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Another moment of hesitation passed before she slid her gaze away from mine and looked down at the step up leading into the house.

“Watch your step,” I warned, my arm instinctively extending in her direction in case she stumbled again.

The woman—my neighbor—walked inside, still tugging at that damn towel.

Now that she was this close, her scent teased my nose.

She smelledsoft. Like flowers and fresh laundry.

Speaking of laundry?—

“Let me get you something to wear until you can go back. Follow me.” I turned to walk to my room on the other side of the house.

“My feet are dirty,” she said, her voice distant because she wasn’t following me yet. “I don’t wanna track that through your house.”

“We got mops. Don’t worry about it. Come on,” I insisted, not looking back at her. When I reached my room, I headed straight for the closet like I had earlier and walked out with a pair of grey sweats and a T-shirt. Hopefully, the clothes would keep her warm until I could figure out what the hell was flying around her house.

“Thanks.” Her fingers brushed mine when she accepted the clothes and I stood there for a beat, looking at her while she inspected them.

There was a beautiful fucking woman in my bedroom, and the knowledge of that momentarily made my brain short-circuit until she cleared her throat and I became aware that she needed privacy to change.

So I left thatbeautiful fucking womanin my room and went to find that bat.

It wasn’t a bat.

I followed the soapy trail of her footsteps to the bathroom, found the water still going at full-blast and turned it off while I inspected the tiny space. There was no sign of anything except the products she knocked over when she ran out. I bent to pick up her loofah and bottle of body wash, sliding it back in place on the rack at the back of the shower.

In the kitchen, I found cleaning supplies lined up on the counter and nothing else.

Scanning every inch of her wood-paneled living room, I came up empty again.

But when I got to her bedroom, I found what I was looking for. A black bird was camped out in the far right corner of herceiling, flapping its wings in a panic. Over and over, it flew from the corner to the closed window and back again.

“She must have had the window open when she was cleaning earlier, and now it’s trapped inside,” I mused, walking over to the window opposite her bed.

The bird flew out as soon as I opened it, and I snickered before retracing my steps back to the door my new neighbor had left wide open. After making sure it wasn’t locked, I pulled it closed behind me and hit the path leading back home.

Another smile quirked my lips, and this time I let it spread into a full grin when I remembered the way her eyes clashed with mine. I didn’t know her name, but I’d just seen every inch of her home. And now she was waiting in my house. Unsupervised. Wearing my clothes.

This was not how my Thursday nights usually went, but I wasn’t complaining.

Once I was back in the house, I announced my presence so I wouldn’t scare her. “Good news, it wasn’t a bat.”

But instead of my words being met with relief, I got silence and I didn’t see any immediate signs of my houseguest.

“Where did she go?” I mumbled, walking down the hall to my room and coming up empty.

Aside from her towel in a heap in the middle of my floor, there were no other signs she’d been here.

“What the hell?” I checked the bathroom attached to my suite. Nothing.

Had I passed her in the kitchen or living room without noticing?

Rustling on the other side of the house told me yes, that was exactly what I’d done.

I made it back to the kitchen in time to see the woman walk out of the pantry inspecting an electric mop I’d never used.

“How do you use this thing?” She muttered to herself, unaware of my presence until I cleared my throat.