Page 10 of Never Kiss Your Neighbors

Why does she keep repeating everything I say?

Her hand goes to her hip, and she appears to be irritated, but I’m distracted by the way this pose pushes her chest out. She has a great chest. Top tier, even in the modest gray shirt she’s wearing.

Even though we’ve had a busy day, her stunning figure has been on my mind more than a few times since I first saw her this morning.

With valiant effort, I force my eyes back up to her face.

“I found you by following the trail of marshmallows,” she says pointedly.

As I’m standing there confused, Wyatt walks up behind me. “Oh, it’s you. And you have a dog.”

A dog? Sure enough, there’s a little fluff monster standing obediently by her feet, wagging its curly tail. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it, but I guess my eyes never made it down that far.

“Do you live here?” she asks us both.

“Who’s asking?” Wyatt sounds borderline hostile, so I nudge his side with my elbow.

“This is our house, but we like to keep that information quiet,” I tell her. “What’s going on?”

She glances down at her dog, who’s now sniffing every inch of the doormat. “You’ve been feeding my dog too many marshmallows—unknowingly, I presume?”

“We’ve never seen your dog before.” Wyatt goes down on a knee and offers his hand as something new for the dog to smell. “What’s its name?”

Still looking irritated and also impatient, she shifts her weight to her other hip, drawing my eyes to that part of her body, which is nicely curvy and looks softly padded. “Goldfish,” she says.

I tilt my head to the side, not sure I heard her correctly. “The dog’s name is Goldfish?”

“Does he like to swim?” Wyatt asks. He’s earned the dog’s trust and is now scratching it behind the ears.

“Goldfish crackers are my daughter’s favorite snack,” the woman says, as if that explains everything.

“Wait a minute. We know your dog’s name, but what’s yours?”

Maybe it’s the sun, but her cheeks turn a soft pink at my question. “I’m Stella.”

“Nice to meet you again, Stella. I’m Cam, and this is Wyatt. Why don’t you come inside?”

I move back to make room for her to enter, but she stays put. “I just came over here to ask if you could please keep your marshmallows out of my yard.”

“Your yard? Where do you live?” Is this sexy woman our neighbor? Sure, she shot me down at the grocery store, but if I could run into her in the neighborhood from time to time, maybe she’d change her mind. It was early this morning, and I wasn’t on my best game.Oh shit—she said she had a daughter.My eyes dart to her hand. No ring.

“I live in the house right behind yours, and my yard is full of marshmallows. Who knows how many the dog ate before I stopped him.”

“Is your husband home?” I blurt, and Wyatt looks up at me like I’m a dumbass. Smooth, real smooth.

Stella’s brows knit, bringing my attention to her pretty brown eyes. “I’m not married, but I have a roommate.”

“A male roommate?”

Wyatt gives the dog a pat on its head and gets to his feet, stepping in front of me. “Cam isn’t nearly as creepy as he sounds right now. He’s just trying to find out if you’re in any kind of relationship.”

Her lips start to curve into an amused smile, but she bites her bottom lip and shakes her head. I don’t know if that’s an answer, or if she’s just amused and annoyed by my questions.

“I know how Goldfish feels,” Wyatt says. “I ate a few too many marshmallows myself. Can we come over and clean up the mess we made in your yard?”

She shakes her head, and I’m disappointed, because it would be a good way to be able to spend more time with her. “No thanks. I’ll take care of them. I just want to be sure they don’t keep coming over the fence, because I don’t want Goldfish to get sick.”

“We’ll make sure of it, Stella. We’re all done for today, anyway,” I say.

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