How to Love Your Neighbour(36)

Herman, who wiped his forearm across his brow, glanced up. “You want these up there on the porch?”

“Who are all of these from?”

Going to the van, Herman grabbed something before coming toward her and passing her a small white envelope.

“The porch, ma’am?”

Blinking rapidly, she looked from the porch to the pots. They wouldn’t all fit. There were enough to edge all the way around her front porch.

“No. They’re fine where they are.” Feeling slightly dazed, she jolted when he slammed the van door shut. “Let me grab my purse for a tip.”

“No need. It’s all been taken care of. You have yourself a great day. Enjoy those beauties.”

Holding the envelope like it was a precious secret, Grace waved as he drove off. She stared down at it a moment before tearing into it.

Hurting you was never my intention. I was wrong.

Noah.



She frowned. Wrong about what? Manipulating her? Hurting her? All of it? Without thinking it through, she walked around the fence and up to his front door, knocking before she could back out.

He opened the door quickly enough that she’d bet he was watching from the window.

“Hey.”

That was it? “Hey.”

He smiled at her. It wasn’t the usual disarming smile but one more humble. “You got your flowers?”

She glanced back at them, then gestured with her hand. “What is all that?”

Noah stepped out onto the porch, surveying the pots. “Flowers.” He looked down at her, his forehead creasing in confusion.

“Flowers? That’s not flowers. It’s . . . landscaping. What are they for?”

Now he put his hands on his hips, turning to face her. “To say I’m sorry. It’s what people do. It’s a gesture. An ‘I’m sorry I was a jerk’ gesture.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze darting over her. “I didn’t mean to play you. Actually, that’s a lie. I fell back on a business strategy that I shouldn’t have tried with you. It was wrong. I won’t ask to buy your house again. Because you asked me not to.”

“Okay. But couldn’t you have just said that? Did you need to buy all of California’s flowers?”

He looked incredibly uncomfortable, even shifting his stance, which did not suit the man she’d come to know. “It didn’t seem like enough.”

Grace could only stare. Too many thoughts collided in her brain, so she started at the beginning. “What you said would have been fine. I appreciate it and can see that you mean it. But for future reference, if you’re doing flowers as a follow-up, it’s typically a bouquet. You know, like, twelve roses? Not twelve huge potted plants.”

He smirked. “Given a lot of apologies?”

She narrowed her gaze, making him put his hands up in a surrender gesture.

“Just asking. I’m new to this. Cut me some slack.”

Grace threw her arms up in the air. “How can you be new to apologizing? Are you that much of a jerk that you just stomp on people’s feelings without ever regretting it enough to say so?”

The look on his face stopped her before she said anything else. Surprise registered first, then worry. His mouth opened. Closed. He rubbed the back of his neck again.

“I don’t make a habit of hurting people, Grace. Regardless of what you think of me.”

Part of her problem was that she didn’t know what she thought of him. Not clearly. Being around him made her brain and feelings resemble a shaken snow globe.

She shook her head. “I think you have no idea the impact you have on the people around you. Everyone hurts people, Noah. Intentionally or not, there’s no way around it.”

He stepped closer. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

God. It was this right here that kept her coming back despite her uncertainty. That look in his eyes, the way her body hummed from the tips of her toes to the roots of her messy updo. No one had ever made her feel this way with just a look.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Something shifted inside of her, pushing common sense to the side and leaving her with a whole lot of wanting to know how his mouth felt.

He took a deep breath in and when he let it out, the warmth of it fanned over her skin. When had he moved closer? Or had she? “You confuse the hell out of me.”

Her throat tightened. “Then we’re even.” In the back of her mind, she heard her own warning: Do not venture down this rabbit hole.

Noah reached out, brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek before tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She felt like she had a hundred heartbeats and he was controlling every one.

“This is a bad idea,” she whispered, right before she stepped into him, ran her hands up his chest and met his waiting mouth. His arms clasped around her, pulling her closer into him. He stood in the same spot, rooted to his porch, but Grace felt like she was spinning, falling, twirling, losing control of her carefully scheduled program.

When his tongue touched hers and one large hand roamed over her body, she didn’t care about anything other than getting closer. This was how people ended up broken. And healed. She couldn’t let a man do either of those things to her. She had no room in her life for an unscripted fling. At least not one with this man, because she knew, just from this mind-blowing kiss, that he could wreck all her carefully laid plans.