Page 26 of Boxer Next Door

After a few excruciating seconds, she nodded slowly, facing me properly with a small frown on her face.

“I do. I wanted to ask you, but I didn’t know how you’d take it…”

“Ask away,” I prompted. I needed to know if she had any objections to being with me. I was a coward, wanting to know how she felt so I wouldn’t face rejection.

“I wanted to know… exactly what that was? We… slept together, but how was it for you? Was it a one-time thing, or…?”

Her voice trailed off as her courage failed her, her cheeks brightening as she blushed, eyes falling to the table. But she’d taken the first step, and it was enough to get me to open up.

“I … don’t want it to be a one-time thing.”

Her eyes snapped back up to meet mine, opened wide. We stared at each other for a few seconds, then a smile lit her face, just as inviting as I’d been hoping for.

“I want that, too,” she admitted.

Then, suddenly acting shy, she looked down. She ate happily instead of just poking at her food, and I smiled at her and did the same. There was more we could have talked about, but I wanted to save anything intimate for later, now that I knew there would be a later.

“I have to get going,” she said when she was done with her meal, digging in her purse for some cash as she shot me an apologetic look. “I really can't afford to be late, or I’ll have my boss on my case.”

“It’s fine,” I said, waving a hand at her. “And you don’t have to worry about paying. I intruded on your break, the least I could do is pay.” Besides, I’d been done ages ago and was just waiting for her to finish because I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

She tried to insist on paying, but I was stubborn until finally, she had to go, or she’d be late. She sent me a mock glare as she went, ruining it by grinning before turning around and moving away at a fast walk. I watched until she disappeared, then went inside the café to pay for the meal instead of waiting for the waiter to come to me. I got my change and left.

“Hey!”

I looked up automatically at the call. It might not have been meant for me anyway, but there just outside the café’s entrance was a woman. I didn’t know her, but she was looking right at me with a frown. When I met her gaze, she stepped closer.

“Um… I’m sorry, do I know—?”

“Don’t get too close to that woman,” she said. “Did you know she killed her husband? Don’t let yourself be next.”

My jaw dropped, and I gaped at her. I didn’t know what she meant, and before I could gather my wits to ask, she was leaving. By the time I thought to go after her, she was out of my sight.

What the fuck?

12

Kenji

“Who the fuck was that?” I muttered to myself, frowning at the way the woman had gone.

There was no point in following after her. I didn’t see where she went once she was out of my sight, and I wasn’t in the mood to run around the place looking for her. My good mood had suddenly been ruined, and I cursed her in my mind. I stomped over to my car and jumped into the cab, slamming the door closed behind me.

What did she mean?

That was what bothered me, what I was trying hard not to think about. Of course, the only person she could have been talking about was Lydia… but that was impossible because I knew Lydia couldn’t be the kind of woman to do something like that. Her ex-husband was just a piece of shit that disappeared on them after he filed for divorce; it didn’t mean she’d killed him.

“Fuck,” I growled to myself, hitting my fist against the steering wheel.

I didn’t know who the woman was, and there was no way to find out. I couldn’t exactly take this to Lydia, and I didn’t know anyone else in the town, no one close enough to talk to. I moved here after purchasing the studio and the house because it was cheap, and I was going to get a new start.

This was not the start I’d wanted. The one woman I find myself attracted to in a long time… and she was a black widow?

Fuck that!

I’d lingered too long. I turned on the car and drove home. There was no point in wasting my time worrying about it by myself. Besides, it just wasn’t freaking possible, right? She would have been arrested, she’d be in jail. She was a lawyer! That had to mean it was impossible.

“That woman was just crazy, or jealous, or whatever,” I muttered to myself. “People rant about stupid shit all the time when it’s someone they don’t like. Just don’t listen to a thing she said, Ken.”