The only thing worse than having a hot neighbor you’re too intimidated to talk to is accidentally hitting his cat with your car. Felix Lane was perfectly content to spend the rest of his days with Sunny, his canary life companion, in their quiet little corner of the suburbs. But then Kirk Shoo with his unusual eyes moved in across the street, and Felix’s carefully constructed life is starting to unravel. When your every bad-boy fantasy lingers at the mailbox, stands too close and smells too damn good, what’s an under-appreciated administrative assistant to do? Besides sneak out the backdoor to go to work? But when Kirk’s cat runs out in front of Felix on his way home, he has no choice but to face the music and his dream man. Unless ... What starts as a tragic accident turns into something far more bizarre. And when Felix’s backyard begins to look like a pet cemetery, he has no choice but to come clean. That is, if he can manage to find his sexy neighbor at all.

Nine Stones

Gnats attacked him while he worked, their burning bites were nothing less than he deserved. He wiped his tears, placed the cat in the hole, and covered it with dirt. He put a stone the size of a melon at the head of the grave and stood there for a minute watching the two stones—one for Sunny, one for Kirk’s cat.


When he got back inside, he went straight for the wine.2


The chiming was all wrong. Felix’s alarm sounded nothing like the long, outdrawn, skull-drilling rings filling his house. With a groan, he flew up from the bed. What if it was Kirk?


Running down the stairs, he almost slipped but managed to find his balance at the bottom and reached out to unlock the front door.


A large dark form leaped in, knocking him to the side.


“Did you oversleep?” Lexi handed him a leash as she crossed the threshold.


“What? No, I…” He looked at Gibson, Lexi’s dog, and scrunched his nose.


Chapter 4