Page 5 of The Beachside Rental

“Okay.Goodbye.”He closed the door.

Shocked at how abruptly that encounter ended, she headed back to her place.He definitely wasn’t very friendly, but maybe that had something to do with their prior encounter—maybe he was still miffed with her complaining about the boxes being all over the porch.Maybe tomorrow she’d bring him a pie from the bakery at the Island Market—a welcome gesture.And then she could ask him if he’d seen the other high heel that was still missing.

She returned to the couch, snuggled under the throw blanket, and picked up her book.She hadn’t marked her page, so she had to skim through the book.It took her a moment, but she eventually found the spot.

The front door opened and—

Thump...

Thump...

Thump...

The noise continued.Jenna’s gaze moved to the wall where the offending noise was coming from.She stared at the wall as the noise continued at a steady beat.

She waited for it to stop.It did not.

She tossed aside her book and with a groan, she got up.The thumping continued as she went to the door.Surely this time her neighbor had heard it too.

In bare feet, she stomped over to the neighbor’s door.Her knuckles pounded on the door.

This time the door opened almost immediately.The man’s body filled the doorway.“What?”

“Surely, this time you heard the noise.”

He frowned.“I have no idea what you’re talking about.Maybe you have mice or something.”

“Mice?”Was he serious?“They’d have to be pretty big mice.”

“Call the landlord.”He was about to close the door.

It was then that she noticed something yellow in his hand.When he lifted his arm to push the door closed, she realized it was a bright yellow tennis ball.In that moment, she put it all together.He was bouncing the ball off the wall.

She narrowed her gaze on him.“It was you.”

“Me what?”His brows scrunched together, as though he truly didn’t know what she was talking about.

“You’re making the sound.”When he continued to give her a puzzled look, she nodded toward his hand with the ball in it.“You were bouncing the ball off of the wall.”

He lowered his gaze to his hand with the ball.He at least had the decency to look a bit flustered.“I didn’t even think about it making a noise.I’m so used to it.”

Used to it?Why would he be used to bouncing the ball off the wall?She had so many questions, but it was none of her business.And now that his frown had deepened, she doubted he would take the time to explain why he was bouncing the ball off the wall.

“And here I was going to buy you a pie.”

His brows rose.“Buy me a pie?”

“Because we didn’t get off to a good start with the boxes and all.”

He nodded.“But aren’t you supposed to bake the pie, not buy it?”

“I don’t bake.”That gene skipped her.“Please, don’t bounce the ball against the wall again.”This time she turned and walked away before he had a chance to close the door.

However, when she returned to her spot on the couch, her thoughts were far from the book she was reading.Instead, her thoughts were on her neighbor.Her sister Lily was right.He was good-looking.

But he was grumpy.He wore that frown like some sort of do-not-disturb sign.That was fine with her.So long as he didn’t bounce that ball off the wall one more time.He didn’t want her to knock on his door again that evening or she would be the grumpy one.

Chapter Three