“Be neighborly,” she said. Britt narrowed her eyes at me and leaned in. “Not to mention the little fact that I didn’t see a ring on his finger.”
“Please don’t tell me you’re seriously thinking about hooking me up with a guy at a time like this. Plus, I’ve been moving all day, my hair’s a mess, and I’m super sweaty.”
“What difference does that make?” she asked with a shrug. “Seriously, you’ve been single for what, since before Maddie was born? What’s wrong with having a little fun with a neighbor? It’d be so easy, too. Just ask him for a cup of sugar and when he brings it over you’re wearing nothing but an apron.”
I laughed. “Ask him for a cup of sugar? What is this, 1965?”
“OK, sue me. So maybe I’ve been out of the game for a while. But you get the idea.”
I looked out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of the guy. I couldn’t see his front, but from his backside I could tell that he had dark, slicked-back hair and was tall and built. Oh, and that his ass looked perfect in those blue jeans he had on. His dog, a really adorable Australian Shepherd with gorgeous calico colors and strikingly blue eyes, ran eagerly around him as the man prepared to throw a ball.
There was something about him, something strangely familiar. I had sensed the same familiarity the first time I saw him, if only briefly. Maybe it was the color of his hair—the same unique shade of black that Maddie had.
“Come on!” Britt said, pulling at my wrist. “I promise I won’t embarrass you with any matchmaking stuff. Just come out and say ‘hi!’”
She was right. There was no sense in waiting to get to know my neighbors and certainly no harm in saying hello and introducing myself.
“You promise?”
“Promise.”
I took one more sip of my drink.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
Britt pulled me out of the nook, the two of us splashing a little bit more bubbly into our mugs before heading out onto the big back patio of my house.
“Here, Mick!” the man called out to his dog, his voice low and booming. He tossed the ball, and the dog immediately ran after it.
“Hey!” Britt shouted. “Dog guy!”
Before I had a chance to tell Brittnotto refer to our neighbor as “dog guy,” the man turned.
I gasped, my mug slipping from my hand and landing on the patio with a thud.
I realized right away why the man seemed so strangely familiar.
My new neighbor was Valentino, the incredibly sexy doctor I’d hooked up with five years ago. And Maddie’s father.
Chapter 7
VALENTINO
Had I heard something?
“Yo, Mick!”
Mick, my rescue Australian Shepherd of three years bounded toward me with his tongue hanging out and the usual eager expression on his face. I reached into my pocket and turned up the volume on my phone, David Bowie playing through my AirPods.
“Come on, bud.”
I gestured toward the ground, and he obediently sat. Once he was down, I turned my attention to the patio of the house next to me. I’d seen a couple of women over there earlier out of the corner of my eye, but they were gone now.
Bowie singing “Let’s Dance” faded as I pulled out my AirPods. The sounds of the soft summer wind moving through the branches of the big oak trees that covered my backyard garden in dark shade took over. I didn’t want to pry, and I certainly wasn’t the snooping type. All the same, I was more than a little curious about who’d moved in next door.
I’d been in and out of town for the last few months, working with the LA Lakers before heading to New York to perform various surgical procedures on wealthy clients who’d requested my services.
I was damn happy to be back home. I had a good boarder for Mick, so I knew he’d been well taken care of in my absence. Still, I was a homebody at heart. I missed my dog, missed my garden, missed my easy chair. I had some skirt steak marinating in the fridge, ready to be tossed onto the grill. A cold beer or glass of whiskey would surely be in my hand while I cooked.
