Page 2 (1/2)

Vincent kept his stride even as he walked frohbor’s house to his His fifty year old next-door neighbor had collected his as at his friend Iris’s wedding He still had a couple more days off and he planned to spend it with his fao see his mom soon she’d chew his ass out and then he’d hear about it from his three sisters Now that they all lived in the saular basis Hehioing to find out who the hell was in that vehicle So about the way the person drove told hi paranoid, but he always trusted his gut and he always looked out for his neighbors Life could change in an instant--so he knew from personal experience--and he wasn’t so if this was a potential crihborhood He just wasn’t wired that way Probably his Navy training

Once inside his house he dropped his mail on the small table in the foyer, then raced for the backdoor The sun was setting, giving hih shadows to blend in for what he planned His backyard had a privacy fence so he clihbors saw him it was unlikely they’d be worried He’d been nohborhood watch and he took his job seriously Plus when he’d retrieved his hbor had mentioned a few petty break-ins a few blocks over while he’d been out of town

Using the lengthening shadows, he scaled fences and jogged across backyards until he was six houses down Adrenaline puhbors’ front yard and scaled another privacy fence because it was locked His feet hit the grass with a soft thuht ca the side of the house He inwardly cursed even though he was the one who’d reco, he took a moment before he peered around the corner of the house

Frole he was still hidden froood Instead of using the well lit sidewalk, he quickly walked across his neighbors’ front yards, avoiding kids’ toys and other crap left out Two dogs barked in the distance, then he heard the soft sound of Mr Canning’s auto on like clockwork as he closed the distance

Two yards to go Then one

The car still idled and even though the ere tinted he could see the outline of a driver in the front seat There was no one else in the vehicle and the person was sainst the headrest, but they were looking down at so in their hands

Normally Vincent was armed, but hadn’t felt it necessary now Besides, with his training, he could take almost anyone out in hand-to-hand co the side until he reached the driver’s door He really hoped he was overreacting and this driver was just sohborhood, he never took chances

He rapped his knuckles against the top of the car Judging frouessed it was a woman She jumped and dropped whatever had been in her hands

Good

He’d wanted to startle the driver, take her off guard and it worked

A second later, the door opened and as the do there, he froze

For a s, his neighbors’ houses, the distant fa, just fell away in that moment All he could do was stare as her head tilted up toward hi into fa in a breath, but it was as if an elephant was sitting on his chest

Moving, breathing, thinking--iainst his ribs as he tried to control his breathing He blinked once, sure this was a hallucination

Or a fantasy he’d conjured up

Nope, she was still there

Her shtly in her lap, her dark hair a sensual cascade falling over one shoulder as she stared right back

His hands fell to his sides as he stared at Jordan Alvarado The wo The woo without a fucking word The woet over No matter how damn hard he tried She was under his skin and in his heart, and nothing he’d done had worked her out of his system

Her hazel eyes ide as she watched him with a mix of nervousness and…lust Yeah, that had always been there between the Coed And he hated that he felt it too

"Jordan" He hadn’t realized he’d been about to speak until he heard his own raspy voice scraping out her name