Not long after, another guy showed up in a gray Charger with a briefcase and went inside for about fifteen minutes. When Honor walked him back out to his car, she hugged him and kissed his cheek. Compared to the sign guy, this one didn’t give her a second glance, and going off similar ginger hair and mannerisms, Asher guessed him to be a brother or some other relation.
At least he hoped he was.
Why? Why do you care?
About the time it dawned on him he was approaching stalker status and closed his computer to take his sorry ass inside so he could actually get some work done, a black Porsche convertible glided into her driveway. He admired the sleek car through the living room window until a tall, dark-haired man stepped out, looking like he was right off the cover of some men’s fashion magazine.
The guy swung a bouquet of red roses at his side as he hurried to the front door. A rose bearer who was neither yesterday’s fiancé nor last night’s date? Curious suspicion shifted into overdrive.
Honor gave the man one of her brilliant smiles when he handed over the bouquet. When she buried her nose in the flowers, Asher shook his head and decided enough was enough. He didn’t want to know anything more about his neighbor across the street.
Ten minutes later, he paced restlessly to the window while fully acknowledging how ridiculous it was to be so agitated by a woman who wasn’t even available. His eyebrows rose when he saw her sitting out on her front porch swing with Porsche Guy, her left hand extended.
No way.
Yet, there they sat, smiling at each other as the guy slipped a ring on her finger.
What the ever-loving-fuck was going on over there?
CHAPTER 6
Honor opened her front door as Mae parked in the driveway shortly after noon the next day. It always made her smile seeing her petite, blond firecracker of a friend climbing down from her heavy duty work truck. She always said she didn’t want to waste money on a second, leisure vehicle, and reasoned it was great advertising.
It made sense, and Honor also knew she had a lot to be proud of with her Lockhart Construction prominently stenciled on each door. At only twenty-two years old, single mom to a one-year-old, she’d started her business with sheer guts and determination. Over the past five years, she’d built it into a successful company that provided a steady paycheck for eight employees.
Although they were now both twenty-eight, Honor still joked she wanted to be her when she grew up. Only her signs would someday advertize her specialty cake shop.
“Auntie H!” Ian jumped out the passenger side and ran up onto the porch. “We got pizza and root beer! Mom said if I help unpack, I can have soda, too!”
“Milk first,” Mae reminded from the truck. She shouldered the door shut, pizza box and soda in hand.
“I’ve got chocolate in the fridge, Scoob,” Honor told her favorite six-year-old while lifting her arm for a high five. “Just for you.”
“Jinky.” He slapped her hand, hugged her waist for about two seconds, then scampered inside to flop on the couch where she’d cleared off the last of the boxes an hour ago.
“How was your game?” she called as she crossed the porch to help his mom by taking the two liter bottle of soda.
“We won!”
“Awesome.”
“He did great,” Mae agreed as an engine fired up across the street. “Hit a double and they got two runs off it.”
“Nice job.” Unable to stop herself from checking out the sound of the motor, Honor’s pulse skipped when she saw her neighbor outside on his front lawn with a push mower.
Look away. Now.
And yet, her gaze followed his long stride down one side of his driveway, then along the curb by the road. She would need to buy a lawnmower for her own yard now, so of course she was going to check out his equipment.
That was her story, anyway.
“Holy moly. I vote we set up chairs and eat out here.”
She tore her gaze away to see Mae swing around to watch her neighbor, the pizza held over her shoulder on the tips of her spread fingers, like the cocktail tray she’d wielded during college for her second job. Until she’d gotten pregnant.
Despite her best efforts, Honor turned to watch again. The man’s low riding jeans and faded blue T-shirt showed off all the mouth-watering aspects of his tall, athletic body. He was wearing those mirrored sunglasses, and his hair was an untidy mess that looked like he’d just rolled out of bed.
Maybe he had. It was the first she’d spotted him all day.