as I was leaving. Here, these are for you!" Caleb held out the pastry box to me.

"Thanks," I said as I happily accepted it. Caleb was one of my oldest tenants, a baker who worked magic with his hands, and a bit of an adorable rambler. After interacting with him all these years, I knew that his ramblingtendenciesappeared when he was either nervous or excited. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of having the owner of Corio City’s best bakery offer me this hand-delivery?"

Color heated his cheeks, and I couldn't help but be reminded of how cute this man was. If he wasn't a tenant at one of my buildings, perhaps I might have tried to wrangle a date out of the cutie. Of course, it was all moot since the man had already found the love of his life.

"The pastries were just an excuse. I actually wanted to deliver a wedding invitation," Caleb said with a shy smile as he pulled an envelope from his back pocket. "I know it'sveryshort notice since everything was a bit last minute. We really do apologize for that." He rubbed the back of his head before continuing, "The wedding is next month, and Zack and I would be extremely happy to have you there as our friend. Plus, the two of us wouldn't have met and fallen in love if Zack hadn't moved into your building, so you're basically our matchmaker. Of course, we understand if you can't. It's on us for planning everything so late." Caleb had sounded so excited at the beginning of his dialogue, but quickly deflated towards the end. His emotions ping-ponged from one extreme to the other, much like a certain man I had met today that I certainly shouldn't be thinking about.

"I would be honored to attend. I have to check my calendar, but I don't think there are any conflicts," I said after checking the date of the wedding.

"Great! You can RSVP on the link here. Zack set it up so that it'll automatically notify us. Speaking of Zack, he's covering for me at the bakery, so I should really get back. I hope you enjoy the dessert. It's a new item we're trying out!"

Caleb finished his word vomit and waved to me as he headed out the door, and I could only laugh and wave back as he disappeared. He really was a character, and one of the people who made living at Corio Heights a lot more interesting. He came in like a whirlwind and left just as fast.

As I turned to enter the elevator, emotions swelled up inside of me. It was people like Caleb who made Corio Heights a home, and I was proud to have provided a place that allowed him and many others freedom to be true to themselves.

SEVEN

LIAM

If I knew one thing for certain, it was that I did not like having my orders questioned or repeating myself multiple times over something that should have been simple. And the fact that I ever found teasing Eric Wells to be fun was the highest oversight on my part.

The man was not handsome or cute or any positive adjective I could think of. He was like nails grating on a chalkboard or people who use the word "moist" for fun. He was absolutely infuriating and must have been the villain created to make my life a living hell, because there was no other explanation. It was like his life mission was to make my job harder, and that was something that I wouldn't tolerate.

"As I said for the last time, Mr. Wells, these changes will be implemented by the end of the week," I huffed and shot him a glare for good measure. We'd been in his office for the past thirty minutes going over some of the notes I'd made regarding the hotel's regular procedures. The changes I wanted done were reasonable and would improve the work efficiency of our employees, but for whatever reason, Eric had deemed it necessary to question my choices today. It didn't help that I was already in a shit mood before this meeting had started.

"I think we should reconsider some of the new rules you want to implement. For example, 'employees cannot have their phones on their persons'? This just isn't feasible." Eric was keeping his emotions better under control than he had yesterday. His expression and voice were irritatingly neutral as he held my glare.

"Employees will be more productive if they aren't distracted by their phones," I said, not backing down. Granted, that rule was added at the very last minute when I'd witnessed a staff member laughing and playing on his phone when a guest was asking for his help. It had taken him exactly five minutes before he finally helped the granny. To make matters worse, the slacker had the gall to be rude to the poor lady. Alfred was walking by and had stepped in, but I needed to let them know that this kind of attitude was not accepted here. Being rude to guests was more than enough grounds to fire that employee, and I had every intention to do so after this, what was supposed to be a short meeting.

"What if there's an emergency and someone needs to reach them? You can't just keep their phones away from them," Eric argued back, this time with more emotion in his voice.

"If someone needs to contact our employees during their work hours, they can call the hotel. I assume we have working phones here, I hope?" I said with a cool glance.

The little vein appeared at his temple. I could see him physically trying not to lash out as he gritted his teeth so hard that his neck muscles strained with effort. I watched his muscles move, following down his thick neck down to the boring white dress shirt that stretched over his wide chest. The man's fashion sense was as boring as watching paint dry. At least paint was colorful.

My gaze flicked back up to Eric's neck when his Adam's apple bobbled, and I noticed that he was now staring at me with intense heat that had nothing to do with rage. He licked his lips and cleared his throat when he realized I was staring at his mouth.

"Is there a problem?" I asked with a smirk. I didn't know if he was gay or something else on the rainbow, but he definitely wasn't straight if the scorching gaze he gave me was anything to go by. Eric was definitely attracted to me, that was for certain. The annoying thing was that the feeling was very much mutual, and I needed to get the hell out of this room before I started listening to my dick instead of my head.

"No, no problem," he finally said after a few seconds of silence.

"Good, then I assume this meeting is done." I gathered my documents from the coffee table we'd been sitting around and stood.

Before I could make my escape, Eric grabbed my hand to stop me."Wait, that's not what I meant. I still have problems with your stupid little rules. We haven’t finished our discussion yet.”

I spun around to him once more, fury burning in my eyes. He didnotjust call my rules stupid. I stalked around the little coffee table that separated us until I was standing over him. He looked up with shock in his eyes as he watched me lean down over him. My hand landed on the back of his chair as I stopped inches from his face. "They weren't suggestions nor open to discussion, Wells. I want these changes implemented by the end of the week or there will be consequences. Do you hear me?"

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