But as I broke from my pity party and started to reach for my phone, the music… stopped. Surprised, I waited. Were they simply switching playlists? It seemed impossible to believe that my hazel-eyed neighbor, silent and staring, had actually listened.
And yet.
When the music restarted, the volume was low enough that I could barely hear it from the front porch. The shouts and whoops and laughter were more contained, as well. Something in my stomach unclenched, and when I inhaled, it felt as if I were taking my first deep, full breath in a long time.
“Thank you!” I shouted through the door before I could stop myself.
Giuliana stirred at my booming gratitude, and I patted her bottom through the wrap. “Okay, let’s try getting you to bed again.”
The party remained turned down throughout my trek back home, the changing of yet another wet diaper, rocking my daughter, and putting her back in her crib. No music or bass buzzed through my home as I stripped to my boxers and slid under the covers of my bed, which suddenly felt too large.
Sleep should have come right away, but it didn’t. It danced and teased at the periphery of my mind, because I couldn’t stop thinking about my neighbor and the way those piercing eyes had a brooding, wounded quality to them.
And how much that quality intrigued me.
2
Javi
My hand was pressed to my chest as soon as the door was shut. Beneath my palm, I felt the rapid thump of my heart as it raced double time, hyped up from the one-sided conversation even as the party continued to rage around me.
The ‘for sale’ sign next door had disappeared months ago, but aside from a moving truck, I hadn’t seen my neighbor once. Now I had, and fuck me, I made a mess of it. To start off, I had not planned on having a man next door who looked like that.
Sure, he looked like any parent of a newborn would, sloppy and exhausted. Dark brown hair that stuck up in all directions. Dirty t-shirt clinging to broad shoulders. Angry brown eyes so rich in color it felt like I was being pulled into him by his gaze alone. It wasn’t fair that someone could look so desirable when they were at their messiest. I could only imagine how good he must look when he’d had some sleep and a shower.
The stereo was in the room attached to the foyer. I strode to it and turned the music down, ignoring the complaints coming from my guests. Who gave a shit what they thought? They hadn’t just been railed at by their new and stunning neighbor.
Peering out the window that overlooked our yards, I rubbed my hand along my jaw as I tracked my neighbor’s movements back to his home. His arms were wrapped around the tiny bundle that had been strapped to his chest.
It had been overwhelming, my good-looking and clearly livid neighbor and his kid. All of that fiery attention focused on me, pinning me like I was a specimen up for scrutiny, and I’d shut down. Which meant I’d also shut up, not trusting myself to be able to talk without a stutter. The sight of his infant daughter had made me tighten up to the point where I couldn’t speak.
As I kept watching out the window, lights flicked on, flicked off, flicked on, and then off throughout the house next door. I imagined him putting her to bed and then going to bed himself. When I looked at my watch, guilt crept up like ivy, growing fast and smothering me.
Could I have been more inconsiderate? I’d opened my house to the guys from the shop almost every night for the past week. I liked having people in the house. It made it feel like a home and helped me forget, for a small time, that I didn’t have a family to share my space with. But my comfort had come at that poor baby’s expense.
Tomorrow I’ll do something nice for them and leave an apology note. A housewarming gift and a peace offering wrapped into one.
A hand on my shoulder caught me off guard. The overwhelming smell of body spray let me know who it was before I turned around. Ash, I thought—though to be honest, I hadn’t bothered to pay much attention to his name when Dane introduced us earlier. Dane, who thought he knew my