I growl. Poisoning is too good for her ex.
I walk the other way. I need time to think, but it doesn’t take long, so I double back a few blocks later.
When Skylar returns home, I’m waiting on her front porch. “The store opening is next weekend?”
Startled, she stops on the stone path. “How do you know?”
“I googled new board game stores and found his,” I say.
“Oh. Impressive.”
“Not really. I’m determined.” I hold her gaze. “If you don’t want to go to it, no problem. But if you decide to go…” I pause for effect. “I’ll be your date.”
15
SEXY FROG
SKYLAR
Did my hot-as-hell, lucky-yellow-shorts-wearing, sun-saluting, stern-but-secretly-sweet, gruff-but-incredibly-giving, dog-loving, aspiring-assassin neighbor just ask me out?
“For the poisoning?” I ask, blinking…in shock, I think?
Yes, my heart is slamming against my rib cage. My skin is as hot as a forest fire. And my chest is tingling.
Wait, nope, you dumbass, that’s not shock. That’s—gasp—arousal.
Because…Ford Devon asked me on a date. Whether it’s a poisoning date or not, who cares?
“We can bring a plant. Just for fun though,” Ford adds, like he needs to keep the hitwoman in me in check. He rises from the stairs and strides closer while keeping Zamboni far, far away from Simon, who’s wiggling on his leash like his tail is a high-speed metronome.
“Right. For fun.” My head spins as I try to process this twist in my morning.
I drag a hand through my…ugh. The nest on my head. My hair is twisted into a messy bun, and I really need to remember to dress better for dog walks. Pretty sure that’s one of the rules of having a sexy neighbor. You can no longer leave your house looking like you just rolled out of bed. Mascara is a must. Brushes are your friend.
“Yes, for fun, because that would be the point. To walk into his store opening that the prick invited you to and show him how much fun you’re having without him.”
Ford has a look in his eyes like he’s ready to plow down any defenseman in his way on the ice. The idea is enticing, but my brain snags on one detail. How does he know I was invited?
Then, it hits me. “Oh! You must’ve heard me talking to Mabel when I was leaving the house.”
“You were speaking kind of loudly, so I don’t think it counts as eavesdropping.”
“You’re right. It’s not eavesdropping when somebody is ranting at their bestie. That’s fair game,” I say.
But…does spying from a catio as someone works out come under the fair game umbrella? Do I need to tell him about that? I came close to confessing last night. I nearly blurted out all my voyeuristic transgressions. Then he was touching my chin and kissing my forehead, and I’m pretty sure my brain turned to pudding.
“And it’s also fair game to take you on a date in front of your dickhead ex.Landon,” Ford says, his lips twisting when he says Landon’s name, then twitching up into a grin, as if he really likes the idea of…taking me on a date. My stomach flips in the best of ways. I think I truly like the idea too.
But I want to be sure I’m understanding him correctly. “Supposedly, there will be some press there. Well, from that neighborhood site that covered him already. You want to take me on a date to his store? Like a fake date?” Iask to clarify, while Simon tugs on his leash, desperately trying to say hi to the Shepherd Corgi.
The look on Ford’s face could be entered in a contest to define the wordflummoxed,as if he didn’t entirely think this date through. But then he asks, with some concern, “Did I just break a neighbor rule? Or a client-designer relationship rule? No fake dates?”
“No, that’s not a rule. Neither of those are rules,” I say in a rush, because he’d better not take back a date, fake or real. I’d be crossing Adam’s don’t-date-a-neighbor line, but Adam doesn’t have to know about this fake real date. Or this real fake date.
Whatever it is, it’s mine, all mine.
“It’s been a crazy morning. I’ve gone from an invitation to gaze at my name underneath the carpet at the board game store to the suggestion I attend the opening with my neighbor, and his biceps, Dedication and Focus.”
