Madly

Chapter Two

Her heart vibrated with the force of a jackhammer in her chest. Oh. My. God. She'd expected the new neighbor to be an executive or a young socialite couple not—well— him.  

There should be laws in place for his brand of beautiful that prohibited him walking around shirtless before ten in the morning. He had the 'v' that was sought by many and achieved by few. That perfect triangle that formed at the hip bones and jutted into the pelvis like an arrow pointing south.  

What was wrong with her? She shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the intrusive thoughts before she actually managed to offend herself. Why was she having them? It's not like she'd never seen a guy without his shirt before but she'd never had such a clear and immediate reaction. To be fair, none of those shirtless guys had the 'v.' She'd only ever seen those in the pages of her favorite fitness magazines and the real thing was so much more...touchable. 

Her hands shook with nerves as she opened the fridge and retrieved kale, spinach, mangos, pineapple chunks, apples and oranges. She made quick work of peeling the oranges and mangos and slicing the apples, grateful for a few moments to get herself together. This entire situation was ridiculous. She was being ridiculous. That v was the most ridiculous thing of all. 

The juicer annihilated all of the fruit and veggies she'd jammed into it and the result looked a bit like swamp sludge. It didn't matter though—it would taste fantastic. Pouring the juice into glasses, she picked them up and took a few deep cleansing breaths before returning to Wes and his v. 

He was scrolling through his phone when she emerged but as soon as his eyes darted up to see her coming, he shoved it in the pocket of his sweats. 

She prayed her hands would stay steady long enough to give him his juice.  If they were shaking and he noticed, he didn't say so. Wes thanked her and took a long sip. "Wow. That's really good." 

"Thanks." 

"You like yoga, huh?" 

"Love it," she said, relaxing more now that they were speaking about something she felt passionate about. "Have you ever tried it?" 

He shook his head. "No, I haven't but I'm sure my buddy Drew has." 

"Well your buddy Drew may be onto something. You should try it sometime." 

A smile stretched across his face again, only this time it was huge, tugging at the corners of his mouth. Holy crap. That grin could erase darkness better than the sun. "Maybe you could teach me." He chugged the remainder of his drink. "Right after I buy my body some fuel and set up my juicer. This is incredible." 

"Right? I have a glass every morning." 

"My treat tomorrow then," he said. "So long as I can find a grocery store near here." 

"I can show you," Rowyn blurted before wishing her mouth had a zipper. Why did she just invite herself along? "I mean, I can draw you a map." 

There was the damn smile again. That thing should come with a warning attached to it. Caution. Will greatly affect common sense and cognitive function. 

"I'd like that." 

She returned to the house, mentally berating herself for allowing a guy to make her so flustered. Surely focusing on something like drawing a map would take her mind off of her new neighbor. 

Wes had watched a movie once where one of the characters recited a line that said something to the effect of 'I hate to see her go but I love to watch her leave.' Man, that line was made for this girl. Her body was solid, toned to near perfection and her hips swayed slightly from side to side as she walked. When she came back through the door a second time clutching a notebook and a pen, he bit his tongue to save himself from pointing out that just about everyone had GPS and he could in fact, find the grocery store without her assistance.