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“Do you always answer the door like that?” He snaps, and my spine snaps straight.
“Excuse me?” I spit at him, and he frowns.
“Could you turn that racket down?” He yells, and I realize that we’re both talking loudly to be heard over the music.
I turn and head back to the bathroom, turning off the music and grabbing my phone before I head back to the porch.
“What do you want?” I ask him. “Who even are you?”
“I’m Wade Collins… your new neighbor.”
He points to the house next door, and my stomach dips.
Great. Well, I sure know how to make a good first impression, don’t I?
Wait.
I blink, trying to make sense of what he just said.
Wade Collins? Wade Collins, the grumpy, reclusive guy from high school? Wade Collins is my new neighbor? The guy who used to sit in the back of the classroom, always with hishead down, who never really talked to anyone? And now he’s living next door.
My body heats with a flush as I remember the huge crush that I had on him back then. My body throbs, and I amend that statement. The huge crush that I apparently still have on him. Although, I’ll have to squash that because he seems to still be a grumpy jerk.
I take him in, my memories from years ago trying to mesh with the version of him before me. He looks the same. He still has the same dark hair, though it’s a little shorter now. Same mesmerizing grey eyes. Same perpetual frown. Still brooding and intense in a way that has my heart racing.
I swallow hard and straighten my spine, determined to suppress the feelings starting to bubble inside of me.
There’s a shadow of stubble on his jaw that wasn’t there when we were kids, and I wonder what it would feel like against my skin.
STOP!I order myself, angry that I can’t seem to get my libido in check.
“You should get dressed,” he says, and I remember that I’m still in a towel.
I can feel my cheeks heat, but I’m determined not to let him see that he’s getting to me, so I straighten my chin and cock my hip out, my hand landing there as I stare him down.
“I’m about to take a bath, so if you don’t need anything,” I say, starting to close the door in his face.
His hand comes out, stopping the door before it can smack him in his handsome face.
“You shouldn’t be answering the door like that.”
“Got it,” I say, pushing on my side of the door, but it’s no use.
I let out a huff, blowing a loose strand of hair out of my eyes as I glared up at him. His face is stoic, not giving anything away, and I narrow my eyes at him.
“Did you need something?” I snap, still trying to push the door closed.
“I’d love it if you didn’t try to deafen me with your music,” he says, and part of me feels guilty. I didn’t realize that it was so loud.
“Yep. It won’t happen again,” I tell him.
“Good.”
We stare at each other for a moment, and I’m flooded with memories of him in school. I always kind of had a crush on him, but he was so intimidating back then, and I never worked up the courage to talk to him.
“Welcome to the neighborhood,” I spit out at him, my hand gripping the edge of my front door.
“Auden,” he says, his voice low and rough around the edges, like he hasn’t spoken to anyone in days.
