Page 35 of A Very Grumpy Neighbor

“So, what do I do now?”

“Depends on how you feel about her. What do you want out of this?”

“I…”

“How do you feel when you’re with her?”

“Good.”

“Uh-huh… I can see what your girl was talking about,” he mumbles.

“Camden,” I growl.

“And how do you feel without her?”

I scrub my hands down my face. “Like shit.”

“Sooooo,” he says, drawing the word out and making me want to punch him in the throat.

“Fuck,” I groan.

“What do you want?” he asks, determined to make me say it.

“I want her. I just want her.”

“Go get her tiger/” He claps me on the back. “We’ll grab lunch on a different day. And you can buy.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I look at Jade’s house as he heads back to his truck. I know she’s home. She got back from work an hour ago, and I watchedher walk inside. I hoped she’d come over to my place, tell me she overreacted and wanted to be with me, but no such luck.

It’s on me to fix this. I’m the one who messed it all up.

I take a deep breath and stalk across our yards, closing the distance quickly. I knock on the door, my heart beating out of control as I wait for her to answer.

Shit, I should’ve waited. I should’ve thought about what I wanted to say and practiced it.

I almost run back to my house, but the door swings open, and Jade’s beautiful, stormy eyes bore into mine.

“I love you,” I blurt out.

We stare at each other in shock.

Fuck.

“That is not what I thought I was going to say.”

She blinks.“ What did you think you were going to say?”

“I have no idea.”

“Okay, well, why don’t I head inside, and you can rework all of this? We’ll try again later,” she says, closing the door in my face.

Shit.

I knock again.

She opens the door, eyebrow raised.

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