by Ellie Hall
12
Connor
This was not a date, and I knew Melissa felt the same way, because she’d elbowed me out of the way to pay for her sandwich and chips herself. I should have been relieved by that, but all I felt was guilt over her accusation about us not being friends. Yes, I had my reasons for keeping my prickly distance, but she didn’t know that. And worse, I was starting to wonder if my reasoning had ever been valid. I needed to know things.
“Tell me about your witness protection fiancé.”
“No.” Melissa put down her sandwich and stared me down. “I had a question for you, and you’ll answer it first before you get anything from me.” She picked up her sandwich again and took another bite, sighing with contentment. She liked her sandwich a lot more than me at the moment, even though I’d brought her to my favorite deli, which was now her favorite deli. I knew she’d like the checkered table cloths and the baby farm animal décor. I just liked it for the amazing sandwiches.
“I didn’t tell Rob you weren’t attractive because I thought you… weren’t attractive.” I cleared my throat as my face heated. Now I had her attention. “I told him that because most women find him a little forward. I was trying to spare you an uncomfortable come-on from him. So, when he asked about you, I threw him off the scent, so to speak.”
Melissa studied me. Several reactions crossed her face, but she didn’t say anything.
“Had I known you would insult his bongo skills in front of all his friends on first meeting him, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
Melissa laughed. “Yeah… He’s still a little ticked off about that. But he did invite me in for a smoothie right before you came to the door.”
“His smoothies are the worst. You definitely dodged a bullet there.”
“By going out with you instead?”
“Yeah, I guess it is sad when I’m your best option.” I stole a potato chip out of her bag, just to clinch my point.
“You don’t scare me, Connor Harwood.”
“I was afraid of that.”
She crossed her arms and sat back. “Because of Natalya?”
“She’s definitely made me cautious when it comes to women.”
“Are you afraid I’m just like her, or are you afraid you’ll have to hang out with her again if the two of us are friends?”
“Both?” I’d have to tread carefully here. “Tell me about your fiancé.”
“No.” She balled up her now-empty chip bag like it had personally offended her. “Your curiosity is not a good enough reason to open up to you, Connor. I’m not telling you just so you can be amused by it.”
“I’m sorry.” And I was sorry. I’d given her no reason to trust me, and the only reason I wanted to know was so I could either confirm that she’d driven a man to run, or come up with a new conclusion.
But the more I got to know Melissa, the less likely it seemed that anyone would purposely run away from her. Maybe she did have a fiancé in the witness protection program after all. Maybe she really was eternally ‘not single.’ The thought filled me with more dread than thinking she might be stalker material.
I was pressing my luck, but I had one more question. “Do you still love him?”
Melissa’s eyes narrowed, and she leaned across the table. “Why do I get the feeling you have a hard time hearing ‘no’?”
There was no point in answering that. She already had me pegged. “Ready for ice cream? There’s a great place right across the park next door. We could walk.”
Melissa’s mouth opened to tell me no, but she paused and stared at me. “Yeah, okay. I never turn down ice cream.”
“Me either.”
13
Melissa
Connor and I traded off sprinkler duty, and for the rest of the week, he found an excuse to come over every evening after I got home from work. It was like he took my accusation about us not being friends as a personal challenge. The first night, he claimed he needed a break from the bongo drums. That, I could understand. We made tacos together while I introduced him to Investigation Miami.
The next night he claimed he couldn’t watch the next episode of Investigation Miami without me.
By the third night, I just left my door unlocked and texted him to bring dessert. Yes, we’d exchanged numbers. But we didn’t talk about being friends. We didn’t touch, not even in passing while we cooked. We just co-existed while whatever battle he was fighting in his head raged on.
For some reason, he was hung up on the fiancé thing, and I couldn’t decide whether it was because I wouldn’t tell him what he wanted to know or because he assumed I was engaged and wanted to keep certain boundaries in place.
Natalya wanted to go to dinner and a movie on Saturday night, so I texted Connor to let him know I wouldn’t be home.
He offered to feed my dogs and keep them company while I was gone. I had no idea how far that commitment went until I came in the door at eleven and he was sitting on my couch with Buster dozing on his lap. The coffee table was covered in thick stapled paper packets.
“What are you doing?”
Connor reached up and stretched, showing off his very fine triceps. Not that I was paying attention to them… much. “I’m deciding which dental practice to join up with. These are the offers.”
“Oh.” I sat down next to him and listened while he went through the pros and cons of each.
“It sounds like a good dilemma to have, to be honest.” I was impressed that three different dental practices wanted him.
“Yeah. I guess it is.” He put down the packet in his hands and turned to study me. “You smell like movie theater popcorn.”
“Guilty. I almost finished off a whole bucket.”
His smile at my words warmed every part of me, but it also shifted the precariously balanced friendship boat we were sitting in. I should be annoyed that he was here, but all I could think about was how much I wanted to be near him. Really near him. Not sitting and chatting, but having his hand on my knee, or his arm around my shoulder, or even an accidental brush of our hands. The butterflies gathering dust in the pit of my stomach would take just about any hint of excitement, no matter how small. But I would not make the first move. At this point, it was a matter of principle.
“I’ll let you have your house back.” He carefully lifted Buster off his lap and placed him on the rug at our feet. The dog let out a funny little snore, but otherwise didn’t notice the change in location. “Oh, what movie did you end up seeing?” Connor asked.
“Love is for Suckers. It was Natalya’s pick.”
“How was it?”
“Meh. I would have preferred to watch dinosaurs eat people.”
Connor put a hand to his chest. “A woman after my own heart.”
“You are impressed by the dumbest things.”
“You have no idea.”
I stood and went to get the door for him. It just seemed important at the moment to let him think I wanted him to leave. While he took his time gathering his paper packets, I glanced around and noticed he’d cleaned up my kitchen. It wasn’t like I’d left a sink full of dirty dishes or anything, but he’d scoured the rice pan I’d left soaking. He’d wiped down my counters. I was pretty sure he’d swept. He’d spent a lot of time here, waiting up for me. Why?
His gaze followed mine, and when our eyes returned to each other, he looked embarrassed.
“Why are you here, Connor?” I asked, not patient enough to let the mystery unfold at his pace.
“I needed a quiet place to look over these contracts. I’m sorry I stayed so late.”
I continued to stare, not accepting that answer.
“What answer are you hoping for?”
“The truth.” I swallowed hard. Our staring contests were always charged, now more than ever. My heart rate picked up with every second he looked at me like that—like he was torn between the obvious chemistry pulsing between us and the casual indifference he tried to convey. I saw the moment chemistry won.
&n
bsp; He dropped the contracts back on the coffee table and stalked towards me. I braced for impact, but it didn’t prepare me for his mouth taking mine, or his hands on my waist, holding me in place against the door. I dropped my hand from the door knob and gripped the back of his neck.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, moving his lips to my neck where he paused and breathed in deep. “I’m so sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?”
“I do everything wrong. I’m a bad neighbor. I haven’t even taken you out on a date. I’ve questioned everything about you, and yet all I’ve wanted to do since the moment I saw you was this.” He kissed me again and again, and all rational thought left my brain. My limbs were like Jell-O, and l let him steady me.
“Melissa,” he whispered, pulling back to look at my face. “Are you engaged? Are you in love with someone else?”
I shook my head, for once not sorry that Damien was gone for good. “He’s never coming back. And if he did, I wouldn’t let him.”
Connor’s face turned sad. “He’s an idiot.”
“I know.” I reached up and touched Connor’s lips, and he pressed a kiss into the tips of my fingers, and then the center of my palm, and then my wrist. If he was trying to capture my attention, he had it. I slipped my arms around his neck and kissed him first this time, taking the lead.
After a minute, he groaned, resting his head in the crook of my neck. “I should go. It’s late and this is new. And I know we need to talk, but now is probably not the best time.”
I nodded. All I wanted to do was kiss Connor until the end of forever. We’d have to wait and talk when my body wasn’t flooded with a million sensations begging for more. I opened my door and pushed him out of it, making him laugh.
“Good night, Melissa.”
“Good night, Connor.” I shut the door and locked it before I changed my mind.
14
Connor
My thoughts had been going in waves of excitement and panic since the moment I left Melissa’s house last night.
Man, Melissa can kiss. I can’t believe I almost missed out on that.
But we’re neighbors, what if this doesn’t work out?
What if she finds out I thought she was a potential stalker? Except, I’m more the stalker at this point. I’ve invited myself to her house every night this week. And I kissed her first.
I really like kissing her. I like everything about her.
What if she finds out I thought her mom was overbearing?
Okay, I still think that. But she’s also a really nice lady who is good at yard work and loves her daughter. I’m a judgmental idiot.
I’m the luckiest man alive. I can’t wait to see her again.
What if she changed her mind?
I got out of bed and showered, knowing at some point, regardless of whether I happened to be in the panic or excitement camp, I’d be going over there. My dental office paperwork was still sitting on the coffee table in her living room.
There was a text message from Melissa when I grabbed my phone off the bed after my shower.
Melissa: Good morning. Back to being scared of me yet?
I grinned. This girl knew me way too well. And ironically, just her asking calmed a lot of my fears.
Connor: When can I see you?
Melissa: Give me thirty minutes to not look like a swamp thing.
She could never look like swamp anything, although I had a feeling she put a lot of work into taming those curls every morning. It was almost enough inducement to go over early and find out if I was right. But as a non-stalker, I’d respect her wishes.
Connor: See you in thirty.
I dropped my phone, dressed, brushed my teeth twice, tamed my own hair which had some serious bedhead, and gulped down a small bowl of cereal and milk while my legs fidgeted. Then I brushed my teeth again. Yeah, you could say I was looking forward to seeing her again.
Rob had already left for a yoga retreat in Sedona, so I didn’t worry about him catching on to my whereabouts. He was so used to me being gone all the time he hadn’t questioned all the nights I’d disappeared this week over to Melissa’s place.
I turned on the sprinklers on my way over, adjusting their location so we wouldn’t get any boggy spots. It all looked like organized mud right now, but in a few weeks, we’d have a real yard. I could even wave to the neighbors without guilt.
Melissa opened her door and sidled up next to me on the porch, letting our arms brush. My temperature spiked in response, enough to make me want to douse myself with the sprinkler. When she took my hand and led me inside her place, I thought I might spontaneously combust.
She was in a pair of cut-off jean shorts and an old Brad Paisley concert T-shirt. Before I could grab her up and let her know exactly how long thirty minutes felt like, Buster and Sarge charged between us, eager for a group hug.
I bent down and petted their heads. “Hey, guys. Way to play chaperone this morning. Where were you two last night?”
“Regretting it already?” Melissa asked, crossing her arms as she looked down at me.
“Not a bit.” I held her gaze. Not. One. Bit.
“But…” She added.
I sighed. Melissa had this way of digging the truth out of me, even when I couldn’t see it for myself. “But we’re neighbors. And your granny thinks I’m the crud you scrape off the bottom of your shoe.” Her granny also thought Melissa was engaged to her grandson. So did Natalya. Who else was under that impression?
Yeah, I had worries. But Melissa already thought I was a Debby Downer and a Nervous Nellie. I didn’t want to escalate that to a Debbie-Relationship-Destroyer and a Never-Come-Over-Again-Nellie by bringing up too much too soon.
Melissa sank into the couch, and I followed, claiming the spot next to her and lacing my fingers with hers. Best feeling ever. Somewhere, an angel got its wings. I was sure of it. Despite all the reasons to not do this, being with Melissa just felt right.
“I’m ready to talk about Damien.”
“Your fiancé?”
“My ex-fiance. Yeah.”
“You sure?” I squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.
“I’ve known for a while he’s not in the witness protection program. He only told us that so he could leave with everyone still liking him. And I’m actually kind of glad he’s obsessed with his image. Because it would have been a lot easier to leave his dogs at the pound and ditch his granny without a backward glance. Instead, he gave them to me.”
I stared at Buster and Sarge at our feet. “These are his dogs?”
“Yeah.”
So, the guy was a con artist. And I was a jerk for thinking otherwise. It made sense. Melissa had this big heart, and he’d taken advantage of that. “Did he take money from you?”
Melissa gave a bitter laugh. “No. His family has plenty of money. The place Granny stays in is actually pretty swanky. He didn’t need money, he needed freedom. Granny’s not the easiest person to get along with, and Buster here has an excitement pee problem. Sarge gets anxious without Buster by his side, so they’re a package deal. I think Damien only asked me to marry him so I’d feel more obligated when he left.”
“What did he ask you to do?”
“He asked me to keep an eye on Granny and to take care of his dogs until he could come back. And then we’d be together.”
Dangling hope like that. What a total piece of garbage. “When did you know it was all a lie?”
Melissa sat back and stared at the ceiling. “He witnessed a kidnapping of a kid whose parents were in a custody battle. Or, I don’t know, maybe that part’s not even true. But he made it seem like he was in constant contact with the police, and that the kidnapper was part of this criminal ring that involved the dad. And then Damien came to my apartment one morning with his truck packed to the gills. He said they were putting him into protection until the case went to trial, and maybe after that, too. And I believed him. I had no reason not to. My suspicion that it was all made-up built over time, an
d came to a head when I ran into one of his old girlfriends when I was out jogging. She recognized his dogs.”
Melissa turned and kissed me suddenly, taking me by surprise. I relaxed against her lips and kissed her back.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Relieving stress.” She pulled away reluctantly and smiled. “Am I freaking you out?”
I shook my head. “I’m just going to shut up and listen.”
“Good man.” She sank back against the couch. “He told his ex-girlfriend he was a neurosurgeon and a children’s pastor. Oh, and that he had climbed Mount Everest as a birthday gift to himself. And a bunch of other stuff that turned out to be complete lies. We compared enough notes to discount pretty much everything he’d ever told us about himself.”
“I told you I was a drug dealer,” I blurted out, wishing I’d known the truth about her situation from the beginning. I saw every conversation we’d ever had in a new light. Why did she even like me?
Melissa turned to me and rubbed her thumb over the crease in my forehead. “Yeah, but you weren’t a convincing liar at all, which I found really attractive.” She smiled. “I have to admit, I did, um, check the state dental board records. You are, in fact, a dentist.” Her face flamed red, which I found really attractive.
The fact that she checked up on me meant she cared. And that meant I couldn’t ever keep secrets from her. Not if I wanted to deserve her, and I found I did. “Melissa, I told you I was a drug dealer because… um…” Oh, this was hard. How did I not make myself sound like the world’s biggest jerk?
She waited on me, her smile growing brighter with every awkward second that passed. “This ought to be good.”
“Okay, it’s just that after Natalya, I got sort of jaded. You know, like in the way you wanted to check up on my dental certifications. I assumed that if your fiancé told you he needed to go into the witness protection program… that meant he was…” Just breathe. “….a little desperate.”