Crushing on the Guy Next Door: Guy Next Door, #1

By Kali Hart

Dani

I've had a crush on my neighbor since the day he moved in six months ago.
Every day I watch Bryce come and go home from the safety of my home office window.
Seeing him is highlight of my very boring day.
Too bad he has a girlfriend who looks like a model.
My curves and nerdy self have nothing on her.
I develop apps in my pajamas; she travels the world in tailored suits.
I accept that all Bryce will ever be is a fantasy.
The hot guy next door I'm not even brave enough to talk to.
Until the day I spy him injure himself from my window and am forced out of my hiding spot to help him.

Bryce

I thought I had life all figured out until I learn my flight attendant girlfriend has been a frequent flyer on the mile high club.
I know I should've seen it coming, but her unfaithfulness still throws me.
I take a week off from my landscaping job to fix up my backyard and avoid people.
Grueling manual labor always helps do the trick.
Until I drop a heavy masonry block on my foot.
My shy neighbor rushes to my aid.
At the sight of her, I'm oblivious to the pain.
How have I never noticed Dani before?
This curvy beauty has been hiding one house down for months.
Not only am I going to find a way to thank her for her kindness, but I'm going to find a way to make her mine.

Sweet & steamy short story insta-love romance with an older blue collar hero and younger curvy woman with an HEA. NO cliffhangers. NO cheating.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie M. Wallick
• Release date: Aug 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9798215216088

Book preview

1

DANI

Holy mint chocolate chip, he’s taking off his shirt! I squeal at my bestie through the speakerphone as my sinfully hot neighbor sheds his navy-blue, Boyd’s Landscaping shirt and tosses it at a patio chair.

You’re such a stalker, Heather teases.

Your point?

"Are you ever going to talk to the man?" she presses.

Ha! Yeah, right. For six months, I’ve enjoyed the glorious view from my home office window that overlooks the neighbor’s driveway and backyard. Every morning, at precisely seven-thirty, my neighbor leaves for work and every afternoon, the timing varies on that one, he returns. Usually dirt caked and grass stained, he’s stripped down to his boxers more than once this summer before stepping through the back door. Fate smiled on me indeed.

But I’ve never mustered the courage to talk to him. Considering he has a model-hot girlfriend, there’s really not a point.

You could steal him away you know, Heather says, an air of mischievousness in her tone. I bet you have way more substance.

Substance wrapped in a pair of purple pajama pants, no makeup, and glasses, I mutter, trying like hell to divert my wandering eyes back to the computer screen. I’m up against a deadline for my latest app project, and my boss won’t care that I’m distracted by the Greek god next door.

Give yourself some credit, Dani. Does Airline Barbie have a master’s degree?

We shouldn’t call her that, I say for what is probably the hundredth time since I accidentally made that nickname up. My neighbor’s girlfriend is a flight attendant, or so I’ve decided based on the tight-fitted skirt and jacket she leaves in. Gone for days at a time, what else could she possibly be?

Why not? She doesn’t sound very pleasant, Heather counters. Of the two of us, she’s definitely the blunt one, and not afraid to press her points home. I thought you heard them arguing the other day.

I did. I was in the shower, but that didn’t stop the sound from carrying through the crack in my open window.

Maybe they broke up.

I wish. It wouldn’t be the first argument they’ve had, so I haven’t gotten my hopes up that they’ll split over it.

But even if they did, I’m not sure I have the courage to go over and introduce myself. My hot neighbor has to think I’m some kind of recluse who never leaves the house. I’m sure he’d find it more than a little odd if I just showed up one day to say hello, six months after he moved in. Creepy even.

I catch myself staring at him again; watching the sweat dripping down a very defined back. The man has an amazing ass—especially when he bends over. The way his biceps flex as he picks up each masonry block suggests they weigh a ton, though he makes the whole operation look