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He blew out a harassed sigh. "You’re not thinking right. This is absolutely insane."
She turned then and sent him a look that caught him right in the gut. It was heart wrenching and miserable, and he couldn’t ignore the pain in her eyes any more than he could ignore his own arm if it’d been ripped off.
"I have to know," she said.
His shoulders collapsed. "Fine," he relented. "But you’re not going anywhere. I will talk to her." He stuffed the bullets into his pocket as he added, "And I’m keeping these."
Amanda frowned. "Just what would you say that’d be any different from what I’d say?"
Drew glanced up and down the quiet street, taking in the sight of the two toddlers outside, still playing with a set of toy dump trucks. Even farther up the block, an elderly woman rolled her walker toward a mailbox at the end of her drive. A sprinkler sprayed lazy circles in a yard across the street, and a For Sale side sat jammed in the grass next door.
"I don’t know," he murmured aloud. But he certainly wasn’t going to let Mandy reenact her own version of The Nightmare on Elm Street.
Pushing open his door, his gaze settled on the woman. She really was something else.
"Drew," his sister murmured, taking his arm. He paused and glanced back.
She smiled, looking suddenly grateful, and tugged him toward her. "Thank you," she added and slapped a quick kiss to his cheek.
Shaking his head in bemusement, he patted her hand. "Just stay in the car."
"I will. I promise."
Drew shut the door behind him and looked both ways before jogging across the road and stepping onto the walkway that led straight to the front door of 410 South Elm. Not once did he take his eyes off his main objective. As he drew closer, he heard her humming to herself and noticed she wore an iPod. For some reason he smiled, utterly charmed.
She’d already worked her way to the other side of her front door, weeding through a cluster of marigolds.
Taking a moment to study her, Drew licked his dry lips, wiped his moist palms on his blue jeans and spoke. "Excuse me."
The woman jolted, letting out a startled yelp and dropping her watering can, spilling the remainder of its contents. As she spun around, Drew took a quick step backward, hoping to look less intimidating.
Lifting a hand, he sent her his most harmless smile and winced. "Sorry."
She pressed her hand to her chest. As she blew out a calming breath, he stole the moment to study her further.
At this range, he realized the term amazing was actually too mild a description. Her hair was that wispy straight kind that always had a few fly-away strands escape when in a pony tail. Her flyaway strands, however, framed her heart-shaped face perfectly, making her cute button nose look small and adorable and her big grey eyes huge and soulful. Drew drowned in them as they measured him from head to foot.
Finally, her brow wrinkled in question. "Can I help you with something?"
Yes, I’m here to save your life from my gun-wielding sister. "Yeah. I, uh … "
Man, if Jeff was seeing her behind his wife’s back, Drew was going to kill him. First, for hurting Amanda. And second for taking the only woman who’d been able to make his heart thump this hard in years.
"I saw the For Sale sign over there," he finally murmured, pointing blindly over his shoulder to the yard next door. When she glanced toward the sign, he panicked, thinking he’d lost her attention. "I’ve been looking for a place to buy lately," he went on and, yes, thank you, her gaze veered quizzically back to him. "And I’ve found plenty of houses that would do. But none of the neighborhoods have appealed to me yet. This block looks pretty peaceful, though." As long as he kept Amanda off it. "Do you and your husband like living here?" he finished, knowing how subtle he didn’t sound, but not really caring. If she was married, he was going to plop down, right there on her sidewalk, and bawl.
At his bold question, she quickly glanced away and blushed. Clearing her throat, she quietly answered, "I’m not married."
Drew sucked in a quick, quiet breath. "Oh," he murmured. "Then this isn’t strictly a family neighborhood, huh. Well, that’s great. Because … I’m not married either."
Yep, still not subtle.
Those big grey eyes swerved back to him. As her gaze flitted down his body, his muscles coiled like a loaded spring. But, wow. If she kept checking him out with those curious yet blushing glances of hers, he was going to do something stupid, like ask her o
ut.
"We have a pretty good mix of neighbors around here," she said. "So, no, it’s not strictly a family-oriented community. Though it would be a great place to start one."
Her eyes grew wide after she spoke as if she realized how leading her statement sounded, like she wouldn’t mind starting a family with him.
