Prologue
I am Cassandra Roberts and today is my birthday, I am turning eighteen today and I have only one birthday wish. I want to lose my V card, but not just to anyone, to my cold, dangerously hot, elusive neighbor.
My birthday is no lavish affair, just a simple dinner and cake with my family— I don’t really have friends. My best friend, the girl who I called my best friend, was caught by me sleeping with my boyfriend just a week before my birthday, before today. To shorten the story, I don’t talk to them anymore.
After the birthday dinner with my parents and my twin younger brothers, I save a cake and take it to our neighbor, Mr Bruce Havre— my older, dangerously hot, sex on legs, neighbor. We all live in the same apartment building where my grandfather is the caretaker, and we are the only two who live on the final— sixth— floor.
To my parents, I am just their innocent daughter going to give my cake to our neighbor being kindhearted and caring as I usually am, they have no idea what I have underneath my boring trench coat is nothing like innocent.
I knock at Mr Havre’s house, once, then twice, then thrice, before I hear noises from inside and the door opens. Mr Havre and some voluptuous, beautiful woman I have never seen before, stand at the door, they don’t see me yet as she kisses him and he kisses her back, her hands going down to cup his crotch as she pulls away from the kiss to say in a breathy voice, “Thank you for tonight”
He slaps her butt hard in response, and she shrieks gleefully, “See you soon”
“Goodnight” he somberly says
As she turns to leave both their eyes land on me, looking like a little girl with oversized trench coat holding a plate with a piece of cake with pink icing on it.
The woman give me a dismissive one over and goes her way leaving me alone with Mr Havre.
“Cassandra what are you doing here?” He asks in that deep, bored voice he always uses with me like I am some bothersome child he would rather not deal with.
I hold back my emotions and answer, “Today is my birthday, so I brought some cake for you”
“Oh. Uh… happy birthday” he says it like he obviously doesn’t care
“Yeah. If you don’t want the cake, it’s fine, I can just go back” I say, tears threatening to fall, I can no longer look at him.
He notices something is off, “Cassandra are you okay?”
He doesn’t really care.
“I am fine I reply” steadying myself a bit, I lift up my eyes and look at him, “I think I should get going Mr Havre, good night”
I turn to leave, he pulls me back by my wrist and my foolish young head thinks maybe he realizes that I am an adult now and he wants to tell me he feels how I feel and maybe… maybe kiss me.
I am such a fool. He only called me back for the cake.
He didn’t treat me any different after that night, after eating my cake, and a few months after that time all my family— save my grandfather who is the building’s caretaker— relocate to Amelia Island.
***
It’s been six years.
Six years since I left Stone Edge for Amelia Island. Six years since I and my family left grandpa here in Stone Edge as caretaker. Six years since I last saw Bruce Havre.
Now, grandpa’s health is deteriorating so I am back to take care of him, he is no longer caretaker of the building, so we move into a nice decent small house in a nice area in Angel’s Kettle, Stone Edge. Grandpa bought the house a while back, before the area became an expensive one. Needless to say, the house has been without care, needs a lot of fixing and is now the house in the worst shape in the neighborhood.
I go to clean out the place before I bring him over, so much dust everywhere. I do some necessary fixing I can, and then bring him over from the hospital where he was following his recent heart attack.
By our house is a beautiful two story property with a gorgeous yard, and it doesn’t take me two weeks to find out that the occupant of that house and our closest neighbor is none other than Bruce Havre.
