“Let me see if you can move it, okay?” he asked.
He slowly moved Lily’s leg, and she whimpered. She was gripping tightly onto my shirt as she sniffled hard. His hand was moving around her kneecap, trying to feel for something as blood continued to rise to the surface.
“It doesn’t seem dislocated or anything, but you need to get it cleaned up before it gets infected.”
His voice was deep. Full. He seemed like the kind of man who could whisper, and a room full of people could still hear him. He looked into my eyes before he slowly placed Lily’s leg back to the ground. Then, he got up and walked back to his house.
“Thank you,” I said.
He stopped and turned his head, and I watched as he nodded slightly.
I knew my gut about him had been right. I knew he wasn’t a cold-hearted man. I scooped Lily up in my arms and carried her back into the house, figuring a bath was probably the best course of action to get her cleaned up.
But I had a hard time looking away from my neighbor as he made his way back to his house.
If he wasn’t so distant, I’d consider him attractive.
CHAPTER 6
GRAHAM
I felt bewitched.
Was there such a thing?
Every time I looked out my fucking window and saw her house, she popped into my mind. Her emerald eyes and her distinct little smile. That woman was a looker, but she was also curious.
It was unsettling, finding another woman attractive. In all the cities I’d bounced around to and all the women who had tried to talk me up, none of them had ever been my type. Their eyes either reminded me of my wife’s or were nothing like my wife’s. Their bodies were either enticing like my wife’s or the exact opposite of my wife’s. Either way, my dear late wife was always on my mind. Her warmth and her laughter. Her inviting curves and her generosity.
Then, I’d see her body as I’d last seen it, and I would be pulled back into that pain.
But there was none of that looking at my neighbor, no comparison to Cary and no reminiscence of that time in my life. It was odd, experiencing that without my memories impeding on the moment.
I couldn’t let it sway me, though. I couldn’t let her get under my skin.
No one could get close.
No one.
And with the way she loved her daughter, I couldn't do that to her. I couldn’t put that vibrant little girl in danger like I had my own son. I was destined to be alone forever, and that was fine with me. I’d had my chance. I’d created my family. Then, I’d squandered it by becoming comfortable, and I paid the price for my comfort. Men like me didn’t lead comfortable lives. I got selfish. Greedy. I let my guard down, and it had cost me my family.
I wasn’t going to let my guard down for anyone else.
A knock at my front door pulled me from my trance. I put my beer down and made my way to the front door. I picked up my gun off the kitchen table and tucked my hand behind the front door. My entire body was alert for whatever was on the other side.
“Is he home?”
“I’m not sure, sweetie.”
“But we made cookies.”
I opened the door and found my neighbor and her little girl standing on my front porch.
“Told you,” the girl said with a grin.
“Told her what?” I asked.
“That you were home. Your truck’s in the garage,” she said.