Page 11 of All That Lies Between Us

“If only I had been prepared for an asshole neighbor,” I smart with as much indignation as I can manage while on top of a table.

“You sound mad,” he says blandly.

Exasperated, I throw my hands up in the air. “Of course I’m mad! You’re making fun of me for being scared of an anaconda.”

Before I know it, he’s walking away from me and out of the cabin. I swear he mutters something about me being hoity-toity on his way out. Out of all the piggish, asshole things to say...

There’s no way I can let him walk away from me right now. Giving the curled snake one last glance, I take a deep breath and jump from the table, running as fast as I possibly can out of the cabin.

Once I hit the front porch, relief rushes through me, but that feeling is short-lived when my eyes find him. On determined legs, I march over to where he’s standing by his truck, place my hands onto my hips, and lay into him.

“First of all,” I shout, “you’re an asshole. And second, I am not hoity-toity. Excuse me for being scared of a big dumb snake that’s almost as long as I am tall. And third...” My thoughts falter at his glare. Is there a third?Oh, yeah. “And third, you just left me in there with it. It could have bit me. I could be in there dying right now.”

When I finish, my chest is heaving from my lack of breath. For the first time, I notice he’s not wearing a shirt, and his swim trunks are hanging low on his hips.

“How do you look like that?” I squeak out, my eyes glued to the front of him while I try really hard to count his abs without drooling.

Two. Four. Six. Eight! Oh my.

He’s staring back at me, a mix of annoyance and amusement dancing in his eyes, when he holds up a pair of thick, dark leather gloves. “I needed to get these,” he says. “To remove the snake. Also, it’s a bull snake. He isn’t venomous.”

I flatten my lips into a line and sputter, “Okay, but you’re still an asshole.”

To my surprise, he nods. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” He clears his throat, his dark eyes intense as they display his emotions so openly. When he looked at me in anger earlier in the day, I could feel the heat coming off him, and now, I can feel the regret. It hits me straight in the gut.

“It’s okay,” I mutter quietly. His lips turn up in one corner as he knocks his gloves into his other palm and then passes by me.

This time, I let him go.

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