CHAPTER 1
Aspen
He’s out there again. Like a gorgeous animal pacing around the yard next door and waving his arms around like a nut while he yells into a phone.
He’s intoxicating. Wild and big and…
I jerk up as his eyes find me staring at him through my window. I duck down under the windowsill, practically gluing my ass to the floor, breathless, my heart pounding like a wild thing trying to escape my chest.
Maybe he didn’t see me. Maybe….
Tap, tap, tap.
I lift my head and look behind me through the glass. Only to find he’s staring at me through the window, grinning. His big hand waves at me and then he points to my front door. Gnawing my lip, I shuffle to the it, patting at my hair and trying to ignore the fact that I look like I’ve been dragged through a bush and he caught me spying on him.
Sighing, I open the door. Another great impression.
“Hey, Aspen. Sorry to bug you. I know you’re probably working on something but I’ve got to go into town and grab Charlie from school. She’s sick but I’m waiting on a delivery for Christmas for her. I want to make sure that it gets here on timeand I have to sign for it. So…could you come over to my place and sign for it if they show up? I wouldn’t bug you but it’s the only thing that Charlie really asked for this year and it’s been such a mess since I retired that I can’t bear to break her heart.”
My eyes widen and I grin. “How did you manage to say all that in one breath?”
“I’m an athlete. Good breath control.”
He smirks at me and runs his long fingers through his dark hair. “So can you keep an eye out for me?”
I nod and pick my coat up from the chair by the door I always throw it into. “Sure. Just give me a few minutes to get things locked up over here.”
“Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”
He jogs back across the path that leads to his large house in the woods. We’re the only two up here and my little cottage is probably too close to his big house but he’s never complained.
He should. I’m a complete creeper every time he’s outside. I’ve seen him playing with his daughter, Charlie. I’ve watched with my tongue hanging out when he washes his huge SUV. Over the summer, he’d take his t-shirt off and mop his forehead and across his dark, glistening hair and it took all I had to walk away from that window.
He’s a superb specimen of man and as an artist my fingers tingle with the urge to trace all those muscles. At least that’s what I’m going to admit I want to trace them with.
Shaking my head, I straighten my spine.
I need to get my head straightened out. There’s no way that a man like Sebastian Monroe could possibly be interested in me.
My last boyfriend made his feelings known when he left. In a snit because I wouldn’t put out after three months of “work” on his part. I think that that’s pretty damn offensive of him to say.
Like I owed him for taking me out and buying me dinner a few times. Please.
Flushing, I lock my door and head over to his house from the rough path that joins our two properties, putting my head back and staring at a bluejay that’s hollering from the trees.
“Jeez, buddy. Relax.”
The bird screeches back at me and then flies away. My neck cranes back to watch him fly away, my lips curling into a soft smile.
“Aspen!”
“Aargh!”I scream and jerk backwards, closing my eyes, knowing I’m about to hit the dirt hard.
But it never happens. I’m jerked hard into a muscular pair of arms and I land, smashed against a chest like solid rock that smells like the most delicious spice and pine. My head spins and I feel like I’m on fire.
Drawing in a deep breath, I slowly open my eyes, my whole body radiating furnace-level heat, pressed against Sebastian. My hand comes up, my fingers grasping at his coat, burrowing into the soft , warm material.
“Are you alright, Aspen?”
