Page 21 of Knight's Fall

Her voice trailed off as she recalled she only had the one chair. “Well, um, you can sit here. I can sit on the porch railing. I do it all the time.”

“I won’t be here long.”

She nodded. “R-right. Of course. You said you had a question?”

“Two questions. Did you send me food from the diner?”

Her eyes widened. She never expected him to find out, especially when what she meant as a kind gesture seemed more stalkerish than neighborly. She started to lie, but watching him, his expression completely unreadable, she couldn’t do that. Something about him drew the truth from her better than a dose of sodium pentothal.

“I did. Your friend told me that you were hurt and had a long recovery. I was brought up to bring food to people when they’re not well enough to cook for themselves. I didn’t think you would want me showing up on your doorstep when we don’t know each other.”

“BB told me. You sent all of my favorites.”

She closed her eyes as she winced. “I work at the diner. You and your friends come in a lot. I remember what our regulars order. It’s just…something I do.”

“And my lawn? You cut the grass while I was gone.”

Her eyes flew open then. “How did you know? I only did it once. Your friend, BB, he told me at the diner you were coming home. I was mowing my yard and didn’t want you to come home to tall grass and weeds and…I’m sorry if I overstepped.”

Her breath caught in her throat when he moved up a step, putting himself more directly in the beam of the streetlamp. She took in his intense gaze, his trim beard that accentuated his angular nose and his rounded jaw. He wasn’t classically good looking. He was more rugged, hard around the edges, the type of man her mother warned her to stay away from.

“You didn’t overstep. I wanted to thank you. I would have done it sooner, but I only just realized it was you. I thought my friends were doing all of that. I told them they could stop sending the food, and they admitted it wasn’t them. BB told me he saw you at the hospital. I put two and two together.”

“It doesn’t matter who gets credit. I just hoped it helped you out. You look good.”

The words burst from her mouth before she could stop them.For the ever-loving stars, Co, why are you acting like an idiot?

She cleared her suddenly dry throat. “I just meant that you look like you’re recovering well. Are you? Doing better, I mean.”

“I am. Thank you. That’s all I wanted to tell you. I won’t take up more of your time. Goodnight.”

That was it?Her first opportunity to have a real conversation with Sexy Neighbor, and it was awkward and uncomfortable and embarrassing and…way too short!

“Wait!” She had to stop blurting words at him. Well, she had to stop sounding like an imbecile, and not blurting out the first things that came to mind would be a huge leap to accomplishing that. But he stopped at the bottom of the steps and turned back to her, so her goal of getting him to hang around worked. Only now she had to come up with more to say.

“Why do they call you Wings?”Nice, Co. Way to add to that stalker vibe.

He smirked. “Lots of reasons. The main one is that I’m a pilot. Goodnight. Courtlyn.”

He knows my name. His friend must have remembered and told him. And he remembered.

She stood in awe, feeling like a crazed fan who had just shaken hands with her favorite celebrity. By the time she shook off her wonder, Wings had disappeared, and she felt more like a geek than ever.

Chapter Eleven

Courtlyn dropped chocolate chips onto the uncooked side of the pancakes she had on the griddle. Giving them time to settle, she deftly pushed a spatula underneath each one and flipped them over with a flick of her wrist.

“Courtlyn.”

She turned with a smile to face Tabby. Her boss’ eyes narrowed as Tabby studied her. Courtlyn imagined her boss was surprised to see her in good humor. Sissy had been on her case since she’d gotten to work, and they’d had one of the busiest morning rushes the diner had seen in a long time.

She didn’t care about any of that. After a peaceful night’s sleep full of dreams of her and Sexy Neighbor where she was more of an enticing vixen than an awkward geek, she spent the morning filling orders and making enough delicious pastries to fill the display case for days. Her plan was to deliver a box full to Wings after her shift was done. This time, she would be charming and articulate.

“Hey, Tabby. I made some fresh muffins this morning. There’s a banana nut one with your name on it if you’re interested.”

“Oh.” Tabby blinked her heavily made-up eyes. “Yeah, thanks. I think I’ll take one. But that’s not why I came in here.”

Her nose told her to scoop up the pancakes before finding out why Tabby was stepping into her kitchen. Placing the last one on a platter, she turned back to Tabby, her eyes asking her question for her.

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