Page 49

“Hi there, sunshine.” Caleb smirked looking at me, clearly seeing the indignation on my face and waved, “What’s up?”

You can do it, Kyle. You don’t want to upset grandma Jem.

If it wasn’t for her, I would go alone and ignore him.

“She won’t go on a date.” I nodded at my hot neighbor’s house. “Especially not today.”

When he frowned, I continued, “She spends time with her kids on weekends.”

“I have noticed that since the past three weeks I’ve been waiting for her,” the hot jerk replied with a sly smile.

“That’s called stalking, Caleb.” I crossed my arms. I didn’t know why talking to him made me feel so on edge. I could feel the tension brimming in the air between us.

He shrugged, running a hand through his hair. The fabric of his tee stretched over his taut muscles, making my eyes wander. The vee of his tee was low enough to see the black tattoo on his chest.

I swallowed, looking away.

“I would stop if she told me not to wait for her, but I bet she enjoys being chased by a handsome young man like me.” Caleb winked at me, making me shake my head.

“Don’t you have work or other priorities? I can look after Anna.”

“Sure, pretty boy. You can keep looking after her as her neighbor when I’ll become her hot boyfriend.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, my hands feeling clammy. He was right, and I hated that. I had always kept the boundary of being her neighbor as a gentleman and never crossing it. Even when I should have, when she was going through the divorce, should have asked her out on a date and be more than her neighbor.

“Do you want to come to the library with me?” I asked, checking the time on my watch. It was half-past one in the afternoon, and I’d have ample time to finish volunteering, take a long drive back home, since Jem was going out with her friends, and cook something before retiring to bed early.

Jesus. My grandma did more socializing than me.

I ignored that thought and looked at Caleb, who was staring at me intently. His eyes were black, but under the sunlight, they gleamed like burning coal. They were very pretty, with long lashes that would make any women jealous.

They made me jealous.

“Why library?”

“I like to volunteer there sometimes.”

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Of course, you do, Mister Uptight.”

“I’m not uptight.”

He checked me out, from my khakis to a light blue ironed shirt. His gaze lingered on my bare forearms. I had rolled my sleeves, and my neck felt warm under his gaze.

“Could’ve fooled me,” he muttered and surprised me by pulling me closer to him and fixing the collar before unbuttoning the top button, his ringed knuckles brushing against my skin, making me feel hot. “There. Much better.”

He ruffled my hair, moving strands of my short blond hair as he liked, and I was surprised by myself that I let him. I blinked. His lips were perfect, like everything about him. Cute cupid bow with plump bottom lip. No wonder he looked hot whenever he pouted. It made me want to tease him more and follow his every command.

Once he was done, I took a step back and pushed my glasses.

“Why would I come with you to volunteer at the library?” He asked, leaning back on his bike.

I wished I could turn around, sit in my car and drive away instead of answering him, but I had promised grandma.

“Because you love my sunshine personality.”

He smiled, surprising me with the strange warm feeling spreading across my chest. “I didn’t know you could joke, Kyle.”

Kyle. He said my name.