But this wasn’t going to go anywhere. For a lot of reasons, starting with the fact that she was way too young for him. Then there was the small detail that he had no plans on anything going anywhere with anyone.
At least that had been the plan before he’d moved next door to a certain now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t redhead.
Shaking the image of a disheveled Stephanie out of his head, he set the suntan lotion down on the workbench and decided this was a good time to exit. “You seem like a resourceful girl. I’m sure you can handle it. You have a good day now.”
With that he stepped into his house and shut the door behind him.
“You can run, but you can’t hide.” Her playful remark easily traveled through the thin wood separating them and he heard her flip-flops hitting the cement floor as she exited the garage.
He wasn’t running or hiding, that was his adorably sexy neighbor’s MO. He just had no idea why…
Chapter 3
“So, how long did you say you were staying?” Stephanie used her foot to drag the towel across the tile floor.
Growing up, it had always amazed her how much water ended up outside the shower stall whenever Simone bathed.
Some things never change.
“I didn’t,” her sister called out from the living room, where Stephanie assumed she was busy making the third mess of the day that she wouldn’t bother to clean. “But did I tell you Roger’s married and his wife is pregnant?”
Yes. She’d told her at least a dozen times. Her sister had an uncanny ability to get herself mixed up in love triangles. Stephanie wanted to believe it was unintentional, but there came a point where she had to face the fact that in all her sister’s romantic disasters there was one common denominator: Her sister.
“He keeps calling and texting me, did I tell you?”
“Yep.” Stephanie had been sound asleep at eight a.m., after she got home at three a.m. from her shift, and Simone had come in to show her a text she’d just received that declared his undying love.
The morning hadn’t gotten much better since then, starting with a cold shower thanks to Simone using all of the hot water. Then, on her way to the kitchen to get her first dose of caffeine and warm up, she’d tripped over a trail of clothes in the middle of the hallway. After picking them up and starting a load of wash she passed the hallway bathroom on her way to java heaven and noticed the small flood on the floor, which she was taking care of now.
“It’s going to be a good day,” Stephanie whispered under her breath. “A good day.”
For as long as she could remember, whenever things started feeling overwhelming, frustrating, or out of control she’d set an intention in an attempt to change the tides. Did it always work? Nope. But it also didn’t hurt, so she kept it up.
Once the floor was dry, the counter was wiped off, and the hair dryer was put away, Stephanie finally made it to her destination only to face disappointment when she arrived. Her coffee pot was on a timer and should be full of steaming hot liquid but it wasn’t. A quick check of the outlet revealed it was still plugged into the wall. At a loss, she grabbed the glass pot from the cradle that it sat in. That’s when she noticed a small amount of dark brown liquid residue on the bottom.
No.
Her sister definitely tilted towards self-involved and narcissistic on the personality scale, but she didn’t have a death wish. There was no way she would’ve drank all of the coffee.
“Where’s the coffee?” Stephanie heard the panic that tinged the edges of her voice.
Simone didn’t even glance up from her phone. “Oh, it was nasty so I tossed it. You need to get a Keurig.”
Deep breath. Her nostrils flared as she slowly inhaled through her nose. She was doing her best to remain calm, but the phrase “justifiable homicide” was playing in her mind on repeat. As tempted as she was to open her mouth and let her little sister know exactly how unacceptable her behavior was, she knew that would be a bad idea. Nothing good ever came from her addressing any issue before she’d had at least one cup of coffee.
Caffeine. She needed to get some caffeine in her body and then she would rationally talk to Simone. Not only about the early morning wake up call, the clothes in the hall, the water on the floor and the worst offense—by far!—the coffee “tossing,” but more importantly what exactly her little sister was doing here in the first place when she should be at school. Everything about this “surprise visit” was sitting wrong with Stephanie. Yes, her sister was going through a dramatic break-up, but that was just a normal Tuesday for her.
She started to make another pot of dark, liquid crack and in a matter of minutes, the delightful sounds of bubbling came and the delicious aroma of java filled the air. She inhaled slowly again, but this time it wasn’t done out of frustration, it was pure indulgence.
Was there anything better than the smell of coffee in the morning?
“So what’s up with hot neighbor guy?”
So yeah, there’s one thing better than the smell of coffee in the morning.
“What? Nothing. Why?” As soon as the words came out of her mouth she heard the defensiveness that was evident in each of them but prayed that her sister would be so involved with whatever was going on in her phone that she wouldn’t notice it.
“Whoa.” Simone popped up from lounging on the couch. Her lips formed a perfect ‘o’ and her eyes were doing their best saucer impression. “Are you guys a thing?!”
“Shhhhhh.” Stephanie glanced over her shoulder at the wall that she shared with Ace before once again facing her sister. Keeping her voice low she explained, “No, we’re not. I don’t even know him.”
“Why are you whispering? He can’t hear you.” Simone shook her head as her brow furrowed. To prove her point she continued speaking at a loud volume. “I met him yesterday. He actually rendered me speechless. Me. Speechless. Can you believe it?”
No. Not really.
She continued on, not waiting for a response. “He wasn’t real talkative either but with that body, those eyes, that smile and those dimples…” She fanned herself dramatically. “Well, words aren’t really necessary. He was mowing the lawn when I got here. Shirtless. And let me tell you, it was a sight to behold.”
Yep. She knew that sight all too well. It was burned into her memory.
Now that Simone mentioned it, Stephanie had noticed that the lawn looked freshly manicured when she’d gotten home last night, or this morning. Had he mowed her side of the property, too? He must’ve. Simone was allergic to manual labor so there was no way she’d done it. Although if anyone could inspire her sister to break a sweat it would surely be Ace and his aforementioned body.
Stephanie felt her cheeks flush at the thought of the washboard abs that had starred in her dreams for the past month…
It was time to change the subject. “How’s school going?”
Fall semester began four weeks ago and Stephanie was crossing her fingers and toes that her little sister hadn’t already thrown in the towel. She’d graduated from high school two years ago and it’d a taken a small miracle and a large bribe to get her to finally agree to go to college.
Her sister’s long, dark hair fell over her shoulder as she shrugged. “It’s whatever.”
That non-answer wasn’t exactly reassuring.
“More importantly,” Simone sat up on her heels and faced the kitchen, looking over the back of the couch expectantly. “What’s the four-one-one on tall, dark and sexy next door?”
Tall, dark and sexy…Yeah, that pretty much summed Ace up.
“I don’t know him.” Stephanie answered honestly.
Simone’s eyes narrowed. “How long has he lived next door?”
Five weeks, two days, and about eleven hours…give or take.
“A little over a month.”
“A month!” Simone pointed past Stephanie’s shoulder. “That gorgeous specimen of a man has been sleeping within a hundred yards of you for a month and you don’t know anything about him?
How is that even remotely possible?”
Easy. I’ve been avoiding him like the plague.
Now it was Stephanie’s turn to shrug. “I work. A lot.”
“You know what they say…” Simone wagged her brows. “All work and no play—”
“Pays the bills,” Stephanie inserted harshly.
Her sister winced. She hadn’t meant for her statement to sound so blunt and severe. Honestly, she didn’t resent the fact that she’d taken care of her siblings all of her life, but being called ‘boring’ or told that she ‘needed to go out more,’ ‘have fun’ and ‘lighten up’ was irritating. Especially since that’s all she wanted to do.
Simone’s posture straightened and her arms crossed in a defensive pose. “I told you I would get a part-time job. And I don’t have to be in school at all. I could work full-time and contribute.”
“School is your job right now,” Stephanie repeated the sentiment that she’d been spouting since her sister wanted to drop out of high school to start working her sophomore year.
They’d taken a ride around this conversation carousel more times than she could count and the last thing she wanted to do was climb on for another whirl.
“I’m an adult now. I am perfectly capable of supporting myself. You don’t have to take care of me anymore.”
“I know that. And I appreciate you offering to help out, but getting your education is all the help I need.”
And I do need to take care of you, she finished silently thinking of the messes she’d just cleaned up this morning.
“Fine. But I can get loans to help out with Scotty’s treatment.”
“No. Just go to school and focus on your studies.”
The last thing that she wanted was for her sister to be drowning in student loans when she graduated. Thankfully, Stephanie had been able to get academic scholarships to cover most of her own schooling so her student loans were manageable. And yes, things were tight, especially since their insurance only covered thirty percent of Scott’s new assisted living facility. But Stephanie would make it work. She always had and she always would. Somehow.
“Fine.” Simone pouted as she flopped back down on the couch with enough dramatic flair to give Meryl Streep a run for her money.
Stephanie wanted to follow-up with more questions about school, classes, grades, but she knew better. If her sister wanted to talk there was no way to shut her up, but if she didn’t there was no way to get her to open up. It was frustrating, but over the years she’d learned to deal with it.
The ding sounded announcing that the coffee was done and she wanted to cry she was so happy. After pouring herself a large cup Stephanie opened the refrigerator door and reached in to grab the creamer. When she lifted the cardboard container her heart dropped. It was empty.
She could feel her nostrils flare as she asked a question she already knew the answer to through clenched teeth. “Did you use all the creamer?”
“Maybe…I had to use a lot. I don’t even like creamer but I was trying anything to make it taste better. You really need a Keurig.”
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…she began counting down to one.
It was a coping mechanism that Scott had been taught when he was a pre-teen and was dealing with anger issues. When the behavioral therapist suggested it, Stephanie hadn’t had much faith that it would help, but it had. When Scott started getting agitated all she had to do was remind him to count and the majority of the time he was markedly calmer by the time he got to one.
Five, four, three, two, one, she finished. It hadn’t taken away all of her frustration but it’d definitely shaved the sharp corners off. She uncurled her fingers, which had balled tightly into fists and rolled the tension out of her shoulders.
Soon enough she would deal with her sister, but first she needed to deal with her coffee crisis. No cream meant she would need sugar. Lots and lots of sugar.
One tablespoon quickly turned into ten as she watched the granules dissolve in the dark liquid. Dipping the spoon, she stirred the brew then leaned over the kitchen island to toss the empty creamer into the trash. Instead of making the shot, the container bounced and landed on the floor. That’s when she saw that the garbage was overflowing with a pizza box, a two-liter, paper towels and an empty bag of chips.
Come on.
This entire morning had been like a nightmare flashback of her life before the twins had moved out. The endless cleaning, cooking and laundry. When she thought about her childhood, or lack thereof, Stephanie just went numb. She wasn’t sure if it was a defense mechanism or self-preservation, but whatever it was got triggered now.
Like a programmed robot Stephanie walked over, pulled the bag out of the bin, picked up the debris on the floor and walked out the screen door. The metal frame slammed behind her as she stalked out back to the garbage bin. When she didn’t see it in the small, cemented area on the side of her condo her emotions immediately blamed Simone, sure that somehow she was responsible for the missing bin, but then her brain reminded her that it was trash day.
The only problem was last night she hadn’t put the bin out in the street. After her twelve-hour shift turned into sixteen, she’d been half delirious by the time she’d made it home.
Lifting up on her toes, she peeked over the wooden slats of the fence and saw that, sure enough, her trash bin was sitting just off the curb at the end of her driveway and it wasn’t alone. Beside it sat tall, dark and sexy’s bin.
Her heart skipped at the sight of the two bins sitting side by side and she had to remind herself that he was her neighbor and she was getting excited about garbage cans. He lived next door to her and he did nice things like bring over her package, or saving her paper from the neighborhood cat that liked to use it as a chew toy, or apparently mowing her side of the lawn. He was being neighborly. Nothing more. He was being nice because it was what people that lived next to each other did. That was it. She wouldn’t allow her hormones or her emotions to read more into it. Move along heart, nothing to see here. They were neighbors. End of story.
Satisfied that she’d squashed any garbage bin inspired fantasies, she lifted the metal latch and pushed the gate open. After a quick scan of the front yard to make sure that Ace wasn’t in his garage so he wouldn’t see her with wet hair in cutoff sweats and a T-shirt, Stephanie double-timed it down the driveway and pulled her bin back up to the side of the condo. Just as she was closing the gate her eyes fell on the now lone bin.
Should she return the favor?
Her mind was weighing the risk-to-reward ratio. Every second that she spent outside there was a greater chance of another face-to-face, which she didn’t want to happen. On the flip side, it was the right—and neighborly—thing to do.
Her feet began moving, making the decision for her. Moments like these were when she wished the rude gene that allowed a person to be selfish hadn’t skipped over her. Her sister seemed to have gotten it, both of her parents certainly had, but not her.
Somehow the wheels on Ace’s trash bin sounded louder than hers as she tugged it up the concrete path that led to his back gate. She was probably being paranoid. Still, her heart raced with fear that she was going to get caught. Which was ridiculous considering she wasn’t doing anything wrong.
When she made it to her destination she clumsily pushed the bin to the left as she lifted up on her toes so she could reach over the wooden planks and unhook the latch. That’s when she heard a sound behind her and her heart slammed into her ribs like a crash test dummy against a wall.
Before she had a chance to turn a deep voice rumbled, “I can get that.”
A tanned, sculpted arm appeared beside her head, which was still facing away from the incredible body that the arm belonged to. Easily, he reached over the gate and pulled up the latch. The gate swung open and her heart began beating once again.
She knew that as soon as she turned around she would be face-to-face with tall, dark and sexy and that knowledge hit her with a sensual force that sent a flu
tter racing down her spine. Her heart began pounding with a vengeance against the ribcage it had just slammed into as she lowered down on her heels. Her body’s reaction was as embarrassing as it was invigorating. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt like this, if ever.
Ten, nine, eight…her countdown was still brought on by frustration but this time it was of the sexual variety. Slowly she pivoted towards the man that her brain knew was off-limits, but her body was screaming for her to, how did Misty put it…audition.
* * *
When Ace had heard the clunking sound of his trash bin outside his kitchen window, he’d looked out expecting to see Simone. She’d stopped by the night before with a large pizza and a twelve pack explaining that it was too much food and beer for her to finish on her own. She said she’d picked it up for dinner with her sister, but that her sister had ended up having to cover for an ER nurse that called out.
He’d politely declined her offer, claiming that he’d already eaten and had work to do. Disappointment registered on her face before she quickly replaced it with a flirty smile as she declared that he owed her a rain check, and with that she had headed back next door.
He was in shock that these two women were sisters. They seemed like polar opposites. But then, it dawned on him that people thought the same thing about him and Grant. Ace had inherited his Spanish mother’s dark hair and olive complexion. Her parents had emigrated from Spain and settled in Georgia where his grandparents had opened a successful café that they still ran to this day. The only trace of his father’s German heritage was in his striking blue eyes. Other than that, he was the spitting image of his maternal grandfather.
In contrast, his older brother looked like a surfer Ken doll come to life. From his blond hair to his impressive six-foot-four stature. And their differences didn’t stop there. Grant was the life of the party and Ace was more reserved. Grant was reckless and impulsive. Ace was measured and controlled.
All He Needs – Ace & Stephanie (Crossroads Book 10) Page 3