Her Big City Neighbor - Jackie Lau Page 0,2

she shifted her gaze to his pecs, and...oh my God. Those were gorgeous, too.

There were no men like this in Silver River.

His expression was serious, as though he was concentrating very hard on this activity. He reminded her of Sierra Wu’s love interest, Rebel, though her imagination hadn’t been able to conjure up something quite as hot as the man before her now.

Did he have a wife? If so, why wasn’t she also having a drink and watching him?

Yes, this was certainly turning out to be a very good day.

Since the yards were small, it didn’t take him long to finish his task. When he turned off the lawn mower, Amy waved and shouted, “Hey!”

He didn’t seem to notice her, however, just put the lawn mower away with the same concentration he’d given to cutting the grass.

“Hey!” she said brightly with another wave as he headed toward the back door of his house. “I’m your new neighbor.”

Finally, he turned in her direction, and she swallowed hard. He really was attractive.

But he didn’t say anything. Didn’t wave.

No, all he gave her was the slightest of nods before going inside.

Well, that was disappointing.

* * *

Later, Amy headed to Koreatown, since it was nearby on Bloor. She ventured into a store with cute notebooks, greeting cards, and BTS stuff. She came out with a little notebook and alpaca oven mitts.

After wandering around for a while, she went to a restaurant and ordered bibimbap. Several tiny appetizers came first, and she was about to protest and say she hadn’t ordered them, but it looked like every table had the same dishes. She tried what looked like kimchi, then the bean sprouts. Both good.

Her bibimbap came in a stone bowl. There were several neat piles of different vegetables and meat around the edge of the bowl, with an egg in the center, all on top of rice. She took a picture for her new Instagram account, kicking herself for not taking a picture of her cake earlier, and looked up how to eat bibimbap. Apparently, she was supposed to mix it all up.

After dinner, she practically skipped back to the house, passing coffee shops and bars and restaurants. She counted three sushi restaurants in one block. How did they all survive?

The best part was that she had a whole month of this before she started school. Not that she wasn’t excited about going back to school, but she hadn’t had a break in a long time.

If she’d tried to take a staycation in Silver River, it wouldn’t have worked. Her parents and her brothers would always have something for her to do. She was the youngest of three, the only girl and the only one who wasn’t married, and everyone assumed she was always free to do favors for them.

But now, Amy was far away. Plus, she was going to get better at saying no.

No, Mom, I will not drive you to North Bay.

No, Fred, I will not babysit the twins for six hours on Saturday. No, I will not babysit with no notice if there isn’t an emergency.

No, Shane, I will not vacuum and do the dishes while you sit there and play videogames. No, I will not make your lunch. No, I will not plan every single date.

When she’d met Shane at a party, there had been an immediate attraction. They’d slept together and somehow fallen into a relationship. She was so pleased to have a boyfriend for the first time in years that she hadn’t minded doing all the work in the relationship.

Shane had never done anything for her, and she’d felt like she should be grateful simply because he wanted her around.

But that was all wrong. She would not settle for that shit again.

Amy had standards now.

And after her experience with Shane, she wasn’t looking to date anytime soon. Her neighbor was good-looking, but she quickly brushed that idea aside. Nope, now wasn’t the time.

That night, as Amy tried to fall asleep in her new room, instead of thinking of bibimbap or roll cakes, she thought of her neighbor. Although Rebel was usually getting in fights or stealthily spying on bad guys, she kept picturing her neighbor doing the sexy activity of...cutting the grass. Without a shirt.

She tried to stretch her imagination and only came up with him sitting on a riding lawn mower or pulling out weeds.

Also without a shirt, of course.

* * *

I am a confident woman.

I do not let people take advantage of me.

Amy had decided what to