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In the bright morning light he looked even more glorious than the first time she’d seen him, maybe something to do with the fact that his muscled thighs were dead set in her eye line.
Well, hello!
“Hi.” He gave her an awkward smile. Damn, had she said that out loud? He sat down on the edge of the pool next to her, his face blanching as he dipped his toes in. “You’d think they’d heat this up until the sun does the trick. I swear it’s warmer in the ocean than it is in here.” He cocked his head, his eyes dipping to her body before rising quickly up. “I keep meaning to knock on your door and say thanks for the cookies. They were delicious.”
“You’re welcome.” She looked across the pool, checking on Isla. She’d grabbed the ball and was using it as a float, treading water to stay in the same place. Over her shoulder, Raeanne had lifted her sunglasses to her head and was staring unashamedly at Meghan’s neighbor. When she caught Meghan’s eye, she gave her a thumbs up.
Meghan quickly pulled her attention back to Rich. Thank goodness she didn’t have to stare at his thighs and groin anymore. It was much easier looking at his face. And yeah, she could spend hours looking at that face. Thick eyebrows framing piercing blue eyes, a strong straight nose that led to a top lip that was thinner than the bottom. He hadn’t shaved and the dark shadow on his jaw defined their sharpness.
“Aren’t you working today?” she asked him.
“I have the weekend off.” He lifted a brow. “Thought I’d come for a swim before I headed out to do all the things I never get to do when I’m on shift. How about you?”
“I’m working this afternoon.” Isla was looking over at her. Meghan lifted her hand in a wave.
“Is that your daughter?”
“That’s Isla, yeah.” Meghan nodded. “She’s giving me some grace before I freeze to death in this pool.”
“Good thing I know how to do CPR.” He really did have the most delicious grin.
“I thought it might be useful having a doctor as a neighbor,” she told him. “Though I promise not to take advantage.”
“What do you do again?” he asked. “So I know not to take advantage of that, either.”
“I run the ice cream shop on the boardwalk.” She was amused that he’d forgotten their conversation from the other night.
“Angel Ices? Ah, that explains the cookies. You made those?” His head tipped to the side. “In that case, you can take advantage of my medical skills whenever you like, as long as you pay me in cookies and ice cream.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“You do that. Now, I need to go swim. I figure this way I get to exercise without annoying my neighbors with loud music.” The sparkle in his eyes told her he was teasing.
“Good idea. You can warm it up for me.”
He grinned and jumped to his feet, then dove into the water, cutting through the surface like a swan. By the time he emerged from the deep, he’d swum almost to the other side, grabbing onto the edge as he shook the water from his hair, the droplets flying everywhere. It was the first time she’d seen his back muscles, and they were as impressive as the rest of him. Rippling beneath his smooth, tan skin as he pushed himself off and turned back into the water, his arms pushing through the surface in an easy, elegant crawl.
Meghan was definitely ready to cool down. Not just because her new neighbor was as fine as anything, but because he actually appeared to be a nice guy, too. She felt like she’d lucked out, moving into an apartment where all of her neighbors were lovely. Gloria and her kind, warm welcome, Kevin and Grant and their thoughtful gift, even though they were thousands of miles away.
And then there was Rich. The hot doc who’d just offered her medical advice in return for cookies. A quid pro quo she felt was pretty one sided.
Thank goodness he was out of her league. Too old, too handsome, and way too eligible to be interested in a single mom with an eight year old kid.
She was hoping this place would be home for her and Isla for a long time. She wasn’t planning on letting her attraction to one of her neighbors get in the way of that.
It was almost eleven by the time Rich had showered and dressed, taking the ten flights of stairs down to the basement lot, where his Toyota was parked in his allocated spot.
The sun was warmer now, and as he pulled up the ramp and onto the road he could see the apartment pool area was swarming with people. He knew Meghan wasn’t one of them, because he’d heard her come back up to her apartment with Isla about half an hour before he left.
He hadn’t stuck his head out to say hello. He’d done his bit – thanked her for the cookies and been friendly at the pool. She was his neighbor, and it was the right thing to do. But he didn’t need to be her best friend. Not even if she had the prettiest smile he’d seen in a long, long time. Not to mention that deep auburn hair that caught the sun as she sat with her lithe legs dangling in the communal pool.
Not that he was checking her out. The last thing he needed was another Carlyn, but this time living next door. When she’d knocked on his door the other night he’d been taken by surprise, and had been naturally reticent toward her. He’d learned from experience that to be too friendly only opened him up to later problems.
Full of yourself much? He bit down a smile and shook his head, turning his car onto the main road out of Angel Sands. Weird how much that little voice in his head sounded exactly like his sister, whose house he was headed to. And no, he wasn’t full of himself. He just knew where to draw the boundaries. He didn’t want to give people the wrong idea.
His sister lived in a bungalow on the edge of Angel Sands. He pulled into the driveway, behind her adapted Honda Element, and climbed out of the car, pressing the doorbell to let her know he was here.
“You can come around the back.” Her voice echoed through the speaker beneath the bell. “You know the code by now.”
