anything wrong with jumping into my backyard uninvited. Yeah, and he was also amazingly sexy, just like all the rest.
"Seth," he told me, tapping his chest, which only drew attention to the mural-like tattoo on his right bicep and shoulder. "I guess you heard the wolves?"
"Those are real wolves?"
He nodded. "Don't worry. They won't come over here. Our dog marks the fence line, and he's big enough to keep them away."
"You have a dog?" Ok, why hadn't I noticed that before?
Seth smiled. "Yeah. Big, red, fluffy thing. We call him Red. He's friendly, so if you see him out, don't worry about it. Just open the gate, and he'll go back in." Then he realized I was standing there in my robe, and it wasn't the baggy, terry kind. This was the satin, body-hugging type. "Um, sorry. I just wanted to make sure you weren't freaked out. They don't usually get this close."
"The wolves," I said one more time, because I was still having trouble wrapping my mind around that. "The ones in the middle of the neighborhood, which is inside city limits."
He jerked his thumb toward the far side of the community. "This used to be pretty rural a couple of years ago, and we're doing construction up there. It makes them relocate. Henry has a whole nature area made, but they don't always go that way first. Sometimes they run down the back sides of the walls before they figure it out." He laughed, but it was with a nervous smile. "Yeah, um, I should probably..." He stepped back. "I didn't mean to intrude, I just wanted to make sure you knew it would be ok. I don't know, I guess to protect you. It's kinda a bad habit. I should really go."
"Hey, Seth?" I called as he hurried back to the fence. "You know you can use the gate, right?"
That earned me a smile. "Doesn't give me a reason to flex my muscles, though." As easily as he had the first time, he heaved himself up, swung his legs over, then dropped back down on his side. "Figured it was only fair since I got to see you in that nightgown. Goodnight, Elena."
"Night, Seth," I called back, doing my best not to laugh at the man.
The strangest part of this whole thing was the smile I couldn't get rid of. Damn, but I liked the way those guys made me feel about myself. Almost like I was young all over again. Like maybe I actually deserved to feel good, and that had become an alien sensation. I decided I liked it. After all, if a group of men who looked like that wanted to flirt with me, who was I to refuse?
Ashley was right. Being Gabby's mom didn't mean I had to play dead.
CHAPTER 12
Tuesday was a little easier at work, but I still felt mostly clueless. Ashley added on a few more aspects of my new job - until I had it all down like a bad habit, she said. I was learning it all well enough, and with school starting, leasing inquiries were slow, supposedly. Hopefully, that meant I'd be able to learn everything before business picked back up.
During the day, most of the guys stopped in for one thing or another. But not Lane. I'd seen him at the party, but after that, he'd turned into a complete ghost. That made my plan to try flirting into an utter failure. I wasn't really ready to try with Ian, and I didn't know the others well enough. Naturally, Ashley kept giving me a hard time about it.
I knew she wanted me to date, but it was easy for her. I hadn't exactly been good at it the first time around. Never mind that after eighteen years of marriage, an aging body, and a teenager, it was even worse. But I wasn't going to do that. No more putting myself down. Those were my ex's words, not mine. I was a beautiful, intelligent, and caring woman who was simply starting over. I could do this.
The truth was that by the time I made sure Gabby went to bed that night - so she wouldn't be late for school in the morning - I was little more than an exhausted, grumbly mess, and the bath was starting to become a habit. I soaked for half an hour, reading a little more of that book on my phone while I was at it. When my toes were pruney,