Page 2 of You Saw the Best In Me

I park my truck in my numbered spot and roll my eyes when I see the tiny car parked next to me. It belongs to my new neighbor, the petite brunette who moved in last week, and I haven’t had a moment’s peace since she arrived.

Whenever I see her, she’s carrying boxes, furniture, falling all over herself, and refusing help. If that wasn’t bad enough, she blasts her shitty bubblegum-pop music all night, ensuring I get no sleep.

I’ve already decided that I can’t stand her and I don’t even know her name.

Sighing, I grab my lunch box and work clothes, heading inside the building.

As luck would have it, she’s getting her mail from the lobby, exactly where I need to be.

This is the first time I’ve seen her without anything in her hands, and I can’t help but notice her curves and how her tits are barely contained inside the tank top she’s wearing.

Fuck.

A man could only dream of a perfect pair of boobs like that.

“Get it together, dumbass,” I think to myself. Drooling over my annoying, obnoxiously loud neighbor is not a part of the plan.

As if she read my mind, she glances up at me, her hazel eyes shimmering.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Am I in your way?” she asks, and I shake my head. “I’m Karina, your new neighbor.”

She offers her hand to me, stepping close enough that I can smell her fruity perfume.

“Maverick,” I reply, barely shaking her hand.

“Nice to meet you. Once I get my place set up, maybe you could stop by for a drink,” she smiles, and I have to look away before my ice-cold heart begins to thaw.

“That’s not necessary,” I frown, attempting to clarify that I want nothing to do with her.

I turn away completely, opening my mailbox and taking out the pile of bills.

“I don’t bite,” she teases, giggling at her own joke, and I roll my eyes.

I walk away from her, attempting to end this conversation, but I forget she lives across the hall.

We walk up the stairs silently, but I can feel she has something else to say.

“Did I do something to piss you off?” Karina asks, and this woman makes me want to rip my hair out.

“You’re loud. You keep me up late playing that shit you call music,” I turn to face her as we reach our doors, and it looks like I deflated all the air out of her.

“You’re an asshole, aren’t you, neighbor?” she says, rage dripping from every word.

“You’re a pain in the ass, aren’t you, neighbor?” I mock her sarcasm and rage, which pisses her off even more.

She slams her door in my face, and I sigh, throwing my work shit on the floor and slamming my door in response.

I don't know how one woman can frustrate me so much, and yet she just so happens to be right next door.

I nearly jump out of my skin as Karina blasts her music so loud my walls vibrate. Clearly, she’s playing a game because I offended her, and it’s not amusing.

My phone rings, bringing me out of my rage. I smile when I see the name on the screen: Harper.

“Hi, Mav!” my little sister squeals, ready to update me on her day.

“Hi, Harp, how was school? How’s Grams?” I ask, listening intently as she describes another riveting day in the eighth grade.

Harper is thirteen and the only family I have besides my grandmother.