“No reason, really. She’s just been on my mind today.”
“Mine, too,” Jane admitted. “Wonder where she is?”
Eve shook her head. “Knowing Liza, she could be on the moon.” She waved. “See you tomorrow.”
Jane waved and watched her friend walk away. Eve, she knew, still had hours of work ahead of her before she could leave the station.
Eve Best deserved to make it big—the woman worked twice as hard as anyone else on the show. Even when they were young, Jane had the feeling that her two friends were destined for great things.
Then Jane worried her lower lip with her teeth. Maybe this emotional slump was simply a phase she was going through. But with Liza gone, she couldn’t help but feel that the big break they were all waiting for would only tear them further apart…
2
PUSHING ASIDE the troubling premonition, Jane left the station and climbed into her old but trusty Civic. Dusk was falling on the chilly spring day and fatigue pulled at her shoulders as she pointed her car in the direction of her condo. On normal days, the commute was manageable—a miracle by Atlanta traffic standards. But today she was behind a minor accident and construction backup on Peachtree Street. At the last minute, she decided to veer off to pick up Chinese food in lieu of cooking. It was already dark by the time she pulled into the parking garage for her building.
When she rounded the corner to her assigned parking spot, she bit back a curse—a little red sports car occupied her place, next to an enormous black SUV that belonged to her new neighbor. She hadn’t yet met him, but she’d heard him moving in yesterday and hoped that he would be settled by tonight. Indeed, it appeared that he already had a guest over and was already violating the building rules. She resented the people who thought living in a condo was like living in an apartment—the man was a home-owner and he’d better start acting like it. Fuming, she parked in the cramped guest parking area and headed inside.
The sooner he was indoctrinated to the rules of condo living, the better.
She stopped in front of her neighbor’s door and juggled her shoulder bag, an armload of catalogs, and the bag of Chinese takeout to ring the doorbell. From behind the door she heard music pulsing with a throbbing bass. She rang the doorbell again and after several long minutes, the door swung open.
The angry words at the back of her throat dissolved.
The man stood well over six feet tall. His hair and eyes were dark, and his jaw sported a couple of days’ worth of scruff. His skin was golden brown, and since he wore only faded jeans, she could see a lot of it. His shoulders were wide and muscled, his chest covered with a mat of black hair that disappeared into the waistband slung low enough to make her wonder if he wore any underwear. From the way he held his long body to the magnetism that rolled off him like a natural cologne, the man appeared to be built for sex.
In a word, he was devastating.
He appeared to be studying her, too, but from the way he tipped up his bottle of beer, he apparently found her slightly less noteworthy. “Can I help you?” he drawled.
“Uh…I’m your next door neighbor. Jane.”
He nodded and flashed a killer smile. “I’m Perry. Nice to meet you.”
“Same here.” She shifted the precarious load in her arms and decided against extending her hand. “Do you drive a black SUV?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s a red car next to it in my parking spot. I thought you might know who it belongs to.”
“Kayla,” he yelled over his shoulder, then took a pull on his beer.
A lush brunette appeared, impossibly tiny and curvy in a Barbie Doll kind of way and sporting a midriff revealing sweater. For some ridiculous reason, Jane was disappointed in the man’s taste, but then what had she expected?
“What, baby?” the girl crooned.
“Did you park in guest parking like I told you?”
She pouted. “The spots were too close together—I didn’t want my car to get dinged, so I parked next to your SUV.”
He looked at Jane and shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, uh—what did you say your name was?”
“Jane,” she said through gritted teeth.
He pointed his finger like a gun and made a clicking noise. “Won’t happen again.”
She opened her mouth to ask that his guest move her car, but the door closed in her face. Jane scowled, hoping the man—to paraphrase Jane Austen—improved upon closer acquaintance. The building housed only forty condos. A few jerks—or one large one—would be enough to cause problems for everyone. And since she and Perry shared a wall and a divided balcony, she would bear the brunt of it.
Heaving a sigh, she unlocked the door to her own condo. Inside, she dropped her load on her desk, then carried the bag of Chinese food to the living room, turning on lights along the way.
The sight of her condo never failed to calm her—she’d purposely decorated in a minimalist style in soothing shades of taupe and sky blue to make the space her own personal haven. Her walls were white, her furniture streamlined. No clutter to distract her, no mess to create more work when she should be winding down.
Jane sighed and felt the stress of the day drain away. She changed into comfy sweats and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. A glance at the clock had her rushing to the kitchen for a bottle of water and a TV tray. Time for her show. Guilty pleasure filled her chest—would Victoria and the cop Nate get together? Or would Nate arrest Victoria for murdering her neighbor?
Settling onto her overstuffed couch, Jane slipped off her shoes and dug her toes into the plush area rug, then clicked on the TV and reached for the bag of takeout. Suddenly the blare of pulsing music invaded her space.
Jane frowned in the direction of the shared wall. The previous owner had been quiet—and had traveled often. Hopefully her new neighbor would soon realize that the walls of multi-family-unit buildings could be thin.
Tamping down irritation, she increased the volume of the TV to counter the sound of the music coming through the wall. From the bag she removed a container of crab wontons and another of lo mein.
She unwrapped the chopsticks and had a wonton halfway to her mouth when the sound of a woman’s voice came through the wall.
“Ahh…ahh, yeah, baby, that’s it…yeah.”
Jane stopped and turned her head toward the wall. It wasn’t…they weren’t…
Incredulous, she lowered the volume on the television, only to be treated to a new string of sexpletives.
“Oh, oh, oh…yes! Yes! Do it! Harder! Faster! I-eeeee! Omigod, omigod, omigod, that feels so good! Talk dirty to me—yeah, that’s it…you nasty, nasty boy.”
Jane’s eyes widened. Nasty boy?
A rhythmic banging sounded on the wall and she thought at first that one
