Chapter 1
Mikhail Wanjek was awake. The only question was why, when for damn sure he didn’t want to be. After two failed attempts, he finally located his cellphone on the bedside table and pried one eye open long enough to check the time.
Ten o’clock. Really? It had been less than two hours since he’d crawled into bed after working the shift from hell. On their last call, the house had already been fully engulfed in flames by the time his crew had arrived on scene. The only positive outcome was that the family had made it out before the fire reduced their home to little more than a blackened skeleton. The stunned grief in their eyes as the hungry flames destroyed everything they owned would haunt him for days to come. Just one more nightmare in his already extensive collection.
When he’d finally dragged himself home, he’d been too tired to do more than strip naked and fall facedown on the mattress. Sleep had overtaken him seconds after his head hit the pillow. No way he should be conscious yet.
After tossing the phone on the table, he burrowed back under the covers. But before he could dive deep into blessed oblivion, the same racket that had jarred him awake in the first place started up again, this time with a vengeance. Okay, he was going to kill somebody just as soon as he figured out who was responsible.
Well, not really, even if the idea was really tempting.
He rolled over to the other side of the bed and lifted the blinds just far enough to peek out the window. The small slice of sunshine stabbed his eyes like a jagged knife, which set off a throbbing pain in his head and added to his anger.
Exactly as he’d feared, someone was standing just out of sight on the far side of the porch. He couldn’t see who it was, but Mikhail wanted nothing more than to ignore his uninvited guest and stay right where he was. Unfortunately, the intruder had other ideas. This time the chime of the doorbell was followed by the sound of a fist knocking on the door.
Mikhail surrendered to the inevitable and crawled out of bed. Pausing only long enough to yank on yesterday’s jeans, he stumbled down the hall toward the front door. His two brothers were the only people who ever dropped by without calling first, but they both knew he’d pulled a long shift at the fire department and would be sleeping. If they had decided to bother him anyway, he would take great pleasure in kicking their inconsiderate asses for them.
Even half-dead and this damn tired, he could still lay them out flat. They knew it, too.
The doorbell chimed again just as Mikhail unfastened the dead bolt. He yanked the door open, already rehearsing the stream of curse words he planned to unleash on his favorite relatives. Except that it wasn’t Jack or Tino standing on his front porch. Instead, it was a leggy brunette he knew for damn sure he’d never seen before. Despite the fatigue fogging up his head, he was sure that much was true. He wouldn’t have forgotten a face like that.
At least he managed to cut off the obscenity that had been his planned greeting and substitute a mumbled, “What?”
Judging from the way the woman retreated half a step, the single word had come out a lot more unfriendly than he’d intended. Before he could fall back and regroup, the woman started talking a mile a minute.
“Hi, I’m your new neighbor, Amy Short. I hope you like brownies.” She offered him a bright smile as she shoved a plate into his hands. “I’ve been meaning to introduce myself since I moved in early last week, but this is the first time I’ve caught you at home.”
She paused and gave him an expectant look.
His brain finally caught up with her rapid-fire words. “I do. Like brownies, that is.”
She evidently expected more in the way of a response, because she continued to stare at him. Her gaze briefly dropped down to his bare chest before her dark eyes once again locked onto his. He replayed her last words in his head. Oh, right. Introductions were in order.
“Mikhail Wanjek. I just got off work.”
What else? When nothing brilliant came to mind, he added, “Welcome to my neighborhood.”
He hadn’t meant it to be funny, but evidently he’d come off sounding like Mr. Rogers. Amy’s laughter rang out brighter than the sunshine beating down from overhead. Ordinarily he would’ve enjoyed listening to her slightly husky voice, but right now it was all he could do to stay vertical. He leaned against the doorjamb for support. “Was there something you needed? Otherwise, I’d really like to go back to bed.”
It was testament to how tired he was that he wasn’t even tempted to try to take her there with him. Her smile dimmed. “I’m sorry I woke you up. It didn’t occur to me that you might work nights.”
“It’s okay. Thanks again for the brownies.”
Mikhail started to close the door, hoping they were done. But even if he was, she clearly wasn’t. Amy put her hand on the door to keep it from closing completely. “Look, I won’t keep you, but I need to talk to you about our common boundary line.”
As she spoke, Amy pointed toward the rickety cedar fence that separated his yard from hers. Mikhail gave it a brief glance. “What about it?”
“I’m getting a dog soon, which means I need to fence my backyard. Since the stretch between our houses is in such poor shape, I would like to replace it at the same time as I do the back and the far side of my yard. I wanted to make sure it was okay with you.”
He was well aware that his fence was in poor condition, but so far it had ranked pretty low on his own to-do list. Since moving in three months back, he’d been concentrating on making the interior more livable. “Can’t this discussion wait a bit? I can’t think straight right now.”
At least until he had a few more hours of sleep under his belt. He realized that she was talking again, and he’d missed half of what she’d said.
“…the cost since I’d like to get it done soon. I just thought I should let you know first. Now, I’d better let you get back to sleep.”
Considering the other repairs that he’d already started on his own place, he’d have to crunch some numbers before committing to the project. But before Mikhail could ask again if they could talk about it more later in the day, she’d already walked away. Damn, he had a feeling that hadn’t gone well.
Holding the door open just a crack, he stared at her retreating back, enjoying the view. Those jeans fit her slim hips like a second skin, and he liked the way her ponytail bounced as she moved. He could be wrong, but he was pretty sure Amy was the most attractive woman he’d met in a long time. Certainly since he’d left the Marine Corps behind to move back home to the Pacific Northwest. It would be a damn shame if his fried brain had screwed up any chance of friendship with his pretty new neighbor.
