Page 10 of Charmed By the Next-Door Neighbor

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"Retired?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Because my knees gave out. Because I couldn't breathe right anymore. Because I watched my captain die and I couldn't save him.

"Body couldn't handle it anymore," I say instead.

Claire's hand comes up to rest on my chest, right over the scar that no one can see through my shirt.

"He's a hero," she says firmly. "He saved people."

Her mother's expression softens. Just a fraction. Her father still looks like he's calculating my net worth and finding it lacking.

"Well," her mother says. "This is certainly... unexpected."

"Life's full of surprises," Claire says.

She's still touching me. Her hand is warm through my shirt and I can feel my heartbeat kick up under her palm.

Can she feel it too? Does she know what she's doing to me?

Her father checks his watch. "We should go get settled at the hotel. We'll take you both to dinner tonight. Seven o'clock?"

"We'd love that," Claire says.

No, we wouldn't, I think. But I nod anyway. Because she asked.

And I'd follow her straight into hell if that's where she needed me to go.

Chapter 3 - Claire

The second the door closes behind my parents, my knees nearly give out.

Holy shit. That worked. That actually worked.

I'm still pressed against Nash's side, his arm heavy and warm around my waist, and I can't move. Can't think. Can't do anything except stand here and try to remember how to breathe like a normal person.

My mother looked like she'd swallowed a lemon. My father looked like he was mentally calculating how much it would cost to hire a private investigator to run a background check. And both of them decided to stay at a hotel an hour away instead of the bed and breakfast right here in town.

An hour away.

They're staying an hour away because they're that uncomfortable.

It's perfect.

It's exactly what I wanted.

So why do I feel like I'm about to pass out?

"Claire?"

Nash's voice rumbles through his chest and I realize I can feel it. His voice. Vibrating against my hand.

My hand that's still pressed flat against his chest.

Oh god.

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