And still, he stood there staring at me.
Wow, that really made me want to march over there and help him. But my momma didn’t raise me to be rude. Trudging across the snow, I was just about to his front steps when I slid on the ice for a fourth time, only this time, there was nowhere to catch myself.
Yelping, I was going down hard when a strong set of hands caught me by the arms just as I was about to bite the dust. Heart beating irrationally hard in my chest, I very slowly got my feet back under me, turning just enough to catch those gray eyes watching every move I made.
“Um…thank you,” I said, my words catching in my throat at the intensity pouring off him in waves.
The man exuded power or menace or…something. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but whatever it was, I had the feeling he would not be asking me over for tea and cookies.
“The door,” he grumbled.
“Right!” I laughed, realizing I was just staring at him like a creep instead of actually doing what I came over here to do. With his hand still wrapped around my arm, we made our way up the steps together, though I wasn’t getting helpful vibes from him. Itwas more like I was a nuisance that he didn’t want to have to deal with.
“Can I have the key?” I asked.
He placed it in my hand and I proceeded to show him the trick to unlocking the door. “See, you have to turn the key left first, then wiggle it a little before turning it right.”
It took a second, but the lock popped and the door opened. Turning to him, I grinned happily, only to receive a less-than-thrilled look in return.
“It’s sort of like a puzzle.”
He didn’t say anything.
“I guess if you don’t like puzzles, then you wouldn’t find this particular lock very interesting.”
Again, he was quiet.
“I, on the other hand, happen to love puzzles, so it fascinates me. Not that you care. Anyway, I’m going to go home and make dinner.” Setting the keys in his hand, I started to push around him. “Have a great night, and if you need help, you know where to find me.”
“Careful on the stairs,” he muttered.
“I’ve got this,” I grinned over my shoulder.
But I spoke too soon. The moment my foot hit the second stair, I was on the ground on my ass with a very sexy man staring down at me.
“You were saying?”
3
JR
Meetme at The Beaver and Boot
It had been three days without a single word from Archer. Not that I expected results the next day exactly. I knew all too well that if he was going to fix things, it was going to take some finesse.
Grabbing a coffee mug, I filled it to the top and headed out, yanking on the damn door that wouldn’t shut properly. It took me a solid minute to get the lock to latch, and when I turned around, I was greeted with the woman who talked to her vehicle.
“—okay, we’ll have you warmed up in no time.”
Frowning, I looked in her back seat, hoping and praying I had imagined the whole damn thing. Sadly, it was the same as the other day. There was no one there, and worse, she had named her vehicle Delilah.
“I’m so sorry to be so rough on you this morning. The ice is so thick, so you’ll have to excuse me for chipping away at you like this.”
I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t want to. I had to get out of here and figure out what was going on with Archer before I lostmy mind and ended up like the neighbor, talking to inanimate objects.
My hand was on the door and I was just about to escape in my truck when she called out to me.
“Oh, hey neighbor!”
