Page 7 of Erik's Salvation
She fiddled with the little charm on her bracelet—a nervous habit, and this man definitely made her nervous.
“So you didn’t follow me here with plans to kill me? You live here?”
His brow lifted. “I didn’t follow you here. I don’t plan to kill you. And yes, I live here.”
She let that information sink in. The ass of a man who’d saved her life was her new neighbor. So they’d be seeing a bit of each other. Meaning, she had to try to be nice to him.
Once the shock had passed, she forced her lips into a smile. “I think we started off on the wrong foot. I’m Hannah Jacobs. I live next door.”
She gestured her head over his shoulder toward her place, but his gaze didn’t move. It just stuck to her like that Gorilla Glue that was so strong you could glue your fingers together and never get them apart.
“Erik Hunter,” he finally said.
Erik…it suited him. Masculine and sexy and—
Argh, what was she thinking? She gave herself a mental shake. The man wasn’t sexy—he was dangerous. One look at him and she knew that. “So, you’re…living here now?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t see you move in.”
“Movers were here all day.”
She wanted to slap herself. Of course they were. She was at work all day. The man could have been parading around the property naked and she would have had no idea.
When he just kept standing there, looking at her with those intense hazel eyes, she wanted to squirm. It wasn’t just his eyes that were intense. All of him was. A big, beautiful, intense—
Shit. Stop it, Hannah.
“Why are you watering the garden?” He tilted his head toward the bed as if she’d forgotten about its very existence. Which was a fair assumption. He did make her forget about most other things.
“Stanley asked me to before he…passed. I’m sorry, by the way.” She swallowed, still hating that he was gone.
“You don’t need to do that anymore.”
His response came so quickly, she pulled back a bit. “Oh, I don’t mind. I promised him I’d keep them alive, and I’ve actually been enjoying it.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets, and when his biceps rippled, she almost swayed toward him. “I’d prefer you didn’t. It was nice to meet you, Hannah.”
He turned and started walking away. She was just left standing there, mouth open. When he disappeared around the side of the house, she kicked her ass into gear and ran after him.
“Um, sorry,” she said when she finally caught up, struggling to match his strides, “but you heard the part where he asked me to, right?”
So where was the thank you? The look of gratitude?
“I did.”
Two words…that was it. “Areyougoing to keep them alive now?”
She followed him around the corner to the front of the house and almost crashed into his chest when he suddenly stopped and turned.
Jesus.
“Hannah.” A tingle sparked in her lower belly at her name on his lips. “I’m not a flower guy. But Iama private guy. So please don’t trespass again.”
Spark officially extinguished.
CHAPTER3
