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Indi

N ow my mama had always told me to kill em with kindness, and that's the motto I’d tried to live by.

But my stuck-up jerk ex was really testing me.

So I decided if he was going to play the HOA game, I was going to play it right back to him.

Sweetly , of course.

So I held my ground as Ambrose stalked toward me, every angry, offended inch of him bristling.

“What are you doing here?” he hissed.

I could see his colleagues straightening up, craning their necks to see me in my bikini, and adjusting their ties.

Astrid scuttled up behind him, jutting her chin out at me and putting a hand in front of Ambrose like I was going to leap at him.

Jealous, was she?

“You need to leave now,” Astrid spat.

She always wore colored contacts, so her eyes glinted at me with a purple light, and her hands twitched like she wanted to wrap them around my neck.

I only smiled sweetly at them.

“Just leaving this notice here and then I’ll go.”

Ambrose stepped closer. “How dare you come over here!” he blustered, and I could feel the suppressed anger throbbing from him.

“Honey, is he bothering you?” Dr. González called out.

Now, if Ambrose was becoming a silver fox, with his salt and pepper hair, his boss Dr. González was a whole silver bear, a big man in his 50s with a rough, craggy face and massive hands.

“Since you were so kind to tell me that what I was wearing was obscene, I thought I would return the favor so we can both be in compliance with our HOA. Your grass is a fourth of an inch too long. It’s lowering the tone of the neighborhood.

The rest of us work hard to make sure our lawns look good and you’re lowering our property values. You’re welcome for the info.”

Since I knew Ambrose was very proud of his little highly regulated lawn, I was pleased to see his face flush, and a muscle twitch in his jaw.

“Now, what's all this about clothing?” Dr. González said in astonishment.

He was not a classically handsome man, but his craggy face was quite appealing and he pulsed with raw masculine energy.

“I don't see anything wrong with your clothing,” he said. “I would have to disagree with Dr. Hargreaves that you need to change what you wear.”

I saw Astrid shoot a furious glance at my ex, and I knew Ambrose hadn’t told her about what he had said to me.

Interesting. Apparently he was keeping it a secret that my breasts were upsetting him.

Ambrose only looked flushed and miserable, darting his eyes around like he was avoiding looking directly at me.

His other colleagues agreed with the Chair, surrounding me and murmuring in assent.

“Nothing wrong with what you’re wearing, Indigo”

“I think you look very nice”

“Don’t listen to him”

I gestured down at my bikini. “It's a very warm day, and I was merely gardening, but Ambrose tells me if I wear things like this he’ll report me to the HOA!”

There were gasps of horror all around the room.

“I am sure that was a misunderstanding,” Dr. González rumbled. “Surely Dr. Hargreaves didn’t mean that. If what she is wearing bothers you so much, professor, perhaps you should close the blinds.”

There was silence for a moment, and I crossed my arms over my chest.

My ex glanced down at me and I saw the angry beet-red color rise in his cheeks.

But of course he couldn’t say anything in front of his boss and fiancée.

“That’s right,” he said stiffly. “It was a misunderstanding.”

I couldn’t tell if Astrid was madder at me or Ambrose, but her nostrils were flaring like laundry blowing in the wind.

Now I had no desire to be around my ex and his grim little girlfriend, so it was time to go.

“Thank you so much, Dr. González,” I said. “I’ll let you all go back to your party now. Bye bye.”

I waved pleasantly and headed down the steps.

Now, was it my fault if several of his colleagues preferred to bring their wine and cheese and prosciutto over to my yard and chat with me as I deadleafed my rose bushes?

It would serve him right for disguising a campaign for Chair event as a sociable get-together.

“Here’s my card,” Dr. González said as the party wrapped up. “Call me if you need anything, sweetheart. I’d love to help out. A sweet girl like you shouldn’t be mowing her own lawn just to keep up with these goofy HOA regulations.”

Then with a wink he was gone.

As he passed by, I saw Ambrose standing at the doorway, his hands gripping his arms so hard he was wrinkling his perfect little silk sleeves.

Tightly-wound arrogant bastard

I waved at him in a friendly manner and went back inside.

The next morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table with my coffee when the phone rang.

“Hello there, baby girl, did you miss me?”

His voice came out like butter over the phone, like dripping, wicked, melted butter that would fuck you ten different ways to Sunday.

“Oh, I’ve been keeping busy,” I said, thinking about Ambrose’s impotent rage. “How’d your shows go?”

“They went off like a bang , dollface, but I want to talk about you , angel! I want to hear all about you and that beautiful belly I plan to worship the second I see you.”

“Baby and I are both doing fine,” I laughed.

“Have you changed your mind yet and decided to marry me?”

“Absolutely not,” I chuckled. “Remember, we are not together and only coparenting.”

My baby daddy was sinfully tall and sexy and fucked like a god, but we had gotten pregnant quite unexpectedly and I did not see him as marriage material.

I could hear him pouting over the phone.

He was not a man used to ever hearing the word no .

“What can I do to change your mind, you beautiful aggravating creature? I’m trying to make an honest woman out of you.

We’re heading back now, and I can be at your place by this weekend?

I can’t wait to feel our baby kick. Then once I’ve rubbed your feet and gotten you all the jalapenos and ice cream you desire, I plan to pleasure you for hours. ”

"I don’t know if you coming over here is a good idea,” I said.

He exclaimed in surprise and began to list all the ways he planned to make it worth my while.

Still.

Did I want the drama?

But then I glanced out the window and saw my asshole ex Ambrose out in his yard, his mouth set in a grim line. Under my indignant eye, he took pruning shears and harshly snipped off the head of a gorgeous pink rose whose head just barely fell half an inch in his yard.

“Actually it’s a great idea if you come over,” I said. “See you soon!”