Page 9 of Temptress

“Oh.” I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and bit down, feeling like a world-class asshole for the scene I’d just made. I looked back over my shoulder at all the plants and flowers filling my yard, worry creeping in and forcing my brows to pinch together. “Um, just roses specifically, or all kinds of flowers?” I loved my pretty yard. The bright, cheery colors made me happy, even on the gray, dreary days. But I didn’t want to risk making an innocent kid sick so I had something nice to look at when I stared out my window.

“Just the roses. The rest of what you’ve got is fine,” he answered, reading the concern on my face.

“Oh, um... okay.” That creeping guilt came on even stronger.

I’d perved on the guy through the fence like a psycho. I’d gotten into a shouting match in the middle of the front yard over flowers that were planted on his property. I’d called him ugly names. And I’d put his daughter at risk.

Oh my god!

Iwas the shitty neighbor! Not him.

I had not seen that coming.

Well, this is embarrassing as hell.

“Dad?” My head whipped over to the young teenage girl standing in the open doorway next door, a look of concern on her beautiful face. She hesitantly stepped farther out onto the porch, her eyes bouncing back and forth between us. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, honey. Everything’s good.”

She looked like she wasn’t sure, so when her worried gaze flitted over to me, I smiled, lifting my hand by my waist in a tiny wave. “Hi.”

She offered a small smile, her shoulders loosening a little. “Hi.”

“Do me a favor, baby girl, and grab the card from my wallet and order some pizza for dinner, yeah?”

“Okay, Daddy.” She pointed another smile, this one bashful and adorable. “Bye.”

My heart melted a little bit as I issued a soft, “Bye,” right before she turned and skipped back into the house, leaving me alone with her father once more.

“She’s beautiful,” I said, unable to stop the words from tumbling out because it was the god’s honest truth.

“Thanks,” he said on a grunt, and when I turned my attention back to him, I saw the earlier humor had drained away, replaced with the flat, emotionless man I’d met that first day.

I cleared my throat, looking away from him to the mangled rose bushes. “Well, um... I guess—that is—sorry,” I finally managed to spit out. “For calling you names and... you know.”

He arched an arrogant brow that made my eyes narrow in a scowl. “Peeping on me through the fence?”

I crossed my arms over my chest, using indignation to hide my humiliation. “You know, a gentleman wouldn’t keep bringing that up.”

He let out a bark of humorless laughter. “Sassy, I’ve been called many things. But a gentleman certainly isn’t one of them.”

For some unknown reason, that statement made my belly flutter. My body was reacting to this guy in totally inappropriate ways. I needed to get the hell away from him before I did something even stupider than starting a fight when I had no leg to stand on and turning into a weirdo creeper.

“Whatever,” I grumbled, spinning on my heel and stomping back toward my house.

* * *

Silas

I placed the chainsaw on the shelf in the garage and pulled off my work gloves, tossing them aside before toeing off my boots and rushing into the house. I needed to finish removing that bush, but that would have to wait until later—preferably when my tempting-as-fuck neighbor wasn’t home.

That was exactly why I’d gone out there to do it earlier, because her car hadn’t been in her driveway. I assumed she’d be at work and I’d have a good few hours to clear out the bushes. But she’d come screaming up the driveway and jumped out of her car, dressed in the tiniest fucking yoga shorts I’d ever seen and a cropped tee.

There was no denying the woman was gorgeous, but with all that smooth, tanned, toned skin showing, it was damn near impossible to keep my tongue in my mouth. It was best if I just kept my distance.

I rounded the corner into the living room and found Darcy hanging over the back of the couch, her face pressed against the front window, staring in the direction of Sloane’s house.

“What are you doing?”

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