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Francie tugged on the leash, dragging me out of my shocked stupor. When people pointed, she thought that meant fetch. And while I wished my dog could cart that eyesore off the property, that would be an impossible feat.
“I can pay you instead,” I said in a fervent undertone, ready to offer her just about anything so I didn’t have to look out my window and see that thing every day.
I didn’t appreciate being called GQ, fine, but I did havesomestandards for how things looked. Especially since I’d busted my hump to even get in this neighborhood in the first place.
Not to mention our neighbors would not look kindly upon her if she didn’t get that out of here. Property values would plummet. She would likely be driven out of the neighborhood, something I couldn’t let happen because we soon would be family by marriage.
As an officer of the law, I was duty-bound to handle this problem before it became one.
Bad enough I had to listen to Christian, my fellow cop, rant and rave about her inappropriate parking fetish. Never mind her inability to parallel park that behemoth and the van she’d driven before it without leaving two wheels on the curb.
This was just taking it to the next level.
“Pay me?” She bent to stroke Francie’s wiggling ears before straightening and crossing her arms. “Whatever for?”
“I really want that land. And the property doesn’t even have a house yet. So, you’d have to build, and clearly, you prefer to keep rolling on. So, you know, don’t quell your impulses.”
“Oh, honey, I never quell. I’m basicallyunquell-able.”
Her lips were twitching with barely suppressed laughter. At me, I was quite certain.
“Tell me what you want. No limitations. I’ll buy you out. I’ll offer you anything you want. I should’ve bought the damn land. Just dragged my feet too long. I’m staying put. Probably fucking forever.” I tugged Francie toward me again as she went up on her hind legs to dance in front of Vanessa.
True love must never part, I supposed.
My new neighbor put her hands on her hips, her lower lip jutting out in the faintest pout. I went stone hard in an instant.
Yet another reason she could not live mere inches from my bed. That was a recipe for disaster. For all I knew, she’d wander over barefoot and braless to borrow sugar and the use of my dick when she ran out of batteries for her vibrator.
I was weak. I’d say yes. And I’d probably live to regret it for years, if not generations. She was the sort of woman who would carve her name into my leather seats ala Carrie Underwood if she thought I’d messed up.
I had an impressionable dog to think about. I couldn’t screw Van indiscriminately without considering the implications. My brother had parented a dog with Tabitha before they were committed to each other and look what happened.
Now they were having an actual human child.
And oh, yeah, there was also my brother’s impending marriage to consider. Vanessa and I hating each other would not be good for family get-togethers, and there wasn’t a chance in hell we could stay on polite terms if we rolled into bed.
Or onto the kitchen counter. I wasn’t choosy and I was willing to bet neither was she.
Then again, maybe I shouldn’t send her packing—
No.Doing this now, whatever her terms, was protecting my family from the kind of drama probably worthy of a future episode ofJerry Springer.
Brady could thank me later.
“Let me get this straight,” she said slowly. “You’re trying to buy me out so you don’t have to live next door to me?”
I nodded. “Yes. If you think about it, you’ll realize it wouldn’t be a good idea.”
“Why not?”
Because my salacious thoughts toward you would get me arrested in about twelve states if I actually acted on them. And I’m an honorable man.
At least I was pretty sure.
I was sweating heavily and not just because the sun was beaming straight into my brain. “Trust me, it’s not wise.”
“Why?”
