Flirting with Forever: A Hot Romantic Comedy(38)

Didn’t want to know.

I wasn’t thinking about it. But if I had been, I would have hated the thought of some other guy’s hands on her.

So I didn’t think about it.

Much.

By Thursday, I’d almost convinced myself that I had nothing to feel bad about. It hadn’t been a big deal. I’d wave to Nora next time I saw her. Show her we were cool.

By Saturday, I hadn’t seen her, so I started glancing out the window again, looking for her.

Sunday rolled around and still no sign of her. I wondered if she’d gone somewhere. A work trip? A vacation? Was she with that guy who’d taken her out?

I thought about asking Riley if she’d seen her this week. But how could I do that without sounding suspicious? And Ry had been unusually chatty. Every time I thought I might bring it up, she had something to tell me. And the last thing I wanted to do was stop her from talking. If she wanted to tell me about the experiment they were doing in Earth science or how she jump-roped during her entire lunch period to get extra credit for PE, I was going to listen.

Finally, on Monday the suspense ended. After dropping off Riley at school, I came home in time to see Nora leaving.

She didn’t look my direction. In fact, I would have bet anything that she was ignoring me on purpose.

Not that I blamed her.

One glimpse of her and my stubbornness crumbled. I needed to apologize and I needed to do it right.

I went to work and while I tattooed a portrait of a guy’s late grandmother on his arm, I pondered what to do. Simplicity was probably best. But walking over there, knocking on her door, and telling her I was sorry didn’t seem like enough. I’d put it off too long.

And then I got an idea. Maybe it was stupid, but I decided to run with it. After I finished with my client—the portrait was stunning, if I did say so myself—I headed out to get what I needed, hoping Nora wouldn’t get home before I was ready for her.





16





NORA





It had been a day.

April had shredded my sex in public article, taking what I’d thought was a compelling piece and turning into clickbait nonsense.

Adding insult to injury, traffic on the way home had been brutal. My one consolation was that I could work from home tomorrow, saving me the hassle of the commute.

I turned onto my street and narrowed my eyes. It looked like someone had mowed my lawn. I’d let it get fairly long—probably longer than I should have. It made the difference obvious, even from a few blocks away.

Had it been Phil? Was the unruly grass across from his pristinely manicured yard too much for him to take?

If it had been Phil, I wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or insulted.

But it wasn’t just my lawn. When I pulled into the driveway, I realized the bare spots on either side—where I’d pulled up what I’d assumed were weeds—were filled with colorful flowers.

Either Phil took this yard care stuff way too seriously or someone had done something nice for me. But who would have mowed my lawn and planted flowers?

It could have been my friends. I’d complained about not knowing how to take care of a yard now that I was in a house. Had one of them come over while I was at work—maybe with her husband—to spruce things up for me?

I got out of my Jeep and wandered down the driveway toward the street. The pop of color looked great—a small change but it had big impact.

“You’ll need to water those if it doesn’t rain again soon.”

Dex walked over with his hands in his jeans pockets. His expression held a hint of sheepishness that made me want to nibble on him. The urge was so strong, I had to remind myself I was mad at him.

“Did you do this?”

“Yeah.”

“And you mowed my lawn?”

He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought I should do something to, you know, apologize.”

My eyebrows lifted.

“Riley told me what was going on at school. You were right, Ryan’s a girl. She put shitty stuff about Riley online. Mean girl stuff, I guess. But you helped Riley handle it. So, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And I’m sorry I blew up at you. Sometimes I get a little overprotective.”

For a second, I wondered what my life would have been like if I’d had a father who was a little overprotective of me.

Between that and the sweet gesture, I couldn’t stay mad. “Apology accepted. Is Riley home?”

“No, she’s with her grandparents.”

Disappointment that Riley wasn’t home mingled with a warm flood of desire. Under different circumstances, this would have been the perfect opportunity to be alone. To find out what that rough body of his could do.

Alas, he was holding onto his claim that he didn’t want me.

Still, company sounded nice, even if it was just a friend from next door.

“Do you want to come in for dinner?” I asked. His eyes widened slightly and I continued before he could say no. “Just dinner. I’ve had a crappy day and a friendly face wouldn’t be terrible.”

“And my face is friendly?”

“Not really. But it’s either you or Phil, and I’d rather not spend my dinner listening to another lecture about diagonal lawn mowing.”