Chapter 1
“Oh yeah, get that box.”
Andrea rolled her eyes as she stood on her front porch with her neighbor, Mrs.Krantz, who lived to the right of her.The woman was currently eye ogling the new neighbor moving in.She was acting more like a horny teenage boy than a woman who was well into her eighties.
She had come over to Andrea’s house twenty minutes ago when a moving van showed up, and a man in his mid-thirties, by the look of it, got busy unloading the van.He was working in a plain white tank top and grey shorts.His muscles bulged as he bent down to lift a box from the ground, and his shorts hugged his well-formed ass.
Sweat glistened down his arms.The Florida heat was stifling already in the morning.The rain would come in the afternoon for a few minutes, but for now it was hot and muggy.
“Andrea, you should go over and introduce yourself.Or better yet, offer a hand.”She elbowed Andrea in the ribs and gave a wink.
“No thank you,” Andrea replied coolly while rubbing the now tender spot on her side.The man was handsome-looking, Andrea wasn’t blind, but the guy looked like a playboy.A heartbreaker.Not a care in the world.He had trouble written all over him.That wasn’t the kind of man she wanted in her life—not that she wanted one anyway.
“You never get out, dear.You’re so young and beautiful.I hate seeing you waste your life away.”Mrs.Krantz tsked her.
“I’m not wasting my life.I don’t need a man in my life to complete me,” Andrea responded, feeling defensive.Why did people think you needed a partner to be complete?She was just happy being alone.Well, content.She didn’t have anyone to answer to or argue with.Her life was quiet and simple.A partner complicated things.
“You don’t even have a pet.You have no one.”
Andrea knew she was alone in the world.She didn’t need her neighbor to point it out to her, but it didn’t bother her as it would most people.She had always been alone in life.“I work a crazy schedule.It wouldn’t be fair to a pet.”
“You’re a waitress at a bar; it’s not like you’re a stockbroker.”Mrs.Krantz waved her off.
That didn’t make her job any less important.“Maybe not, but all the money is made at night.Not ideal hours for a pet.”
“Good morning, ladies.”They both turned to see the new neighbor had stopped working and come over to them.He stood on the top step in front of her porch.Even a step down from her, he was taller than her.
Andrea was five foot seven.This man had to be well over six feet.He had sandy blond hair and an ugly-looking scar running up the side of his face, but it in no way diminished from his good looks.
His mouth was pulled into a wide grin as he removed his sunglasses.Aqua blue eyes that looked like the sea stared at her.Andrea felt a shiver steal down her spine.No man had ever looked at her like that before.
It wasn’t predatory but single-focus-minded, as if she was the only thing in the world.It was unnerving.
“Oh, hello.”Mrs.Krantz appeared flushed.
“I’ve just moved into the neighborhood and saw you two beautiful ladies standing here, and I thought I would introduce myself.I’m Michael Cawley.”He held his hand out for Mrs.Krantz to shake first.“I just moved in across the street.”
“Yes, we noticed.That was Mr.Stone’s house.Dear man, he lived there forty years before he passed.I’m Maya Krantz.I live here just next door.”She pointed to the right before she took his hand and stepped closer while dropping her voice an octave to say, “And may I say, welcome to the neighborhood.”
“Thank you, Mrs.Krantz.”He smiled warmly before his gaze slid to Andrea.“And you are?”
“Andrea Burns,” she replied flatly.Andrea would not be a simpering woman like Mrs.Krantz.
Michael stepped up on the porch and toward her, forcing her to tilt her head back to look at him.He reached out his hand and took hers into his, forcing her to shake it.His palm was rough and scratchy.“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”His voice rumbled like a purr.
Andrea extracted her hand and rubbed it on her shorts to wipe away the sweat.“What brings you to our city, Michael?”Andrea asked, not impressed by him in the least.His smile looked practiced.He knew the effect he had on most women—case in point, Mrs.Krantz—but Andrea wasn’t so easily fooled.
“Work, I got a job offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“Oh, and what do you do?”Mrs.Krantz asked.
“I’m an IT supervisor.”
“Funny, you don’t look like an IT rep.”Andrea gave him a once-over.He looked more like a bodyguard or something equal to requiring brute strength.His hand had been rough from callouses.Something she wouldn’t expect from a computer guy.The scar on his face didn’t look like a computer accident either, but she wasn’t rude enough to ask about it.
“Thank you.I like to keep in shape.”He flexed his biceps, nearly causing Mrs.Krantz to swoon.He was going to have to dial that kind of stuff down before he gave her a heart attack.
“You look more like a contractor than a businessman.”Mrs.Krantz’s eyes scanned over him as if he were a banquet feast to a starved person.
