“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She held up both hands, heat flooding her cheeks. “Nobody’s setting anyone up. I was just trying to welcome the local wildlife, and Flora suggested?—”
Oh no.The impact of what she’d done swept over her and her hands flew to her burning cheeks. “I’m so sorry. Truly. I wasn’t trying to mock you or… or stereotype you, or whatever you’re thinking. I had no idea who you were.”
His ears twitched almost imperceptibly.
“Flora thinks she’s clever,” he said. His voice was still cold, but something in it had shifted. “She thinks this is funny.”
“It wasn’t meant as a joke,” she said. “Honestly. She kept talking about bunnies, and I thought she meant actual bunnies.” She gestured vaguely towards the overgrown garden. “You know. The fluffy, twitchy-nose kind.”
He stared at her for a long moment, his blue eyes unreadable. A muscle twitched in his jaw. Then, he let out a short, sharp breath that might have been a laugh in a different life.
“I’m not fluffy,” he said, but the harshness was gone, replaced by a weary resignation that made him seem less like a scary, irate Other and more like a tired male. A very large, very attractive, very furry male, who looked like he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in about a decade.
“You smell like sugar,” he added abruptly.
“I—what?”
“Sugar. Vanilla.” His nostrils flared slightly. “Baked goods.”
“I made brownies last night.” Baking them had been both a way to relieve her stress about the move and a promise to herself that this time things would be different. “Are you… smelling me?”
The tips of his ears flushed pink beneath the grey fur.
“I have sensitive noses,” he said stiffly. “I wasn’t intentional. You just—” He cut himself off, jaw tightening. “Never mind.”
She let it drop, determined to try and save the situation. The last thing she wanted was an angry neighbor.
“Look,” she said, “can we start over? Without the bunny food?”
He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Start over how?”
“Hi.” She smiled and stuck out her hand again. “I’m Sara Cartwright. I just moved in next door, and I promise not to scatter anymore rabbit food in my garden.”
He stared at her hand for a long moment before he finally took it. His palm was warm and callused and large enough to completely engulf hers. The fur on the back of his hand was incredibly soft, tickling against her skin.
“Ben Holloway,” he said. The words came out like he was being forced to speak them at gunpoint. “Welcome to Fairhaven Falls. Stay off my lawn.”
He released her hand abruptly and turned away, stalking back to his house through a gate in the fence. The gate had been integrated so seamlessly with the rest of the fence that she hadn’t even seen it before.
A grumpy bastard,Flora had said.With a good heart.
Flora had certainly been right about the first part. She might have been right about the second part as well, but Sara suspected that the walls around Ben’s heart were as tall and impenetrable as the walls around his garden.
“Bunny food,” she muttered, still cringing with embarrassment. “I offered a rabbit Other bunny food.”
At least I made an impression.
Back inside her cottage, she poured herself more of Flora’s mysterious starlight wine and sank onto her couch. She needed to finish unpacking, find a grocery store, and prepare for class on Monday.
But right now, she was going to drink strange wine, stare at the ceiling of her new home, and try very hard not to think about the way Ben’s hand had felt wrapped around hers. Warm fur and rough calluses and a strength that made something deep inside her sit up and take notice.
Don’t even think about it,she told herself.I came here to build a life, not to get involved with a grumpy bunny who told me to stay off his lawn.
She spent the rest of the day turning her small house into a home. By evening, her clothes were in the closet, her books were on the shelves, and her collection of colorful pillows and throws was artfully arranged on the couch and chairs. Too tired to cook, she had Flora’s bread and jam for dinner, and by nine o’clock, she was fast asleep in her new bed, dreaming of broad shoulders and soft fur and bright blue eyes that looked right through her.
CHAPTER 2
Ben stood in the darkness of his living room, the only light coming from the moon reflecting off the new snow in his backyard. He was holding a glass of whiskey, the ice melting into amber despair, and he was trying very hard not to think about his new neighbor. The house next door was dark except for a golden glow from the small lamp on the table in front of the uncovered window.
