Page 21 of Broken Dream

“Jason, please,” he says. “It turns out that Angie and I are neighbors.”

“Sweet!” Tabitha flashes a grin, her eyes wide as she takes in the exterior of my townhome. “This place is amazing, Angie.”

“How did you get through the gate without calling?” I ask.

“I told the guard you were expecting me. He let me go.”

Great. A guard who lets a flirty young woman bypass the rules. No harm done, of course, but the neighborhood management will be getting a call from me.

I swing the door wider so Tabitha can enter.

She breezes past me, her rosy perfume wafting in the air around us.

Jason takes a step back, nodding at her as she passes. “Nice to see you, Tabitha,” he says.

“You too, Dr. Lansing,” she replies with a flirty grin. Probably not unlike the one she gave the security guard at the gate.

“I guess I’ll leave you to it.” Jason steps away from the door. “Good luck with your studying.”

“Thank you,” I say, my voice more detached than I mean for it to be.

He smiles once more before turning and walking down the path leading to his place.

I close the door behind him and lean against it. The smell of Tabitha’s perfume is strong in the air, and I hold my breath for a moment, desperate to let Jason’s scent linger.

“So…” Tabitha begins, plopping down onto my couch and kicking off her shoes as if she’s been here hundreds of times before. “When were you planning to tell me that hunky Dr. Lansing is your next-door neighbor?”

I raise an eyebrow at her. Are we supposed to be besties now that we’re lab partners…and apparently study buddies? “I didn’t realize it myself until today.”

Her eyes widen. “Seriously? How can you not notice a man like that living next door?”

“Easy,” I reply, making my way to the kitchen. “By being too absorbed in my studies to bother about who’s living next door. And besides, he’s our professor, Tabitha.”

“Well, yes, but he’s also hot.” She follows me into the kitchen. “And single, as far as I know. I didn’t notice a ring on his left hand.”

I guess I’m not the only one who made it a point to check out Jason’s ring finger.

“That doesn’t matter.” I pull plates out of a cupboard, trying not to let talk of Jason make me tingle so much.

She pouts at me from where she’s perched on one of the bar stools. “Spoilsport.”

I roll my eyes at her as my phone rings. I grab it. “It’s security, probably calling to let me know the guys are here.” I put the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

“Ms. Simpson, it’s Derrick at the gate. I have an Elijah Garrett and Ralph Normandy here.”

“Thanks. They’re fine.”

A moment later, the doorbell rings. I open it to find Ralph and Eli and two bottles of wine.

“Hey, Angie,” Ralph says. “We brought wine.”

“Not sure how much studying we’ll get done with that,” I reply, stepping aside for them to enter.

Eli waltzes past me, the woodsy scent of his aftershave replacing Tabitha’s rosy perfume. Thank God. I’m not into floral scents. They give me a terrible headache.

“Somehow I knew you’d be a killjoy,” Eli says with a laugh.

“We’re here to study, not to drink,” I remind him.