Page 2 of Bad Boy Crush

“Sorry to wake you.” The man was not good-looking but great-looking. With his dark blond hair and assaulting green eyes, any woman would look twice. Especially if he was wearing a uniform and wielding an accidentally sexy sideways smile. Brady was also a great guy. There was a shortage of those, so she respected him based on that factor alone.

“Did you notice your tree?” Eyebrows a shade darker than his hair bent in sympathy.

“Notice? I was asleep until seven seconds ago.”

“Oh.” He frowned.

“Oh? That doesn’t sound good.”

“Put on a pair of shoes.” He tipped his head in the direction of the side of her house. “I’ll meet you out here.”

She padded to her bedroom to put on a bra and slip into her flip-flops. Two minutes later, she was outside with Brady surveying the damage. “Holy shit.”

“You’re lucky it didn’t fall on the house.” Hands on his hips, he stood over a very large, very downed tree. “Looks like the gods were showing you favor. Did you do something magnanimous I should know about? Other than every nice thing you’ve done for my girlfriend since she arrived in town?”

At the mention of Elliott, Brady’s smile went wonky. He hadn’t been the kind of guy to settle down, preferring hookups over relationships. Lou hadn’t understood. He was a great boyfriend, according to Elli. Apparently, it had taken the right girl blowing into town, and back out and in again, to convince him otherwise. Lou, aka, the nosy neighbor, Brady’s dog, Lila, and his grandfather Emory had all played a part in helping Elli and Brady find their way.

“Nothing I wouldn’t do for anyone else,” Lou said, downplaying the compliment. Elli and Lou become close over the last six months.

A low whistle sailed over the air. Apron in hand, Elli crossed their shared side yard to take in the tree. “Wow. What the heck happened?”

“Big Bad Wolf,” Brady answered.

“You’re such a cheeseball.” Elli pushed to her toes and placed a kiss on his cheek. “I thought you’d already gone in.”

“Made a pit stop.” Brady turned to Lou. “I called Ant. He said he’d clear the tree for you. He’ll give you a good price.”

Ant, as in Anthony Renaldo. As in her former friend Anthony Renaldo. The same friend who’d learned about Liam cheating a good week ahead of Lou and hadn’t told her. When she’d found out the truth, she’d called and accused Ant of being a traitor. Right before she’d ushered him from her life.

“You called Ant.” She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow in challenge.

Brady, accustomed to bigger threats than his blond, sleep-deprived neighbor, was unphased. “Yes, ma’am. I did.”

“Uh-oh.” Elliott winced.

Lou and Liam had met Ant in the Cove, so she’d expected to see him around when she’d moved here permanently. Over the last eighteen months, she’d bumped into him a handful of times. Well, maybe two handfuls. The tourist town was elegant but small, and at times like living on an island. Since she hadn’t been able to avoid him, she’d settled for offering tight smiles and smartass responses whenever their paths had crossed.

She didn’t hate Ant, but neither did she want him to forget that he’d sided with her worm of an ex when, as her friend too, Ant should have been in her corner. Once Lou had made it clear she had an axe to grind with him, she’d been committed to the role. She made it a point to put him in his place each and every time she saw him.

And so, she told Brady, “I could have called a tree service.”

“Not today. There are trees down all over the Cove. I’m on my way to redirect traffic. The local tree services have been dispatched to the denser forest areas to help with power lines. Some residents still don’t have electricity.”

That was far too reasonable to refute.

How frustrating.

“I can wait,” Lou tried again. “There’s no sense in dragging Anthony out here.”

“You don’t have to sleep with him, Lou. He’s providing a service.” Elliott smirked, a twinkle in her eye alluding to the fact that she also suspected Lou wasn’t as committed to her grudge as she had been last summer.

“Ha-ha.” Lou sleeping with Ant was as improbable as her tree picking itself off the ground, dusting off its bark, and resuming its rightful station in her side yard.

“But you could.” Elli’s smile broadened, and Brady sent a questioning look from her to Lou and back again.

Objectively, Lou understood Ant’s appeal. He had a presence that set people at ease. He was undeniably attractive with his wide frame, dark hair typically hidden by a fedora, and his unique eye color. His irises always reminded her of burnt caramel. She’d never known anyone with eyes that were such a specific shade of brown. And, once you looked beyond the rock-hard body, the cocky tilt of his mouth, and the perpetual few days’ growth on his jaw, you were doomed to be a total goner when you got to know him. Ant was kind, soft-spoken but firm, and crazy talented. Her dining room table had been hewn by him, as had her wedding arch. Ant could work magic with a chain saw. Frankly, he should have been insulted when Brady suggested the pedestrian task of buzzing her felled tree into manageable pieces.

“I in no way called Ant to force some sort of reunion.” Brady held his hands up diplomatically. “Although you should probably admit you’re friends again.”

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