CHAPTER TWO

Cody

I pushed myself out of bed the next morning at the sound of my alarm and headed out for my run before I was even fully awake. I’d slept like shit, my brain like a possessed television playing the same scene from a movie over and over. I’d blown it with my gorgeous neighbor and I felt like a total ass. I knew she was right. I could see from a mile away that she was the kind of woman looking for forever. And she was right that I was just a party boy looking for a good time. I might be trying to change, but I knew I was nowhere near ready for her. And yet, I hadn’t been able to keep my distance. I’d wanted to make it up to her for being rude to her, but somehow, I’d not only pissed her off again, but I’d made her sad to boot.

She’d felt so good, tucked against me as we walked toward my house. And then she’d told me what that asshole did and it lit me up like the fourth of July. I was fucking furious. No one should treat any woman that way, but especially not Carrie. She might forget her manners around me, but anyone could see she was kind and thoughtful. She was always visiting with our neighbors, even cranky, ancient Betty. I wanted to find that idiot who stranded her and smash his face in.

First, I should probably smash my own face in. I seemed to make a habit of saying all the wrong things around her and I was the guy, fuck-up in all other ways that I might be, who always said the right thing, especially to women.

I was groggy and running slower than I should, so I pushed myself to pick up the pace and stop ruminating about a woman who was all wrong for me. I was finally getting up to speed when I saw someone running toward me. The sun was behind her, but it definitely looked like a woman and there was only one woman I knew of in my neighborhood who went jogging every morning even earlier than I did. The prospect of seeing her motivated me to speed up.

I pasted on a friendly smile just as I moved into the shadow of a house and Carrie came into full view. Her cheeks were flushed red and her shoulder-length, blond waves were pulled up in a ponytail, many strands rebelling to fall around her face. And she was wearing…My feet stopped moving and my lungs froze until I was pretty sure I was going to die. She was wearing calf-length, skin-tight workout pants and a pink sports bra and…nothing else.

Damn, I was not going to survive this. Usually she wore yoga pants and baggy t-shirts to run, but the morning was unseasonably hot so I guess…She ran closer, her breasts bouncing just the tiniest bit, luscious cleavage on full display. I’d known she was gorgeous in the prim and proper outfits she usually wore, but I’d been completely unprepared for her body. She was hot as all fuck, with good-sized breasts, a tiny, trim waist, displaying tight ab muscles, that flared out to hips and a…I spun to check out her ass as she passed me, but she’d already stopped beside me.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

I was still having a bit of trouble catching my breath and all my blood was rushing down to my very large and impressive favorite body part, making it impossible to think. Shit. I’d been around plenty of hot women in my time and managed to act like a functioning adult, but here I was popping a boner in the middle of the street at the sight of Carrie practically naked. What had this woman done to me? I waved her off, hoping she wouldn’t notice my little problem. “I’m fine,” I said. “Just a cramp. Don’t stop your workout.”

She gave me a concerned look, her lips pursed, and all I could think about was those lips wrapped around my favorite body part, her head bobbing. And now my dick was bobbing, like a puppy hoping for a treat. “I could help you stretch,” she said.

I was going to pass out right there on the street. There was no blood left in my brain. “I’m good.” I tried to run away from her, like I was just getting back to my workout, but I’d forgotten about the curb and I tripped off the edge of it and onto my ass.

“Oh, no,” Carrie said, her voice like a caress. She bent over me, her cleavage on full display and offered me a hand up. “Are you okay?”

God, this woman had no idea what she did to me. Last night she practically ran out of my house and now I couldn’t get rid of her. She was too kind and caring for her own good. “I’ll be fine.” I twisted away from her offered hand to hide an erection that was way too visible in my workout shorts. I pushed to my feet, my back to her and tried to get myself under control. I ran through my to-do list for the day in my head, but it couldn’t compete with images of a naked Carrie my imagination was conjuring.

She huffed. I swear I could feel her breath on the back of my neck and it did not help. “Quit being so stubborn and just let me help.”

I don’t know what came over me, all my blood had left my brain and I wasn’t thinking clearly. Plus, if I turned and she saw what my real problem was, she would never speak to me again. She would probably write me off as a pervert and rightfully so. “You want to help?” I asked. “Just go. Stop talking to me, stop breathing on me, and stop standing there half-naked.”

I heard a sharp intake of breath, but when I turned, ready to apologize, she was already running away from me. Damn it, why did I have to be such a jackass?

“Why are you so mean to that sweet girl?” Norma Jane asked from her front porch, where she’d apparently been watching the whole exchange.

I shook my head and angled my body away so Norma Jane didn’t see anything upsetting. “I’m trying really hard not to be mean,” I said. “I really am.”

“Well, try harder,” Norma Jane said. “In my day, a gentleman asked a lady out before having lewd thoughts about her.”

My cheeks heated, probably from the exertion of my workout since I never blushed. Luckily, it was a welcome sign that this conversation had allowed blood back to my head. I faced Norma Jane. “In your day,” I said. “Women didn’t run around half-naked looking the way she looks.”

Norma Jane laughed. “You got me there, boy. Why don’t you stop in for some tea later on today? You haven’t been over to see me once since you moved in.”

“Are you going to mention my lewd thoughts?” I asked.

“I’ll do my best to refrain.”

“Then I’ll be by around three.”

I headed out to finish my run, pushing all thoughts of Carrie and her luscious body from my thoughts. I had enough problems without adding Carrie and her brain-addling presence to the list.

***

My phone rang just as I stepped out of the shower. My stomach rumbled at me to feed it before I started on business, but business had to come first. I had one shot at achieving my dream, and I wasn’t going to let physical hunger interfere. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand, still naked as the day I was born, and answered.

“Cody,” Mary Ellen purred. She was the realtor helping me find the right property and she’d made it very clear she’d be happy to warm my bed. She was attractive and claimed she’d expect no strings to be attached to our roll in the hay, but I didn’t want to mix business and pleasure. Besides, my dick, fickle beast that it was, had no reaction to the sound of her bedroom voice. “I’ve got three places for you to see today. Can you be ready in an hour?”

“Sure,” I said, “Where should I meet you?”