Her shoulders practically wilted with the relief that crashed through her. She wasn’t sure what to make of this awkward, intense feeling pulsating between them.
“Earth to Leah,” Caleb said.
“What? Oh!” She gave her head a light shake. “Um, just normal things. Like where did you live before you moved into the neighborhood?”
“Well, I’m originally from D.C., but I moved to Trenton about six years ago, and then to Summit. Job transfer,” he explained.
“And that job is?”
He hesitated for a moment before answering. “I’m a detective with the DCJ. That’s the Department of Criminal Justice.”
Leah nodded. “I thought so, but I didn’t want to come right out and ask.”
“Why not?”
She peeked over at him, a rueful smile edging up the corner of her mouth. “I didn’t want you to think I was nosy, as well as a thief.”
His forehead narrowed, but them he tipped his head back with a laugh. “You’re talking about the basil.”
“Yes,” Leah said. “The great basil incident shall forever live in infamy.”
She flushed with embarrassment just thinking about the first time they met, when Caleb had walked into his backyard and caught her picking off basil leaves from his herb garden.
Except Leah didn’t know it washisherb garden.
She’d started caring for the garden after the previous owners moved out, and often went next door when she needed herbs. She’d crept over one morning to pick some fresh basil for her omelet, dressed in pajamas and a raggedy bathrobe that stopped at the knee. She’d been bent over the herb garden when she heard someone clearing his throat. The throat clearing had been followed by a deep voice asking if he could help her.
Leah had been forced to stand there in her unmentionables and explain that she wasn’t stealing—not technically, since without her caretaking the herbs would have died. Thankfully, her new neighbor had been a good sport about it.
Her humiliation had been complete when she returned to the house only to discover that she still had patches of the mud mask she’d used earlier that morning dotting her face. She’d avoided running into Caleb for two solid weeks following the incident, but then she found a bunch of freshly picked herbs wrapped in a paper towel on her back steps. He continued to leave her fresh herbs to this day.
She might not know much about him, but one thing Leahdidknow was that Caleb was incredibly sweet.
It begged the question…
“There’s something that doesn’t make much sense to me,” Leah said.
“What’s that?”
“Whydon’tyou have a girlfriend?”
* * *
Caleb staredout at the lake for several moments, unsure how to answer her question. He could tell her the truth, that his last two serious relationships had collapsed under the strain of his stressful job, and that since his breakup with Marlena a year and a half ago he hadn’t bothered to get back on the dating scene because he was perfectly content using his beautiful neighbor as fantasy fodder. For some reason, he didn’t think that would go over well.
Instead, Caleb settled for the partial truth.
“I just haven’t had the time,” he said.
“It doesn’t take all that much time these days.” She grinned. “All you have to do is swipe right on your phone.”
He huffed out a laugh, shaking his head. “I’m not looking for a quick hookup. I did enough of that in my twenties.”
She wiggled her brows. “A player, huh?”
“I don’t think I ever reached bonafide ‘player’ status—if there is such a thing—but I dated a lot more back then.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Once I bought the house it was as if something clicked. Like it was finally time for me to settle down.”
He stood up and dusted the flaky bark from the back of his jeans. Leah did the same. She slipped her hands in her back pockets, the pose causing her breasts to thrust forward. Caleb’s mouth watered.
