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She blinked several times, like she was being woken up from hypnosis. Then she glanced down to where he’d indicated and then back up. Her movement caused a light scent to waft through the air and it wasn’t the hydrangeas planted up the walkway. It was Stephanie. And it wasn’t a guess. Ace was sure of it because over the past month, there had been several times when he was in his side yard and steam from her bathroom window would drift through the air with the exact same scent of strawberries and mint. She must’ve just showered because her hair was still damp. Images immediately sprang to his mind that he shouldn’t be thinking about if he wanted to keep his loose basketball shorts from tenting.
“I was just returning the favor.” The words rushed out of Stephanie’s mouth as she clumsily pushed the bin that was beside them into the side yard and shut the gate behind her.
Ace’s mind was still working to erase the inappropriate visions of naked skin under hot water from his mind, so instead of answering her with a coherent response, he simply repeated her words to try to catch up. “Returning the favor?”
Her head bobbed up and down as words once again came pouring out of her mouth as fast as water spilling over Niagara Falls. “Yes. You put out my trash last night and you mowed my grass. You didn’t have to do that. I mean thank you, but it wasn’t necessary. I was planning on getting to that this weekend. It’s the first weekend I’ve had off in…” She blew out a heavy breath. “I don’t know a month or so, but it was on my list to get done. Not at the top. It was like number three. Laundry and grocery shopping are one and two. But laundry’s kind of an all-day thing so I was going to take care of the lawn as soon as I got back from the store, so you really didn’t have to do that.”
Damn, Ace couldn’t help but smile. She was cute when she rambled. He’d never considered rambling a turn-on but with Stephanie it was charming. Captivating. He could easily lose himself just listening to her sweet voice.
She lifted her arms and her eyes widened as she continued, “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate you doing what you did. It’s just that it would’ve been taken care of today…or tomorrow at the latest. And as far as the trash goes, I would love to tell you that I would’ve remembered to set it out, but in all good conscience I can’t. The last few days have been a blur and yesterday when I got home trash was the last thing on my mind.”
“What was on your mind?” he asked.
Normally he didn’t grill people about their inner thoughts. The last thing he ever wanted to know was what people were really thinking. Most of the time he didn’t even want to know the things they deemed important enough to say out loud. But there was something different about Stephanie. He wanted to know what she thought, what she dreamed of, what she felt. He wanted to know everything.
“What?” Her expressive doe eyes peered up at him beneath dark lashes as a wrinkle appeared between her brows.
“You said trash was the last thing on your mind last night. So what was on your mind?”
“My bed.”
The second the word bed left her lips a blush rushed up her pale cheeks. Ace was starting to wonder if there was anything this girl could do that wasn’t equal parts adorable and sexy. The physical evidence of her embarrassment drew him like a moth to a flame. His hand twitched at his side as an overwhelming desire to reach out and run his thumb along her flushed skin crashed over him.
He crossed his arms to ensure he kept his hands to himself.
“Your bed,” he repeated and his voice grew deeper.
“No, I mean yes but not to do…I just meant…going to bed.”
His chin dipped as he nodded in understanding.
“To sleep,” she quickly clarified. “I was thinking of my bed to sleep in it.”
A funny feeling spread through Ace’s chest as he stared down at Stephanie. It was light, pure, and warm, like sunshine. The closest sensation he could compare it to would be a shot of whiskey warming from the inside out, but that still didn’t come close to describing it.
The strangest urge came over him to tell her how she made him feel. To try to explain what he was experiencing. But since that would probably make him sound like a stalker, instead he asked, “Are you going to the reopening tonight?”
It might seem an odd question to ask, since they’d never discussed the event before. But since the entire town was talking about it, he thought it was a pretty safe bet that she would’ve heard about it.
“Yes, I am. Are you?”
Was that hope he detected in her question? He wasn’t sure, but the thought intensified the feeling radiating through him.
“Yep, I’ll be there.”
Her full lips lifted into a wide smile, revealing a row of perfect white teeth, and the power of its force was palpable. Her smile wasn’t just a smile, it was an intoxicating combination of sheer joy and innocent seduction.
A totally undeserved sense of pride crashed into him like a Mack truck that he was the one that had put it on her gorgeous face. He wanted to do it again and again and again. In fact, the thought of another man making her smile the same way had possessive instincts he didn’t know he had rising up to the surface.
“Okay, well…” She dipped her head as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. When her gaze met his again, her face was once again flushed. “I guess I’ll see you tonight.”
“See you tonight,” he repeated lamely as she turned and headed back to her condo.
She lifted her hand in a small wave as she rounded the corner and he knew in that moment that whatever this was, whatever was happening between them wasn’t neighborly. It wasn’t casual. It wasn’t even serious. It was…he didn’t know what it was. But he had a feeling tonight might be a good time to try to figure that out, especially since he was leaving tomorrow.
