Page 6 of The Neighbor's Son

“Sounds intense.”

I nod because this chat with her isintense. Being so close to her I can smell her scent isintense. Staring down at her sexy cleavage isintense.

“Want a drink?” I ask, voice gritty again. “Kevin brought a keg. Can’t promise it’ll taste good.”

“You’re still a baby,” she says, lips curling into a teasing smile. “And there are police here. You sure you can drink?”

Her teasing puts me at ease. Playfully, I scratch at my jaw with my middle finger. This makes her giggle which makes me grin.

Okay, man, this is better.

Relax.

I motion for her to follow me, and my legs begin working again. Once at the keg, I fill a red solo cup with the warm beer and hand it to her. Her fingers brush against mine sending jolts of electricity through me.

With heat burning my face, I hide my reaction to our touch to fill up my own cup. It’s a long enough distraction to hide my obvious attraction to her.

Casey Monroe is way out of my league.

Flirting with her is just cruel to my heart.

Is that what we’re doing? Flirting?

Poor Savvy. Little does she know, I’m about to unload this entire evening on her later because I need advice. I don’t date girls because they’re not interested in the quiet, awkward guy with no life. I certainly don’t date women.

Casey is all woman.

When she’s been with a good looking, muscular guy like Derek, it’d be stupid to think she’d downgrade to someone like me.

“So,” she says and then sips her beer.

“So,” I mimic. “I’m sorry. If you want to go talk to someone normal, go ahead.”

She giggles again. The sound is sweet and genuine. I want to hear it a lot more. It’s better than the crying I sometimes hear coming from her place.

“You’re funny.” She glances over at Clara who’s flirting heavily with Travis, but he’s clearly not interested. “I’d rather be talking to you. Clara is making it her mission for me to get over Derek.” Her shoulders tense up. “Sorry. I know you don’t want to talk about that.”

“I want to talk about whatever you want to talk about,” I say too quickly. God, I sound so desperate. “I mean, or whatever.”

She flashes me a grateful smile. “You’re sweet.”

Funny. Sweet. Datable?

“Now that you’re officially an adult,” Savvy says, “what are your big plans? You graduate soon. College? Trade school?”

The hope I had flaring inside of me is dashed by her questions.

I have no big plans.

I’m not going to college like she did.

I’ll still be doing the same thing I’m doing, but without school, I can do it full time.

“My cat is missing,” Maggie announces from the doorway as she enters. “Brayden, I need your help.”

I’ve never been so grateful for that old woman in my entire life.

For once, her interruption is welcomed.

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