𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

── ◦⋅❀⋅◦ ──

My index finger skimmed the page as I read.

His rugged length dragged against me...

Click.

The backyard gate opened behind me.

I turned the page instinctively.

Not that I was ashamed of what I was reading. Plenty of women my age enjoyed a good romance novel. I simply didn’t see why Nathan needed to know what I was doing with my afternoon.

I’d been lying on my stomach atop a pool float for the better part of an hour, elbows propped beside my paperback and feet dangling in the water. Tomorrow was my first day at Niagara College. I’d organized my stationery, checked my timetable twice, and earned the right to finish a perfectly good sex scene in peace.

Heavy footsteps approached behind me.

“Nathan, if you splash me, I’ll tell Mom.”

“Don’t worry, Princess. I won’t get you wet.”

Only one person on earth could make the word Princess sound that obnoxious.

I looked over my shoulder.

“Ryder?”

Ryder Callahan stood at the deep end with a duffel bag over one shoulder and a set of keys looped around his finger.

His hair was longer than I remembered, dark and messy around his forehead. His face had changed too. Not enough that I would’ve struggled to recognize him, but some of the softness had gone out of it.

He looked older.

I didn’t particularly appreciate that the change suited him.

More than a year away, and he’d decided to return directly to being a problem.

“What are you doing here?”

“Thank you for the warm welcome back, Nat.”

“I wasn’t welcoming you. You never answered my question. What are you doing in my backyard?”

“Presently?” His eyes dropped. “Enjoying the view.”

I followed his gaze.

Right.

My butt was sticking up off the float, my bikini bottoms having ridden halfway between my cheeks.

“Ryder!”

I grabbed my book and tried to cover myself while simultaneously rolling onto my back.

This was too much coordination to ask of me.

My elbow slid across the wet vinyl.

I went sideways.

And directly into the pool.

My book came with me.

“No. No, no, no, no!”

I surfaced to the sound of Ryder choking on a laugh.

“Holy fuck.”

“Language!”

That only made him laugh harder.

“It’s not funny!”

I caught the paperback before it sank completely and swam furiously toward the edge. Water streamed from the pages as I tossed it onto the patio.

Ryder stared at me.

“You know, for a second there, I thought you were all grown up, Natalie Two-Shoes.”

I hadn’t heard that nickname in over a year.

It remained irritating.

He crouched and offered me a hand.

I ignored it and swam for the stairs.

“Funny. I’ve never mistaken you for grown.”

“Ouch.”

I climbed out of the pool, pushing wet hair back from my face.

Ryder’s eyes followed me, and he made no attempt to be subtle about it.

I knew exactly what that look meant.

I didn’t see why he needed to be so obvious about it.

I snatched my towel off the lounger and wrapped it around myself.

“I’m glad that hurt.”

“And I thought you were supposed to be a good girl.”

“Yeah, well, you drowned my book.”

“How?” He pointed at it. “You’re the one who took it swimming.”

“Because you were staring at my bottom!”

His eyebrows rose.

“Your bottom?”

“Yes.”

He looked delighted by this information.

“Fine. I’ll buy you a new naughty book.”

“You bet you will. And it’s not naughty. It’s romance.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Is there any reason you’re still here?”

“Is that any way to welcome your new neighbour?”

I stopped.

“No.”

Ryder lifted the keys.

“Nate said you’d say that. I told him you’d be more welcoming.”

“You’re renting the pool house?”

“Signed a lease and everything.”

He nodded toward the converted apartment across the patio.

“This can’t be happening.”

“Unfortunately.”

My parents had converted the old pool house into a self-contained apartment a year earlier. It had a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and its own entrance from the side gate. They’d been discussing finding a tenant for weeks. I had paid attention, too, or at least I had been present while they discussed it.

At no point had either of them specified Ryder Callahan.

“What happened to the Reserves?”

“It was all right. Demanding.”

“Who would’ve thought the military would be demanding?”

“I know, right? The recruitment booths made it seem like a blast.”

I crossed my arms over my towel.

“You know, I’ve got to hand it to you. You made it a year this time.”

“Fourteen months, but who’s counting?”

Apparently he was.

“Onto your next plan?”

The keys stopped turning around his finger.

“Got a problem with plans?”

“Only when they change so frequently.”

“I’m serious about this one.”

“For how long?”

For half a second, he looked at me.

Then the grin returned.

“You’ll have to stick around and find out, won’t you?”

“I give whatever this is six months.”

He stepped close enough that I had to look up at him.

“Always the optimist.”

He was better looking up close. And that was completely irrelevant.

The side gate opened behind us.

“Already off to a friendly start, I see.”

Ryder stepped back.

Nathan came through carrying a cardboard box against his hip.

He took one look at the two of us and sighed.

Ryder grinned.

“Best buds.”

Nathan crossed the patio toward the pool house.

I pointed at him. “Why didn’t you tell me Ryder was moving in?”

“I didn’t think you’d care.”

“I care about my sanity.”

“Then you’re outta luck,” Ryder said.

I turned toward him. “This conversation didn’t involve you.”

“I’m the subject.”

“You’re the problem.”

Nathan stopped beside the apartment door and finally noticed the paperback dripping onto the patio.

“Wait. What happened to your dirty book?”

“It is not—” I stopped. There were more important inaccuracies to address. “Ryder made me fall in.”

“She fell in,” Ryder corrected. “I was standing over there being handsome.”

“You were being obnoxious.”

“Same thing.”

Ryder gave Nathan a quick nod, and Nathan returned it like this was a perfectly reasonable conclusion.

I looked between them. Fourteen months apart had done nothing to improve their judgment.

Nathan shifted the box higher against his chest. “Can you get the door?”

Ryder pulled the key from his finger and unlocked the pool house.

The door swung open.

There were already several boxes stacked inside, along with a lamp on the floor and what looked like half of Ryder’s wardrobe thrown over the back of a chair.

He’d started moving in before anyone had thought to mention it to me.

Nathan carried the box inside.

Ryder bent for his duffel and slung it over his shoulder.

He started toward the apartment, then glanced back at me.

“Don’t go swimming with the next one.”

“F you, Ryder.”

His grin widened.

“Missed you too.”

Then he disappeared into the pool house.

I picked up the remains of my romance novel from the patio.

Through the open pool-house door, I could hear Nathan and Ryder shifting boxes around. Everyone but me had already adjusted to this arrangement.

His keys were still in the lock.