Chapter 25

Amy slammed her front door shut and leaned against it. Her heart was hammering. Not from the exertion of running a dozen steps to her front door, but from spending time with Jared. Her super hot, kind of scary, next-door neighbour.

She sighed and closed her eyes as she pictured him, the way he was standing looking down at her from his much greater height. His piercing dark eyes as they looked right through her. His overly long messy curly hair. His scruffy beard.

She’d had a crush on him basically from the day he moved in next door nine years ago. She'd been a budding adolescent girl, crushing on her first older man. She'd fallen hard for the biker, but he never gave her a second glance. Over the years, her crush had fallen away, and she'd engaged in normal teenage activities. Dating guys her own age, hanging out with friends and raising her family.

Okay, so that last one wasn't exactly normal, but it had become her version of normal.