part reminded her she needed to keep up as many barriers as she could, if only to prevent him from ever finding out how she’d tricked him the night before. Chaz had always been very forgiving, but she remembered he’d had a real problem with liars—something he’d said had only intensified with the high stakes of his job. While she didn’t think she’d actually said anything that was a lie, she was certainly guilty of it by omission.
One thing she knew, however. It was going to be very difficult to keep her secret about how attracted she was to him if he kept doing things like pulling his shirt down to reveal his powerful, muscular shoulders and back.
Damn you, Sarah, for making me realize I was making a mistake about twenty minutes too soon!
“Anyway, enough about me. How are you enjoying the city so far?”
“I love it,” she admitted. “The apartment’s great, my job’s going well, I’m making friends.”
“Where is it you’re working?”
Uh-oh. He wasn’t going to trip her up again. Her job was much too unique to give him the same answer she’d provided last night. So she went for the most literal reply possible. “Up on Mass Ave. I’ve become a total city girl, I love taking the Metro train everywhere.” She glanced at her watch, pretending she had somewhere to be. “Speaking of which, I’d better run.”
“Oh, okay. Well, it was good seeing you.”
He actually sounded a little disappointed. Considering he’d just admitted she gave him nightmares, that came as a surprise.
“You, too, Chaz. See ya later.”
Hoping she’d come off utterly casual and not the least bit like the mysterious woman he’d met the night before, Lulu walked away as if she actually had somewhere to go.
She felt his eyes on her as she strode toward the end of the block, but managed to avoid looking back. By the time she turned the corner and risked a peek, the street behind her was empty. Maybe she’d just been fooling herself that he had any interest in her at all.
LULU.
Lulu Vandenberg.
Lulu Pain-in-the-ass Vandenberg was practically his next-door neighbor. And to make matters worse, for a minute that morning, from a few doors away, he’d thought she was his fantasy woman from last night.
Honestly, Chaz wasn’t sure which bothered him more—having somebody who’d tormented him during his geeky, embarrassing younger years so close by, or mistaking that girl for a woman who’d blown his mind while she’d blown him.
One thing was for sure—he could never tell Lulu that little tidbit. She’d either laugh in his face...or just slap it. It wasn’t nice to have those kinds of thoughts about your parents’ best friends’ daughter. Or about the girl who’d called you a blockhead for the better part of elementary school.
He managed to hide his snicker when he remembered the new urban slang for the word blockhead. It definitely didn’t mean what it had meant when they were kids.
In any case, he wasn’t going to allow any of those thoughts about Lulu. No way, uh-uh. It had been a simple mistake, quickly made, quickly rectified. He’d mistaken her, okay, amazing body for the one he’d been seeking since the previous night. But when he got close enough to see the dark brown hair and the familiar face, he’d shoved such images out of his mind.
That didn’t, however, mean the realization that Lulu had grown up to be a very sexy woman was easy to forget. Damn, the girl he’d once known was now a stunner, with those long, dark waves of hair falling well past her shoulders and those heavily-lashed eyes. She had definitely grown up in all the right places, developing the serious curves he’d once teased her she lacked. She now had the kind of body that would make a man drop to his knees and beg for her attention. Her jeans had been simple and faded, but had hugged curvy hips and long, slender legs. And her soft red sweater had emphasized full breasts and a slim waist.
Aside from her sex appeal, she was just beautiful to look at. He’d always thought her pretty, with her thick hair and expressive eyes, at least when she wasn’t terrorizing him. But her features had been a little sharp, an impression maybe reinforced by her personality. Now, though, everything had softened, from her face, to her smile, to her voice, to her attitude.
He’d actually enjoyed their brief conversation, and would have liked to continue it. But she’d hurried away from him as quickly as she could. So maybe the long-awaited reunion hadn’t been as enjoyable to her as it had been to him.
Which irritated him. She’d always seemed to have the power in their relationship, and it seemed some things never changed.
He was just about to go back to his place when he saw Peggy, his friend and neighbor—and Lulu’s—waving from the front door of their building. She gestured him forward.
“Hey, Chaz, can you give us a hand with something?”
“I can try.”
“Great. Marcia got a new laptop, and all either of us know about setting it up is pushing the On button.”
“I can’t guarantee I’ll get you much further than that.”
“Well, if you can at least get us online so we can stream the newest episode of Teen Wolf, we’ll pay you back with a steak dinner tomorrow.” Peggy wagged her eyebrows up and down and stepped out of the way to let him in the building. “Our pretty neighbor will be joining us. I see you’ve met her?”
“You mean Lulu?”
“Yeah.”
He nodded. “Actually, we’ve known each other since we were kids.”
“Oooh, isn’t that interesting?”
“Not particularly.” Wanting to nip any matchmaking ideas about him and Lulu in the bud, he asked, “You’ve lived around here for a few years, right?”
“Yep. We lived one block over until two years ago and right here ever since. Why?”
“I’m just wondering...do you ever remember meeting a really gorgeous redhead? Tall, maybe five-seven, with dark eyes and a great mouth?”
“Hey, I’m a happily married woman.”
“I didn’t mean for you,” he said with a grin.
“Aww, come on, Chaz, you don’t need a redhead when you were shooting some serious sparks with our downstairs neighbor.”
Lulu? No way, not a chance. He might agree she was sexy, but the only sparks the two of them would set off each other would be if it was the Fourth of July and she stuck a firecracker down his shirt.
“We’re just friends. We literally grew up next door to each other.”
“Well, isn’t it a funny coinkydink, you two ending up as neighbors again. Like fate.”
“No,
