“What are you doing?” Jessica climbs up the porch and stands over my shoulders as I crouch by her front door.

“What does it look like?” I keep my eyes on my work, even though I want to turn around and take a good look at her.

This morning when she left for work, I saw her wearing a tight little green skirt. I would’ve loved having a teacher like her when I was in school.

I bet that ass looks cute wiggling in front of the class as she erases the writing on the whiteboard, and that loose blouse looks like the kind that would let me take a peek at her cleavage when she bends down to pick up a dropped pen.

“It looks like you’re tampering with my lock without my permission,” she says without missing a beat.

Jesus, did she wake up on the wrong side of the bed? This is what I get for trying to help her. I take a deep breath to calm myself down.

“No, I’m changing your locks,” I say in the calmest voice I can muster. I’m not in the mood for an argument today, especially after getting lost on the way to the hardware store to buy the new door locks. I’m pretty tired and easily irritated right now, and I know fighting with Jessica would just turn my day from bad to worse.

“Oh.” She sounds surprised.

My hands stay frozen in the air, one holding a screwdriver and the other one holding the old door lock I’ve just removed. I look back over my shoulder to see color spread across her cheeks.

When she notices me looking at her, she turns around and walks toward the porch railing, presumably in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.

Too late, baby. I already saw you turn red as a beet.

“How much is it?” She turns around as she leans her luscious ass on the railing.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say. “It was cheap.”

“But I have to give you something in return for doing that for me.”

“How about a lap dance?” I turn around and raise an eyebrow at her, a lopsided smile forming on my lips.

She glares at me without saying a word.

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.” I shrug. She stays quiet as I put the new latch into place. Jesus, fuck. I really don’t need this silent treatment today. “Sorry. It was just a joke.”

But I wouldn’t say no if you wanted to do it, I think to myself.

“Yeah, well, it was a bad joke,” she says. Even without looking, I know she’s still glaring at me. I can practically feel the heat of her anger searing into my back.

Okay, so she doesn’t like to talk about her previous job. It’s not going to be easy trying to find out what she’s up to with her being all secretive like this.

I get up and hold the door between my knees as I put one half of the doorknob through the hole on the outside of the door and the other half through the one on the inside. They slide together into place. I step inside Jessica’s hallway to screw everything into place.

“Wait a minute,” she says. “How did you open the door?”

“With a credit card. Probably the same way the guy who broke in did.”

“I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Yeah. You had an older lock. This type is more secure, so he won’t be able to get in so easily next time. The police say this type of thing happens sometimes in this area, so he probably won’t try your house again next time. But if he does, he’ll see it’s harder to pick your lock now and maybe he’ll try another house.”

“Now I feel bad for the neighbors.”

“Eh, there are always going to be break-ins. All you can do is make sure it’s not your house that’s being targeted.”

“Can you also do Bertha’s house?”

“Bertha?”

“Yes. She’s the older lady who lives a few houses down the street. She lives on her own,” she says.

“Sure, I can do that.” I don’t have a spare set of door lock, but I can’t say no to that. Now I’d feel responsible if the old lady really got her place broken into. I guess I’ll have to make another trip to the hardware store. At least I already know the way by now so I won’t get lost again.

“Thanks, Jacob.” Jessica gives me a sweet smile that makes me want to march across the porch and kiss her.

Aw, fuck. Why do I have to be such a sucker for her pretty face?

“No problem,” I say as I lock and unlock the door a few times to make sure it works. I cross the porch toward her and hold out my hand, the keys dangling from my fingers. “Okay, I’m done. I’ve already changed the lock on the back door as well. Here are your new keys. You may want to give your landlord a set. Oh, and your boyfriend, too.”

I keep my expression neutral to make it seem like a casual question. In reality, I’ve been planning to drop this into a conversation since she mentioned the name of the guy who has a key to her place last night.

While watching her through the window this morning, I was going through this conversation in my head. I thought my idea to change her locks was genius. And of course, I timed it perfectly to coincide with her coming home.

“My boyfriend?” Jessica frowns as she takes the keys from me. Her hand grazes mine for a second and I resist the urge to grab it and pull her close so I can smell her hair again like I did last night.

“Yeah. Uh, Tony, right?” I frown and cock my head so it looks like I’m trying to recall the name that, in reality, has been branded on my brain by jealousy.

“Tony’s not my boyfriend,” she says as she laughs it off. Good answer, but I have a few follow-up questions.

“Oh, is that why he didn’t drive you home last night?”

“Last night?”

“Yeah. You were all dressed up and looking nice, so I thought maybe you had a date,” I say. I know she doesn’t usually wear heels, for example, but I’m not going to mention that.

“Oh. Um, yeah. But it wasn’t with Tony,” she says.

“Tony has your keys, but you went out with another guy who isn’t your boyfriend?” I whistle. “Wow, you’re really playing the field, aren’t you?”

“Excuse me?” Jessica’s voice climbs in both pitch and volume. “Neither one of them is my boyfriend, but I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“I thought neighbors were supposed to share personal information with one another,” I say. I know I’m just making her angrier, but fuck not getting into a fight. She needs to know what she’s doing is not okay. “Listen. I’m telling you this for your own good. Maybe it was fine to play with the guys who went to your strip club. Maybe they were there just for fun and games, too. But guys in small towns, they don’t work that way. They get hurt and they may lash out at you, maybe break into your house. I suggest you move back to the city if you want to continue doing this.”

“Don’t act like you know me. You don’t know my life. Who are you to judge me?” Jessica’s shouting at the top of her lungs now. She pauses, crosses her arms, and squints at me. She points her index finger at me and jabs me in the chest. “You know what, nobody I know has ever had a break-in around here before you moved in. So maybe it was you who’s lashing out at me, huh?

“Well, excuse me for ever thinking you’re attractive enough to have a one night stand with. I don’t remember ever making any promises to you about seeing each other again. Is that why you moved here? To get some kind of revenge over a small slight I caused you, freaking three years ago? Have you been holding onto a grudge this whole time?”

“Hey. Whoa.” I raise my hands in front of me. “I was just trying to help you, okay? I just changed your locks and gave you some safety tips. That’s all. I never said anything about me holding onto a grudge against you. Don’t get your panties all twisted in a bunch. I happen to have some business in town and I’m not even planning to stay for long.”

“Good,” she says as she continues to glower at me.

“Good,” I reply as I turn around and grab the toolbox I placed by the door. I walk back home next door.

So much for not getting into a fucking fight today, I think to myself as the veins in my temples throb.

It wasn’t all bad, though. Now I know she doesn’t have a boyfriend. Besides, she just said I’m attractive. She also mentioned something about her past for the first time since I got here and she even said something about the night we spent together.

A smirk spreads across my face. Maybe it’s not such a bad day after all.