Page 12 of Here & Now

Bree couldn’t see her face, but she assumed it was Zane’s date from the restaurant.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Do you swim often?”

“Just about every day.”

“It’s nice and private too.”

Bree swallowed hard. If the woman only knew it wasn’t as private as she thought!

“Mostly,” he said.

Bree rolled her eyes, wondering if he was referring to her spying on him.

“Do you ever go skinny dipping?”

Bree’s eyes went wide, and she held her breath.

He chuckled. “Not recently, but I’m game if you are.”

The woman laughed, and Bree rolled her eyes again.

“Are you sure nobody can see us?”

I can! I can! Bree screamed silently.

“The house on the left is vacant.”

“What about the one on the right?”

“Somebody’s renting it, but I don’t see any lights on right now.”

They went silent, and Bree wondered if they were kissing. She jutted her head forward and tilted it, trying to get a better view without moving too much and making noise. It was just as she thought—they were lip-locked.

She sat still, transfixed. It was like watching a sex scene on TV and feeling a twinge of discomfort mixed with curiosity. She simply couldn’t look away.

His arms were wrapped loosely around the woman’s waist, and his hands rested just above the curve of her backside. Her arms were looped around his neck, her head was tilted, and her long, dark hair cascaded down her back.

I’m trapped, Bree thought. What if they decide to go skinny dipping? It’s bad enough I saw him in a towel, but naked? I’ll never be able to look him in the eye again, and I really don’t need to see the woman naked too. If I wanted to watch porn, I’d do it in the privacy of my own home!

He suddenly pulled back, almost as if he sensed someone watching and had read Bree’s mind. “Maybe we should continue this inside.”

“Yes, please,” the woman said, sounding out of breath.

Placing his hand on the small of her back, he guided her toward the door, but then he paused and glanced in Bree’s direction.

She’d never sat so still in her entire life, and she even closed her eyes, as if that would make her invisible. Seconds later, she heard his patio door slide open and closed, and she popped her eyes open.

Finally! She scrambled off the chair and went inside. Leaning against the kitchen counter, she took a few deep breaths. Her heart was pounding from the close encounter.

She took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with cold water. As she drank, an image of Zane and the woman kissing slipped unbidden into her mind. From her vantage point, he’d looked like a good kisser. The way he’d held his date, closely but not too tight, his hands resting on her hips but not groping… He exuded confidence, seemed at ease in his own skin, which upped his sex appeal.

Fanning her face, she went down the hall to the bedroom to get into her pajamas.

As she peeled down the straps of her sundress, she wondered if he were doing the same thing to his date, who was also wearing a dress. Bree stepped out of hers, imagining the woman next door doing the same. Then she shook her head, disgusted at herself, and hung the dress in the closet.

Who cares what they’re doing? It’s none of my business!

She unhooked her bra, removed it, and hung it on the doorknob of the closet. Then she padded over to the dresser, opened a drawer, and took out her pajamas. Before putting them on, she glanced at herself in the mirror above the dresser. It had been quite a while since she’d been with a man, six months, to be exact. Maybe that was why she was so interested in the goings-on next door.

She was lonely and alone, an undesirable combination. Plus, she was still grieving the loss of her grandma. She’d come here to sort through her grandparents’ belongings and put the house up for sale, but so far, she’d done nothing except mope around and spy on the guy next door.

This has to stop, she thought as she pulled on her pajamas.

Then she heard a car door slam shut. She hurried across the hall to the front bedroom and peered out the window.

Zane was rounding the front of the Jeep while his date sat in the passenger seat with her arms crossed over her chest.

As he backed down the driveway, the headlights flashed in Bree’s window, and she quickly stepped back, not wanting to get caught spying again.

Given the way Zane and his date had been kissing, she hadn’t expected them to emerge for hours, maybe not even until morning. No more than twenty minutes had passed since they’d gone inside, so either they’d had a quickie or something had gone wrong. She decided on the latter since nothing about him had seemed hurried.

Just after she’d vowed to stop spying, she’d done it again. Throwing her hands up in defeat, she went back to her bedroom.

As she lay in bed, she scolded herself for letting another day go by without accomplishing anything.

“I’ll do better tomorrow,” she whispered in the dark. Borrowing the words of Scarlett O’Hara, one of her favorite book characters, she added, “After all, tomorrow is another day.”