Page 12 of The Neighbor's Son

I flash her a crooked grin. “Hell yeah.”

We exit the room, and she shuts the door behind us. I stupidly let myself think of myself one day in that room, rocking our baby to sleep. It’s impulsive and crazy to think like that, but I can’t help it.

Casey is the ideal woman a man could want.

The woman I want.

She’s beautiful and has a job she loves. Sweet, kind, funny. I still think Derek was a fool to leave her behind.

Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her.

And that starts with dinner.

I stare at the frozen lasagna she pulls out, frowning. “That might take a while. You want me to cook for you?”

She smiles. “Really? I hate frozen food but that’s all I really eat.”

This woman eats frozen crap and hates it. Luckily for her, I’m the cook at my house. Dad, too, would eat frozen if it weren’t for me.

“Let’s see what you have, ba—” Heat burns hot on my cheeks as I stop myself from blurting out babe.

Thankfully, she doesn’t act weird about it, instead moves out of my way so I can rummage through her fridge and cabinets. Since she doesn’t have much to work with, I have to get creative.

“I’ll run by the store tomorrow so I can make you something really good,” I tell her as I start cutting up some sausage. “I’ll improvise tonight.”

“Hey,” she says with a grin, “I’m just excited to see what you’ll make. Anything’s better than Stouffer’s lasagna.”

So that’s a sneaky “yes” to my also sneaky suggestion of another date.

Is that what this is?

Mo joins us when the sausage starts to sizzle on the skillet. I find some frozen streamable veggies, garlic bread, and an almost bad pre-made salad in the fridge. It’s not the best meal, but afterI pull out the wilted pieces of lettuce and add some extra fixings, the salad will definitely work.

I can feel Casey’s eyes on me as I prepare our meal. Even though my skin feels hot, I like her attention on me. It’s strange to be interacting with a woman like this, but it also feels kind of natural. I’ve been overthinking what I would say or do with her. Turns out, all I need to do is just go by instinct.

Casey likes to be taken care of.

That much is plainly obvious to me.

Alternatively, I like to take care of her. After trying to be an adult for so long so as not to make my dad stress any more than he needs to, I think it’s sort of ingrained in me.

“Want me to make some tea or do you have something else you’d prefer to drink?” I ask as I wrap up cooking.

“I’m trying to behave,” she admits, sounding unsure. “Is water okay? If not, I can get you something else. I just—”

I interrupt her with a grin. “Water is fine, babe.”

We both freeze.

Dammit.

My smile falters and I quickly turn back to the stove. We’re both quiet as I plate up the food for us. At the table, she’s placed two bottles of water out for us. She sits down and I take a seat across from her.

There’s no avoiding it now.

“Sorry about that,” I say sheepishly. “It just slipped out.”

“It’s fine.”

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