Page 8 of Broken Dream (Steel Legends #3)

Chapter Seven

Angie

My heart is beating a mile a minute.

Dr. Lansing? Jason? Jason, who kissed me like no man has ever kissed me before?

He’s my damned neighbor?

How did I not know this?

I’m not the neighborly type. I didn’t go knock on doors and introduce myself, and no one came to my home bearing homemade cookies or a casserole.

I don’t have time to think about it. I need to clear up the clutter because my study buddies will be here in half an hour for pizza.

Which I should probably order.

Tillie scampers into the kitchen, sniffing at my feet. She gives me an inquisitive look. She can tell I’m unsettled.

I kneel and scratch her ear. “It’s nothing for you to worry about, girl.”

I also should’ve listened to their discussion about pizza toppings. All I remember is Ralph’s no-anchovies edict.

Everybody likes cheese and pepperoni, right? Tabitha said she’s not vegan, and her sandwich had meat on it. Ralph and Eli also ate meat. Pepperoni and cheese it is.

I put in the order on a food app and then go into my bedroom.

I pull my hair out of its ponytail and brush it out, letting it float around my shoulders.

Then I change out of my jeans and T-shirt and into leggings, a long sweatshirt, and fuzzy socks.

My usual study attire. I see no reason to change my habit just because three classmates are coming over.

I walk back out, hang up some coats that are just lying around, and then head to the kitchen to clean up in there.

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?”

“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.

“But where’s the fun in that?” Eli walks into my living room. “Where should I put these?”

I gesture to the kitchen when the doorbell rings again. Pizza. I’ve got my food apps on the security list, so they don’t bother calling me each time.

I grab the three pies and bring them into my kitchen.

“Where’s your corkscrew?” Eli asks.

I open a drawer, fish it out, and hand it to him.

“You like red?” Ralph asks.

I glance at the bottles and widen my eyes. “Oh! Yeah, I love it. Would you believe my cousin makes this wine?” I peruse the label. Steel Vineyards Ruby. The wine is named for my uncle Ryan’s wife, Ruby Lee Steel. Uncle Ryan used to run the winery, but he retired, and now my cousin Dale runs it.

“Really?” Eli wrinkles his forehead. “You’re related to the Steel family?”

“Yeah.” I swallow. “Marjorie Steel Simpson is my mother.”

Ralph frowns. “Fuck me. That explains the gated community.”

I grab four wineglasses out of my cupboard, turning so they don’t see my eye roll. I get it. Ralph doesn’t like people with money. He sure seems happy to eat pizza on my dime, though.

When I turn back around, Eli has joined Tabitha in the family room, but Ralph is still in the kitchen, standing very close to me.

“Uh…did you need something?” I ask.

“Just this,” he says, and presses his lips to mine.