Page 22 of Falling for the Guy Next Door

She shook her head. “No, I’ll wait until after we?—”

I raised a brow. “Until after we?”

“Well, you never know.” She walked to the purse she’d dropped by the sofa, pulled out a stack of CDs and headed out to the patio.

The glass door was open, and there was only a screen between us, so I lowered my voice considerably. “I told her I’d set something up, but here she is. I’m not going to walk her over there, no matter how much she begs and pleads.”

Ella handed me my salad and a glass of tea. “How did the dog walking go?”

“It was a blast. He’s very cute and funny.”

Ella looked over at me. “The dog?”

“Yes, him too, but the owner—he’s really charming.”

“And incredibly good-looking,” Ella added.

We stepped out onto the patio. Emily was on her tiptoes staring down at the beach. “No sign of him yet, darn it.” She stomped back to the table and sat down with a plunk. I busied myself with the tasty salad, even knowing full well that she was staring at me so hard, she might have drilled holes through the side of my face.

“Did Rhett find that clawfoot tub he was looking for?” I asked Ella, deciding to ignore the harsh gaze coming at me.

Ella was finishing a bite of salad, but she nodded. She took a sip of tea to wash down the bite. “It’s an antique that’s been restored. He’s trying to buy mostly antiques from the era when the house was built, so that the restoration is authentic.”

“That’s a great idea. That house is going to be so beautiful. Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll be mistress of the manor.”

Ella laughed. “That does sound like a position I’m well suited for, doesn’t it? Me and my striped socks and sweatpants. I guess you could call it casual elegance.”

“Well, we could get you a corset and bustle to wear under your sweats.”

We had a good laugh and continued with our salads. Emily grunted in frustration and got up from the table. She walked to the end of the patio and hopped up on tiptoes to keep watch over the beach.

Ella leaned closer. “She’s really obsessed with him, isn’t she?”

I nodded. It wasn’t her first obsession, but it was certainly her fiercest.

Emily squealed as I took a bite of salad. She spun around and clapped quickly and lightly. “He’s down there. First, I saw the dog and then I saw him and—” She raced over to me and grabbed my hand.

I dropped the fork into my salad. “Jeez, Emi, you’re going to take my arm out of the socket.”

“We need to go down there now before he goes back to the house since my best friend won’t take me next door for a proper introduction.”

“It seems we’re overusing the whole ‘best friend’ label these days and for nefarious, almost blackmail-style purposes.” I got up reluctantly. In a way, this was good. I could get the introduction over with, and we wouldn’t have to show up at Nash’s door.

Ella was a little too amused about the whole thing as she chewed her salad behind a big, smirky grin.

“Fine, let’s go,” I said.

Emily pulled me along to the trail that cut down the hillside and led to the beach below.

Halfway down, I stopped. “What about your CDs?” I didn’t want her to come up with an excuse to bother him again.

Emily bit her lip in indecision. She looked up toward the patio and then down at the beach. Nash and Rocky were walking down by the water. The sun was just starting to set. The dying light highlighted the man beautifully. Emily released a soft sigh. “Forget the CDs. I just want to meet him.” She gave me a pleading look.

“Since he’s out on the public beach, I guess it wouldn’t be too much of an invasion of privacy.”

We continued the trek down to the sand. Strangely enough, I felt a slight surge of nerves as we reached the sand. I was sure it had only to do with me being fretful about bothering Nash when he was out on a walk. Even out on the public beach it felt intrusive.

We were only a few steps across the sand when Rocky spotted me. He barked wildly as he raced toward us.

---