Holy shit. Viviana Stark.

I hadn’t seen her since the night of our high school graduation party when she made a move on me, and I let her down as gently as a horny eighteen-year-old could. She’d seemed cool about it, but she’d left for Chicago at the beginning of the summer, instead of the end like the rest of our graduating class. We were friends who traveled in the same circle, but had never been all that close. I was interested in your basic teenage boy things—sports, girls, and video games—but Viviana didn’t have enough curves back then to hold my attention.

Now though, she had curves in all the right places. And a husky laugh and sleepy eyes that made it look like she just woke up. Fuck me, and she was my neighbor.

“You know Viviana, Dad? That’s a pretty name. Viviana.”

“Yeah, Peanut, we were friends in school, but I haven’t seen her since I was a kid.” And now I wouldn’t be able to get away from her, or the sight of her in that blue and white striped bikini top. Her tits were perfect, just a bit more than a handful and shaped like a perfect teardrop. Fuck man, I can’t get hard with my kid around.

“I like her. She’s cool… and different.” That was high praise coming from a girl who had purposely chased off every nanny, babysitter, and caretaker she’d ever had.

“You hardly know her.” Still, it made me wonder what kind of job she had. A single dad could never have too many willing babysitters.

“I know that she doesn’t talk to me like I’m a dummy, and she’s a writer. I bet you didn’t know that!”

“I didn’t. What does she write?” I couldn’t remember what she’d been into in school, only that she’d been at the top of the class every year.

“Books. She said they weren’t right for a girl my age.” Her tone told me exactly what she thought of that idea, but it made me wonder what dirty fantasies she put on paper. “She also said I could hang out with her anytime.”

“That was nice of her.” And it didn’t have anything to do with me. I saw the shock on Viviana’s face when she realized it was me. I also saw the heat she didn’t even try to hide.

“Yeah, but you were kinda rude, so she might take it back.” Having your eight-year-old kid school you on manners was enough to make any parent want to kick his own ass.

“I wasn’t rude.” Maybe a little gruff, but not rude.

“Whatever.” Norah stomped into the house and I shook my head wondering what in the world I did in a previous life to have been cursed with a girl. Little girls were moody creatures. Emotional land mines I couldn’t navigate to save my life. And to think, she was only eight. Still a few years away from teenage hormones, and I was already flunking out of parenthood.

“I made us something.” I knew I shouldn’t hide in my workshop all day, but my woodworking business had picked up over the past few years thanks to a table commissioned by the First Lady of Louisiana, which meant I rarely got to make anything just for me. Or for Norah.

“Not another bookshelf, Dad.”

“Nope, not another bookshelf,” I told her in a mocking tone that made her laugh. “A coat rack. We still need hooks and knobs, but I figured we could go shopping for them together.”

“Okay.” She sounded like I just asked her to pave the driveway.

“What’s wrong, Peanut?”

She sighed, and I knew I just had to wait her out. Norah couldn’t keep anything to herself. If she was angry, she said it. If she was happy, she laughed and did goofy things to make everyone else happy. When she was sad, which was rare, Norah got quiet.

“Are you not dating ‘cause of me?”

“What? No. I’m not dating because of me. I don’t really have the energy to do all that right now.” It had been a couple years since my last real attempt at dating, and it hadn’t gone all that well. The woman I was involved with, Stephanie, was expecting more than I’d been planning to give, and that was that.

“Pinky swear?”

With a suppressed smile, I hooked my pinky with hers. “Pinky swear. Let me worry about that, you worry about being a kid.”

“Fine. But if you wanna date, you can. I don’t mind.”

“Good to know.” It was the first time she’d mentioned my love life, ever. Which was weird all on its own considering she hadn’t been all that fond of Stephanie, and hadn’t made a secret about it. “What brought this on sweetie?”

“Becky Foster is spending the summer in California with her mom and her mom’s new boyfriend. He has a house on the beach. And Callie’s dad just got a whole new wife. You’re way handsomer and you have no one!”

“Ouch.”

“Sorry, Dad, but it’s true. Viviana is really pretty and she’s cool too.”

That’s my kid, nothing subtle about her.

“I hear you got a new neighbor.” My best friend, hell, my only friend, Zeke Riley, sat with me on the back porch while Norah ran around chasing butterflies.

“Norah told you?” He nodded with a mischievous smile. “Said she was real pretty too. Pretty enough to make you mad, and you know that’s a kind of pretty I’ve gotta see.”

“No, you don’t,” I growled at him, feeling possessive when I had no cause. With Norah talking about Vivi nonstop, I couldn’t forget all those curves and that silky creamy skin she didn’t seem to mind showing off. “She’s my neighbor.”

“And a saint, or a nun?”

“I’m not sure, maybe a combination of both since she never turns Norah away. Yesterday, I came out of the workshop at nine and she wasn’t home. They were having a “writing session” if you can believe it.”

The laughter shining in his brown eyes said he couldn’t believe it either. “What was Norah writing?”

“A play.” The disbelief still hadn’t left my voice, because that’s what I felt. “She wants to be a playwright. Like Shakespeare she says. Why me?”

“To be fair, she could want to be a porn star, or do something dangerous, like chase serial killers.”

“You always go so dark so fast.” I shook my head and he just shrugged.

“I call it putting things into perspective. She’s got a mentor, that’s a good thing since your dumb ass can’t help her with this kind of stuff.” As usual, Zeke made a good point, which is why I ignored the dumb ass comment.

“I just can’t figure it out, I mean why is she so cool with letting a kid hang out with her?” I’d met more than my share of women who feigned interest in Norah just to get close to me, but I didn’t get that vibe from Viviana. Nanette couldn’t be bothered to stick around, and she’d given birth to Norah. So I had a hard time understanding what motivated Vivi. “I know her. Well, I used to know her, but that was a long time ago.”

“You’re too suspicious, bro. Maybe she’s lonely and just likes having someone to talk to for a bit since she’s newly back in town.”

Maybe, but I wasn’t convinced. Not yet, anyway. She barely spoke to me when I went to pick up Norah, and she definitely hadn’t made any overtures for sex or a date.

“I don’t know, Zeke.”

“What’s to know? Your daughter made a friend, who you used to be friends with, and you’re attracted to her. Big deal.”

He was right. It wasn’t a big deal. Viviana and I were friends once, and there was no reason we couldn’t be friends again.

“Exactly. It was just a momentary freak out, that’s all. We can be friends, and you’re right, maybe it’ll be good for Norah to have a woman to hang out with sometimes.” She wasn’t even out of diapers yet when Nanette left me a note saying she wasn’t cut out for motherhood, so she might appreciate someone who could paint nails and play dress up. “It’ll be good.”

“Who’re you trying to convince, me or you?”

That was a good question, and one I had no answer for at the moment. All I had to do was keep things casual. Make sure not to send out any vibes of any kind, and we would be fine. We’d all be fine.

Absolutely fine.