The Trouble With Love(12)

This wasn’t about setting Emma up with Benedict. The blind date had merely been a red herring.

The real agenda was right in front of her.

In the form of Emma’s ex-fiancé. Who was with a woman.

“What are you doing here, Cassidy?” Julie asked, her voice half-horrified, half-amused.

Cassidy’s eyes locked on Emma’s for a half second, and she somehow knew the answer before he spoke.

“I live here,” he said, pointing to the door next to Camille’s. “I moved in last month. Camille never mentioned it? She was the one who connected me with the previous owner.”

“No,” Grace said, pressing her lips together in delight. “No, she did not.”

Emma barely heard any of this. Her brain was repeating one thought over and over: Alex Cassidy is going to be my neighbor for three months.

This was not good news.

At all.

But, incredibly, that wasn’t the worst of it.

The worst part wasn’t even that Cassidy’s fingers were casually linked with those of a pretty, shy-looking brunette.

No, the worst part was the brief pang of something Emma had long thought dead.

Jealousy.





Chapter 5


Of all the scenarios in which Alex had imagined his current woman meeting his past woman, this one was definitely not on the list.

In fact, in most of his scenarios, the encounter hadn’t happened at all.

Not because Alex hadn’t wanted Emma to see him with someone new. He hadn’t minded that part. And Emma had made it plenty clear that she didn’t care one way or another if he was single, married, or dead.

But in some foolish, sentimental part of his brain, Alex hadn’t wanted to see the two women together, side by side. Didn’t want to risk letting his mind make comparisons that he wasn’t ready for. Might not ever be ready for.

And, yet, here they were. Him. His new girlfriend. His girlfriend from almost a decade ago.

And three mischievous-looking Stiletto columnists.

“You ladies stop by to say good-bye to Camille?” Alex asked, careful not to repeat his earlier mistake of letting his eyes stray to Emma’s. Whenever he slipped up and made eye contact, it was always like a jolt to his system. An unwelcome and unpleasant one.

The women exchanged glances, and Alex got the distinct impression he was missing something.

To his surprise, it was Emma who spoke up. “Camille lent me her place while she’s in Australia.”

Alex gave the slightest start, and from the puzzled look his girlfriend, Danielle, gave him, she’d definitely felt it.

“What do you mean, lent you her place?”

Emma shrugged. “My place had a little flooding accident. She said I could stay here until things get sorted out.”

“I see.” He kept his voice calm. “So you and I are—”

“Neighbors!” Julie said, in a singsong voice, making jazz-hand motions. “How…fun!”

Alex pulled at his earlobe in agitation. Fun was not the word he would have used.

And from the small line between Emma’s eyebrows, not the one she would have used, either.

Damn you, Camille. He should have known something was up that day at the office when she asked one too many questions about whether he minded her setting Emma up on a blind date.

Danielle shifted by his side, and he belatedly realized that introductions were overdue. But Grace was already on it, moving toward Danielle with arms outstretched and a warm smile in place.

A genuine smile, Alex noted. Grace was good people.

“So nice to see you again, Danielle!” Grace hugged his girlfriend.

“Same!” Danielle said. “I was just telling Alex that it was our turn to host a dinner party.”

“Ooh, if someone said dinner party, I think you and I could be friends,” Riley said, stepping forward and extending a hand. “I’m Riley McKenna. Dinner party aficionado.”

“And what she means by that is that she eats. A lot,” Julie said, also shaking Danielle’s hand. “I’m Julie Greene. We’ve heard such good things about you.”

“Likewise,” Danielle said. “Alex says that he and Mitchell go running together sometimes.”

“Mmm, hideous, isn’t it?” Julie said with a wink. “Oh, Danielle…this is our friend Emma Sinclair.”

“Right!” Danielle said, turning to smile at Emma. “Sounds like you’re a new neighbor.”

“Indeed,” Emma murmured, stepping forward to shake Danielle’s hand. Alex rolled his eyes to the ceiling as the two women shook hands. He would kill Camille for this.

“Where are you girls off to?” Danielle asked.

“Shopping,” Emma said. “I need some new clothes. You should come!”

Apparently Alex was the only one who thought that was a singularly terrible idea, because Grace, Julie, and Riley all nodded happily at Emma’s invitation, and, God help him, Danielle looked like she wanted to accept.

His eyes narrowed on Emma and caught her placid smile, and maybe the slightest gleam in her brown eyes.

No. No. No f*cking way. He knew that look. Trouble.

“Danielle and I were just heading to lunch,” he said quickly.

Danielle smiled and pointed at his door. “Just had to come back up to grab my umbrella. We already have reservations, otherwise I’d love to come. Maybe next time? I just moved to New York from Atlanta a couple months ago and I’m dying for female friends.”