I fixed the pipe within half an hour.

There was a rusted spot in one of the copper pipes under her kitchen sink that had caused it to burst. I replaced that and added better pipes with stronger metal. That part was easy to fix. The part that was hard work was all the water that had gushed out into the house. I managed to clean up most of it, but it was still pretty bad.

It was a good thing I’d come when I had because the water had nearly reached the electrical wiring, and that would have been a disaster none of us wanted.

By nightfall the place was still soaked, but with the doors and windows left open, I hoped the air would dry most of it up. Thankfully most of downstairs was covered with floorboards and not carpet like we had at my house. If that flood had happened to me, I would have had to rip the carpet up and redo the place.

I was pretty soaked myself and it was probably time for me to leave, but I hung back to talk to her. She’d left me about an hour before when I’d insisted on her taking a break, which she’d looked like she needed.

I packed away my tools and found her in the sitting room. She was resting on the bay window, gazing through the glass, looking out at the darkness of the night and the vague movement of the sea.

All that golden hair cascaded down her back in waves. She turned upon hearing me enter and regarded me with a curious expression.

Her face, bare of any makeup, was flawless and dewy. She looked younger, and I found myself trying to remember if she’d told me her age the other day.

No. The day of her arrival, I hadn’t gotten as far as taking down her date of birth. Noah had arrived by then.

Nerves gripped me and I knew I was staring at her for longer than was acceptable, getting lost in her beauty and those eyes that still drew me in with curiosity.

I finally found my voice. “Everything’s all done.”

“Thanks for your help. How much do I owe you?” She actually reached for her purse on the table nearby.

“No.” I held up my hands. “Nothing.”

“You’ve been here for hours.”

“It’s fine. We’re neighbors, right?” That was my attempt to level out the tension. “Next-door neighbors.” I nodded emphatically to give it more meaning.

“Thank you. I’ll find some way of making it up to you. The plumber wouldn’t have made it in time, and Noah’s out of town.”

Noah, the friend who I felt was more like her boyfriend. Maybe he wanted to be, or maybe she wanted him to be.

“I’m guessing he helps you out when things like this happen?” I enquired, moving closer.

“Yes, but things like this don’t tend to happen to me. It’s just bad luck. It’s all I seem to have attracted since being here.”

I could have informed her that bad luck wasn’t the only thing attracted to her. I also thought revealing that she attracted the hell out of me would be seen in the same light as bad luck in her book.

“I’m sure it’s just the usual that can be expected when you move somewhere new.”

“Unfortunately not. I think your town hates me being here.”

“Good thing you’re only here for eight months then, right?” Not that I was agreeing with her; I was just curious to know what she was doing in town. “Are you here studying or something?”

The other day when this had been mentioned, I’d asked if she was here for work and she’d never answered. Maybe it was studying. She’d handed my ass to me when she’d informed me she went to Yale, and she did look young, so maybe she was a grad student.

“Studying?” She raised her brows.

I lifted my shoulders into a shrug. “I’m trying to guess something that won’t piss you off any more than you already are at me.”

“And you think I’m studying?”

I decided to sit on the chair in front of her. She looked me over and tried to bite back a smile.

“Are you?”

“What makes you think I’m studying? I already said I went to Yale.”

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “You look young. I figured you could be a grad student at Yale.”

She laughed and the sound did something to me. It reached into me, and I almost wanted to make some kind of joke so I could hear the sound again. The only problem was I’d been so wound up lately I’d forgotten how to joke around. I also hadn’t been that version of myself in years.

“Oh my gosh.” She brought her hand to her cheek and stared at me. “Young? Like how young, detective?”

Was it wrong that I loved how she said detective?

“Forgive me if I get this wrong. Please don’t bite my head off or get more pissed at me.”

“Don’t keep me in suspense. I want to hear what you think.”

“Okay. I think you could be twenty-four.”

More laughter escaped her lips, and I thought I’d gotten it wrong.

“Twenty-two…or three?” I offered.

“I wish you’d just asked me how old I was. You should be going higher, not lower.” Her smile was as beautiful as she was.

“Higher? Twenty-five?” When she shook her head, I looked her over.

“I’m thirty.”

“There’s no way you’re thirty.” She just looked so much younger. I wouldn’t have guessed thirty.

“I am, and I’ll be thirty-one in a few months. And you? You don’t look old enough to have a sixteen-year-old.”

“I’m thirty-four. I had her when I was eighteen.” This sort of conversation usually verged into talking about Olivia, and I didn’t really want to talk about her right now.

“You don’t look thirty-four. You look younger too.”

“Thank you.” It was a nice compliment since I felt about a hundred years old. “So, you’re not in grad school?”

“I never went to grad school. I went straight out into the field after Yale for my internship.”

“Which was where?” I was starting to see there was much more to this woman than met the eye, much as what met my eyes was pleasing enough.

“The Times, in New York. I’m a features editor with People Magazine. I’m here for eight months doing an exclusive on Sally Weinstein.”

Jesus. Just when I was beginning to climb down from the shock she’d already served me.

“Wow. That’s amazing, very impressive.”

A mischievous little look washed over her face. “The walking Barbie could almost forgive you for being an ass.”

I pulled in a breath and tried to think of the best thing to say. “I’m really sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have said that to you.”

She seemed to consider what I’d said and narrowed her eyes.

“What?” I asked, because I really wasn’t sure what she was thinking.

“I hope you don’t expect an apology from me because you deserved the bitch slap, and if you try to take me down for assaulting a police officer, I’ll say I was provoked.”

I opened my palms and bowed my head. “I deserved the slap, definitely. I accept that.”

She smiled. “Really? You’re accepting it?”

“Yeah, I am. I’m not normally like…this. I’m not normally an asshole.”

“What are you normally like?”

I was a little thrown by the question. “Different.”

“That doesn’t tell me anything. Different could be worse than what I’ve seen.” When she shuffled, the movement made the little strap of her top drift down her shoulder, drawing my attention to her fully rounded breasts.

I’d avoided looking at them all evening, all evening as she spent most of it in those wet clothes that clung to her figure.

“Hey, eyes up,” she chided.

Fuck. I hadn’t meant to get caught staring. Hell, I hadn’t meant to stare at all. I opened my mouth to say something but couldn’t think of anything that could redeem myself.

What could I say? That I wasn’t looking? I totally was.

With a slight flush to her cheeks and a little giggle, she adjusted the straps on her shoulders. “If you’re going to ogle my tits right in front of me, I have to at least know if I’d like the other version of you.”

I opened my mouth again then closed it.

Would she like the real me? The version of me who wasn’t always tensely wound up and worrying about Aria?

I couldn’t remember what it felt like to be that guy. I did know he was fun, and…I missed him.

“Yes.” I nodded. “Yes you would.”

She inclined her head to the side, assessing me. Interest now flickered in her blue gaze. My eyes dropped to her mouth as her lips parted and slid into a sexy smile.

“And you have a sixteen-year-old who I kind of adore?”

That made me smile. It was a nice thing to hear.

“Looks that way.” It sure did, and said sixteen-year-old had given me an ultimatum that morning. “My daughter would like you to join us for dinner tomorrow.”

Aria had told me if I didn’t ask Brooke to join us for dinner, she would never speak to me again. Ever.

“Us?”

“Me and her. Aria and me. Us.” As I looked at Brooke, I knew I’d be a fool not to take note of the attraction that sparked between us.

I would have been lying if I’d said I didn’t feel it.

“I’ll go for her. I know for sure I definitely like her, though you haven’t impressed me yet.”

I had to laugh, and damn it sounded weird, like the laughter was coming from someone else.

“Brooke, I just spent all evening fixing your pipes and clearing the water away from the floors.” I thought that was impressive enough. “Also, the other day, I saved you from falling over in the grocery store.”

“You fixed my pipes and cleaned up the water because you felt guilty for calling me a walking Barbie with daddy’s credit card. I’m still upset about that.” She narrowed her eyes at me.

Guilt consumed me. I still felt bad that I’d actually said it. “I’m really sorry ,again.”

“I’ve half forgiven you. Also, the grocery store incident was…well, you were in the way. It would have been evil if you’d let me fall over when I bumped into you.”

I didn’t think I’d ever met anyone quite like her.

Classy, sexy, and…quirky.

“How about we start fresh?” I brought my hands together.

She considered the offer. “Okay, but I’m still going to dinner for Aria.”

“Just so I know, what will I have to do to impress you?” I couldn’t help myself. It was curiosity.

“I’ll let you know.”