“I’m only looking out for you,” she said quickly.
“Oh,really.” His lips clamped together and a ball of muscle ticked in his jaw. “I’m sure that’s exactly what you’re doing.”
She had a feeling they could spar like this all day, but what would that accomplish? She needed to get back to her place to check on her bees. Maybe cut a few more flowers for tomorrow’s clients. Get things ready for the next day and tidy up her own house. There was an entire laundry list of items to cross off.
“Are we done here?” she asked, knowing they never truly would be.
“We’re done,” J.P. agreed, but his eyes trapped hers for a wordless moment that had her mouth going dry.
What was the proper way to part ways with an enemy? She was used to hugging her friends as they said their goodbyes. She’d never had an adversary like this before. Stomping off—though satisfying—was a level of immaturity she didn’t care to stoop to.
Instead, she flashed a smug grin and flipped her ponytail over her shoulder before spinning on her heel and hightailing it down the sidewalk toward her parked car.
Had she really just done that? Embarrassment crept up her neck until her face flamed with heat. Then, against her better judgment, she chanced a peek over her shoulder. Sure enough, J.P. was rooted in place, evidently not expecting her swift and wordless departure.
But what Nora didn’t expect was the coy grin tugging at that arrogant mouth, nor the way it made her stomach tremble with what she could only describe as a swarm of butterflies.
Turned out, J.P. wasn’t the only one with a bug problem.
The buzzeron the microwave trilled three punctuated times. Another previously frozen meal was nothing to get excited about. Nora took her time finishing up the chapter in her romance novel and tucked a receipt between the pages as a bookmark.
The microwave chimed again.
“I’m coming. I’m coming,” she grumbled as she lifted out of the oversized armchair in the front room to weave her way into the kitchen. She rarely talked to household appliances, and shereallynever took this sort of frustrated tone with them.
Once again, J.P. was to blame. She’d become so sour. So edgy.
Food could help take the edge off, but she’d need more than a microwaved meal to cheer her up.
Yoga. That always lowered her heart rate and eased her anxieties.
After she finished her dinner, she would find her mat and set up in the flower garden by her hives. Sure, it was still ninety degrees, but hot yoga was a thing. Maybe a little sweating would do her good? Like a detox of sorts.
She needed a J.P. detox, but the guy kept popping up in her periphery wherever she went.
She knew the whole milkshake run-in was her fault. Her attention had been on her phone and a text from one of her newer clients, Pearl, asking if Nora had any availability in her schedule to clean her son’s one-bedroom apartment.
She’d typed Pearl back that she could clean his place first thing in the morning, punching out the reply with one hand while the other gripped the last of her milkshake. Not securely enough, apparently.
Nora had been shuffling around her calendar when she’d collided with J.P.’s back. His incredibly solid back. Goodness, the man was toned. Why that angered her, she couldn’t pinpoint.
It was a miracle the ice cream hadn’t soiled her outfit too.
She realized it appeared deliberate, but it wasn’t like she would actually throw food at the guy. Her words. An angry look. Those things she tossed out freely, but a food fight was childish.
Actually,allof it was childish.
Even Connor hadn’t brought out this much ugliness. But then again, Connor didn’t bring out much of anything. Their relationship was less than exciting, and their breakup, though disappointing, had come as a relief. It was the end of a long, boring, and unhealthy chapter.
But things with J.P.? Unfortunately, they were just beginning, and they were anything but boring.
Nora ate the bland microwave meal at the kitchen island while her cat, Rosie, lapped at a bowl of water on the linoleum next to her. Rosie was good company. She’d shown up as a stray years earlier and quickly made the property her home, proving her worth as the best mouser around.
Connor had been terribly allergic. Each time he would come by, it didn’t matter if the cat was in the back of the property chasing rodents or lounging in a front porch rocker, he would start in with a sneezing fit that exhausted his energy and patience. Goodness, he hated cats.
Nora had been indifferent to them, but Rosie quickly grew on her. And, as terrible as it was, Connor’s contempt for the feline only made Nora’s feelings for it increase.
J.P. probably hated cats too. He seemed like the type of man to turn up his nose at an animal that made you earn its love. Nora thought she remembered seeing a dog sniffing around the place when J.P.’s truck was there, bumbling about all happy and go lucky. Poor creature, to have to live with such a grumpy man.
