Crap. Annoyed, she handed the cookie over to him. Perhaps she’d get lucky and he’d have a recently developed chocolate allergy.
“So,” she said, looking around the kitchen. “Care to explain what game you’re playing?”
He helped himself to a second cookie. “Game?”
Brynn gave him her best withering glare. “Yes, game. There’s no way you just happened to move next door to me. You’re up to something.”
“Maybe I just liked the neighborhood.”
“You’re a thirtysomething man-whore. The suburbs are the worst possible place for you.”
Will rested his elbows on the counter and wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Maybe I’m here for the same reason you are.”
Brynn leaned on her own arms to mimic his posture. “Which is…?”
“Convincing your boy-puppet that he should marry you and have little mannequin babies.”
Brynn stood up straight, all traces of playfulness gone. The sting from James’s nonproposal was still raw, and Will’s jab hit a little too close to home.
“You know nothing about James,” she snapped.
His eyes went serious for a moment. “I know you got those earrings the size of a small dog instead of a ring for your birthday.”
Brynn carefully kept her expression blank. “I’m surprised you stayed that long. I’d have thought you’d be exploring the thong of some underage model.”
He didn’t rise to the bait. “Sophie filled me in on what I missed. I hope you ripped Jimmy a new one when you got home.”
“His name is James. And I had no reason to be upset with him,” she said softly, fiddling with a cookie crumb.
To her surprise, Will dropped the subject entirely. “Want to help me furniture shop?”
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding, right? You honestly think I’d put myself willingly in your company?”
“Well, you are lingering here in my kitchen instead of setting my lawn on fire, so I thought it was worth a shot.”
Brynn tapped manicured fingernails on the marble counter. What was she still doing here? “I’m leaving,” she retorted. “Just tell me how long you plan to draw out this little joke.”
“What joke?”
“This next-door-neighbor crap. You don’t belong here.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, for starters, your car only seats two people. That’s about a quarter as many seats as you need to belong in this neighborhood.”
“Maybe I’m on the hunt for a family.”
“Everyone here already has a family. There’s no possible reason you could want to live here other than to annoy me. Just come clean already.”
Will stood up straight. “I hate to break it to you, Princess, but you’re going to have to get used to me. I’m sorry I don’t fit into the box you’re trying to stuff me into, but I’m not going to apologize because I wanted a break from the swanky-high-rise-condo scene.”
“Fine,” she said, trying to keep her tone as cool as his. “You want your fill of minivans and Bed Bath & Beyond, have at it. But why this neighborhood? You can’t tell me it was just a coincidence.”
His face betrayed nothing as he lifted a shoulder. “Okay, fine, it wasn’t a coincidence. As much as you’d like to think we don’t have anything in common, there is one area where we’re very much alike…we like the best. When Sophie said you’d moved to Foxgrove, I thought it was worth checking out. I knew you lived close, but I didn’t know you lived right next door. That’s the honest-to-God truth.”
Brynn pursed her lips and studied him, looking for all possible signs of a lie. There were none.
“You really want to live next door to me?” she asked.