The Problem with Fire - M.E. Clayton Page 0,5

to my best friend, and he’s been giving me shit about it ever since. And while he was, indeed, my best friend, some things were still sacred.

Monroe Stewart was one of those things.

But I still told him the truth. “She still looks right through me. Thanks for asking.”

Kellen laughed. “Don’t give up,” he said encouragingly. “As long as her ex-husband is the only guy knocking at her doorstep, there’s still hope.”

He had a point. “That’s true.”

“Unless, of course, she’s going to her new dude’s house,” he added. “Then-”

I hung up on him.

No way was I going to listen to that negative possibility.

Chapter 3

Monroe~

Why, Lord?

Seriously, why?

Working for the county, I was familiar with all sorts of city codes and ordinances. As a building inspector, you had to know what you were talking about when you were laying down the law because, more often than not, the building owners tried their best get over on you.

And even if that weren’t the case, I got a city water bill every month just like everyone else. And with it came a friendly reminder of when your sanctioned watering days were.

Thursday was not ours.

We were allowed to water our grass, wash our cars, and have wet t-shirt contests on Sundays and Wednesdays only. Granted, our neighborhood has yet to have a wet t-shirt contest, but I wasn’t opposed to one. Well, as long as the children were in school and it was adults only. Not that I’d participate in such a thing, but I was all about girl power. I say if you got it, fault it. Just…flaunt it accordingly.

So, pulling into my driveway, I was doing all I could not to wreck into everything around me as my neighbor, Sayer Hayes, was in his driveway, washing his car.

Shirtless.

The city employee in me wanted to lecture him about watering on an off day. But the woman in me wanted him to take that hose and hold it over his head as the water sluiced down all those hills and valleys that made up a six-pack and Adonis belt.

Lord, have mercy on ovaries everywhere.

I mean, I understood he worked weird hours and had to do what he had to do when he could do it, but I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could take before I crossed our property lines and mounted the poor man.

I needed to go out on a date with a real person, and soon.

The car in park (when I really should have driven into the garage, so I could avoid him completely) I took a calming breath to hide the fact that I was a sex-deprived lunatic, grabbed my purse and briefcase, and opened the car door to get out.

Maybe we could move closer to Karma and her family. That’d be nice, right?

But before I could give anymore thought to selling my house, kicking one of Karma’s neighbors out, and taking over their forever home, Sayer Hayes’ voice hit my ears. “Hey, Monroe. How are you?”

I’d rather bash my briefcase over my head than turn around to face him, but I was sure that’d raise some eyebrows, and I didn’t want to be labeled as the crazy neighbor. Divorced neighbor? Sure. Mom neighbor? Okay. Lonely neighbor? Well, that’s okay, too. But crazy? Nah, not a fan.

So, I turned around to face him and get this torture over with. Do. Not. Look. Down. At. Those. Abs. “Hi, Sayer,” I muttered like a fool. “Ho…how are you?”

He smiled, and the no-good-cock-sucking-sonofabitch had dimples.

But I suppose, to be fair, he couldn’t be no good because the man fought fires for a living. And I didn’t think he sucked cocked, but even if he did, who was I to judge? I had sucked Thomas’ cock a million times over during our marriage. And I’d never met Sayer’s mother, so it wasn’t fair to call her a bitch. I was fairly certain she was a very lovely lady, indeed.

God, I needed my head examined.

“I’m doing well,” he replied. “Just trying to get some chores in before my shift tomorrow.”

My lips curled in and I nodded like an idiot. “Yeah…well…your water bill will probably be sky-high…because…you know…”

Kill.

Me.

Now.

“Well, hello there, neighbors.”

We both turned to see Kerry standing at the end of our driveways. She was dressed like she’d been out jogging, but she looked too fabulous with her hair still in place and her makeup tutorial worthy. She probably saw Sayer washing his car and needed an excuse to ogle the man. And the thought might