“Shit! Shit, shit, shit. No, no, I’m fine. Just my nosy neighbor stalking me.”
“I was…I heard Smitty…” I lost my thought as I saw Claire and her raccoon eyes. She had rings of eye makeup under her puffy eyes, her nose bright red and her cheeks still wet.
“Listen, Laurie, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I’m fine. It was a hard night, but really, it’s okay. Thanks for going with me.”
She disconnected the call and eyed me up, snatching the rock and the key from my hand. “What are you, breaking and entering now? First, my missing lightbulb, now what? You wanted to sniff my panties or something like that?”
I admired her ability to make a joke when she was obviously in a tremendous amount of pain, but I suspected it was more of a defense mechanism than anything else.
“You caught me!” I held my hands in the air.
“It’s not funny. I don’t get what you want with me.Shit, I keep saying that. Every time I see you. So, what is it? What do you want?”
I took in her jeans, a hole in one knee, and her black T-shirt. Probably a C cup and with beautiful rounded hips, Claire was most certainlya looker.I sounded like my dad for a quick second.
Her jeans clung to every curve. With her silky hair tied up in a messy knot and her makeup practically cried off, her cheeks ruddy, she looked closer to thirty, but I knew she was older than that.
“I’m waiting.” She went to stick the spare key in the door.
“Honestly, Smitty was staring at me from the window. He wanted to hang,” I said like an idiot. It wasn’t time for jokes.
“Sure, he was. Let’s ask him,” she flung back, opening the door so he could come barreling out.
I made note that she didn’t turn off an alarm.
Smitty bolted, immediately sniffing my toes, then rubbing his head against Claire’s leg.
Lucky dog.
“You all right?”
“Yep. As good as ever.” Claire refused to look at me.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“Not really.”
Smitty ran down the steps and lifted his leg on a bush and was back before I could think of what else to say.
“You sure? I don’t have anything better to do.”
“Let it go, Aiken. It’s been a long day, a bad day. Tomorrow’ll be better. Please…I’m sorry I’m so prickly. It’s been a rough one.” Her words ran together, eyes downcast, her brow wrinkled. I’d never wanted a woman more.
Problem was, I also wanted to comfort her, console her.
“Come on.” I gently gripped her elbow, opened the door, and guided her inside, Smitty on our heels. “I can’t let you go inside alone like this.”
“Such a gentleman. I’m fine, used to it, and you’re…I don’t even know what.”
“Neighbor. Potential friend. More?”
“I’m not in the mood for silly jokes, funny boy.”
Wanting to say,You started it, I decided against it.
She plopped onto a high-back barstool. The back door led directly into the kitchen. It was an old-fashioned one: white Formica countertops, black and white diamond floor tiles, red backsplash. It reminded me of a diner, especially the red leatherette underneath Claire’s ass.
Claire’s ass, which was doing an excellent job of drawing my attention, but so was her broken heart.
