Twisting around, I adjust my head to look out the little window with a view of my garage. And sure enough, it’s the awkward, sexy man responsible for the fact I won’t have wine to drink tonight or the new painting I wanted so much.
“Ah, he’s our new neighbor.”
Her eyes, dark with black eyeliner around them, squint at me as she moves her head just slightly to one side. I prepare for a sarcastic remark to fall from her lips, but we’re interrupted by the doorbell. “Ah, saved by the bell. And I had a whopper of a comeback, Ave.”
My sister, the opposite of me, is the center of my world. When our mom passed away two years ago, I’d been so focused on my career, and Whitney had seemed happy living with her dad—who is not my dad. But come to find out, she hadn’t been happy for some time. And when he started a new job with crazy hours, I suggested a change. He happily accepted because he was never cut out to be a father. That was exactly four weeks ago. The social worker urged me to find a house for the home studies, giving me a better chance for the judge to grant me full custody. Even at sixteen, Whitney needs stability, and I’ve been hell-bent on making this happen.
The creak in the door as Whitney pulls it back makes me grab a pen and a notepad from my purse, adding oiling the mahogany beauty to my many to-do’s.
A deep voice, different from before, echoes throughout the bare rooms. “Um, sure, I guess. And hell, you’re speaking her love language.”
I’ll need to chat with my sister about the rules concerning strangers and willingly inviting them into our home. But when she rounds the corner from the foyer, this thought is pushed to the wayside as another handsome man, different in his demeanor from earlier, follows my sister.
He lets out a deep chuckle, an almost nervous one, as he holds up a bottle of wine. “You must be the new neighbor my boyfriend scared the hell out of.”
Did he say boyfriend?
“He told me what happened,” the handsome man begins, flashing a broad grin my way. “And I have to say, he feels horrible. But I come bearing gifts in the hopes that this bottle of wine may get him out of the doghouse with you.” He lets out a small but sexy chortle with everything he’s just shared.
Of course these two beautiful men are off the market. Well, I guess it’s for the best. It would be a bad idea to get involved with a neighbor anyway.
2
Knox
Rowan had told me everything—how he’d snuck up on her without thinking, causing the beautiful neighbor to drop her bottle of wine. And all of this over those fucking luminarias. Not to mention, she’d been the one he scared away from the gallery just days ago.
There’s no use explaining this to my genius man. What he sometimes lacks in common sense, he makes up for it with an IQ of 169. He doesn’t understand people, and he’s always been this way—well before I fell in love with him. But, then again, it’s one of his best qualities. He’s honest to a fault and innocent as fuck.
When I got home, I’d pointed at the garage and handed him a broom because the door was still open. I took a chance by walking down into our wine cellar and grabbing one of the best bottles we have as a bit of a peace offering.
The young girl standing in front of me can’t be older than sixteen, and in her combat boots, torn jeans, and black eyeliner, I doubt she’s the beauty Rowan described earlier. “Hey there. I’m your new neighbor,” I offer.
The young girl stares at my face and lowers her gaze to the rest of my body before returning to my head. “Are you the one responsible for scaring the hell out of my sister?”
This explains a lot to me. The girl in front of me doesn’t look anywhere near the description Rowan vividly painted.
“No, that would be my sometimes dim-witted boyfriend. He means well, he really does.” I stop for a second to let her respond. When she doesn’t, I begin again, “By the way, I’m Knox, and you are?”
She gives me a bright smile, waving her hand to let me in. “Yeah, I’m Whitney. I’m Avery’s little sister.”
Avery. It’s a beautiful name, and leave it to Rowan to forget this little detail.
“Um, sure, I guess. And hell, you’re speaking her love language,” her sister says.
Good to know I’ll find favor with the stunning creature who captivated my man’s heart upon seeing her. I follow the little sister into the beautiful colonial house, the prettiest house on the block.
Rowan and I had been very envious when the estate went on the market three years after we bought the Tudor next door. Our home was our baby, though, and we wouldn’t give it up.
As I turn the corner from the foyer, housing an elegant chandelier with wainscoting three-fourths of the way up the wall, my eyes fall on the long and lean beauty sitting on the counter without a lick of furniture in the house. Her stare is on the bottle in my hand, but my stare is on her, all of her.
Her gaze swings to mine, and my man hasn’t been wrong about the beauty of this creature in front of me. In her pencil skirt, it’s not hard to see she’s rather tall, at least five feet, ten inches. And her mocha brown hair frames her olive complexion as the emeralds of her eyes glimmer from across the room. I could stand in the threshold of the kitchen like a creeper and watch her all day long. It’s been a long time since a woman has provoked a reaction like this from me. I love my man, and I’ll forever be faithful to him, but hell if this woman isn’t an unexpected delight.
“He told me what happened,” I pause for a second, imparting a smirk her way. “And I have to say, he feels horrible. But I come bearing gifts in the hopes that this bottle of wine may get him out of the doghouse with you.” I let out a nervous laugh because what the hell can I say?
She’s staring at me as though I’m speaking a foreign language. I wipe my face in case I have something on it. “By the way, I’m Knox Glacier, and the knucklehead out in your garage”—I point at her window when I catch his silhouette—“is Rowan. Rowan Peterson.”
“Yeah, I got his name in the midst of everything.”
I give her another nervous laugh. Her tone carries a light note, telling me she’s not as mad at Rowan as he is at himself. “Yeah, he meant well. He’s more about details where I’m more of the people person.”
I walk over near her, setting the bottle of the 2010 Leoville Las Cases on the counter. Her eyes fall on the wine I’ve place next to her. “So what you’re telling me, Knox Glacier, is that you two complete one another.”
I’m hoping for a little bit of flirtation in her tone, but I don’t get any. I see her humor, and it adds to her beauty.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. We’re a perfect match for one another.” I grab for the bottle near her, placing it in her line of sight. “I know this doesn’t make up for the almost heart attack, but here is a bottle of wine for you.” She grabs it, and when her eyes widen, she must understand the class of my gift. “This dark is one of the most unexpected, one-of-a-kind, intense red Bordeaux wines you’ll ever try.”
“I’m aware of the wonderfulness of it, and normally, I wouldn’t accept it, but draining the entire bottle will be a chore I may very well enjoy.”