The Player Hater (Accidentally in Love 1)

And here we are…

I’m sitting in a man’s kitchen I slept with.

Fine, not technically, but it was intimate just the same—the same way sitting in his dimly lit kitchen feels.

When I’d gotten to his house, I’d stood on the stoop knocking—not wanting to ring the doorbell and be annoying after the first time I’d rung it and no one had come to the door. But his truck was in the driveway and I’d assumed he was inside?

“Are you looking for my Uncle Davis?”

A little girl had appeared out of nowhere, through the hedgerow, and came bouncing up to me with a coat and rain boots on.

Skipper.

That’s the only person this could possibly be.

“I am looking for Uncle Davis.” That sounded weird. I tried again. “Mister Halbrook.”

Skipper laughed. “That sounds funny, no one calls him that.”

“Yeah, that did sound funny.” I glanced up at the façade of the house—it was a beautiful red brick colonial, larger than I would have imagined and ten times classier.

A very adult-like house.

Expensive.

I was taken aback when I’d entered the subdivision and even more astonished when I’d matched the address on the mailbox to the one I had written on a sheet of paper.

“Do I have the right house?” I asked the tiny girl with brown hair and big brown eyes. Her hair fell in two, tidy braids, tied at the bottom with bubble gum pink bows.

“Yup, this is where he lives.” She eyeballed the tablet in my hand. “Are you selling Girl Scout Cookies?”

“Er, no, I’m here to drop this off.”

She came closer to inspect the electronic in its black, leather case. “Did you find it?”

“Yes, he left it behind somewhere.” There was no way I was telling this impressionable child he and I were sharing a room together and he forgot it because he was stumbling around, packing in the dark.

“Oh.” Skipper inhaled to say something new. “We have pizza if you want some.”

Had this child never heard of stranger danger? She couldn’t just be inviting random people off the street to eat with her, dear lord, where was her mother?

“I really just need to drop this off and I’ll be on my way. Maybe you can take it to your uncle?”

That would alleviate me having to see him; I had no way of knowing how awkward the conversation was going to be considering we hadn’t seen each other since…making out and groping each other in the dark.

“I can let you inside.” Skipper was already moving around me, skipping down the sidewalk on her way to the garage door. “Follow me!”

“Skipper Halbrook, what on earth do you think you’re doing?” A new voice chimed in and before I could turn around, I knew it must be Penelope, Davis’s sister.

Thank God. His niece was going to wind up giving me a stroke, first inviting me to dinner and now breaking into his house.

“Can I help you?” Penelope came all the way up to the stoop, arms crossed, shooting a warning look at her daughter, who was already happily punching buttons into the keypad of the motorized door.

It rose even as we stood there; she sized me up while Skipper disappeared inside the garage.

My hand went out. “Hi, my name is Juliet. I’m a friend of Thad and Mia’s? I was away with Davis this past weekend and he forgot his tablet at the, erm. Hotel?” Hotel sounded so much better than camper; I didn’t want her getting the wrong idea. “I was brining it by and your daughter saw me and came over.”

Penelope visibly relaxed. “Oh yes, you’re Juliet. I heard about you from my brother. Why don’t you come inside, it’s getting dark out—I’m not sure why the house is so dark inside, I know he’s home.” She followed the path that her daughter had gone; I trailed along behind her reluctantly. She glanced at me as she walked. “Were you there when he cooked his eyebrow off?”

I’d laughed. Indeed, I had been there.

Penelope and I had gone inside, where the pair of them had semi-grilled me about Davis, and just as Skipper was asking if I was her uncle’s girlfriend, he’d come strolling into the kitchen as handsome as I remember him being.

Better looking (but with one eyebrow), of course.

Who would have guessed that when I stepped inside this house tonight I would find out that my best friend had gotten engaged. Oh, how I would have loved to be there!

I wonder if it was filmed.

Juliet, she would have sent you the video already if there was one.

I am still standing next to Davis once the video chat has ended, our shoulders still touching, still breathing the same air.

He radiates heat.

“Guess you’re going to be seeing more of me, hey?” he finally says with a smile.

“What do you mean?”

“Thad is my best friend, you’re Mia’s best friend. Best man, maid of honor…”