Page 31 of Charmed By the Next-Door Neighbor

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"I like you. Have since you moved in. Probably should've kept that to me, but there it is."

She's staring at me like I just spoke a foreign language. "You like me."

"Yeah."

"Like... as a person? Or—"

"As more than a neighbor," I say. "As more than a friend."

"But—" She shakes her head. "You barely know me."

"I know enough."

"You've barely talked to me before this week."

"Didn't need to talk to you to notice you." I run a hand through my hair, aware I'm saying too much and unable to stop. "I notice you all the time. The way you hum when you think no one's listening. The way you always take your trash out at exactly seven on Tuesdays."

"You really have been watching me," she whispers.

"Yeah." I should feel ashamed of that. I don't. "Not in a creepy way. Just... paying attention."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"What was I supposed to say?" I let out a rough laugh. "Hi, I'm your neighbor who's old enough to be your father and I can't stop thinking about you?"

"You're not old enough to be my father."

"Close enough."

"You're seventeen years older than me. That's not—"

"It's a lifetime, Claire. I've lived a whole life already. Career, injuries, retirement. You're just starting out."

"So?"

"So, you should be with someone your own age. Someone who has something to offer besides a pension and a house that needs work."

"What if I don't want that?" Her voice is quiet but firm.

My heart stops. "What?"

"What if—" She takes a breath. "What if I don't care that you're older? What if I've been noticing you too?"

I stare at her. "You have?"

"Yes." She won't look at me now, picking at the rolled-up sleeve of my shirt. "I thought I was going crazy. You're just… You're so—"

"So what?"

"Hot," she blurts out. "You're really hot and I know I shouldn't think that because this is supposed to be fake but every time you touched me tonight I could barely think and when you put your hand on my knee I—"

She stops abruptly.

"You what?" My voice comes out rougher than I intend.

She shakes her head. "Nothing. Never mind."

"Claire."

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