LITMIR.BIZ

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she’d gone, Jason shook his head. “She’s so relaxed and funny.”

      “In ways I can’t be.”

      Those words seemed to have significant meaning for her. “I never said that.”

      “You don’t have to.” Fighting off the awkwardness, she opened her arms and said, “Fine. Colt can do a few things. But don’t pressure him. I’ll talk to him myself, okay?”

      “I appreciate it.”

      Honor twisted her mouth at the irony, then laughed.

      The sound was light and easy and real. Not giggling, not too robust. He’d like to hear her laugh more often.

      “On my next day off, if the weather cooperates and...and nothing else comes up, I hope to move outside and get started on the yard. You have to hate having all these brambles and weeds bordering your property.”

      “All the rain hasn’t helped.” Wanting to touch her again, he put a hand to her narrow shoulder. Though she went still, she didn’t object or move away. “Mind showing me around, too? I’d like to see the rest of the house.”

      Proving she could hear every word, Lexie yelled, “Do, Honor! It all looks terrific.”

      They both laughed—and at last, Jason felt like some of the walls were coming down.

      Now he just had to decide how far he wanted to take things. Because with every day, it seemed more likely that being mere friendly neighbors just wasn’t going to cut it.

      He wanted more. But how much more?

      And where the hell did she go in the middle of the night?

      * * *

      Over the next week, the temps climbed into the nineties and Jason worried for Honor’s AC unit. When they got old, anything could happen.

      So far, so good, though.

      Toward the end of the week on her day off, she cleared away a lot of brambles, working throughout the day with only a few breaks. She wore cutoffs so short he could see the bottoms of the pockets sticking out from the frayed hem. Her loose, oversize Kid Rock T-shirt looked at least a decade old. A big brimmed hat shaded her face, while rubber boots and gardening gloves kept her hands and feet clean.

      Somehow, on her, the mismatched outfit looked pretty damn hot.

      In fact, no matter what she wore, the sight of her never failed to fire his blood.

      She stretched to knock cobwebs off her front porch with a ragged broom, and his breath labored.

      She bent to pull weeds from the yard, and his abs clenched at the sight of her small rounded ass.

      She smiled and waved at him, the epitome of the friendly neighbor, and all he could think about was getting her alone, preferably with no clothes at all.

      Nearly every day for the past week he’d visited with her, but only for short spells because she was forever busy in one way or another.

      He always offered to lend a hand.

      She always refused.

      And she never complained about the work.

      She knew he wanted her, had admitted her own interest, but she didn’t remark on it. Even though she kept things strictly casual, there was a new understanding in how she treated him. She watched him with big eyes and breathless awareness, making him feel possessive when no other woman had affected him that way.

      Jason tried to give her room; she had a lot of remodeling ahead of her, an obviously busy job and those mysterious late-night visits.

      When she wanted to move things forward, she’d let him know.

      But damn, waiting wasn’t easy.

      Though she wouldn’t let him fix a single thing for her, she held to their agreement a week ago and always greeted Colt’s offers with a lot of gratitude. Many times while working in the garage, Jason could hear them chatting while they did a chore.

      Earlier today Colt had helped her pull out two old, dead shrubs. Backbreaking work, especially in this heat, but she’d laughed when the shrub finally came free and she fell on her ass.

      Colt had looked as bemused by that as Jason.

      He’d wanted to join in, but he’d been finishing up an ornate doghouse for a customer. After he’d delivered it, he got home to see Honor raking up the last of the mess.

      Shaking his head, he’d gone in for dinner.

      Now, with the dishes put away, he stood at the dining room window watching her stuff refuse into a big, sturdy lawn bag.

      “She’s been at it all day,” Colt told him, worrying.

      “Yeah.” Apparently she wanted to finish up before calling it a night.

      “It looks better already with the dead shrubbery gone. She’s anxious to paint. But the house will have to be scraped first. And the shutters are a loss. Not sure even you could fix them.”

      Maybe, Jason thought, he could use that as an excuse to visit. Going one further, he wouldn’t mind making her some custom shutters like he had for his own house. He could follow Lexie’s lead and present them as a housewarming gift.

      Hogan crowded in next to them, drying his hands on a dish towel, since it had been his turn in the kitchen. “Has she lost weight?”

      “Yeah.” She was a little thinner, but still shapely.

      “The place looks better every day.”

      “Yeah.”

      His brother gave him a funny look. “You’ve been staring at her so long that you can only manage one-word replies?”

      He shrugged.

      Over his head, Hogan and Colt shared a grin that Jason ignored.

      “His brain is starting to rot,” Hogan said. “There are easier women around, you know.”

      Colt shifted, uncomfortable with that particular topic.

      It infuriated Jason that his brother could be that callous. While going through his own ordeal, it seemed he’d forgotten how it all affected his son.

      The seconds ticked by in silence, and then Colt said, “I didn’t tell her about the garbage yesterday. Did you?”

      “Nope.” Honor still hadn’t gotten a lid for her can, and once more, her garbage had gone everywhere. Jason had woken early that day to see raccoons rummaging through it.

      There’d been no sign of Honor or her car, so he and Colt had picked it up again. She hadn’t gotten back home until that evening, and as usual, she’d looked limp with exhaustion.

      For the past few nights, though, he didn’t think she’d gone out. He was so attuned to her he’d have somehow known, no matter how she skulked about.

      Sometimes he’d be working in the garage and sense her the moment she got near her house. A dozen times, occasionally during meals, once in the middle of a shower, he’d been drawn to the window and found her out there, either leaving, arriving or working.

      She kept odd hours, she kept secrets—and still his hunger for her grew.

      Suddenly she glanced up, saw them all clustered in the window, and she waved.

      Colt waved back.

      Hogan glanced at Jason. “She still rendezvousing in the middle of the night?”

      Colt answered before Jason could. “Yeah, she is. But she’s getting sneakier about it. Sometimes I hear her, and sometimes I don’t.”

      Well, hell. He hadn’t realized that Colt was aware of it, too. His bedroom was on the same side of the house as Jason’s, so he should have expected it. Hogan, luckily, was on the opposite end, making do

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