Page 24 of Never Kiss Your Neighbors

Cam doesn’t respond, and a moment later, we’re heading up her driveway.

“Want to do push-ups before you ring the bell?” I ask him. “Make your muscles pop?”

He barks out a laugh. “My muscles don’t need the extra help.”

“Who knows?” I say with a shrug. “They might.”

It’s early evening, right around the same time we were here when her dog was sick, and when her roommate got home. The roommate answers the door now.

Cam gives Marissa a friendly greeting, then spots Jessie in the living room and waves at her. When Jessie runs to the door, he says, “I’m making a big batch of my famous bacon mac and cheese,” and I somehow resist rolling my eyes. “I wondered if you’d all like to come over for dinner.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Marissa says, looking over her shoulder into their house.

“Did you already have plans for dinner, or is something already cooking?” Cam asks.

“No, actually. Stella was planning to cook, but her work ran late tonight. We were just talking about ordering a pizza.”

“Well, pizza is good, but I have to say, my mac and cheese is better.” He turns his focus on Jessie. “Do you like mac and cheese?”

The little girl nods enthusiastically, rubs her belly, and says, “Yum yum.”

“Great, sounds like perfect timing,” Cam says. “It’ll be ready in less than an hour. Want to come by our house, or should we bring it over here?”

Marissa stands there looking hesitant, and then Stella appears. “What’s going on?”

“Hey, Stella. We came over to invite you to dinner. Bacon mac and cheese.”

Jessie smiles up at her mother. “He says it’s better than pizza, Mommy.”

“Oh, is that right?” She looks hesitant, too. She’s not dumb. She realizes it’s not just an innocent neighborly dinner, but a ploy to spend time with her.

“Can we go, Mommy, please?”

Stella’s expression makes it clear that she wants to say no, but she doesn’t want to disappoint her daughter. Cam is much smarter than I sometimes give him credit for.

CHAPTER16

STELLA

Iresist the urge to change my outfit, but I do freshen my makeup, justifying that I’d do it if I were going to dinner at any neighbor’s house, not just the super sexy ones.

On the walk over, I have to call Jessie back to us because she keeps skipping ahead. “You didn’t like mac and cheese the last time I made it. Why are you so excited to go eat it at Cam and Wyatt’s house?”

“Because Cam and Wyatt are fun. Maybe their mac and cheese will be good too.”

Her first grade logic turns out to be sound, because the mac and cheese is delicious, creamy and rich, with a generous amount of perfectly cooked bacon on top. There’s salad too, and roasted brussels sprouts, and my jaw drops when Jessie eats three of them and asks for more.

It’s all so tasty that I eat a bit too much, and I regret it when Wyatt brings out a plate full of his chocolate chip cookies.

While Jessie’s oohing and ahhing over them, Wyatt bends and whispers in my ear. “Would you like me to create a distraction, so you can grab all the cookies?”

I smile and laugh, but what’s actually distracting is how his warm breath so close to my ear makes me feel. And the smell of him, so crisp and clean and manly. I wouldn’t be surprised if my pulse rate doubled from that brief exchange, and I’m glad the cookies are attracting everyone’s attention, because I’m afraid my reaction to Wyatt might be clear to anyone looking.

Sure enough, Marissa happens to glance my way across the table, and the way she smiles and quirks her brow tells me that she can see exactly how I’m feeling.

Marissa looks at the men, who are both in conversation with Jessie about their favorite types of cookies, then back at me. She tilts her head toward the men and gives me a look that communicates so much, namely: What’s wrong with you? You need to get after those men. Especially if they can cook and bake food like this.

I bite my bottom lip and shake my head. We shouldn’t have come over here. I’m afraid Marissa is going to join Ana in encouraging me to go out, but neither of my friends have kids, and they sometimes overlook the fact that I have bigger concerns than sex and romance.

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