that was impressive. It was the texture. Roughened fingers and a calloused palm brushed against my skin wreaking all sorts of havoc on my nervous system. I tingled from head to toe. Each cell in my body was alive with awareness. My ovaries flipped the sign in my uterus window from Closed to Open.
Could someone get pregnant from a handshake? Because if they could, I was definitely carrying this man’s baby.
“Hank, nice to meet you.”
His gravelly introduction only served to exacerbate my Level Ten Swoon. His raspy words caused my breath to catch in my throat. How could I be this attracted to a man that I hadn’t even seen?
I narrowed my eyes, squinting again, as I tried desperately to make out any features I could of this enormous man named Hank who had a voice that made my ovaries tingle and a touch that had me weak in the knees. Unfortunately, willing myself to have better vision didn’t make it so.
I exhaled slowly before speaking, hoping not to sound like a breathless schoolgirl. “I’m so sorry about this. We just moved in and I fell asleep and…”
“It’s no bother. Really.”
The gritty roughness in his tone held a commanding quality that captivated me in a way I’d never experienced before. His voice simultaneously soothed and aroused me. Normally, those weren’t two reactions I experienced in tandem. I wasn’t sure what voodoo magic this man possessed, but I knew that it was much too strong to resist in my exhausted state.
Back away slowly, my voice of reason instructed.
Nothing to see here, my voice of self-preservation cosigned.
The last thing I needed was to add infatuation to the pile of complications in my life.
“Okay, well, thanks.” I took two steps backwards, still holding onto Luna for dear life before turning and rushing down the steps. “Luna, tell Mr. Hank bye.”
Luna waved wildly over my shoulder as I carried her across the grass. “Bye, Mister Hank!”
“Bye, Luna Luna.”
Luna giggled as she shouted, “It’s just Luna!”
As I made my way back across the field, I could feel the heated stare of my blurry new neighbor on my back like the sun breaking out from clouds on a chilly day. It warmed me and caused the tiny hairs on the base of my neck to stand up. The sensation sent another chill rushing through me.
“Are you still cold?” Luna sweetly voiced her concern.
“Yep.” I didn’t see the point in trying to explain that my body was reacting to hot not cold.
She hugged me tighter and like I found myself doing several times a day, I thanked my lucky stars that I got to be her mom.
“Guess what?” She released her hold and leaned back with excitement sparkling in her big brown eyes. “I was a Girl Scout!”
Luna had a very active imagination and she loved playing make-believe, so it didn’t surprise me at all that she’d decided to pretend to be a Girl Scout. It actually made sense now as to why she’d gone to the neighbor’s house. Thinking about how differently things could have ended up brought all the fear that I’d felt bubbling to the surface.
I stopped just shy of the porch and looked right in her eyes. “Luna, you can never, ever, leave the house without me knowing. Do you understand me? Ever.”
“Okay, Momma.” The sparkle that had been in her eyes was extinguished and I felt her spirit and her tiny body deflate as she held onto my neck.
As much as I hated raining on her Girl Scout parade, she had to know that she could never do what she’d done again. Even though, it was my fault. I should have known that after running on energy drinks and coffee for two days, I’d inevitably hit a wall.
Actually, it had been closer to seventy-two hours. I hadn’t slept since I’d come home from work and discovered my house had been broken into. From what I could tell nothing had been stolen, but they destroyed a lot of property and they left a message. A note was hanging on the fridge with a magnet saying that they would be back.
I wasn’t sure exactly who “they” were, but I knew that whoever they were, it was connected to my ex Richie, who was Luna’s father.
I’d thought about calling the police but then realized that these might be the type of people that didn’t take kindly to tattletales. There was a good chance these were the snitches-get-stitches sort. From what I’d witnessed in my limited