Page 20 of Broken Dream

I’m startled by a knock on the door. Tillie starts barking.

“Coming,” I yell. “You guys are early.”

I lead Tillie to the back door and let her out into my backyard. I then open the door without looking into the peephole. After all, I know who it is.

But I let out a gasp.

What was I thinking? Of course it’s not Tabitha and the guys. Security would have called me.

It’s someone else. Someone who lives in the neighborhood.

Jason Lansing is standing there.

Looking amazing in a leather jacket. He was wearing down before, but now it’s leather and what looks like a cashmere scarf—could be Burberry—his cheeks ruddy from the cold.

“Oh,” I say. “Can I…help you with something?”

He sighs. “I just wanted to apologize. You know. For today. For…”

Kissing me?

The words are on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t get them out.

“I didn’t mean to cross any boundaries,” he says.

One could say that his showing up at my front door is another crossed boundary, but I don’t want to mention that.

A tiny part of me isn’t upset that he’s here.

His gaze is steady now, serious, and filled with an intensity that has my heart fluttering.

“We’re good,” I say hastily. The last thing I need is for him to feel awkward around me. He’s my professor. And my neighbor. God, this is a mess. “Don’t worry about it.”

He lets out a breath with a cloud of condensation. “Good. That’s…good.”

Should I invite him in? It’s cold, after all. But I’m expecting people. And the house…

“Would you like to come in?” I finally say. “I can make some coffee…or something.”

He puts his hands up in front of him. “No, no. That’s okay. I guess you know now that I live here. It’s a quick few steps to my place.” He narrows his eyes. “I didn’t realize you lived here, Angie.”

“Since September.” I kick absentmindedly at the floor. “I guess you didn’t see my brothers and cousins hauling all my stuff in.”

“I was probably working.”

“Yeah. Right.” I blink a few times. “Of course. You’re a surgeon.”

He looks down. “I wasn’t doing surgery.”

“Oh?”

“No. I mean… I don’t operate anymore.”

“Why not?”

He takes a deep breath in. “That’s a long stor?—”

Before he finishes the word, Tabitha walks up onto my stoop. “Hey! Dr. Lansing, what are you doing here?”