Page 6 of Second First Kiss

“We hate each other.”

“Hate is a strong word.”

“Loathe. Dislike. Detest. Irritate. Annoy. Abhor.” His smile hitched higher with every word. “I give Tiny Dancer a treat when he poops in your yard. I steal your tomatoes in the summer. I reported you to the Community Board last month because your sequoia dropped pine needles on my property. I blow my leaves onto your lawn in the fall and shovel snow on your side of the easement in the winter.”

“That’s an awful lot of effort for someone you loathe, dislike, detest, irritate, and annoy.”

“Don’t forget abhor.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t started pulling my pigtails,” he said, lowering his voice to intimate levels.

“We’re at war. I’m not wooing you,” she said, but he didn’t look convinced. “Is there tension between us? Sure. We’re both attractive people so there might be a tiny bit of chemistry.” That was the understatement of the year. When they were together the air crackled. Then he’d open his mouth and say something that brought out his letter-of-the-law nature and she’d be reminded that he saw the world in black and white and she’d learned to survive in the gray. “But we aren’t going there.”

“I know,” he stated with so much certainty she wanted to knee him in the nuts. She was the one to shut things down, but for some reason hearing him agree made her stomach pinch.

“Then why are you watching me take out the trash?” she asked.

He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Hard not to when you do it every time I leave for a shift. Like clockwork,” he said. “Almost as if you want me to watch.” He reached out and ran the pad of his thumb down her jawline. “Do you want me to watch, Kitten?”

Did she? She never used to wear her silky pj’s until Nolan moved next door. But that was just a coincidence, right? It had to be.

“What a total guy thing to say. I know this will probably blow your mind, but it’s not all about you, Nolan. Did you ever think that maybe I wear them for me? Or maybe I had an overnight guest, and I wore them for him.”

Nolan’s nostrils flared and his mouth went into a tight, unhappy line. Perhaps he’s the one who wanted to pull her pigtails.

“Maybe.” He casually lifted one massive shoulder and let it fall. “Maybe not.”

She threw her hands in the air. “Oh my god. Next are you going to mansplain the nonverbal signals around wearing pajamas in the morning?”

“I could. How about tomorrow morning over coffee?”

Kat would rather drink from a gas station toilet than share her morning coffee with Nolan. She opened her mouth to tell him exactly that, but nothing came out. She cleared her throat and tried again, but only a strangled breath escaped, turning to mist in the chilled air. The air might have been chilly, but her body was reacting as if she were a nuclear plant in the middle of a meltdown.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Cat got your tongue, Kat?”

“Clever. Did you come up with that all on your own?”

“I have others I can share with you while I make you my famous frittata.”

She couldn’t tell if he was being serious or just yanking her chain. The bigger mystery was, did she want him to be serious?

Kat loved men. The breadth of their shoulders, the smell of testosterone, their rough and capable hands. Nolan had all of those in spades, but they drove each other crazy—and not in a good way. He was a groom in bachelor’s clothing and her grumpy neighbor. Not to mention her friend’s soon to be brother-in-law. So when her joke of a kiss a few months back sparked something deeper, she’d turned tail. And he knew it.

“What happened to I know?”

Before he could answer, a shrill ring cut through the night, but neither of them moved. It was as if she were stuck in some kind of hormone-charged standoff with her sexy and insufferable neighbor. Without breaking eye contact, she pulled her phone out and answered.

“Hello?” she said without looking at the screen.

“Kat?” A guilt-filled voice came through the phone.

It was Tessa. Who would rather die than actually talk on the phone. Who was supposed to be home in ten minutes and hadn’t appeared from the woods. Who Kat was supposed to be focusing on instead of sparring with her sexy and insufferable neighbor.

“If you’re calling to extend your curfew, the answer is a big, fat hells-to-the-no.”

She could hear Tessa take in a big gulp of air. “I know you’re going to be mad at me. So mad. But you promised that if I ever needed you that you’d pick me up, no questions asked. Are you going to keep your promise?”

Kat’s smile vanished and as if sensing that something was off, Nolan’s posture went from competitive to protective. “Always,” she said.

---