Flirting with Forever: A Hot Romantic Comedy(9)

“Okay.” Riley held up the spatula. “I’ve got this.”

“Thanks, kiddo.”

I took the pile outside. There wasn’t a vehicle in her driveway. Probably wasn’t home. That was fine, I’d just leave it on her front porch. It would save me the hassle of having to talk to her.

The street was quiet. Blue sky, a few puffy white clouds. If I hadn’t had a client later, I’d have cracked open a beer and sat outside. It was shaping up to be a nice night.

I rounded the end of my driveway, ready to walk up hers, when I stopped in my tracks, my eyes on the most incredible ass I’d ever seen.

Seriously, don’t judge. It was right there. Any man would have stopped and stared.

Nora was on her hands and knees, ass in the air, digging up a plant. At least, that’s probably what she was doing. All I could see was her amazing backside.

I stood like I was frozen, staring at her.

And didn’t move.

How long had I been staring? No idea.

Still staring.

Not moving.

I couldn’t stop imagining my hands on those round hips, slamming into her like— “Hey, Dex. What’cha looking at?”

My back tightened at Phil’s voice coming from across the street and for a second, I hoped to god Nora was wearing headphones.

She was. But she’d still heard him.

Her head whipped around, and the sight of her looking back at me with her ass in the air did nothing to improve the situation.

My jaw hitched and I tore my eyes away from her. “Hey, Phil. Nothing. Just bringing over some mail.” I held it up as if to prove my innocence.

“Oh. Well, you were just standing there, so I thought there was something in the yard. Maybe a skunk or something.”

“Nope. No skunks.” Just a ridiculously hot woman with an ass that men would go to war over.

And said ass was still right there, in front of me. She hadn’t moved, just looked at me over her shoulder, her lips curling in amusement.

Lips were nice too.

Who was I kidding. She was fire.

But I was not the guy who was going to get burned.

“Sorry.” I held up the mail again. “Some of your mail ended up in my box.”

“Oh. That was nice of you.” She finally shifted and stood, relieving me of the agony of staring at that magnificent backside. She took out her earbuds and brushed the dirt off her hands. “Thanks.”

I handed her the mail and was about to go back inside, but she kept talking.

“I’m Nora,” she said and held out her other hand.

I took it in mine. Long, slender fingers. Soft skin. “Dex.”

“Nice to meet you. I already met Riley. She’s a lovely young lady.”

That made me crack a smile. How could it not? “Thanks. Yeah, she’s great.”

Phil crossed the street, dressed in a t-shirt and cargo shorts with his signature red crocs. The entire neighborhood gave him shit about those shoes but he didn’t care. Called them his dad shoes and claimed if we all knew how comfortable they were, we’d wear them too.

I’d given up a lot since becoming a father but red crocs were where I drew the line.

“Looks like you have your work cut out for you,” Phil said, gesturing to Nora’s untamed front yard.

“I really do,” she said. “I have no idea what I’m doing but I figure, how hard can it be?”

“Well, proper lawn care is more complicated than most people think.” Phil’s tone took on the quality of a wise old sage. “There’s fertilization, aeration, weed control, proper watering...”

He kept going but I tuned him out. Phil was immensely proud of his lawn and once he got going on the topic, he could talk your ear off. I’d heard it all before.

Nora’s eyes glazed over after about the second or third sentence, but she kept nodding along. I couldn’t decide if I was annoyed that Phil had wandered over to discuss lawn care or if I was grateful for the interruption. There was something about Nora that set off every one of my internal alarms.

Trouble.

Her eyes flicked to me with a plea for rescue. Phil was onto the importance of mowing at a diagonal relative to the street.

I patted Phil on the back. “That’s some good info. No wonder your lawn looks so great.”

“Thanks, Dex. I’m pretty proud of it.”

She smiled and I didn’t miss the relief in her eyes. “Thanks for the tips. I’ll see if I can get the yard in better shape.”

“Well, it sure is nice to have you in the neighborhood,” Phil said. “We need more young families around here.”

“Thanks, although it’s just me.”

“Sure, I know you’re not married or anything.” His gaze moved to me. “Hey, Dex isn’t married either. Maybe the two of you—”

I slapped Phil on the back again, harder this time. “Good to see you, Phil.” I nodded to Nora, but I needed to get out of there. “Nice to meet you.”

Her lips curled in a subtle smile and her eyes flicked up and down, like she was sizing me up. For a second, all I could see was the curve of her neck, from her jaw to her collarbone, down to that gorgeous set of tits.

She was stunning.

And I was staring again.

Tearing my eyes away, I turned. I resisted the instinct to adjust myself as I walked back to my house. The last thing I needed was to implicitly admit to the hard-on she’d just given me.