Page 9 of Detective Daddy Next Door

I haven't seen Ava since the week before. We've talked on the phone, but I feel like this conversation will be better in person. As I settle at the kitchen counter, the story of my escapade hangs loosely on the edge of my lips.

"I had sex," I blurt out.

She stops dancing. "Huh? With who? The last time I checked, you didn't have a boyfriend and you weren't even into anyone."

"It happened in Vegas."

"Your trip to Vegas? Is it an ex? Please tell me it's not Chad. I may not know him, but you said he was horrible to you."

I shake my head. "It's not him. It's a stranger. A crazy stranger."

"Why would you have sex with a crazy stranger?" she asks, knitting her brows together.

"I didn't know he was crazy at the time. And, oh my God, the sex was so good."

"Crazy people give good sex. I would know."

"He wasn't crazy at the time. At least, he didn't look like he was."

She's staring at me intensely.

I sigh. "Guess what he just did? He's stalking me."

"That pussy good," she says and winks.

"This is not a joke, Ava. He just moved in next door to me."

"What? He moved in next to your house?"

I nod slowly. "I'm scared."

"You're the one who had sex with a crazy person. This is why I preach abstinence."

"Stop joking! This is serious."

She purses her lips. "Maybe you're overreacting. Maybe it's a coincidence."

"A coincidence? The random stranger I had sex with in Vegas moves in next door to me. A man who doesn't even know my last name. A man I didn't give my number to."

"There has to be an explanation," Ava says, licking soup off her palm. "I hope you don't end up on a crime show.”

I frown at her and she laughs. "Chill, we'll find out who he is, okay? Trust me."

On Monday morning, I'm hurrying out of the house because I woke up late. Ava and I stayed up watching movies late into the night. She’d come over to watch the other house, to catch a glimpse of the crazy man. To see what we could find out about the stalker next door. But when we didn't see him, she decided she'd help by asking the real estate agent who handles the lease. She was the one who woke me up this morning and then rushed off to her house to get ready for work.

I'm ten minutes late already. I run outside before I realize I didn't check to see if anyone was in front of the house next door first. But it's too late, because someone is coming out of the house, and this person has seen me. I try to play it cool. He steps out with a little girl in tow and a middle-aged woman following behind them.

He slows down when he recognizes me, his eyebrows slowly knitting together. Seeing him up close again brings the memories from our night together back in full force. He's wearing a form-fitting T-shirt, and his chest is just as solid as it was the first time I saw him. Now I can see his face properly in the light of day. The first time I saw him in the lobby, I got just little disjointed glances at his face. And that night, his features were shrouded in mystery, aided by the night. Looking at him now, I can see he's even more handsome than I thought he was.

As he moves closer, I notice his full brows that sit atop his dark brown eyes that crinkle at the corners. I don't move as I stare at him, wondering why someone I can't stand is so gorgeous. His lips are sexy in a James Bond type of way. The left side has amusement written on it while the right side is expressionless.

"Well, well, well. Look who's stalking me."

His words bring me back out of the trance I've drifted into. What? Stalk? Me? Who is the stalker here?

"I moved in before you, so I'm not the stalker here. You're the one stalking me."

He tilts his head. "Stalk you? You must be mistaken. When I rented this house, I didn't even know you lived next door."

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