She licked her lips. “Isn’t that a little old fashioned? Are you going to grow a handlebar mustache and pick me up in your penny farthing?”

I laughed. “Out of my car, Bay. You’ve been banished.”

“You’re going to kick me out onto the streets.”

“The driveway, actually. The one right in front of your face. And kick out is a bit strong. More like assist out of my car and into your house.”

“My mom’s working tonight.” She tried to put on a sexy, sultry look, but it was undone by the nervousness flickering in her eyes.

Now that I’d said I wouldn’t push things further her courage was showing, but I wasn’t backing down.

“Good night, Bay.” I popped open my door and grabbed her bike from the trunk.

She flung open the door and stared at me as I kicked out the kickstand and set her bike down at the end of the garage.

“Seriously.” Her hands were on her hips.

I hopped back in my car and leaned out my window. “Seriously, Bay. Trust me, I want to go in there with you right now, but not as much as I want a date with you.”

She relaxed her stance some, uncertainty flickered in her gaze.

“Good night, Bay.”

I pulled out of the driveway, but didn’t leave until she was safely inside. Doing a bit of mental math, I could figure out a date with Bay. Somewhere nice—I could call in a favor or two. As the weather warmed up, more people would be out joyriding and need their cars fixed. Maybe I could help business along with a few well-placed ball tosses in the morning. I shook my head. Now I was trying to fuck people’s cars up, just to take her out? No, I’d do this right and find a way.

Back home, I tried to keep myself from watching her window, but I did give it a peek. She pulled her shirt up over her head with the curtains wide open.

My heart raced and I palmed my dick, feeling like an asshole for watching her until she glanced over and smiled. She unbuttoned her jeans and stood in the open window.

My erection was no longer a question. I pawed at the drawer to get my sketch pad. Her body deserved to be memorialized.

She turned and unhooked her bra before pulling the curtains closed and ending the show.

I choked out a laugh and took deep breaths to calm my dick trying to keep myself from jumping the fence separating our yards and doing something monumentally stupid.

She was absolute trouble. Who’d have known my late-night bike riding, guitar playing, stage crew maven neighbor could be so dangerous to my sanity? But here I was, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

19

Bay

I sat in the kitchen, leaning against the counter in front of the slatted blinds, the only thing shrouding me from view. Outside, the whir of the lawn mower turned into a rumble doing things to me I’d never thought a lawn mower sound could do. It might have had something to do with the sweaty guy pushing it up and down our front yard, maintaining meticulously neat rows.