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Still, Lewis had never been one for giving up on the first try.
Does he even realize who she is?Jake wondered. When last they'd spoken, Lewis had been more than a little merry on wolf-berry whisky, the signature drink of the Silver Moon bar. And he'd likely had several other conquests since then. He wasn't exactly one for remembering names.
But by the look on Melody's face, she remembered him well enough. And though her body language suggested she didn't like the fact he had approached her, Jake couldn't help but feel jealous. Lewis being on the same side of the fence as she was greatly unnerved him.
"You know, if you're ever in need of a little help, my very attractive, very single best friend is moving in right next door," Jake heard Lewis say as the two of them reached her car at the end of her driveway.
"Thanks, but like I said, I'm good," she said, but as she did, her gaze traveled across the fence, finding Jake.
His chest tightened the moment their gazes met. Anger flashed in her chocolatey brown gaze and guilt whipped up in his stomach.
Clearly, she remembered the way he had snuck out of his own hotel room the next morning to go to work—worse than that, how he had never called her even though she had left her number.
And though he did feel guilty for both of those things, he forced the emotion down. He'd had a lot to deal with this past month, and though he'd thought several times of calling her, he hadn't managed to find the time.
Besides, he had given her his number, too, and she hadn't called either.
"Well, he's only a door knock away if you need anything," Lewis said, and though Jake couldn't see his face, he could imagine his brows wiggling suggestively as he added, "Anything at all."
Having opened the trunk of her car to put her box inside, Jake didn't think she was going to respond. And she didn't—at least, not until she had slammed her trunk shut.
"You can tell your friend that I am not interested in anything he might have to offer me," she said, glowering at Jake as she said the words. It was only after she seemed certain he had heard her that she turned to Lewis and added, "Now, I'd really appreciate it if you got the hell off my lawn. I have to get to work."
Before Lewis could come up with some witty, maybe even sexist joke to cover his sore rejected ass, she skirted around the car and yanked open the driver's side door.
All grace, she slid into the seat and slammed the car door shut behind her. The motion of the door shutting sent a ripple of scent through the air that caught Jake in the nostrils.
His entire body shivered at the reminder of her scent; the smell of vanilla and she-wolf sweat was sweet and seductive, and when he blinked his eyes closed, he saw a glimpse of how she had looked naked and writhing beneath him that night.
She had been beautiful, powerful, entrancing. And every fiber of his being had urged him to give her a call. But his life was complicated enough. And she didn't deserve to be dragged into any of it.
So we're neighbors now,he thought, a lump forming in his throat.No big deal.
Lewis hopped back over the fence, grumbling under his breath as Melody practically threw her car into reverse off the drive and sped off down the road.
"I'm starting to think you're losing your touch with the ladies," Jake commented, forcing laughter as he tried his hardest to act like his old self again, the guy who hadn't just had his family torn apart forever.
Lewis growled low in his throat, a rejected scowl upon his face. "She seems like a stuck-up bitch, anyway."
Jake bit back the urge to defend her, knowing it would only open up a whole new can of worms. His best friend would never let it go if he showed any interest in a member of the opposite sex after all he'd been through over the last year. Especially when Lewis's favorite saying was 'to get over a woman you have to get on top of another.'
"What's the matter, Lew, worried I might be right?" he gloated, nudging Lewis with his shoulder as he passed on his way to carry another box into the house.
"Never, and I'll prove that when you come out tonight!" Lewis called after him. Jake cringed.
"I never said I was coming out tonight."
After all the organizing and moving he had done lately, all he wanted to do was settle down for the night, order takeout and chill the hell out.
Besides,he thought,who needs to be friendly with the neighbors, anyway?
"Come on, man," Lewis growled, following him with another box. "We have got to celebrate. You finally got away from that psycho."
Jake growled in his throat. Though he had to agree with Lewis, hearing it from someone else's lips didn't sit well with him. Even though he had known what his ex-wife was like for a long time now, he was still struggling to get past the sense of loyalty and need to protect that always came over him whenever someone talked about or threatened one of his family members.
Lewis dropped the box on the couch and held up his hands as if in surrender. "Hey, no need to snap at me. I'm just fed up with seeing you so down, and if she was a little less prickly, I might be able to see why you wanted to stay in tonight."
Melody has every right to be prickly,he decided. Though she was as much to blame for it, he couldn't say that their one-night stand had ended well; at least, it had until he'd snuck out.
