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“Nice bed.” The man rumbled.
The man’s voice was to die for, and somehow familiar.
I shivered as the low, deep tone of his voice slithered down my spine.
Smiling, I looked over my shoulder at him and my breath caught in my throat. The man was even more attractive inside where I could see his face. And I knew him. I’d seen him around town more than once. It’s a small town, and really hard not to start recognizing people when you see them on your way to work every day.
The man ran. Daily. With his shirt off.
I sat on my porch every morning and watched as he ran from one side of the road I lived on, to the other.
Then I move to the front and watch him make a full circuit through the complex’s parking lot before I have to leave for work.
Then I might possibly pass him on the way to work, depending on how far he ran that morning.
He was tan, and had the most piercing pale blue eyes I’d ever seen.
That wasn’t even mentioning the rock hard abs, and the sexy grooves that ran down his stomach to form a V at the base of his abdomen.
Unfortunately, the helmet on his head kept me from seeing his hair color, and the jacket and pants kept me from seeing the rest of him, which was truly saddening, but I knew he was gorgeous.
What I came up with one morning, however, was that he was either taken or gay. ‘Cause nobody that polished and good looking could be anything but. Life didn’t work like that.
“Thanks,” I said, trying to distract myself from asking if he wanted to join me on my nice bed.
Then his nose wrinkled as he took a sniff and grimaced. “Weed.”
My stomach rumbled, and I closed my eyes in embarrassment.
“Huh?” I asked, taking a step further to the side to let him see my bathroom floor, or lack thereof, since there was now so much smoke in there that a blanket of it was making the floor nearly impossible to see.
Which was why when a large slithering body started to curl around my foot and then further up my leg I let out a startled shriek.
The shriek made the big man beside me react instantly, looking around as he tried to spy the threat that was looming over me. “What is it?” He asked urgently.
I placed my hand over my heart, willing it to slow.
“Nothing. It’s just Monty.” I said, leaning down and picking up my six foot long Burmese Python off the floor and settling him firmly around my neck and shoulders.
The man looked at me as if he couldn’t believe I’d just picked up a snake the size of a pool noodle. “What?” I asked in confusion.
The man shook himself again. “Nothing. Can you come downstairs? I don’t want to keep you up here just in case. Will your, ah... snake, run away...I mean slither away if you take him without his cage?”
I nearly laughed at the large man as his eyes kept dodging around the room looking for means of escape.
So he wasn’t a snake person, was he? Maybe I shouldn’t show him my other room. He might get a little freaked out.
“Of course,” I replied. “I don’t really know my neighbors all that well. I’ve only lived here for a month. My name’s Adeline Sheffield.”
I followed him out of the apartment and came to a stop on the landing. “Do I need to lock it?” I asked thoughtfully.
He stopped four steps down, and it put me right at eye level with him. Geez, how tall was this guy? Eight feet?
“Nah,” he said. “We’re just going to be right down there. It’s probably nothing, anyway.”
I nodded, and then followed him down until he came to a stop before another big man. Only this one wasn’t as tall as him. And he was in just the bottom part of the bunker gear. His jacket was laying on the passenger seat of the big, red fire truck that was parked right outside my front door.
Wow. They sure did know how to grow ‘em in the South,didn’t they?
