Page 15 of Sharp Lies

“You were absolutely smirking,” I said, pointing my fork at her. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Except that he’s a very nice man, and as long as you’re both in the same area and neither of you has attachments...”

Oh my goodness. My mom was trying to set me up with her neighbor.

While she was in rehab.

The woman was incorrigible.

“Mother,” I said bluntly. “I’m not going to date your neighbor.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Why would you think I wanted you to date my neighbor? I was simply saying what a nice man he was.”

I narrowed my eyes and glared at her. I’d been sure she was trying to hint at something, but now she was looking at me like she’d never once thought of doing anything bad, and she had me doubting myself.

Had she been hinting that we might do well together?

Or had that been my own subconscious wanting to make something out of nothing because it was dying to talk to this Warren and find out what he was all about—and why he looked so broken?

***

BY THE TIME I GOT HOME, the sun was going down, and Silver was badly in need of some exercise. I took her out into the yard with her favorite ball and started the never-ending process of playing fetch with her. The dog could run for hours when she was in the mood, and this was one of the best ways to burn her energy off.

Though it was limited in terms of mental stimulation for yours truly.

When we were on the road, we’d spend hours walking through towns or along beaches or forests together, and that had generally been enough. But here, where she was locked in a house all day, she was starting to get anxious. I needed to find a better way to exercise her body while exercising my brain.

Wondering whether we might be better off walking out along the road, I looked up... and realized that the lights were already on in Warren’s house.

The lights were on, and he was evidently getting ready for a shower.

I could see his silhouette in the window of the bathroom, dark against the light and going through the motions of undressing. He took his shirt off, revealing the shadow of what I guessed to be a very fit upper body. I could see the bulges of his biceps and pecs, and when he turned, I gasped at how truly broad-shouldered he was.

Then he bent down to slip his pants off and stood back up completely naked, with nothing hidden from view. I mean, it was just in silhouette, but I could see pretty much every inch of him.

I felt my mouth drop open in shock and promptly snapped it shut, then turned away, horrified that I’d been spying on him when he was doing something so personal. What kind of person sat there and watched while someone else got undressed?

What sort of woman practically drooled at the breadth of a man’s shoulders when she didn’t even know the man or what he was like?

I hustled back toward the house, shouting at Silver that we were done playing, and prayed that Warren hadn’t seen me staring at him. He’d already caught me watching him once, and I wasn’t sure how I’d bear him catching me again. He was going to think I was some sort of stalker or something—particularly if he knew how much of him I’d just seen.

Still.

What sort of person kept a full-sized window in the bathroom and got undressed in front of it?

As far as I was concerned, I could just as easily blame him for exposing me to something like that!

I got into the house, slammed the door, and turned my mind toward what I wanted to have for dinner. And away from Warren the Hot Neighbor.

CHAPTER 8

LILY

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I TRIPPED THREE TIMES going up the path and nearly dropped everything I was carrying twice.

Then I looked around, horrified that someone—namely, the hot neighbor—had seen me staggering along the gravel path like I’d had too much to drink or something.