Page 2 of Fake Dating the Next-Door
The sandpaper drops from his hand. "Excuse me?"
"Just for dinner tomorrow night!" I rush on, the idea taking shape as I speak. "It would be perfect. You're successful, responsible, mature. Everything they want for me. They'd be so shocked I'm dating someone older that they might actually stop nagging me about finding a man!"
Garrett stares at me like I've suggested we rob a bank together. "Absolutely not."
"Please?" I give him my best pleading look. "I'll bake those chocolate chip cookies you pretend not to like but always eat."
"I don't eat your cookies," he lies. I've seen the empty plates returned to my porch.
"I'll keep my music down for a month."
His jaw tightens. "Two months."
Wait, is he actually considering it? I press my advantage. "Two months of silence, plus I'll weed that strip between our properties that you're always glaring at."
He crosses his arms. "Your parents would never believe we're together."
"Why not?" I challenge.
"Because I'm—" he gestures vaguely at himself, "—me. And you're..." his hand waves in my direction, "...you."
I'm not sure if I should be offended. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Garrett picks up his sandpaper again. "It means we have nothing in common. It wouldn't be believable."
"Opposites attract?" I offer weakly.
He shakes his head, but I catch the faintest quirk at the corner of his mouth. Not quite a smile, but as close as Garrett Stone ever gets.
"Come on," I press. "One dinner. Three hours max. You can go back to being a hermit right after, I promise."
My phone alarm beeps from my pocket. Ten minutes until my client call.
"Think about it?" I ask, already backing toward my house. "I'll bring coffee and muffins later as a bribe."
Garrett just grunts and turns back to his dresser, but he doesn't outright refuse again, which from him is practically enthusiastic agreement.
As I rush inside to prepare for my call, I wonder what I've gotten myself into. Garrett Stone as my fake boyfriend? The man barely tolerates speaking to me over a fence. How would we ever convince my parents we're in love?
But desperate times call for desperate measures. And right now, I'm desperate enough to try anything, even recruiting my grumpy, gorgeous neighbor into the most ridiculous scheme of my life.
Chapter 2 - Garret
I've lost my damn mind.
That's the only explanation for why I'm standing in my garage, staring at this half-sanded dresser, seriously considering playing boyfriend to my bubbly next-door neighbor.
Sunny Bloom. Even her name is ridiculous, like something out of a children's book about fairies. She's twenty-five, for Christ's sake. Fifteen years my junior and about a thousand years younger in life experience. She's all bright smiles and wild curls and relentless optimism, while I'm... well, not.
I run my palm over the dresser's surface, checking for rough spots. The repetitive motion calms me, gives me something to focus on besides the image of Sunny leaning against our fence, her hair a mess and those big brown eyes pleading with me.
"Focus, Stone," I mutter to myself, reaching for the sandpaper again.
I'd been up since 0500, same as every day for the past twenty years. Old habits from the military die hard, especially when the nightmares wake you anyway. My shoulder aches dully, a permanent souvenir from my last tour. The doctors did their best, but some damage can't be undone. Story of my life.
The quiet of Cedar Falls had been exactly what I needed after discharge. No expectations, no one to be responsible for, no one to let down. Just me, my projects, and blessed silence. Until Sunny Bloom moved in next door eight months ago, bringing with her loud music, late nights, and constant attempts at conversation.
I should find her annoying. I tell myself I do. But there's something about her, something genuine, that makes it impossible to completely shut her out.
